Can Piggies Form A Bond With Their Owner?

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Florapig

Florapig

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Hi, I'm just wondering if piggies can form a special bond with their owners? My piggies get there nails trimmed when they have a health check, they are absolute nightmares. They bite, scream and wriggle. Whenever I trim there nails they wriggle but don't mind it. Also, if my friends hold them they get really panicked. Many people who don't own guinea pigs always say that they are just guinea pigs and don't care who cuddles them, I don't believe this .
Thankyou
 
Definitely! There is no doubt in my mind that guinea pigs recognize the sight/sound/scent of their owners and respond differently to people that they know and love. I can think of so many examples... my guinea pigs wheek at me in the evenings when they hear my voice because they know it's time for them to come out and gets treats and they know that I'm the one who is going to get their food ready! They don't wheek when they hear my husband's voice because they know he isn't going to feed them or let them out. One of my pigs squealed and was upset when my mom had to get her out of the cage, but is fine if the kids and I do it. I had to leave one of my pigs at the vet for the day for minor surgery... when they brought her out in her carrier for me to pick her up, she perked up visibly as soon as she heard our voices and came over to the grid at the front of the carrier to see us. One of my pigs adores my son... she looks for him as soon as she hears his voice and makes her way over to him if he sits at the opposite end of the couch. I had one guinea pig that liked women and children, but did not like adult men... she could certainly tell when a man tried to hold her as opposed to a woman or child and would try to get away. There's no doubt in my mind that they recognize different people and relate differently to them. They can definitely tell humans from one another and show preferences!
 
They definitely recognise who they can trust and most importantly, who feeds them!

Mine recognise my voice when I am coming up the garden as they know I am bringing veg!

I realised that they trust me as one morning we were sitting in the hallway having a run around and the postman posted a letter and the noise scared them and they both come running full speed towards me to save them!
 
My two will only wheek for me but no one else as I'm the one who feed's them and does their daily cleanup's and health checks and lap time and pretty much has the most of the interaction with them. They have come to recognize my partner and my father so will not care about them at meal times so wont run away but neither of them can get a peep out of them. The other night I was spot cleaning them as it was "baby bedtime" and they decided to put on a show and did zoomies and pop corned while I was sweeping up hay and poo's and putting more hay out. It's the first time they have done this (they prefer to chew on the scoop I use and sit in the dust pan) while i'm spot cleaning so it made my day and I didn't even care that they were scattering my freshly swept pile of hay and poo everywhere. They really looked like they were happy to see me but it was probably the hay lol.
 
I sincerely think that guinea pigs do form a close bond with their owners.

My Emma is on daily medication and she will sit and wait each morning as she knows what's coming. Don't get me wrong, she hates being caught but once caught and settled, she sits on my knee patiently.

She will also do this with my mum as when me and my husband go away, my parents take care of them. It's funny though as she will not do this with my husband as he doesn't medicate her.

@Wiebke has a very large group of guinea of guinea pigs, many of whom have had various illnesses and not the nicest of backgrounds.

I have seen first hand how much her guinea pigs trust her and react to the sound of her voice. It is fascinating to see xx
 
My old Gizzy RIP responded to me much in the same way a dog would
 
Florapig said:
Hi, I'm just wondering if piggies can form a special bond with their owners? My piggies get there nails trimmed when they have a health check, they are absolute nightmares. They bite, scream and wriggle. Whenever I trim there nails they wriggle but don't mind it. Also, if my friends hold them they get really panicked. Many people who don't own guinea pigs always say that they are just guinea pigs and don't care who cuddles them, I don't believe this .
Thankyou
Click to expand...

Guinea pigs know exactly who they are handled by and distinguish very well between humans. You can build a bond with them. These tips her will help you to interact with your guinea pigs in a way that they instinctively understand instead of expecting them to learn "human" first.
How To Understand Guinea Pig Instincts And Speak Piggy Body Language
 
TheCavySlave said:
Absolutely! @Swissgreys will tell you about the pigs and their bonds with the children.
Click to expand...

Without a doubt all piggies are capable of forging a bond with certain people, and some form an incredibly strong bond with one person.
I would like to say it is directly related to the amount of positive interaction and time the pig has with that person, but I don't think that is entirely true - sometimes a pig and person just click.

We have Eddi who is our super friendly and fairly laid back pig. He will happily settle on almost anyone's lap, and loves a good snuggle.
But he and DD2 have a very special bond - she is the ONLY person he will kiss.
He adores her, and shows it openly be refusing to kiss anyone else.
Ever.
I have a video of it here:


And then we have Ruby.
Ruby is confident, bossy, and extremely chatty.
And in all honesty DD1 is the only person who can handle her.
If someone else tries to stoke her or hold her she bites them. Or climbs off their lap, and makes a beeline for DD1.
As soon as she is with DD1 she climbs onto her shoulder, and flops down and purrs gently into her ear (literally for hours).
If we try to pick her up she shrieks and bites us, but if DD1 is handling her she is a total angel. When DD1 calls her she rushes to the front of the cage and will happily be picked up. If anyone else tries to catch her she turns into a lightening bolt with sharp teeth.
At our recent vet visit the vet was marveling at what a relaxed piggy Ruby was (at the time Ruby was sprawled across DD1's shoulder, chattering into her ear).
The vet asked if she could quickly check her over (Ruby was there as a companion piggy for Eddi), and the minute she tried to touch Ruby, Ruby turned around, bit her finger, and the settled back on DD1 shoulder like butter wouldn't melt in her mouth.

So yes - I truly believe that guinea pigs can form close bonds with certain people.
 
I love that video of Eddi's kisses. It's beautiful that Eddi & Ruby have such a strong bond to each of their chosen child :luv:
 
I find that the best example of this is a ver visit. The rest of the time the pigs are like "whatever human" to me but once they're on the vet table then they're straight over to me with the "HELP" look on their faces.

Pigs can know when you're ill and become more snuggly for you.

And my pigs know the difference between me and my boyfriend. He gets a bit miffed that I can get Jon out of the cage with only a bit of fuss but he has no chance.
 
The girlies know me and my OH. They enjoy cuddles and we both get licked. Anyone else and they don't want to know.

They still don't like being picked up though.
 
oh yes, my piggies have bonded with people, wicca the destroyer (now blind and much happier) loves me, likes to sit with me on my chest, listen to heavy metal and try to smash my coffee mugs. professor turtle on the other hand loves my SO, likes climbing him and snuggling in his hair (its quite long).

mine go all 'pick me up! pick me up!' go to pick them up, 'run for your life!'
once picked up happy licks and nibbles.
 
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