Bringing your guinea pigs home is so exciting! New piggy parents can choose from a whole list of cages, tons of toys, tasty treats, and so many other supplies needed for guinea pigs. But that’s also where it gets tricky - how do you know what supplies your guinea pigs need? How can you make sure you’re choosing high-quality items for your guinea pigs, instead of useless (and sometimes even harmful) guinea pig stuff?
Kavee is all about making your piggies’ life the best it can be, so you can enjoy happy and healthy pets for as long as piggily possible. We’ve put together a guinea pig supplies list to help new piggy parents spot the most relevant supplies needed for their guinea pigs. We’ll also tell you which guinea pigs accessories are purely optional, and what to avoid when setting up your pets’ home.
Time to learn about essential items for your guinea pigs!
Essential Guinea Pig Supplies: The Complete List
When it comes to guinea pig supplies, it can be difficult to decide which supplies are needed for your guinea pigs, and which are simply guinea pigs accessories that would make a nice addition to their home. For example, guinea pig grooming supplies, like nail clippers and a brush for long-haired guinea pigs, are so important for your guinea pigs. But other guinea pig stuff, like a harness and leash, are actually dangerous to our furry friends.
The following guinea pig supplies list includes essential items only that all piggy parents should have at home before they bring their floofers home.
And even if you’re sitting next to your pigs’ palace and don’t have all of these supplies needed for guinea pigs, don’t panic. You can start shopping when you’re ready - your pigs will still wheeking thank you for it.
The Right Home: A C&C Cage
When hoomans think about getting guinea pigs, well, they first think about where to adopt their sweet friends from. But straight after that, they start wondering about the right cage for their pets. And a safe, secure piggy palace also claims the top spot of your own guinea pig supplies list.
The cage is usually the most expensive item on your guinea pig supplies list, even more so than the pets themselves. That’s why it’s even more important to choose a sound cage for your cavies. Imagine finding out your guinea pig cage isn’t really suitable, so you’ll have to invest in another one…
A few things to consider when you start cage shopping:
- the size
- safety
- good ventilation
- ease of cleaning
- flexibility if your piggy herd grows
The top choice for all of these categories is a C&C cage. Let us explain why!
If you’ve got two guinea pigs, they should have a minimum of 10 sq. ft. of floor space. Floor space is a vertical area on one level of the cage that your piggies can use to zoom around. Kavee’s 4x2 C&C cages offer exactly 10 sq. ft. of floor space to your pets. And at Kavee, we always say the bigger the better - so you can easily upgrade to a 5x2 or even 6x2 when you’re ready.
We only use the safest elements in our cages - only the best for your pets, right? So you can be sure our C&C cages keep your pets secure. If you’re worried about other pets or young children getting to your floofs when you’re not around, you can make your piggy palace even safer. Simply add a lid and a stand to your cage, and your pigs will be sheltered in their cavy castle.
Good ventilation and ease of cleaning are important for cage maintenance. By keeping your piggies’ home clean, tidy, and ventilated, you’re making it much less likely for them to get ill. Plus, Kavee’s unique coroplast bases and fleece liners make cage cleaning day so much easier. It’s a win-win for you and your pigs!
Finally, piggy parents know how easy it is to go from 2 guinea pigs to 5 in mere weeks. That’s why flexibility is key for a good guinea pig cage. With our C&C cages, you can add extra grids for more room, storage space with a stand, and even a divider if your pigs need a little time away from each other. The cage is your oyster - it can be whatever you want it to be.
Find out more about setting up your perfect C&C cage!
So, have you chosen the right cage for you and your pets? Make sure to add it to your guinea pig supplies list!
The Best Bedding: Fleece Liners
Right after you’ve chosen your cage, the next supplies needed for your guinea pigs are fleece liners. Your beloved floofs go to the bathroom around 100 times a day, so they need bedding at the bottom of their cage to capture moisture and get rid of smells. Traditionally, many piggy parents used wood shavings but they can actually impact your piggies’ respiratory systems. Our solution: lush fleece liners.
With fleece liners, you won’t have to worry about your piggies’ breathing. Plus, they’re super soft, so your piggies’ paws will love them. Just like other bedding fleece liners should be changed twice a week. Unlike other types of bedding, though, you won’t have to chuck them out every few days. Instead, fleece liners can be put inside a laundry bag and go straight into the washing machine. A few hours to dry, and your fleece liners are ready to go back in the cage.
This option is great for your pets and the planet, so ditch the old-fashioned bedding and add the fleece liners to your list of supplies needed for your guinea pigs!
The Perfect Shelter: A Guinea Pig Hidey
Our furry friends are, by nature, prey animals. They feel safest when they have somewhere to hide nearby, so the perfect piggy palace would include several hiding spots for your floofs. A fleece hidey is a fantastic choice for this purpose!
A hidey, or hidey house, is a little house, often made of cardboard, wood, or fleece, that offers shelter to your guinea pigs when they get spooked. Options are endless, and a fleece hidey has the added benefits of being extra comfy for your cavies and also washable. Your pigs may start off using the hidey as a hiding space, but they’ll soon get so comfy, they’ll simply snooze in it.
A spacious, comfortable hidey is definitely one of the supplies needed for guinea pigs.
Quenching Thirst Successfully: The Water bottle
Some prefer bowls, others like bottles, but one thing is clear: all guinea pigs need to have access to fresh, clean water at all times. A water bottle or bowl is an essential when it comes to guinea pig stuff, and piggy parents have a lot of varieties to choose from. So which one is it for you, a bowl or a bottle?
Water bowls take up more space and are usually a lot messier. Your cute cavies could try to climb into the bowl, spill the water, or dunk their food in it. It makes them higher maintenance than water bottles because you may have to change and clean them several times a day. That said, some guinea pigs drink more water from a bowl because it’s closer to their water sources in the wild.
Water bottles are more convenient for the hoomans, that’s for sure. They’re easy to place in the cage without taking up much space. Plus, they can’t get dirty from food, and they take up much less space. Make sure to look for a non-drip water bottle, like the one we’ve got at Kavee, and your cage stays nice and dry.
Keeping Food Fresh: The Food bowl
When it comes to the water supplies needed for guinea pigs, you can choose between a bowl and a bottle. For food, the bowl is really your only option on the guinea pig supplies list. Your piggies’ food bowl could be made from plastic, but actually ceramic bowls are a much better choice because they’re too heavy to tip over. And now the fun bit: you can choose a food bowl you like the look of.
Quick, add it to your list of items for guinea pigs!
Snooze Spots: Fleece Tunnel and Cuddle Cup
We already know piggies like to hide, and a fleece tunnel is the perfect little burrow they can disappear into. But, just like the Cuddle Cup, it has another fantastic function in your piggy palace - the best snooze spot for comfort-loving cavies!
Hideys are brilliant supplies needed for your guinea pigs, and when you add Tunnels and Cuddle Cups to your guinea pig supplies list, your floofs have the choice of different comfortable hiding spots in their home. Sometimes, our furry friends fight and need a little break from each other, so it’s best to keep different hiding and sleeping spots available. Then they can sleep on their argument and be friends again.
Keep your pigs warm and toasty with a floofy Fleece Tunnel and Cuddle Cup!
Hay Bag
Did you know that hay makes up around 80% of your piggies’ diet? Guinea pigs eat a lot of fiber for great gut health, and hay keeps their teeth trimmed. Dental health in guinea pigs is a big topic, and hay is so important when it comes to grinding down a guinea pig’s ever-growing teeth. So all piggy parents want to make sure their floofs have access to fresh hay at all times. But how can you give them plenty of hay without having a big mess on your hands?
Putting a big pile of hay in your piggies’ cage is a great way to get them snacking on hay, but it also means they’ll be sitting (and pooping and peeing) on it. Your floofs love to burrow into hay, but it’s not the cleanest way for them to eat it. If you fill a hay bag with high-quality hay, your floofs’ feast stays dry and clean. It also means less mess in the cage. Make sure to put it up high enough that they can reach it without climbing into it, and you’ll encourage them to stretch and move at the same time!
Essential Guinea pig grooming supplies
Some cavy carers use their human grooming supplies on their pets, like nail scissors. This can work okay, but nothing beats specific items for guinea pigs. Just think about how thick their nails are - you’d struggle with regular nail clippers. When it comes to grooming, it’s best to find guinea pig grooming supplies that make the process as easy as possible for you and your pigs.
Different guinea pig breeds need different guinea pig grooming supplies, but overall, it’s a good idea to look out for these items for guinea pigs:
- nail clippers
- hair brush
- guinea pig shampoo
- pet-friendly grooming wipes
All guinea pigs need to have their nails trimmed every other week, and most also need a good brush. If you have hairless skinny pigs, of course, you can skip the brush!
Great guinea pig grooming supplies to have around are a guinea pig shampoo and pet-friendly wipes. Our floofs are great at taking care of their shiny fur, but they do get a bit messy occasionally. If you’ve got a guinea pig-friendly shampoo on hand, you can give them a bum bath when absolutely necessary - no more than three to four times a year. Pet-friendly wipes help you take care of any smaller mess.
Guinea pig grooming supplies are essential because all piggies need grooming.
Optional Guinea Pig Supplies And Accessories
Not all items for guinea pigs are strictly necessary for their wellbeing. The following guinea pigs accessories enrich our furry friends’ lives and make them more comfortable, so if you want to spoil your floofers and get them a cute Christmas gift, take a look!
And for more interior piggy design inspiration, check out our stunning blog!
Pillows
As humans we love nothing more than having a comfy bed and a nice soft pillow to rest our head on. Who says guinea pigs are any different? Known for resting their heads and having the most adorable sleeping positions, our latest pillow range is your new number one accessory for guinea pigs. Perfect for placing in hidey houses or around your C&C cage, your guinea pigs will love the new pillows to rest their head on!
Guinea pig toys
You may think of toys as guinea pig stuff you don’t really need, but actually, the furry potatoes are a lot smarter than they look (sorry, piggies!). In the wild, guinea pigs spend their days looking for food and shelter. Our pet pigs are super lucky because they already have all supplies needed for guinea pigs, from a secure cage with plenty of safe spots to the perfect piggy diet. So what items for guinea pigs can their cavy carers get to keep their cute critters busy all day long? You’ve guessed it: toys!
Toys don’t have to come in a specific shape or do a specific thing. The best toys for your floofers are things that encourage their natural behaviors, like foraging and chewing. Foraging means searching for food, so you can simply hide food around their home or add it to a foraging toy. These exercises encourage guinea pigs to be physically active when they’re hunting for food, and they also make sure your piggies use their brains. Foraging is a fantastic boredom breaker, so it’ll keep your pigs out of mischief.
Chewing also comes naturally to cavies, and you’ve probably noticed them taking a nibble out of everything in their cage. If you provide untreated, safe wooden toys and branches for your pigs, they’ll have a lot of fun trying to gnaw their way through them. At the same time, it’s also good for them to use their teeth on different wooden materials.
A word of warning: it’s best to look out for high-quality wooden toys for your pigs from a company you trust. Lower quality wood can splinter and lead to injury in your piggies’ mouths and stomach, and any wood treated with pesticides or toxic paint is a big hazard for the floofs.
Keep your pigs happy and healthy with fun, safe toys!
Wooden Accessories for guinea pigs
On the topic of safe wooden guinea pigs accessories, you can add more to your guinea pig supplies list than just wooden toys and chews. Kavee’s got a whole range of wooden accessories made from sustainable wood - perfect for your pigs and the planet! Your cavies can use them as hiding areas, snooze spots, and (so exciting!) their very own cavy castle.
Kavee’s wooden items have a whole range of fun design elements, from coat of arms to guinea pig shapes as windows, so this wooden collection adds real style to your piggies’ home. More importantly, your pets can safely nibble away on these items for guinea pigs.
If you want to treat your gorgeous guineas like true cavy royalty, this range makes an adorable (and courageous!) addition to your list of guinea pigs accessories.
A guinea pig bed
Part of the wooden range, this guinea pig bed is probably the cutest thing you’ve seen for your cavies. The perfect size for a pee pad and pillows in the style of your choosing, you can turn the wooden bed into a lounging spot for your floofs. It’ll be as much fun to watch them snooze as it’ll be for them to get all cozied up in the bed.
If you’re not sure where to buy guinea pig supplies, it’s a good idea to research local and online shops a little. If they only sell products that benefit your pets, they’re a good choice. If you notice they sell the following guinea pig supplies you should really avoid, it’s better to give the shop a miss. And, of course, Kavee is here to help with your guinea pig supplies list!
Guinea Pig Supplies You Should Avoid at All Cost
From unsafe toys to sugar laden treats, the world of guinea pig supplies can be confusing. That’s why we’ve put together 6 items that are dangerous for guinea pigs so that you can make informed purchases for your pet.
Harness and leash
A harness and leash for piggies can be found in many pet stores, targeted towards guinea pigs as the idea is to take your guinea pig on a walk, much like a dog. It may look like a fun idea for unsuspecting piggy parents, but unfortunately, these items for guinea pigs are not safe.
With guinea pigs being agile and flexible creatures, the harness restricts their neck, spine, and tummy. The tugging sensation of the leash can harm a guinea pig's delicate spine and may cause injury. Guinea pigs cannot be trained to walk alongside you unlike dogs, therefore walking your guinea pig on a leash also leaves them very vulnerable to predators.
Instead of trying to take your guinea pig for a walk, allow your guinea pig to have outdoor time in a secure playpen or run. Your guinea pigs will still benefit from outdoor play without the need for an uncomfortable collar or harness around them.
Exercise ball
Exercise balls are commonly marketed towards small rodents as a fun way for them to explore and roam around the house. As cute as it may look, having your guinea pig rolling around in an exercise ball is more harmful than you may think (and hamsters don’t like them either!).
Guinea pigs have a delicate anatomy where their spines get injured easily if they’re standing or lying in an unnatural way. This can happen easily when they’re in a ball, as the curved surface causes their spine to arch back, and bend in an uncomfortable U-like shape.
In addition to the risk of spinal injury, guinea pig exercise balls provide little ventilation, which can lead to heat stroke. Heat stroke can be a real risk to your piggies’ lives.. Unlike us, guinea pigs are unable to sweat, so they can’t cool themselves down as easily when they get warm. The tiny ventilation slots in the plastic ball can restrict the much needed airflow to help cool themselves down. This is another crucial reason to avoid hamster balls at all cost!
Exercise wheel
Like exercise balls, small pet exercise wheels pose a risk of injuring your guinea pigs’ spine. Wheels available for guinea pigs are often too small, so they end up moving and shaping their spines in an unnatural way.
Exercise wheels usually have wire meshing and gaps, which also poses the risk of foot injuries. If your guinea pig’s foot were to slip into the meshing gap, or got their nail stuck, it can sprain or even break their tiny feet, when the wheel is in motion.
Remember that both exercise wheels and exercise balls aren’t safe or necessary for guinea pigs. In fact, your guinea pigs will get a lot more exercise from exploring on a flat surface as they will have the ability to run around to their hearts’ content.
Salt licks
Salt licks for guinea pigs are available in many pet stores. The question is, do guinea pigs need them? The short answer is no. Unlimited hay, fresh vegetables and a small amount of pellets is all guinea pigs need for a healthy, balanced diet. Guinea pigs need no more than 0.5g of sodium a day which they get from a balanced diet and through pellets alone.
Salt licks actually cause harm because guinea pigs are unable to sweat. They can’t expel excess sodium. Also, extra minerals, coupled with the potential for dehydration from too much salt, puts your guinea pigs at risk of bladder sludge or stones. https://kaveecage.net/blogs/us/guinea-pig-bedding
Pet diapers
Just like costumes for guinea pigs, guinea pig nappies or diapers should never be used!
Marketed to use for when your guinea pig has floor time, pet diapers prevent your guinea pig from using the floor as a toilet. As appealing as this may sound, these products are extremely harmful to your pet. For example, urine scald is a common issue with small pet diapers. By wearing a diaper your guinea pig will be sitting in their own urine. And, as we all know, guinea pigs sure pee and poop a lot.
Another reason why pet diapers are a big no-go is because it prevents the healthy function of a guinea pig's digestive system. Guinea pigs create green poop, called cecal pellets that they re-consume back into their digestive system to expel nutrients. By wearing a diaper your guinea pigs are unable to carry out this very important task.
Guinea pigs generally defecate in corners of a cage and normally in places they sleep or eat. Instead of considering a diaper, place a pee pad or a towel in a corner of the room which will encourage your guinea pigs to use it. This will keep a tidier room during floortime and allows your guinea pig to enjoy the floortime that is crucial to their health and wellbeing.
Costumes
We absolutely adore our guinea pigs and think they are as cute as can be. But dressing your guinea pigs up in little outfits and accessories is very stressful for them. Here at Kavee, our mission is to advocate for the safety and wellbeing of guinea pigs, so we recommend staying away from any guinea pig costumes.
Find out more about the hazards piggy costumes are in our blog!
FAKs about Guinea Pig Supplies
Frequently Asked Kavees
What supplies do guinea pigs need?
The supplies needed for guinea pigs are a large C&C cage, the right bedding, a water bottle and food bowl, hideys and snuggle accessories, guinea pig grooming supplies, and a hay bag to keep their hay organized and clean.
Where can I buy guinea pig supplies?
If you’re wondering where to buy guinea pig supplies, you’ll find that your options are between online pet stores and local pet shops. Make sure to check that your chosen shop really knows about guinea pigs, so they can help you find great guinea pigs accessories!
