How Long Does it Take to Wean a Guinea Pig Pup?

When Is a Guinea Pig Fully Weaned?

A guinea pig pup is typically weaned at about 3 weeks of age, but some are known to continue nursing until about 4 weeks of age. Guinea pigs will complete the majority of their physical growth at about 8 weeks and will slowly continue to grow until about 16 weeks. In reference to their initial growth stage of life, they tend not to strongly rely on their mother’s milk for too long at all.

How Do You Know If a Guinea Pig Is Fully Weaned?

It’s pretty easy to tell if a guinea pig has been fully weaned from their mother. A nursing piggy will tend to stick quite close by to their mothers for safety, comfort and to feed whenever hungry. However, guinea pigs are born almost completely physically independent from their mother besides their need for milk, so once weaned, it’s pretty common to see young piggies venture away from their mothers and interact with them a lot less. 

How Soon Do Baby Guinea Pigs Eat?

Baby guinea pigs are born precocial, meaning they are almost fully developed with their hearing, eyesight intact with complete mobility. They are also born with their teeth fully formed, meaning they can start eating solid foods barely hours after birth. From the beginning of their life, you should begin incorporating pellets, fresh veggies and hay into their diet.

With being so new to the world, the baby piggies may seem a little unsure of the new foods at first, but not to worry! Mother piggy will be right by their side to show them what to eat, and how to eat it.

How to Hand Rear a Baby Guinea Pig

In some unfortunate circumstances, the new mother piggy will refuse to nurse her babies. This can be due to a variety of reasons, such as a difficult birth with significant loss or her deeming the guinea pig pups to be too weak to survive. It can be greatly upsetting to witness this as a guinea pig owner, but it’s important to remember this is just the way of life for them. However, you will also have a duty of care to ensure the pups have the best chance at survival. If the mother decides not to nurse the pups, you should step in and attempt to hand rear them.

Guinea Pig Milk Substitutes

If you have found yourself in a position where you need to quickly find a guinea pig milk substitute, then you’re in luck, as there are a few readily available options.

The most popular guinea pig milk substitute is the brand Wombaroo. Their formula contains the exact levels of fat, protein, and vitamin C a baby guinea pig would need to grow big and strong. Alongside these, it also contains all other necessary nutrients that contribute to their bodily functions and growth. Unfortunately, Wombaroo formula is only sold within Australia, most owners will need to order it well in advance to ensure it’s available when their pups arrive.

Another great alternative for guinea pig pups is kitten formula, from brands such as Cimicat. These formulas contain the right nutrients the baby piggy would need in their early stages of life, and luckily, they are much more accessible within the UK.

Can Guinea Pigs Have Cow’s Milk?

In a panic, you may be tempted to reach for the cow’s milk you have in the fridge to make sure your guinea pig babies get some milk in their system. Though, this would be highly ill-advised. Guinea pigs will not be able to digest cow’s milk, or any non-guinea pig milk, due to the levels of lactose.

Guinea pigs are not equipped to digest any level of lactose and giving them some has the potential to do significant harm.

How Often Do Baby Guinea Pigs Need Milk?

Guinea pig pups will need to feed several times throughout the day to ensure optimal growth. For the first 5 days, they should be fed the appropriate formula every 2 – 3 hours. Once past 5 days, feedings can be reduced to every 4 hours until they are weaned. 

If you are hand rearing your pups, it’s highly recommended to weigh them daily to monitor their weight gain and ensure they are growing adequately. They will most likely lose a few grams within their first few days of life, but after this should progressively increase their weight from around 3 – 7 grams per day.

How to Hand Feed a Baby Guinea Pig

The process of physically feeding the babies should be fairly straightforward, and a great way to start building a relationship with them. For feeding, you should ideally use a bottle with a small teat. You should avoid syringe feeding, unless you have had significant experience with it previously as using syringes can increase the risk of aspiration pneumonia.

You’ll want to gently pick up the baby and hold them in a normal position, there is no need to hold them at a certain angle or upside down. You’ll want to take the bottle and leave a few drops of milk on the pup’s lips. Once they have licked it off, they will be inclined to further drink from the bottle. It may take them a few attempts to get the hang of latching onto the teat, but they should quickly learn how to do it effectively.