To ask if anyone's successfully combined owning a cat with guinea pigs?

[thepeopleversuswork]

Curious to hear if anyone's managed to do this safely. I'm really keen to get a cat but we have GPs and I obviously don't want to endanger or scare them.

I don't have a huge flat so can't really set aside a room just for them (which is what's recommended in the forums and guides). The only room they can live in practically is a common area which would be shared by a cat.

I WFH so could supervise to a point but obviously not in all the time. They have a reasonably robust cage but I wouldn't put it past a canny cat to break in.

Am I being unrealistic?

I don’t think the cat is a problem as much as the flat. Seems a bit mean to me to keep them indoors all the time- ours used to have outdoor runs. Not to mention that they’ll stink the place out.

Oh, I misread, I thought you had the cat already, not the guinea pigs. I really wouldn’t. Even if it can go out some of the time, and I live in a flat with an outdoor cat, I know it’s possible- but it’ll still spend a reasonable amount of time looking for ways to get into trouble when it’s in. It will be interested in the smelly squeaky things that move. Especially if it’s young.

Yep I have 3 dogs, 2 cats and 2 x guinea pigs - they have a lid on the cage so the cats/dogs can't get to them but no one pays them any attention anyway

Depends mainly on the nature of the cat. Saying that, my hunter was subdued by rabbits first (already had a large house-rabbit when she arrived) so she was used to not being able to eat pet prey animals when I got guineas. I didn't leave her alone with them but I never used to lock their inside cage after a while.

My current guineas are now in a shed and the two young ones have never seen the cat so I wouldn't let her in with them but one group had no fear of her at all. One lad was convinced she was his best friend and would cuddle up to her. She wasn't entirely convinced!

My last 2 cats were completely freaked out and terrified of guinea pigs, despite being prolific hunters!

I have a cat and 2 gpigs. I had the cat first though then got 2 pigs and had the pigs in a cage together as they are brothers. The cat climbed on top of the cage to start with and would put her paw in to get to them but didn’t have claws out and the pigs just ran away or sniffed. When cleaning the cage the cat attempted to get in and would get nipped by them and they were only a few week old. We have since moved house and the pigs are now free range in the garden and the cat runs away from them and pigs go up and nip at her feet and she runs off. With them being outside all the time the pigs also get other cats visiting and the cats tend to just sit and stare as they are quite big now. The problem isn’t the 2 animals coexisting it’s whether you have the space available for it to happen.

My cats are mega hunters, we live very rurally, on a farm, so lots of rabbits, rats, squirrels, larger birds (pigeons, the odd pheasant) caught as well as mice and voles. (cats are big ones!)

At no point have they EVER viewed our small mammal or bird pets as prey. Ever, even though some pets are the same size/species as their prey.

However that doesn't discount that the small mammals were disturbed by the mere presence of a predatory carnivore around them.

The gps and rabbits (and bantam chickens) were kept well away, had very secure outdoor runs but rabbits and gps exhibited stress if one of the cats sat nearby (which is what you'd expect them to do,)

Bantam cockerel just attacked them, regardless

When the Guinea Pigs and Rabbits died, (of natural causes) , we did not get more. Seemed cruel to subject them to unnecessary stress.

Thanks all. It sounds like the space issue may be the biggest factor.

TBH I slightly regret getting them this way round. I am fond of the GPs but I love cats in a special way. My DC is very fond of them though.

I wouldn't have a cat if i had GPs. A few seconds is all it takes to go disastrously wrong. Could you wait till you no longer have GPs then get a cat?

One of our young female cats climbed in with the pig and just sat with him. Discovered accidentally, he was in his outside run which is an old, giant size dog crate on the grass. I hadn’t realised that the holes in the top were bigger than the sides and she must have just jumped in. No idea how long she was in there! I hooked her out and covered over the holes but she and her sister regularly go and sit side by side with him, outside the run. He runs over, squeaks and sticks his nose through to greet them.
He’s quite a large boy, 7 years old now. Cats aren’t daft and probably sense what could do them damage (those GP teeth are something else).
Before we acquired the cats, our elderly dog would sit with him, free range, on the lawn. Never any hint of aggression. Our elder cat just ignores him.

Can't see it being a problem. Never had cats and GPs together, but had cats and rabbits, gerbils, hamsters, fish etc. The cats never attacked the other animals. They actually got chased by the rabbits when we let them loose in the house (supervised of course, can't just trust the cats). But it was funny watching them being chased by a rabbit, the rabbit wasn't even being aggressive, just curious.

We had a rat that was so naturally terrified of cat smell that we had to stop hosting our cat-owning friends. She'd be upset for weeks post-visit. It might work out but its very much a gamble.

My childhood cat worked his way through quite a few guinea pigs, even after getting bitten on the nose. However that was always to do with my mother just not being careful.

Our neighbours down the road have house rabbits that have free run of the garden - our cat once got as far as the garden and was confronted by these rabbits the same size as him and froze, in the end they called me to come and rescue him because he was hiding from the rabbits

I should think if you got a couple of kittens, they might be less likely to see the pigs as prey.

We had 2 elderly cats and two piggies no bother - but we didn't let them "play" together and we do have a garden.

I had a cat and a couple of pigs. The cats largely ignored them. I think the pigs were big enough that the cat knew she wouldn’t have much luck with them lol