I am thinking of getting a guinea pig. Henry’s preschool classroom had a guinea pig, and it was a DOLL. My friend who had a son in Henry’s class got a guinea pig because of that experience, and her guinea pig is ALSO a doll. When my friend watches TV, she’ll get the guinea pig and snuggle it. (She puts a towel under it. Evidently guinea pigs are of the “peeing any old time without seeming to notice it” category of animal.)
I have two main concerns:
1. Another of my friends had guinea pigs, and it was a disaster. Something like the first one dying quickly, and being replaced with one that turned out to be pregnant, and then tumors and mites and multiple expensive trips to the vet, ending in the guinea pigs being expensively put to sleep, etc. I don’t remember all the details; I mostly remember her saying “NEVER AGAIN.”
2. We have cats.
Elizabeth happened to be working on a Brownies badge that had to do with pet care, so as part of that we researched guinea pigs. According to what we found, guinea pigs can theoretically co-exist with cats; there were even photos of a cat cuddling with a guinea pig. But it looks like actual experience varies (duh), and I’m worried we’d end up with the cats, like, sitting on top of the guinea pig’s cage and the guinea pig stressed/terrorized/squealing.
Or maybe it would be great. We have cats and fish, after all, and they co-exist better than peacefully: the cats LOVE to “watch Fish TV,” and I think it significantly improves their indoor-cat existence, and the fish don’t seem to care at all. Not that I think I could necessarily pick up on a fish’s mood. But fish seem to communicate stress by swimming weird and/or floating dead in the tank, and they’re not doing either of those things. And, AND, we found some fish information that SUGGESTED riling up the fish to keep them from being bored, and it seems like having a cat periodically thud against the side of the tank fits that bill excellently.
I have my eye on a guinea pig at the animal shelter. One thing I like about her is that I’d read that guinea pigs are generally happier with guinea-pig company, but she’s at the shelter because she doesn’t get along with other guinea pigs, and I’d prefer to start with just one guinea pig.
I am wondering if you have any experience with guinea pigs, especially if it’s guinea pig + cat experience.
You may remember we had a guinea pig for two weeks before we discovered the primary child caregiver had a severe guinea pig allergy. She would get hives where he licked her. Who knew?
He was a sweet, cuddly thing and was happily adopted by our neighbors. Our neighbors who loved him so much they spent $400 on kidney stone surgery for him last summer and he d-i-e-d on the table. Poor George. But they have two other ones now and are total guinea pig converts.
Everyone in our family loved him and would have kept on getting guinea pigs were it not for the allergy. I will say that the scuttling nighttime movements (they are rodents, after all) freaked me out. No one else minded.
We are very happy with our pet bird now, but then we do not have cats. :)
I got a guinea pig as my first “independent” pet when I was in 2nd grade. It was pretty much the perfect animal for such projects. We didn’t have any cats but we did have two dogs (not the same at all, I realize) and they enjoyed watching him and did not seem to stress him out at all. I’m not sure what the rules are about acquiring/giving back animals from the shelter, but if they are quite easy to give to another family if something doesn’t work out with your family so it’s a low risk adventure.
We have a guinea pig and he is loved by all. Very sweet, happy to cuddle, easy to care for, and even generally sleeps at night (although I have woken up on more than one occasion terrified there was an intruder in the house only to realize it was Anderson up for a midnight snack). Also, he poops wherever he darn well pleases but given the option pees only in his cage, and since the pee is far more offensive/annoying to clean up I admire that about him.
I have tons of cat and guinea pig experience, having both coexist in my home for 15+ years.
Guinea pigs are awesome pets, but they are a lot of work to care for properly. Just a pet store cage is not really big enough. Look into “C and C” cages, which you build yourself, but are fully customizable. I also use fleece as bedding rather than animal bedding. It’s cheaper in the long run, but needs washed regularly and some people don’t want to wash their clothing in the same machine that may have contained guinea pig shit. Personal choice.
They require daily attention and playtime. Daily spot cleaning of the cage and full cleaning at least once a week. Unlimited supply of hay and fresh water. Fresh veggies daily. They are not cheap pets.
As to GPs and cats coexisting, it depends on then personality of each animal. My current cat and GP get along great. His cage has an open top because she has zero interest in him. But if the cat is more of a hunter, it could try to go after the GP.
I am a habitual lurker who NEVER comments, but I feel so strongly about the subject of guinea pigs that I had to out myself. Dooooon’t do it! I swear the worst decision of my life as a parent has been the acquisition of a guinea pig. We’ve had it since my daughter’s birthday in February. My girls (5 and 8) are in love. I am not. The thing poops constantly. There’s more poop than you could ever possibly imagine. Like, 50 poops a day. My husband has the lovely job of scooping the poop nightly (we initially gave this job to the 8 year old, but it’s a lot to do on top of the feeding, and watering, which are also her job). Even with nightly scooping, the cage STINKS. I completely toss the bedding and scrub out the cage weekly, but even with regular poop scooping, it starts to smell at about day 5, which means that 2 days of every 7, the thing smells awful. And he squeals ALL the time. He was a foster piggie, and maybe his previous owners rewarded him for begging. But the thing sqeals at the top of it’s lungs, all hours of the day and night, INCESSANTLY until you come bearing snacks of carrots or lettuce. He’s just an awful lot of work plus the unpleasant smells and sounds, and I receive very little enjoyment in return. (To be fair, the girls love him). Also, I have a cat who loves to sniff and bat at the cage. But the piggie is pretty dumb, I think, and doesn’t know enough to be afraid, so he doesn’t seem to mind.
I had guinea pigs when I was a kid, and I loved them. They are MUCH less prone to bite than hamsters, and they make charming noises when they’re happy. My dad made an outdoor hutch for mine, and we kept them outside in the shade in warm weather, only bringing them in in the winter. The only real problem we ever had was when we (briefly) had 2 males, and one wouldn’t let the other into their little house. Oh, and my first one had difficulties having babies one time (one baby was turned wrong), and my dad CAME HOME FROM WORK to take her to the vet, who saved her life. I’d bought her from a friend for a couple of dollars, and as you might imagine, the vet visit cost a lot more than that. The vet said it was the first guinea pig anyone had ever brought in, since it was more cost effective to let them die and buy a new one. It cemented my feelings about the kind of person my father was, however, so from a parental point of view, it was a major win for him.
Just to warn you, guinea pigs stink. They will literally stink up your whole house, even if you keep the cage clean. My brother had one when he was in college, and when he brought it home for the summer it smelled so bad!
I had a single guinea pig as a kid and wish in retrospect that I’d had a much bigger/nicer run for him and probably a companion guinea pig, too. We got a dog about a year later and it got a lot harder to let him run around in the house, so he was stuck in his small cage nearly all the time and he didn’t really get the life he deserved. We also got an indoor cat when he was about 5, but we kept them separated. I’m not sure it would have been a good idea if the cat had had unfettered access to his cage.
He was indeed a good TV-watching companion and never peed on me. He was as smart as the (relatively stupid) indoor cat and had a ton of personality. His most expensive medical problem was overgrown teeth, which had to be shortened by the vet periodically for the last year or so of his life.
Have you heard of guinea pig rental in Switzerland? You’re not allowed to keep a single guinea pig in Switzerland, which is a problem at the end of your last guinea pig’s life, so a few people offer rental guinea pigs to cover the gap. If you only want one, an anti-social guinea pig from the shelter sounds like a really good choice.
Guinea pigs are wonderful pets! They are super friendly and interactive. I’ve had 3 over the years (1 guy on his own and then another 2 .) They make many different squeak noises and will learn when you open the fridge. They happily munch through any greens you give them, and love it when you bring them dandelion leaves and flowers. We also use to put them outside on the grass (with the top of their cage over them) in the summer. They are messy little things though, and need cleaning almost every day. They also like to have a “house” inside their cage.
I had them with two dogs and they were fine. Early on, we let the dogs know that they were not allowed to even look at the guinea pigs and it seemed to work. We actually let them run around the room while we watched TV every night. I don’t remember them peeing, they do poop a little, but it’s easy to clean up.
Guinea pigs are not nocturnal and not noisy at night from what I remember. And I think there is some debate to whether they are even rodents :)
The one at the shelter sounds perfect for you, I honestly think they may be the best pets for children. They’re very interactive and very much squeak and whistle at you once they know you. They also make purring/squeaking noises when they are happy and you’re petting them.
I thought the squeaking when we opened the fridge was a trick only ours did! He also knows when we say his name.
As others have said, Guinea Pigs are expensive. I had one for a while, when I was in college and had my first apartment. I was on a tight budget and the cost of Guinea Pig upkeep was a strain. Comparatively, the dog and cat my husband and I have now seem a bit cheaper (and we buy them nice food) and easier to maintain (walking the dog takes tine but is fun, cleaning the guinea pig cage was about as fun as scooping the cat box, but takes more time) than the guinea pig ( I did buy her the nice “care fresh” bedding- wood chips are bad for them, fresh hey etc.).
The summer I brought my guinea pig to live with me at my parents house, she was terrified and for good reason. The cats were very interested in eating her. They had to be kept away from her cage.
Also, I was allergic to her, I had to wear long sleeves when I held her to keep red welts from forming where she touched my skin.
That said, she was adorable! I was heartbroken when she died after $80 antibiotic treatment from the vet failed to cure the illness she had.
I’m in the don’t do it camp. We got 1 from te shelter a year and a half ago. They are a lot if work, stink and expense for very little to no affection in return. Also, we need to keep ours in the gust room because he is so loud at night he can’t sleep in a bedroom with others. He requires bagged field greens (they can’t eat iceberg or spinach), carrots, fortified hay and bedding every week $ -it adds up!). Also, the constant poop
Scooping and cage cleaning is a BIG job (daily scooping!) and it’s a messy job-there are always shavings and grass/hay that needs to
Be vacuumed. Shall I continue?
We had a guinea pig and it was awful. To give context, right now we have two cats, two turtles, tadpoles, hermit crabs, and a dog. We are pet people. The guinea pig was horribly messy. It would kick hay, bedding, and poop everywhere. The cage smelled awful if you didn’t clean it almost every day. It whistled constantly (this didn’t bother me, but drove my husband crazy). Our cat enjoyed batting at and bothering the guinea pig when it was in the cage, but didn’t bother it at all when it was out.
In my experience, rodent-type pets with the shavings-type bedding are smelly animals who make your house smelly, even when they’re things are cleaned and changed regularly.
We have three cats of all different temperments and got a ginuea pig for our 3rd grader this past Christmas. There hasnt been a single problem yet. One of our cats is a little more agressive and she’ll sit and watch his cage often but he doesn’t seem to mind. There’s a little shelter in there that he can go in if he feels unsafe.
Since we only have one, we try to take him out often to give him some much needed attention. He’s seriously the most cuddly thing in the world, but acts scared every time we pick him up. Such a nut! He also requires a good bit of excercise. We didn’t know before we got him, but guinea pigs get “zoomies” where they jump and run and shake. It was a little concerning until I googled it, to be honest. But we find that if we close the door and let him run wild in a bedroom every couple of days, he seems much more calm. We even got to bring him outside in the grass this week. We took the top of his cage and laid it in the backyard so he couldn’t run away. He went crazy for the fresh grass!
The most surprising thing about ours is how expensive he is. The three cats cost us about $30/week for food/litter. Our little piggy on the other hand, costs us about $20/week, himself. He requires a lot (pellets, hay, bedding, fresh veggies) and it can be a bit difficult to keep up with. We’re still experimenting with finding the right food/hay/litter for our budget that still meets his needs. On the up side, I do have to make sure to always have a variety of fresh veggies in the house, which means we end up eating more salad!
When it’s all said and done, Steve (our pig) is my favorite pet. He’s loving and fun and the kids can take care of his every day needs.
After reading the other comments, I have to add a few things. Our piggy is in the same room as three of our boys. None of them are ever bothered by his squeaking or movements. I can hear him in the mornings moving around, but never at night. His cage will stink if theres pee left in it. My 9 year old spot cleans it every morning and night and thankfully our piggy only pees in one corner, so it’s easy. Every Sunday the whole cage gets cleaned out, but our 9 year old handles that as well. Seriously, my sense of smell is like a super power since being pregnant and I rarely notice his cage. The litter boxes are soooo much more offensive. Oh, and he doesn’t pee when he’s out of his cage unless he gets stressed or is left out too long. The very first thing he’ll do once put back in is relieve himself, so Im pretty sure he’s in control of such things. I guess it all depends on the piggy.
We had guinea pigs at the school when I first started there. They were in the LOBBY so you can imagine how resilient they were! A parent adopted them simply to give them a cozier home, not because they were a problem.
I only remember positive about them!
I am of 2 minds about guinea pigs. My mom was a kindergarten teacher who always had one as a classroom pet, so I grew up with them at our house on the weekends, holidays, and summers. They were always WONDERFUL — very well-socialized (coming from a daily life of 15 5-year-olds!!), healthy, and unobtrusive. Our dog was unphased by them.
I got one of my own in college, and she was also a delight! When my high-school graduate nephew had to give his guinea pig up last summer (to go to college), we took him in since I had such fond memories of growing up with guinea pigs.
MISTAKE.
It was awful. His cage was SO STINKY. He was friendly and playful, but Pig Maintainence was waaaaay more work than I remembered / wanted. We got him in June, and he got sick in the fall … and died the Monday after the Newtown shootings. I remember this because I had to take my kindergartener to school for the first time that day, past the new ARMED GUARD at the door, and then tell her her pet died on the same day!! That was a hard day.
The cold corpse of the guinea pig offered an interesting learning experience re: What Is “Dead?”
Then in March we got a dog.
I need to have my head examined.
This is the extent of my GP knowledge:
SEVERAL of the classes in my daughters school have pet g.pigs and they all go home with a kid on the weekends and that just seems like a pretty resilient animal to stand being in an elementary school classroom all day and then home with someone different on the weekends. There has to be some level of ease there.
My friend bought (adopted?) two gpigs that she was told were the same sex. She wanted to have companions but no babies. A few weeks later she woke up to a whole litter of baby gpigs and later had the vet confirm that yes the pigs were different sexes. So if you ever end up having the question “Should we get another?” make sure that someone is very familiar with gpig genetalia and can ensure that you don’t end up with the wrong parts. :D
DON”T DO IT!!! We (that is, I) took care of our daughter’s 4th grade class’s guinea pig one summer, with the understanding we would return it when school started. No problem–I was standing by the front door of the school at 8:45 on the first day of school, with GP in his cage. I ended up being the nagging caregiver for this rodent for all 9 weeks (actually 64 days, but who’s counting?) . He stank, squeaked, and had a boring personality.
We have 4 Guinea pigs. Yes they are more expensive than you expect and a bigger cage than you would think is necessary. We have 2 boys and 2 girls in separate (boys/girls) cages. The boys stink much much more and are more, um, energetic. I would get a girl. The poops are small and hard so it’s no big deal to clean up with a tissue if they poop outside the cage. A towel is a good idea. I don’t think they really need a companion, especially if there are kids around, but my husband had read so much about it that we got pairs. They shed on you and you have to clip their claws regularly. They’re cute and the kids love them. It’s also nice that they live longer than other rodents. That’s why my daughter wanted one.
We had an older cat and he mostly just watched them as if the cage were a TV. I think it depends on the cat though.
Let me just say this….you have five children and a husband. Do you *really* want another thing in the house to take care of? Because no matter, how cute, sweet, *whatever* it might be; you do realize, that the majority of the care will most likely fall to you. Just something to consider.
I had a guinea pig in my classroom and as a house pet during school vacations. It was the perfect classroom pet as they are awake during the day and they actually interact with you. All the children loved him and would bring him treats and make him houses with the blocks, etc. We were able to handle him and I don’t remember him biting anyone (unlike hamsters). My own children were equally smitten and were always happy when he came home for the holidays. Yes, it is one more thing to take care of; but at that time we had a dog, two cats, a bird and the part-time guinea pig. What can I say? We all like animals.
As for upkeep….the cage gets stinky. I won’t lie. And cleaning it is a pain. But so is cleaning up the litter pan and the dog mess in the back yard. As I said we like animals and that is part of the package.
I think he lived a few years and then sadly passed away one night.
I’ve read for many years and just had to drop a note after this post. I’ve had guinea pigs in the past, and while they were charming, they did smell and take up a lot more room/food than you’d imagine by looking at them. However… if room and food are not an issue, perhaps you might consider a rabbit?
I’ve kept house rabbits for years. They don’t smell. They are easy to litterbox train. They can exhibit all the charming personality of a guinea pig without some of the drawbacks, ie, they dislike peeing anywhere other than their litterbox, they are generally very quiet, they get along excellently with cats. I would go so far as to say they are less maintenance with more yield than a guinea pig, provided you interact with them daily to keep them social (same as a piggie).
My first house rabbit was between a pig and average cat in size. She was so outgoing, sweet, and docile that she served as a greeter animal in my business for many years. She came when called, etc etc. A very big surprise to me, because I expected her to be much like a pig, or other small rodenty animal. I’ve kept about ten rabbits through the years and all of them have been quite charming, not necessarily as out-going and puppy-like as the first, but at the very least all have been easy to litterbox train and get along with all my cats. My current two are so well behaved I keep them somewhat loose in my small apartment without needing to fear the destructive tendencies that small animals have.
Just a thought. Take care. :)
I hope you get this guinea pig mostly because I cannot wait to read what you write about it. I think with any animal, your experience totally depends on the personality/health of that particular animal. Getting one with a known personality like your little antisocial friend at the shelter can be a great option.
NOOOOOO! BEWARE THE SNACK SPOT FTLOG. Ask me before you buy. I’m too tired to explain right now. Just EWWWWWWWWW.
I haven’t had time to read ALL the other comments but I thought I would share my experiences.
A couple of people have mentioned the smell . It seems that most commenters keep their guinea pigs in the house? Maybe this is a US thing? Here in the UK they live outside in summer and in a shed/porch/conservatory or other sheltered place in the winter so the smell isn’t really an issue. I guess it’s a relative thing.
I’ve just had a thought that this anomaly could be due to location too – we rarely have hot weather here (and certainly not hot weather that lasts longer than a few days) so this probably makes a big difference. I imagine that in proper “summer” weather the smell would increase a lot.
The poops are numerous but they are very small and dry so I never found them that disgusting. If you have an aversion to poop though it could be an issue because there are A LOT!
Someone said that they found guinea pigs expensive. Again this might be a US/UK thing but I didn’t find this to be the case because GPs eat so many of the native plants that we consider to be weeds here. If you have a reasonable sized garden you can provide a lot of food (including quite a variation). obviously they do have to have the dried stuff too but not as much. Maybe this wouldn’t be possible in the US. Another really good thing is that they can eliminate having to mow your lawn – we had a “run” (basically a huge cage with no bottom) that we put on the lawn so they GPs could run around and have space/freedom during good weather and the area where the run was would be grazed and not need moving. Then we would move it to another spot etc etc.
In terms of guinea pigs and cats none of my GPs ever had issues with any of my cats, and we had a few different combos. Even the most independent aggressive cats seemed to ignore the guinea pigs – I think it’s because they are a bit too big to be considered viable prey and because they’re not that fast. Also the cats I had seemed to find the GP squealing noise distasteful and tended to stay away when it was out for cuddle time. Obviously “my cats over the last 20 years” is a tiny sample, and I’m sure that some cats wouldn’t work well with some GPs, but the combined sample of all the commenters will be much larger!
Sorry for doing the thing where you give a load of un asked-for advice, I do realise that you only requested the”cats and GPs” advice but I just couldn’t help it Swistle!!!
No, no, this is EXACTLY the kind of information I was hoping for!
I love that you’re attracted to the anti-social guinea pig.
When our daycare was giving up their guinea pig last year (due to old age; didn’t want the kids to find him dead) we took him. I was sort of against it, but we really enjoyed having him around. And we still had 3 cats at the time, and none of them cared about him at all.
I definitely have to agree with the boys are stickier than girls. I’ve had both. The girl was much more affectionate and she would get so excited when you came out to see her in the morning. For the cage you would need a bigger one and we actually had one that had a rack above the floor (similar to a cooling rack) that we lined with newspaper and then bedding on top. We never had a problem with the cage of the girl stinking when done this way. She was such an awesome pet and a ton of fun to take out and play with. We also never had a problem with her peeing outside the cage. Also I think it’s a great way for teaching responsibility for other living creatures for kids. It’s also a great way to demonstrate how their actions (or lack of) impact another living creature. Such as if your child forgets to feed or give water, gp will be hungry and thirsty.
We have found that female rodents tend to be far less stinky than male rodents. We have a two cats as well as a guinea pig and a rabbit. Our guinea pig isn’t much trouble, but she’s not particularly interesting either. She lives next to my daughter’s bed and is not very noisy nor do we notice much odor. She is especially skittish, so not as friendly and cuddly as many can be. The main problem is that she scatters hay everywhere around the cage, regardless of how we feed it to her. If the cage gets too close to the wall, I find urine on the wall and baseboard, but it cleans up easily.
The cats have little interest in the rabbit or the pig. Even when we let the rodents loose or on a leash outside, the cats loll about in the sun nearby without looking concerned (or hungry). One of our cats is an excellent hunter and he is rather small and not easily intimidated. Twice (in the same week no less), I found him sitting in one corner of the guinea pig’s cage with the pig huddled in its house in the opposite corner. Quite terrifying for me and the pig both. Honestly, the cat looked as if he wanted to make a friend. I don’t know how how he got in the cage, but we did add a twist tie to our closing procedure for awhile after that. Same cat will rub his body up against both animal’s cages as he does against our leg. I have a loose theory based on nothing that animals who share a human household seem to have some understanding that they are all family to some degree. I am sure that I am being naive, but we have had a lots of pets over the years and this has always seemed to be the case.
I think successful guinea pig ownership depends upon the specific animal selected, the family’s interest in cultivating a fun, loving relationship with the pig, and the mother’s willingness to deal with the care/delegation of care. Ours has been a pleasant experience, but I’m not eager to repeat it. Of course, I’m also not eager to repeat our relationship with fish, rabbits, hamsters, snails, or ponies!
I can not stress this enough, do not get a Guinea Pig unless you are ABSOLUTELY certain. You have to clean out the cage once a week, of the two my daughter got, one was sick for most of its life, and the other was anti-social, and no matter what, we couldn’t hold it. Cleaning the cage is like 3x worse than cats or anything else. We got roped into the whole “Guinea Pigs need company” thing and it was the worst decision of our pet caring careers.They are wonderful class pets, but I recommend a gerbil. Or a pet rock.
Looking at your blog tonight, I saw your link back to THIS post and felt compelled to weigh in because Santa Claus brought us not one, but TWO guinea pigs for Christmas and they really are adorable. I enjoy them so much, I could actually see having them once the kids move out of the house!
We have the long-haired variety and if you keep the cage clean (we clean ours out 1-2X a week), and use the proper type of bedding, they do not stink (please note, I’m highly sensitive to pet odors and couldn’t tolerate our cats remaining “indoors” because the litter box was killing me). People have asked how our guineas are doing, and I haven’t posted about them beyond, “Look, Santa brought us Guinea Pigs!!”
But I will soon and when I do, I’ll include pictures so you can get my full 411 on the situation.