Tell me anything good about guinea pigs please!

[PenguindreamsofDraco]

I don't want guinea pigs. I want a cat (or several). I've had cats all my life, I adore them.

BUT my husband is absolutely adamant that we're not getting any more. And my 7yo needs a pet, so here we are "compromising" on a pair of guinea pigs.

Have I got anything to look forward to here? Will they recognise us? Will they have different personalities? Are they cuddle-able? Is there anything interesting about a guinea pig?

Thank you!

Proceed with caution!

They need far, far more space than a Pets at Home cage will provide. They can live to be 8 years old, which is long past the interest of growing children.

I like our guinea pigs but the fun part is all when they are small, noisy, active, popcorn around in happiness. They make adorable noises.

Like all rodents they do smell if kept indoors and not cleaned out every couple of days. They must NOT be kept outside all the time as they are comfortable in the same temperatures as we are; winter is far too cold and wet for them not to be at the very least in a shed. They react badly to damp too.

They are herd animals, so need company. Ideally a trio so if one dies early (it happens) you don't have to deal with a single pining animal. (in Switzerland I understand it's illegal to keep them on their own).

Our poor Pippin has been alone for nearly 2 years. She's 7 and her sisters died at 5. We've not been able to find a similarly-aged sow at the local rescues to keep her company. She's always been extremely timid, but still gets excited by being hand-fed dandelion leaves on a lap.

They must NOT be kept outside all the time as they are comfortable in the same temperatures as we are.

They are fine permanently outside as long as they have somewhere warm, dry and out of the wind/rain/snow to go to should they want to. Their sleeping area is heated and draught proof and the bedding hay is changed everyday. Mine have lived outside for 5 years - they are not stuck in a cage getting cold, they can run about. Unless it's raining they are generally out whiffling about in the garden. They are perfectly able to stay in the warm, they do not choose to do so.

Guineas are perfectly fine with cold - it's damp they can't cope with.

I have 4 Guinea pigs and they are anything. Bit low Maintenance, they take far more time/energy than any other pets we've owned. For an easy low maintenance pet I'd suggest a cat, they are very low maintenance :)

They can sadly get hypothermia if they get too cold - happened to a couple of ours when I was little. We'd had them outside for years and years without an issue and then lost two in the same winter :( Vet said hypothermia. I don't know what was different, whether those two were just less hardy? My mum was heartbroken and has had all subsequent ones indoors permanently with regular outdoor time for fresh air.

I love guineas, we have two. By far the sweetest of the small furries IMO, more cuddly than a rat, less bitey than a hamster and less scrabbly/panicky than a rabbit! Ours (two sisters) definitely have their own little personalities - one is much more confident, chatty, outgoing, and bosses her quieter/placider sister around lots. But in the interests of full disclosure, and echoing others:

-They need more space than you think (and than Pets at Home will try and tell you)
-They do smell if not at least spot-cleaned every other day and full clean once a week - assume you will be doing all this or at the very least repeatedly nagging DC to do it.
-They can be nervy if not regularly handled - but ours are very friendly now and will sit on our laps happily for hours - although watch out for them weeing on you - we sit them on an old towel!
-They are very very stupid. Do not under-estimate the stupidity of a guinea pig. Ours are very scared (still) of being chased to be caught (I think it triggers prey instinct) even though they like being held/cuddled. On the other hand they are not scared at all of actually dangerous things like the cat, poisonous/inedible objects or sharp items, so they have to be watched when out of the cage. Ours repeatedly try and kill themselves by throwing themselves off heights e.g. the sofa
-Although they live up to 8 years, as with all rodents they do die quite easily and very rapidly/unexpectedly. Quite upsetting for children. Also you shouldn't really keep one alone so you may find yourself in a never-ending repeating cycle of getting new guinea pig to keep old guinea pig company, then when old pig dies, having to get another new pig to keep the other company, ad infinitum. You can partially solve this by getting three at a time as Stroppy Woman says, but then you need even more space, there's more potential for inter-guinea squabbling and what if two die...

Advantage of guinea pigs , they are incapable of vomiting. I loved all my cats but cat sick and litter trays are gross. This does however mean guinea pig stomachs are delicate. Food must be fresh and watch out for excess greens that could cause bloat.

I’ve never known a guinea to bite in anger. I’ve had the occasional nip when I had food in my hand. Guinea eye sight is poor and piggie was too keen to have the tasty morsels in my hand.

Babies are very fast and skittish but they quickly become Lardy adults that are happy for cuddles.

In my opinion boars have more personality but sows are lovely too.

Life span is a wide range. My current and last piggie is 7 and a half years. So be prepared for heartache after a couple of years or the long time commitment.

The reality is they are a lot of work. Hay all over the house, regular nail clipping, hutch clean out every two days, they are pooh machines and wee for England.

They are also adorable

I find not being able to vomit a disadvantage in any animal as even minor stomach issues can become a major problem quite quickly.

We love our guinea pigs but much harder work than we realised.
They take a lot of shopping for - ours are picky eaters.
Our vet bills are crazy we are lucky we can afford them.
Unless you have a suitable ventilated/heated outbuilding they can’t be outside all year. Ours are much happier indoors but we’ve lost half our dining room and have a pop up run in the house.
Our house always looks messy - hay gets on everything.
I don’t look forward to the weekly clean - we share it.

They are amazing, cute, funny creatures ours love cuddles but require a lot more care than people realise.

Please consider a rescue - you will get the best advice from experts and so many pigs need homes.

I wasn't really fussed about guinea pigs (or any pet really) but my 10 year old was desperate for a pet. He really wanted a cat but I'm so not a cat person so we compromised on piggies!

Best. Decision. Ever.

I adore them completely. They utterly stole my heart from day 1.

We have 2 boys and they're so different.

One is so chilled, his affections are easily bought with parsley, and he barely even bothers to run away when you go to catch him. I swear he fakes it for a few seconds so that he doesn't show himself up in front of his brother but he loves a cuddle! He sits on your shoulder like a parrot and licks your face.

The other is The Boss. He's the one that checks out new stuff in the cage (while the other hangs back), he's the first to explore a new place. His affections can NEVER be bought. But now we're best buds and he adores me (likes others but I'm so his favourite!) and he gazes at me adoringly when he has cuddle time. He melts into a piggy puddle and just streeeeeeeetches out over my belly and will only move to lift his head and give me The Look if I dare to stop stroking him.

The make so many adorable noises. Massive wheeks when food is coming, deep purrs when cuddle time is just right, a cute sort of chutchut noise when happy exploring. Loads of others too.

I could talk about them for hours. . And this from someone who had no interest in having a pet!

They know their names. Know what "hay time" means (they run out and will popcorn like crazy even before I've touched the bag!) and if you say "what is this?" they will come running to find out what it is as it's often food! We have a ball with a bell and both will go find it and jingle it if I ask them "where's the ball? Find the ball!" So they can be clever little creatures.

We have them indoors in the living room. The extra interactions they get make for a closer bond I think. We have them on fleece which is easy to clean. I recently added a hay loft and now there's no mess (except poop!) on the bottom level and it's been much tidier and easier. The poop is like tiny chocolate bananas. . It's pretty inoffensive and easy to sweep up or hoover.

My DS has been brilliant with them. Its been so good for him having a pet. And he's been so responsible. Gets up at 7am without fail, even in the holidays, to feed them. Does the daily clean out and helps me with the full clean out (we do it every 4 days now). He can be a bit too screen focussed but understands the pigs are his priority and it's up to us to give them their best life possible so he abandons Fortnite or Minecraft with minimum fuss when the pigs need looking after.

I'm going to stop typing now as it's already essay length. Oops.

There's downsides to being a Pig Mum but there's always downsides to any pet. They are lovelier little pets than you can imagine if you've never had one before. 😍

They are lovely , my DD and I are on GP6/GP7/GP8 now (all about 4yo)

I agree they are harder work than you'd imagine , they need protected and cossetted more than other small furries.
Ours are in a Pighouse (wooden playhouse) so they have large htches and 24/7 access to floorspace. They have garden runs when we put them out. At this time of year we can only let them graze if its not extreme heat, their Pighouse is shaded and ventilated .

Everyone needs to be on board. DD and I look after them, if she's unwell or out late , then I do it. When DD and both had flu (proper flu) DH did it (even though he would rather have cats).

Your 7yo will do a bit but its really up to you and as the adult YOU take the responsibilty.

They are lovely, gentle, noisy (they call it 'chatty') little rodents. I had one bitey/gnawing pig, not a bite to an adult but a child would think so.

Inside their hay gets everywhere and we do need to change their bedding daily. Even in summer if they only sleep nights in their Pighouse the bedding does 2 days maximum.

You need to make sure your DC isn't allergic to fur or hay (guineas don't compromise on either) My DD has developed allergies to our coarser coated boars , she still cuddles them but gets a rash .

We got all ours from small animal rescues , it's fantastic to take on an animal and see it settle (even BiteyPig settled but she was always a character)

And they break your heart when they die

Agree about the heartbreak - we paid the vets over £600 to try to save Mr Bingley’s life - he only made it another 24 hours.

Our holiday boarding this year alone has cost £ 150. They will only accept a five star piggy hotel.

If you are prepared for the hard work it’s so worth it but don’t do it half hearted.

Vet bills is a good point. Pop some money in a savings account for any vet bills!

Seconding the vet bills! My 7yo has just been diagnosed with arthritis, bless him. Expensive to deal with but no way I'm not paying, he's one of the family.

I'm also another advocate of fleece, which i changed to from sawdust when I realised he was struggling to get through it. So much easier to clean, I change his bed fleece daily and the main one every 2 days. Takes seconds.

One of the best things about guineas is that however many packs of crisps, bars of chocolate and bottles of alcohol go into your shopping trolley you'll still look like the most healthy family in the county due to the amount of fruit and veg that's in there! Guineas, like humans, can't synthesise vitamin C so need their 5(00) a day. Honestly, about half the shop is food for the girls (ok, so they do share with their humans, and rabbits, but reluctantly).

They are very cute. Even DP, who isn't into animals, is smitten. He told me last year, after I'd been away, that they love cucumber (as if I didn't know) so we now have to buy 4 a week! Oh well, at least the girls are happy.

Not that they are, seeing as how I only feed them twice a day. Twice an hour, every hour, is what they think they should get. Poor things! If they hear a plastic bag rustle they're convinced it contains food for them, and won't shut up until something yummy is presented to them, even if dinner has been served two minutes previously. They can't miss out on anything.

They are lovely creatures. Enjoy them. Oh, but consider getting three, not two. That way, when one dies, you won't have a frantic rush trying to find a new friend for the remaining one.