Cats and guinea pigs – do they mix or have we made a terrible mistake?

[Frieda]

When I used to keep guinea pigs as a child, we also had a cat (and at least two of my friends were also joint cat and guinea pig owners) and I don't remember the cat taking much notice of the guinea pigs (I certainly don't remember it being a problem). After much wheedling, we finally bought DS a couple of baby guinea pigs at the weekend ? he's absolutely over the moon with them ? but unfortunately our cat is taking what appears to be a bit of an unhealthy interest. At the moment, she's just lurking round the cage and staring at them, and we've moved the cage upstairs, which we can cordon off (as long as no one leaves the kitchen door open) but it is a bit of a worry.

Does anyone else have any co-pet ownership experience? I'm sure it must be possible ? and DS would be devastated if the GPs had to go back. I'm sort of hoping the novelty will wear off with the cat, and she'll lose interest, especially as they get bigger. Any advice much appreciated.

Um - how baby are they, Frieda? Tiny baby gp's are possibly a bit too rodentish to be safe around a cat but I'm sure once they are bigger she will have more respect for them (a full-size gp is at least half the size of most cats!) Just keep them apart until the baby gp's are a bit bigger

Your cat will probably lose interest after a while, we had the same sort of problem when ds had 2 mice 1 1/2 years ago but soon lost intrest and now only every once in a while she goes to have a look at them. Hope every think settles down soon.

Thanks, JanH, for your reassuring words. They're actually only about 7 or 8 weeks old at the mo. You're absolutely right about "rodendish", though. There were 8 to choose from in the pet shop ? varying sizes, including one tiny one with a bit of a bitten ear who was obviously the runt of the litter and looked as though he'd been picked on by one of the bigger ones. Guess which one DS chose? He's got such a soft heart, bless him!
Anyway, the rate Harry is munching on anything that comes his way, he's going to be the size of his hutch pretty soon. And yes, when I think about my Malcolm (the one I had as a child) he was probably bigger than our cat! (bit of an exaggeration, but not much!)

Thanks, anyway, both of you. I'll sleep a bit more soundly!