Litter

Question
I am not the owner, but my inlaws have had a male for about 3yrs. now, and have had a litter box in with him since the begining but, he always goes in his house where he sleeps and spends most of his time. I have read that Guinea pigs don't useally go to the bathroom where they sleep...so how can we get him to stop this?

Answer
Hello Elizabeth

Actually....I hate to tell you this, but that's not true and unfortunantly, there's not alot they can do to stop him. Some pigs are very neat and clean and choose one or 2 spots as their "bathroom" and will pretty much only go there. However, a vast majority will go anywhere and everywhere. Out of my 14 current pigs only 1 has a potty spot (just behind his pigloo) the others go everywhere. If his chosen potty spot is his house, it's going to be difficult if not impossible to make him choose a different one. Your inlaws can however try convincing him by putting a bit of his dirty litter in his litter box. That may convince him to use that spot instead. They'll need to try to clean out his house a few times a day too for a while if he's still going there so the only spot of dirty litter will be in the box. Sometimes having a different type of litter in his litter box than in his cage will help too. However, it's very likely neither of these things will work and he'll just keep going where he's going. If he has chosen a potty spot though (as it seems he has) there is at least a bit more hope for him than ones who go everywhere because he has at least some desire to keep his cage clean and hopefully the dirty litter trick will work. They could also try moving his house and putting his litter box there instead with the dirty litter in it or even removing the house altogether for a while to try to get him to use the box. Piggies are very difficult to litter train and whether or not there will be success is up to the pig more than the owner. I wish them the best of luck. Hopefully one of these things will be successful.

-kkat