Why Your Next Pet Should Be a Guinea Pig

Pets can certainly take a lot of work. If you’re looking for an animal that is fun, has a good deal of personality and doesn’t require constant attention, your next pet should be a guinea pig.

Give a guinea pig a bit of love and attention, feed them properly, and you can expect these animals to provide you with companionship and comfort for years to come. They’re also great for kids as a first pet.

What you Should Know about Guinea Pigs as Pets

Lifespan

Compared to many other smaller pets such as rats and mice, and guinea pigs live for about five years if well looked after. There have even been some that have managed to live for ten years. They eat a relatively simple diet of hay, vegetables, or specialist food made from pellets.

Good pet for kids

If your child has ever harassed you for a pet, the cuddly guinea pig is a good choice. Because they are a fairly docile animal, they don’t mind being handled in the way that smaller rodents and mammals do. Guinea pigs are also an excellent way for kids to learn how to be responsible before you perhaps move onto a much bigger animal like a dog.

Guinea pigs are sociable

The one thing you probably want with a pet is that it is friendly and has some personality. While your guinea pig isn’t going to run after a stick for you, they do like to play, and they’re smarter than the average small furry mammal.

They’re easy to look after

One of the problems of owning a pet is you have to find someone to look after it when you go on holiday. The good news is that guinea pigs are pretty easy to take care of, even if you’re a novice. That means you should be able to find willing friends and family to help you out when you most need it.

5 Things to Think About Before You Get a Guinea Pig

Guinea pigs are not all the same size. You can get some quite small varieties and much bigger ones. Make sure you have a habitat that gives your pets enough room to move around and have their own private space.
Guinea pigs are social animals and tend to fare better if they have another guinea pig for company. This means you should be careful with your choice when you buy them as you may not want a lot of other baby guinea pigs appearing all of a sudden. You also need to neuter the males, or they may not get along.
You don’t have to go to the pet shop for your guinea pig. They can often be found at the local RSPCA because some people get the animals on a whim and then abandon them.
Be careful if you have other rodents or small mammals in the house and keep them separate. Guinea pigs are prone to picking up infections (and vice versa) from hamsters and rats or mice.
Guinea pigs can spend a lot of their time awake and only sleep in short spurts. That means if you’ve got one in your bedroom, you’re likely to be woken by it.

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“Why Your Next Pet Should Be a Guinea Pig”

Many thanks to Exotic Direct for writing this article.

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Jeanne Melanson

Founder at Animal Bliss

Jeanne is the founder of Animal Bliss. Originally from Nova Scotia, Canada she has lived in the United States for more than 20 years now. She is deeply passionate about animals of all kinds and started this site to share that love with others.

Her own animal experience is vast, having raised and rescued Alpine Goats, Chickens, Turkeys, Vietnamese Pot Bellied Pigs, Turtles, Raccoons, Cats, Dogs, and even an Opossum and Bearded Dragon.