Demography, commonly diagnosed disorders and mortality of guinea pigs under primary veterinary care in the UK in 2019—A VetCompass study

O'Neill, Daniel; Taffinder, Jacques L.; Brodbelt, Dave C.; Baldrey, Vicki

Abstract

Introduction
Guinea pigs are popular as domestic pets but there is limited information on the health of the
wider pet population. This study aimed to report demography, commonly diagnosed disorders
and mortality of guinea pigs under UK primary veterinary care.
Methods
Diagnosis and mortality information on guinea pigs was extracted from anonymised UK primary-
care clinical records in VetCompass.
Results
From 51,622 guinea pigs under primary veterinary care during 2019, a specific breed was
not recorded in 50,098 (97.05%). Of guinea pigs with information recorded, 23,206
(47.33%) were female and 25,828 (52.67%) were male. There were 1,020 (2.08%) neutered
and 48,014 (97.92%) entire. Median adult bodyweight overall was 1.05kg (interquartile
range [IQR] 0.90–1.19, range 0.40–2.66). From a random sample of 3,785/51,622 (7.33%)
guinea pigs, the most prevalent disorders were overgrown nail(s) (n = 1,005, 26.55%, 95%
confidence interval [CI] 25.15–27.99), dermatophytosis (228, 6.02%, 95% CI 5.29–6.83)
and corneal ulceration (189, 4.99%, 95% CI 4.32–5.74). Among the 30 most common disorders,
females showed predisposition for 3 disorders and males showed predisposition for 5
disorders. The disorder with the youngest age of affected animals was dermatophytosis
(1.11 years) while weight loss had the oldest age of affected animals (4.64 years). From 757
recorded deaths, the median age at death overall was 4.03 years (IQR 2.56–5.44, range
0.17–10.00). Among deaths with a recorded cause, the most common causes of death were
anorexia (n = 82, 13.87%, 95% CI 11.19–16.93), collapsed (58, 9.81%, 95% CI 7.54–12.50)
and peri-anaesthetic death (20, 3.38%, 95% CI 2.08–5.18).
Conclusions
These results can assist veterinarians and owners by providing demographic, disorder and
mortality benchmarks that support improved clinical care and welfare outcomes in guinea
pigs. Many common disorders in guinea pigs were husbandry related.

Citation

O'Neill, D., Taffinder, J. L., Brodbelt, D. C., & Baldrey, V. (2024). Demography, commonly diagnosed disorders and mortality of guinea pigs under primary veterinary care in the UK in 2019—A VetCompass study. PLoS ONE, 19(3), https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0299464

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Feb 1, 2024
• Online Publication Date: Mar 28, 2024
• Publication Date: Mar 28, 2024
• Deposit Date: Mar 28, 2024
• Publicly Available Date: Apr 5, 2024
• Journal: PLOS ONE
• Print ISSN: 1932-6203
• Publisher: Public Library of Science
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 19
• Issue: 3
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0299464
• Keywords: CAVIA-PORCELLUS; DENTAL DISEASE
• Publisher URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0299464
• Additional Information: Please add VetCompass to the options for research areas and groups.