The Guardian - 'Guinea Pigs are the lowest form of pet'

[lottieandmia]

see here

I totally disagree with this - we love our guinea pigs and they have entirely different personalities from each other.

[racingheart]

If they'd seen my two playing tag with a pot of parsley stalks this morning, they'd eat their words.


And what right-minded parent objects to a low maintenance high cute-value pet?

[FernieB]

Shocked and appalled! Just read this to my DDs and we are outraged. Our GPs are useful members of the family (mowing) and provide endless entertainment.

Current Bun, however, is in total agreement

[guineapiglet]

Clearly written by someone who has never had and understood the super furries we all know and love!!

And obviously have too much time on their hands writing such a non article. They need to do their research properly. All pets require love and attention.

[mrsfuzzy]

it was in the guardian? that speaks volumes in itself, there are thousands of us piggy lover who know how much pleasure and fun they can be, i take in unwants and rescues currently have 24 and they are all different personalities, the writer obviously has no experience at all, ok everyone is different but at least piggies don't go out and get lost or hurt other animals or humans.

[Grunzlewheek]

Obviously she couldn't think of anything else to write about and has only seen Guinea pigs in a hutch in the garden, mine are indoor piggies and the whole family interacts with them all the time, they will not be ignored !

[KRITIQ]

Can't decide who are the worst of the bellends here - the author of the silly, ill-informed puff piece is worse or those making assnine comments below the line, thinking they are oh so funny boasting about their cruelty to animals or oh so transgressive because they've eaten cuy. Shock! Horror!

[FernieB]

Almost made me want to buy the paper so my pigs could poop on it

[Sawdust]

The nerve!!

Fernie - that really made me laugh!

[lottieandmia]

Fernie

[RandomMess]

They clearly have never endured hamsters then

[noyouhavehadawee]

I have just requested dh to ring the in laws to keep their guardians so indeed my six year old highly entertaining (recently bereaved) very cute and chatty and free ranging lawn mower of a guinea pig can indeed shit on it.

[70isaLimitNotaTarget]

The Guardian is not worthy of my fur-babies wee.
(The Telegraph on the other had has lovely large pages. My DBro brought loads last visit. But they favour The Metro and play Boris Johnson Bingo . How many of his pictures can they soil)

TBH the article is pretty much on a par with what I hear in all PetStores.
"Can I hve a GP"
"Oh yes I'll buy you one"

I've invited my DD friends and my NDN grandson to see my boys. Not to 'put them off' but to let them see the nuts and bolts of how messy they are. The hay. The pooh.
They are lovely when they are tiny (our piglet is adorable) but I get the rage when I see the Gumtree adverts "2 GPs and huge cage" and it's a tiny P@H box.

They aren't as acrobatic as rats or hamsters.
More 'closeted' than rabbits.

But those who love guineas appreciate their flaws.
We've been on holiday, my DD has over 300 pictures of the boars on her iPod. To anyone else they look like lumps of fur with googley eyes.
We know our chaps are characters.

I think Fernies Currant Bun has a slightly biased opinion of guineas

[70isaLimitNotaTarget]

Bump - is this the painting?

[guineapiglet]

OOOH A ZOMBIE THREAD

Yes, 70 well remembered- I had forgotten what the painting looked like, but the guinea really is lovely! Thankyou - XX

< age and decrepitude and wretched menopause severely affecting memory now>

[70isaLimitNotaTarget]

I'm a bit wary of the way the guinea-pig is eyeballing the tiny little songbird.

"I'm not reaaaallly a vegetarian, 'tis a myth that we guineas perpetuate to get us into your homes. Mwah ha ha "

Bit about the 'stick some googly eyes on a cushion :- instant pretendy guinea-pig

[quirrelquarrel]

Oh!! what a silly thing to say, the Guardian!

One of my last pigs would come when he was called- sort of. He def knew what I wanted, anyway. He'd be on my pillow and I'd be on the bed and I would call his name and he'd be very very alert, I'd keep calling his name and finally he would come over to me and hop onto my lap and wait expectantly.

Be all snuggled up with his piggy friend on my tummy, then jump off when he got too hot. Saw me fussing his friend and then suddenly decided he needed to be in the middle, shoved him out of the way to be under my chin....and when I gently squeezed him with my arms around him he'd do a huge yawn and proper stretch and stay there with his little feet flopped out.

My mum trained them both to trot along from the kitchen to wherever their run was in the garden. It was a complicated journey for four little legs! When they got free range time in the garden one usually ended up on the back door step waiting to go in. She tried to get them to purr on demand for treat food, but that I think was a bit too demeaning for them.

[quirrelquarrel]

PS- my mum has always insisted that of course guinea pigs rank above cats and dogs for superior petness. In fact I'm not sure she even really rates humans all that much in comparison with GPs.

[70isaLimitNotaTarget]

GP1 (he's 3.5 yo now) knows when my DD has a Strawberry Cornetto and practically canters over when he's in the run outside.
GP3 looks but not bovvered.

GP1 then shares the cone part (she doesn't let him have the chocolate or ice-cream) but he has a bite of the crispy biscuity part.

As for names, they have their RL names, and about 20 nick names . So they plead ignorance

[FernieB]

I think my boys know their names - there's a response of sorts. Scruffy presents himself for picking up which is sweet.

[quirrelquarrel]

Oh....I'm not sure he knew his name in the sense of knowing that this sound belonged to him IFYSWIM....just that this was a sound he heard very often and I was being annoyingly insistent about it of course, he could have been a piggy genius and known perfectly well everything that was going on. In fact yes, no doubt this is the most likely option, what am I saying!

Whenever I pondered out loud on the subject of guins knowing their names my mum would be very cross and say, but of course they do! what, are you underestimating them again? According to her their average vocab spanned 40 words. Grass, carrot, run etc.

Cantering guinea pigs- just gorgeous

[FernieB]

Mine can rustle up a middle aged waddle - will that do? They do occasionally produce a popcorn and then seem as surprised as I do.

[tiaramasu]

Guinea Pigs were the easiest and maybe nicest pets that we owned.

[toomanyjanes]

Guinea pigs are super pets for small children. Unless you find the children have an allergy to them...which a friend did. Otherwise they are reasonably easy and cheap to keep and the kids really enjoy them.

[tiaramasu]

They live longer than hamsters too.