guinea pigs ....and dogs....and cats?

[kathymuggle]

Hi!

We have a lab and an indoor cat. The lab is Marley like.

My DD (10) wants a guinea pig. I do not think this is a passing want - she has done a fair bit of research on them.

We have told her she has to pay for it, and have asked her to wait until fall to purchase one (for a variety of reasons - including making sure it is not a passing fancy).

She plans to build a cage and keep it in her room. She plans to always keep the door closed - so as not to risk dog/cat guinea pig interaction.

My major concern is :

Will the dog know the guinea pig is in her room (probably by smell) and go nuts at her door? I do not think I could handle this for long.

Anything else you can tell us about guinea pigs - and particulalry guinea pigs in multi pet households?

[Frogmorest]

We have our GPig (beauty) in our rec/daycare room. The cats ignore him. The dogs LOVE him and will protect, groom and snuggle him. We DO have herding dogs (Pembroke welsh Corgi and Rough Collie) so that's part of it but they are just so darn good with him. And with the cats? GPigs are BIG so it's not a "rodent" type creature to them. More on par with them you know? So they don't bother.

Our GPig loves apples, carrots, banana, lettuce, kale, bok choy. He tolerates pears, oranges and berries. We do give him a Vit C supplement. We feed a high quality pellet diet, treat cubes (alfalfa hay) and fresh timothy hay daily. He comes out of his cage MULTIPLE times a day for love, snuggles and exercise. He loves to eat dandelions and fresh grass. He LOVES to be dressed up, put in dolly strollers and pushed around. He rumbles and squeaks the entire time. He enjoys licking fingers and kissing us too.

I love our Beauty. He is top choice for me in the "cage" animal realm.

[Breathless Wonder]

You might want to check out these websites:
http://www.cavyspirit.com/
http://www.guinealynx.info/

[Carlin]

I've never had a Guinea Pig but I've babysat them a few times and they are pretty neat little critters. However, my MIL had one that my husband's dog killed in one moment of inattention. I think it would be worth spending some time and effort to teach the dog that the Guinea Pig is not prey, just like you'd teach him or her to leave the cats alone. I'd still not leave them alone unsupervised but at least you wouldn't have to worry so much about accidentally leaving a door unlatched or something similar.

[Adele_Mommy]

We had guinea pigs when I was growing up and I found them to be great pets. Be sure and handle them a lot so they become comfortable with people. They are much more affectionate if you do.

We also had a dog. Our dog never bothered the guinea pigs, but we also pet sat and at least one of the dogs we cared for tried to attack the guinea pigs, but our dog stopped him. If you have a dog that understands about other family pets (and with a cat I assume you do) you probably won't have problems with the dog. I don't know about the cat. I think it depends on the cat's personality. If you have the type of cat that hunts other things, especially if it hunts rabbits, I think it will try to hunt the guinea pigs, but not all cats are like that. I just looked back and saw that your cat is an indoor cat. We have rabbits all over the place in our neighborhood and there are neighborhood cats that hunt them, but it does not sound like that is your situation.

[angie7]

Your dogs can get use to the new pet if you teach them how to act around it. My 4 dogs have lived with everything from cats to snakes, rats, parrots, lizards, turtles, etc. They are obviously curious about a new pet but we do not let them get over excited. With a guinea pig, I would let the dog approach the animal while in it's cage, on the floor and make the dog lay down. If the dog starts to get over excited, I would give one "ehh,ehh" correction and if they still get over excited, I would remove from the room and make them lay further away (if the pig is in a room, make the dog lay in the doorway type thing) in the down position. When the dog calms, I would try the first thing again. Eventually the dog will learn to be calm when approaching the cage.

I would NEVER leave the pig and the dog unsupervised though. That is just asking for trouble! I actually would never let the pig out with the dog in the same room. I would close the door when the pig was out and the only time the dog would be allowed around it was when it was in it's cage.

GL! They are sweet but loud little critters!

[kathymuggle]

Thanks everyone!

I am still hemming and hawing about the wisdom of getting a GP with 2 other pets....

If (when? if? ) we get a GP, my DD wants to get one from a rescue or shelter - which is great! She read one of the links above and is now quite against pet stores!

Kathy

[Rebecca]

I've had guinea pigs constantly since I was about 5 yrs old. Even in my college dorm, I snuck in a piggy. Right now we have 2, Shadow and Star. Two 3 yr old girls that live with my outdoor rabbits in the summer and in the house when it's cold. Piggies are FANTASTIC pets for children for all the reasons already listed.

I have 3 cats who don't bother them. Well, if I let the pigs waddle around on the floor, a cat might give the pig's butt a swat to make it move, but that's the extent of it. I've always had pigs in under-the-bed type plastic bins as cages, with no tops with other cats. However I have a kitty now who likes to sleep and poop in the pig cage, so we have a traditional cage now.

Without knowing your dog, I'd suggest getting TWO (sibling pigs) and just keeping the lid shut, door opened, supervised. Introduce the pigs to the dog rather than keeping them as interesting contraband locked up behind closed doors. My sister's bf had a husky that got into her pig cage and killed them both, but I don't think that's typical.

Enjoy your piggies! They're snuggly, cute and fun little critters!