Would indoor guinea pigs affect your view of buying a house?

[Lunchtimehelp]

Would indoor guinea pigs put you off buying a house?

We will be putting our house on the market in a few weeks. We have indoor guinea pigs.

I ask people when they come round if they can smell them and they say not really but I don't know if they are just being polite. I do clean their poo out everyday and deep clean once a week.

We could put them outside for viewings/house photos but it'll mean forking out another £100 for a suitable cage/run that's big enough and foxes cant get to them. We have quite a small garden

What do you think?

Their poo and hay ends up everywhere, their fleece cage liners are urine soaked and stink, make sure you've cleaned them out and hoovered around them just before any viewings, what else can you do.

I would give their cage/hutch/run a really good clean out, remove and dry out any wet patches and air the room they are kept in on the day of any viewings, sweep up any hay or bedding they've kicked out and any stray poos and you should be grand. As others have said it's the urine that smells and particularly stale urine that's been absorbed by their bedding and sat around for a few days, so that's what to focus on removing. Very sharp nosed people will probably still pick up a little whiff of guinea pig even with brand new clean bedding but they should be able to understand that will quickly go after you've moved out.

If I could smell them, it would make me suspect you weren't a very clean/house-proud person and I'd be that bit more careful to be wary of other things that hadn't been properly maintained. The sort of person who doesn't really care to clean out their animals properly is probably also the sort of person who turned a blind eye to the leaky toilet or the smell of mould in the bathroom, or whatever.

If I couldn't smell them, I wouldn't care one way or the other.

(I mean, I wouldn't personally have the vapours and run screaming from a house if I could smell mould or whatever either; it'd just be a factor in my thinking.)

The smell of dogs puts me off being in a house. But Guinea pigs are small and don’t smell much surely? Unless you have 10? 🙃

We have multiple pets and our EA didn't make any comment on them. Our intention was always to move the dogs out of the house for viewings and confined pets would stay. He said a ftb would likely snap up our house providing we priced it realistically.

Guinea pigs I could deal with. I once went to view a house and there was a huge snake in one of the bedrooms and no one warned us. I screamed my head off and ran out the house because I have a phobia of snakes. I think you should make anyone coming to view the house aware in advance. Then it is up to them. Open windows and spray around air fresh.

We did, tbh it took longer to remove the signs of the previous owners dog than it did the guinea pigs!

It would put some people off so I’d put them in a cage in the garage for the viewing, and do a big clean so there’s no smell.

Not at all. A good clean out and fresh bedding before the viewing will mean there's no smell. Pragmatic was the word you wanted.

I don't like them and the smell would put me off. However, if the house was perfect in every other way, I'd still consider buying it. My pet hate is a cat flap. So many back doors and patio doors ruined by them and the cost of replacing them really affects my judgement.

Whereabouts in the house are they? Is it possible em to move them to a bathroom where you can have windows open and clean them out easily?

No, it wouldn't. Cat flaps and litter trays might but it depends on the house.

Wouldn’t bother me guinea pigs don’t really smell, big smelly dogs on the other hand would.

Houses with dogs stink too. Dog owners dont smell it though. We looked aftee a mouse for a week.. it smelt!

It didnt put us off buying a dog owners house as we knew the smell will go.

No. I'm fine with pedantic.

& with the rate GP's pee & poo, she'd need to be doing it as each viewer walked in.

Anyway, I wouldn't worry about it, but if I wanted to do something I'd see if a friend could have them or a small pets boarding place.

You really really shouldn't put indoor guinea pigs outdoors suddenly (except for an hour or so on a mild day for fun). It's very cruel.

It's nothing to do with keeping a clean house, their urine & poo just smell, as does humans, but it doesn't get flushed away the moment they've done it (& they do it continually).

& no matter what you use in their area it smells, even if you clean it out several times a day, which they hate, so it's not really fair on them anyway.

Whether they snell or bit, it may subconsciously put off buyers. Therefore if you can fund an outdoor run I would buy one.
SB: 'smell or not' (defo if they snell or bit!)

Do none of the people talking about how much animals smell give any thought to how much humans smell and the revolting things they do in their houses? Add to that the fact that humans will be much more likely to be carrying diseases that will transmit to other humans.

Reading this thread makes me think that there must be vast numbers of people who will only ever live in a newly built house that has been fully disinfected before they walk in.

I wouldn’t be bothered by seeing Guinea pigs if I was looking at a house, in fact it would reassure me that the sellers were normal people and I’d feel positive about them. It wouldn’t have any effect on what I thought of the house because they aren’t part of the fixtures and fittings!

Your friends are being kind saying ‘not really’…you must know that ‘not really’ means ‘absolutely stinks’.

They DO smell! (The PP saying they don’t is deluded!)

Can you ask a friend or relative to house them whilst you’re trying to sell?

I have them, I love them, we sold our house while still having them - but yep unless the cage is cleaned about every 30 seconds - they can get whiffy. I have never known a creature as able to produce as much shit as the fluffy little brainless buggers.

One of mine is also a judgemental fucker who thinks she's hard and would probably try to stare down any potential buyers - so if you've got a psycho Honey... maybe.

Not a fan of guinea pigs but I wouldn’t care at all!

if they are clean they are fine but some people can be fussy. do you have a neighbour or friend who could take the cage just while viewers are looking round? if they go outside it need not be permanent though I kept mine inside I did put them in runs in the garden in summer so they got fresh grass, sunshine and a change of scenery

I think calling people thick etc over worry about smell is unfair. It doesn't always go with owners.
Saying that as someone who had flat after people had "free range" rabbits in it.....

We have indoor piggies, and our old house sold within a week.
You can smell well kept guineas when you’re very close to their cage, but it’s not like when someone has a cat or dog that can move around the house (unless you’re not keeping them clean).
That house had previously had a cat, when we moved in down the backs of the radiators were solid with clumps of fur, there was fur coming out of the carpet for weeks when I hoovered and the French doors had a cat flap installed that we had to remove.
There will have been absolutely nothing for the new owners to do as a result of my guinea pigs, the enclosure was removed and I hoovered and dusted before we left.