Cats and guinea pigs in the same house?

[SSDB]

Hello!
I'm a long-time guinea pig owner and hoping to get a cat at some point in the future.
I would love to hear from some of you who have both and how you keep your guinea pigs safe.
My guinea pigs live inside. I am aware that they would need an enclosure with a very secure lid and with small enough gaps that a cat couldn't fit their paws in. However, my home is very open plan and it would be really difficult to keep a cat out of the room while I am in work.
Will these pracautions be enough to keep my piggies safe? I would hate to risk their safety.
Thabks so much in advance!

 

[Claire W]

Hi, I have 3 cats 2 of whom are indoor cats and 3 indoor guinea pigs. We had our cats from kittens and they’ve been brought up to understand that the guinea pigs are out of bounds and generally, they’re not bothered by the guinea pigs. However, the guinea pigs live in a secure cage and we leave the door to their room closed when we go out even though I know my cats aren’t interested in them as you just never know. I am lucky that when I have my guinea pigs out for lap time etc, the cats aren’t interested but it does come down to each individual cat and their personalities. Cats are predators are the end of the day and you can never take their hunting instinct away.

If you do decide to get a cat, make sure that the cage is secure with a secure lid and never leave them alone together when your guinea pigs are outside the cage as even the most placid of cats still have hunting instincts

 

[Pantalaimon]

There are always risks associated with having cats accessing the same room as small animals. The only thing you can do is reduce the chances of something happening as much as possible. Having the cage on a fairly high table may deter cats from sitting on top as a cat likes to know they are jumping onto a secure surface, if they can’t see what they are jumping onto they will be less likely to jump.
You could also provide your guinea pigs with hides that are shaped to ensure that in the case of the cat somehow breaking into the cage, they would be able to hide somewhere the cat couldn’t get to them.

Generally, my experience is that the cats (on the few occasions they have been in the same room) have been terrified of the guinea pigs!

 

[Free Ranger]

It's a tricky one. Speaking as a cat-person, albeit without any cats, I do appreciate that some cats are more placid than others. My mum's cat only hunts feathery things (much to her dismay) and as a child we did have pigs, a rabbit and a cat at the same time. But even non-hunting cats pretend to stalk or 'play' at hunting which can still be genuinely frightening for a prey animal. It's possible that a cat will be completely disinterested in piggies but the piggies terribly fearful of the cat. It's something you can't really predict. My neighbour's cat accidentally got itself shut in their outdoor hutch overnight and was discovered the next morning with it's hair on end pressed against the wire while the pigs were crammed on top of each other in the bedroom bit. No harm done, but no fun either.

So if you go for it try and see it from your pets' point of view and that'll be your best chance of keeping everyone content. And find somebody really careful for when you go on holiday!

 

[poggle]

Welcome! We've had pigs and a cat in our house for the last six years. We are lucky that our already middle-aged cat decided she wanted nothing to do with them, but we kept/keep our pigs safe by using (as you say) a lid and a cage raised off the floor. Agree with @Pantalaimon about a visible surface to jump to. We don't really keep cat out of the room but she really only uses the house to sleep and eat and poop, even at 15, and is not in the least bit interested.

I think the wild card here will be the personality of the new cat. If you get a cat who will want to climb the cage or hunt the guinea pigs, it might mean trouble.