Bad idea to have a cat in the same house as guinea pigs?

[max78]

Hi, I have finally managed to pesuade DH to have a cat, but we are a little nervous as to whether it is a bad idea as we have indoor piggies? I love animals and so excited about the prospect of having my much longed for cat but I am a little concerned as to whether he is right that the cat would spend all day trying to hunt them? Is it possible to train the cat to leave them be?
We have a dog who is terrible for chasing anything if he gets the chance and we have trained him to leave them be so I am hoping it is possible?

I was going to say go for it as my cat couldnt care less about our gerbils however they are in a cage. I dont think free range guineas and free range cat would be a good idea. It may not end in dead guineas but I think it would cause the cat or the guineas or both stress.

They aren't free range!!! Sorry if I implied that. They are in cages in our utility room

We have a cat, rabbit, dog, gerbils all living happily together. They are all rescues. Could you get a rescue cat on trial from the shelter and if it doesnt work out they take it back. You could also then try and get a cat whose temprament matches your situation as you need a dog friendly cat too.

Oh sorry in that case I think you are in a much better position to get a cat :-)

Our cat used to sleep in our guineas open cage. One of them would follow her around when he was roaming freely. She treated him as a kitten with SN, I think, and never tried to hurt him. I wouldn't trust our current cats, though. It is a matter of temperament, and I don't think you can really train a cat.

youbethemummylion It will be a rescue cat that we have. I rang the rescue up yesterday and they were lovely. I felt very positive after speaking to them that they had quite a few cats who could live with our dog. We are not bothered about colour/sex/age etc so makes things a lot easier! But I completely forgot to mention our piggies!

Ooh how exciting hope you find a lovely cat to fit into your family.

We have a cat and two indoor bunnies. No problems. Every now and again the cat will tap their bums and they turn and chase the cat. Never had an issue with aggressive-ness, fights etc. they've never bitten each other, clawed, kicked etc.

Ours guineas are dim enough to rush to the bars when they see the cat, just in case she should happen to have a carrot about her person.

She glares at them and does the tail-twitch of indifference.