Here at The Grange Retreat, we understand that many different animals have grooming needs including guinea pigs, rabbits, and cats.  We have experience grooming them all!  If you would like to book an appointment feel free to email our groomer:

Grooming@GrangeRetreat.co.uk

I had the pleasure of grooming 5 guinea pigs for the first time in a grooming setting. The owner had previously groomed them at home by herself with grooming scissors. Their names are Pepsi, Purdy, Penny, Polly, and Poppy. They are all long-haired Guinea pigs with calm natures. Like dogs, Long-haired guinea pigs require regular grooming because it can lead to extreme matting and other health issues.

To groom, a guinea pig, consists of combing and brushing them and occasionally trimming them. Unfortunately, in this case, they had a few mats, so I decided to introduce them to my clippers. In the grooming parlor, I had the guinea pigs on the grooming table, where they are used to being hand-held, they were calm and still but when they got restless, I put them back in the carrier and left them to calm down. I clipped them off slowly and did it in sections with a 5 blade starting from the head and making my way down the body.

After I groomed each guinea, I went back and clipped their nails with nail clippers.

1 out of the 5 guinea pigs had a soiled bum where it likes to sit in its feces. We bathed this guinea pig with warm water and small animal shampoo and then towel dried her.  After we used a handheld hairdryer on a warm setting to make sure she was fully dry before returning home as the guinea pigs are kept outside and their body temperatures don’t cope well with drastic changes.

I’ve also had experience clipping long-haired rabbits, we had a rabbit called Mo visit us because he couldn’t see through his hair, so I brushed his hair out and shaped around his eyes.

My experience extends to also grooming cats and clipping their nails. We had an elderly cat come in and his nails were long and they kept getting caught in the carpet at home. Here at The Retreat, we have a cat cradle but we always find it easier to hold the cat for a bit more comfort. I have also groomed a tabby cat who came in with serious matts and the owner asked me to clip him off. I did this in stages throughout the day to make sure the cat didn’t stress.