Male Guinea pig scent glands

Question
I have two seven month old male guinea pigs, they are brothers and one of them has an exess of waxy residue on the hair around his scent gland, near his rear end. It's matting his hair. I tried cleaning him to get rid of it but it wont come off. Is there a special soap or washing technique I should use?

Answer
Hi Joanie,

Pop to www.gorgeousguineas.com and get yourself a bottle of 'Just for Boars'. This is a lovely-smelly herbal shampoo and is great for keeping greasy boars clean and sweet! It's also available in a trial size which will be plenty to bath your boys a few times each. As your piggies are 7 months old I presume you've bathed them before, but if not, have a browse of my past answers or ask me for tips. It can be a tricky process!

I have never had particular problems with a piggy's grease gland, but I know that owners who do tend to use Swarfega to aleviate the problem. What you need to do is wet the piggy all over, apply Swarfega to grease gland area (base of what would be where the tail is), massage the Swarfega into guinea's coat that surrounds the gland. After approx. 4 minutes rinse the coat and surrounding areas well.

You can also check out Gorgeous Guineas for an aromatheraphy alternative for cleansing grease glands. I'm sure they'll make something for this, but I can't check as I'm writing this because the website won't load for me :o(

Best wishes and if you have any other questions - just ask!

Jenny.