How To Give Guinea Pigs Pills and Eye Drops

Pills

Sometimes your vet will give your guinea pigs medication in the form of pills. Although this might seem a bit tricky, there are some good methods to ensure your guinea pigs get their treatment properly. It should always be an adult who gives the guinea pig their medication.

Unfortunately, although it would be easy, it’s not a good idea to put medication in your guinea pig’s drinking water. The medications are carefully prepared in order to have the highest effectiveness, and diluting the treatment in water will reduce the capacity of the medication to help your pet. Follow your vet's instructions - some pills should not be crushed or broken either, because if they’re opened before they reach the guinea pigs’ stomach then they can cause problems.

One way some owners recommend is holding your guinea pig in a particular way and putting the pill in through the side of their mouth to the molars where the guinea pig will swallow it. If you sit down, and hold your guinea pig’s back gently but firmly to your chest with your wrist, and its head still with your fingers on either side of it’s head just below its cheeks, then you can just pop the pill in at the molars with your free hand. If you’ve never done this before, ask the vet to show you the best way to administer the pill when they’re prescribing the medication.

They may not like the taste of it, but they'll benefit from their medication

Eye Drops

Many human eye drops are unsafe for guinea pig use, so consult your vet first or ask them to prescribe one for you. If you’ve never used eye drops on a guinea pig before, then ask your vet to demonstrate, but it’s likely the advice will centre around keeping the eye dropper where the guinea pig can’t see it. If you are an adult, (if you aren’t an adult, find one to do it for you) keep your guinea pig still on your lap. You'll need to carefully and briefly keep one eye open at a time and apply the drop from above so that the guinea pig can’t see it coming towards it.