guinea pig right pet for a 3 year old ?

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jennybeth

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Hi there, i am new to all this have only ever had a cat as a child.

I have a 3 year old who really wants a pet, her childminder has a guinea pig and my daughter adores him and wants one of her own. i am quite happy to get one as always thought they are lovely animals.

It a guinea a good pet for a 3 year old ? i will be keeping them in a large cage indoor is this best ?

what is really involved in there care ?

Any advice or ideas would be much appreciated x
 
First things first, It can be wonderfully benificial to children to experience pets in the home, but it would be better for you to look at it as " its my pet, that my child adores"

Because a 3 year old wouldnt really be able to come near the care needed.

Everyone cares for there piggies differently so i will give you a run down of my piggies.

It is very important to have two, they are social animals and get very very lonely if on their own. I have two boys, sugar and spice (spice is on the left)

They live in my bedroom, in a big cage. The minimum for two piggies (according to the RSPCA) Is 120cmsx60cms
They are bedded on fleece (this is done with one layer of fleece on top, then an absorbant layer benieth such as towels, newspaper, matress protector, puppy pads. The fleece can then be washed, and reused.

As a diet they need
Good quality pellet food (as opposed to musli which encorages selective feeding meaning a non balanced diet)
Unlimited hay,
one cup of fruit and veg per day per piggy (we have a food list in our food section that goes into more detail)
And fresh water ofcourse

As your daughter is young and piggies can be very skittish, i would suggest you contact a rescue near you so you might pick out relaxed piggies that wont mind being cuddled too much

Hope that helps, any more questions just ask. :)
 
the thing about having a gp is that youll have to do most of the work, because a child that young will not be capable of the care. its best to have two, because they are naturally herd animals and require companionship-same sex companionship. also they need fresh veggies and fruit, bc they dont make their own vitamin c, and can end up with scurvy. they need pellets, water, unlimited hay, and exercise. they need their claws maintained, they need a cavvy savvy vet when needed. just bc gps are rodents, doesnt mean it wont be work. they are wonderful pets, for people who are commited to their care, but you need to realize it will be your pet, bc a young child wouldnt be capable of their care. hth. not trying to turn you off to gps, just want you to be aware of the work involved. xx
 
Thanks so much, is there any particular type of piggy that are more relaxed than others or does it all go on handling often ? All rescue places i have spoke to will not home untill my child is 4 or 5 and she has just turned 3, is there a reason ? would it be better if i waited ? i want to make the right choice as there are to many unwanted animals out there and thought would do homework first.
 
Thanks for your reply i welcome all information as want to be happy and for her. i will be doing all cleaning etc and she will be my helper. want to ensure i will have time and she will be able to enjoy her new pet. i do not work so am in the house nearly every day
 
The main reason i think rescues say that, is because small children sometimes dont understand about animals. So if they were to be left alone, they may experiment if you like. Perfectly normal, but probably not good for the animal. Also, small children are alot of work, sometimes its easy to forget the piggies if your daughter is poorly, etc etc. Not saying that is always the case, but i can see their point.

I'm not sure if all rescues have this rule, or if its just some.

As far as type of guinea pig... I would say usually older piggies. But really it all depends what they are used to. Pet shop piggies are often very skittish as they will likely never have been handled. On the other hand, a baby piggy born in the rescue will have be handled almost from birth. Also, pet shop piggies often come sick or pregnant, or with bad information on their care. Some shops will sell you a cage too small, some tell you wrong about the diet. Etc.

The main thing i worry about, is if you get two piggies like my two (who are very, very, very skittish even after being with my nearly a year, and being handled every day) She will not be able to enjoy them.

However, some piggies can be very tame. Come to the bars for food, love to snuggle in your lap, etc.
 
Guinea pigs are often considered a universal companion, suitable for the young, elderly, vulnerable adults, and, on occasions, people with health concerns! However, it is not uncommon for a child to lose interest in their new companion after several weeks, or months! Therefore, providing a suitable adult is willing to take full responsibility for the animal's care, as required by law, throughout the animal's lifetime, including companionship, and veterinary care, a guinea pig would be a suitable companion for you, and your daughter! However, as guinea pigs are social animals, and enjoy the company of their own kind, it is recommended that guinea pigs are kept in pairs!

However, personally, I recommend a child's first pet to be a Syrian Hamster!
 
Thanks so much for both of your advice, i think i will give it a month and see if she is still asking, i could volunteer to care for my childminders when she goes away in march and then would have hands on experience and would see if my daughter does get bored during the 2 weeks of his visit, thanks
 
Mostly it is handling them that keeps them calm. Some people find that guinea pigs with rosettes are more feisty and rexes (with coarse hair) are calmer but there is no definite proof of this. One of my rosetted pigs, Tabitha, loves cuddles but will squeal as if I'm killing her when I first go to pick her up and the other one, Francesca, wants to be off across the floor and will nip me to let go but she is still quite young and a bit crazy. If you do end up looking after your childminders piggy you might find yourself wanting piggies more than your daughter. They have wonderful pigsonalities and all 7 of my girls are very different.
 
I'm not sure whether they are suitable for a 3 year old. I think you would have to supervise all interactions; for example, to prevent the animal being accidentally dropped, or falling off a table (guinea pigs are short sighted).

One think to note is that unlike a dog or cat, guinea pigs are initially very nervous and it can take 2-3 months to become 'tame'. Even older owners worry that the animal doesn't like them. This period will feel like it is forever to a 3 year old.
 
I'm not sure whether they are suitable for a 3 year old. I think you would have to supervise all interactions; for example, to prevent the animal being accidentally dropped, or falling off a table (guinea pigs are short sighted).

One think to note is that unlike a dog or cat, guinea pigs are initially very nervous and it can take 2-3 months to become 'tame'. Even older owners worry that the animal doesn't like them. This period will feel like it is forever to a 3 year old.
 
Connie said:
First things first, It can be wonderfully benificial to children to experience pets in the home, but it would be better for you to look at it as " its my pet, that my child adores"

Because a 3 year old wouldnt really be able to come near the care needed.

Everyone cares for there piggies differently so i will give you a run down of my piggies.

It is very important to have two, they are social animals and get very very lonely if on their own. I have two boys, sugar and spice (spice is on the left)

They live in my bedroom, in a big cage. The minimum for two piggies (according to the RSPCA) Is 120cmsx60cms
They are bedded on fleece (this is done with one layer of fleece on top, then an absorbant layer benieth such as towels, newspaper, matress protector, puppy pads. The fleece can then be washed, and reused.

As a diet they need
Good quality pellet food (as opposed to musli which encorages selective feeding meaning a non balanced diet)
Unlimited hay,
one cup of fruit and veg per day per piggy (we have a food list in our food section that goes into more detail)
And fresh water ofcourse

As your daughter is young and piggies can be very skittish, i would suggest you contact a rescue near you so you might pick out relaxed piggies that wont mind being cuddled too much

Hope that helps, any more questions just ask. :)
Click to expand...

I have children and I never once thought the children would do any work, obviously they can help like give them veggies and so, but never to put any responsibility on the piggies care on them. Neither fair to either child or animal. Any responsible adult understands this.
 
Unfortunalty, some adults just dont realise how much care guinea pigs need, and think they will be more like hamsters, where although you have to take responsibility, it is more reasonable for your child to do more of the work with a hamster. :)

Not saying that is the case with the OP because they obviously care for animals, and intend to do research before buying. :) Just best to cover all bases.
 
Connie is right - i bought my first pig (nearly two years ago now) for my 12yr old son's birthday and the novelty wore off within about 6wks (bear in mind my son was 11 at the time - he's a week away from being 13yrs old now) - we often talk about the pigs and he's openly admitted that he didn't realize just how much work guinea pigs are - he especially didn't think they would need daily spot cleaning, twice weekly full clean outs, 2-3times per day having hay topped up, regular topping up of pellets, and veggies prepared and given daily!

In fact when i first got my first pig, i was told they only require cleaning out once per week, they only need veggies occasionally - the only think i was required to do was check and top up the hay... Boy were the petshop wrong!

Guinea pigs are not an 'easy' pet to own, they require a lot of work - and a lot of money! When a guinea pig becomes ill it can be costly to sort out - not only that, but finding a specialist vet isn't an easy task....
 
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JennyBeth - all I can say is I wish there were more parents like you! Clearly you've responded to the wishes of your child but in such a responsible way and not in the way of 'oh darling ok lets go down a pet shop and buy you a piggie'. It's so refreshing for a change!

I read so much information before getting my guinea pigs, but honestly, the literature doesn't come close to the reality! As per the other posts, guinea pigs are work. I don't mind the work, in fact I love it, but that doesn't mean it isn't work.....

If you're getting two I would go for a neutered boy and a female - it's the way they live in the wild and I believe gives the greatest success rate. If that's not possible then two girls, the one option I'd be less reluctant to do is two boys - which is exactly what I have! Mine have known each other since young but there are dominance issues. If they do fall out I will have to get each of them a friend - they are in their 'teens now' (between 4 - 18 months) and so may settle down, but they do squabble. So for me it's a bit touch and go at times. But equally girls too can have big fall outs. It's really important to match piggie personalities and the only place to go to make sure you have the right personalities is to get an already bonded pair through a responsible rescue who will support you way way down the line if anything were to go wrong, ie, they happened to fall out and thus the rescue would help you find a solution.

Don't buy from a petshop (I don't need to say this because that's clearly not what your looking to do - but if rescues all start closing doors to you because you have a 3 year old I can see why a pet shop might seem like the only solution), BUT the horror stories of sick piggies, pregnant piggies, piggies with skin infections etc have left owners with high vet bills and in distress. A rescue that has, as another OP suggested, more relaxed piggies is the way to go. I'd also look for slightly older piggies. Guinea pigs (depending on personality) can take a long long time to tame! I've had my boys almost three months now and they hate to be picked up. Once past the terrible teens your more likely to have a success story in their friendship. Again, I'm not an expert, I'm just speaking as a new owner through my experience.

They aren't cheap either, decent hay, fresh veg, constant washing/refreshing of bedding all adds up. Not to mention a big storage dilema. Then again, way this up against the cost of a cat/dog and they are still a much cheaper pet when you think of vaccinations, neutering, cat/dog food etc.

They require cleaning out constantly as others have described and live for 5-7 years so it's a massive commitment. Giving two older piggies an awesome retirement home without signing up for a possible 7 year commitment has it's advantages but needs to be balanced with the - how devastated will my child be if we got guinea pigs who passed on within a couple of years. It depends on where your heart rests with that one.

So that's all the doom and gloom really, haha, on the other side, they are just awesome, awesome, awesome, awesome. And if you get your kicks from investing lots and lots of time and patience into getting your piggies to come round to you - and you enjoy their nature, watching them popcorn about and get a heart flutter when they wheek for dinner, then they are deffinitely the pet for you! They are lovely little communicators, hehe.

A great place to start looking for cage ideas, food, and the amount of effort required in keeping piggies is searching Laura Piggiepigpigs on youtube. She does the most fantastic video's about all things guinea related. She also has 5 boys - one duo and one set of three - people use her as the 'you see boys can get along' -success story - but the reason she now has 5 guinea pigs......her orignial brother duo fell out big time and had to be seperated.....!

I love my lads dearly, but if I had a chance to go back and do things differently I would. I went to a breeder (thinking I was being responsible not going to a petshop, this was before I knew about small animal rescues - I assumed wrongly that rescues were just for cats and dogs, until I eventually discovered this site) anyway, what a waste of time going to a breeder was. I brought home two guinea pigs with ringworm which took 6 weeks and £200 + in vet bills, different products, prescriptions etc to clear up. So breeders aren't reliable either.

And now I have two timid piggies (no surprise really, they were only here for 10 days or so before being dunked in the bath every three days and treated with various medicated shampoo's......I wouldn't like me either roles reversed). I literally adore them though. I live in my open style apartment and they are in the lounge area and so are the focus of my time and attention constantly.

Good luck! Sorry if this all seems pessimistic, that's not how I feel about my guinea pigs, but I kinda wish someone had been as brutally honest with me about things when I started my guinea pig quest, it would have saved me a lot of money and stress. I still would have got them and although I don't care about the money or stress because I love my piggies truly, madly, deeply and wouldn't swap them for all the laid back bonded piggies in the world - if I'd had this type of advice from the start I'd have made better decisions along the way!

Still kudos to you for being a) just generally better than me in your research into getting guinea pigs and b) being such a fab responsible Mum!

Maybe for now though with your child having piggies to play with at the childminders you have the best of both worlds? Your little'un gets to indulge in piggy madness without any of you having the responsibility.

As an after thought (and then I promise to wrap up this essay! lol), I begged and begged for a cat when I was young, from the age of 4 until I was 7. I was obsessed. I promised I'd take care of her. Eventually, I got a cat, a rescue (not from a rescue but a family who's children had taken to using her as a football - long story) anyway she then went on to have kittens..... Poor Mum, she didn't even like cats! Sure I played with them and gave them strokes, cats are just sort of there aren't they? Jumping up on you, sneaking in your room, so they got all the affection and love from me. But the graft? Well that lasted all of a month. The feeding, the vet trips, the finding a cat sitter, the removal of tics, the cleaning of cat sick, or 'accidents', cleaning cat bowls - all fell on poor Mum throughout my horrible teens. Then again often I could be found trundling down the garden in my nightie in gale force winds, thunderstorms etc (why I didn't see the need for a coat, slippers or even a dressing gown, I don't understand! I was a teenager....) looking for my cats when they were out and about at night, to hitch them under each arm and bring them back inside to be warm and safe.... - so I should get credit for that.....lol.

x
 
I have a 3 and 5 year old. I say the piggies are OUR pets. I care for them, cleaning, feeding and all of that. The kids love to feed them veggies. They love to help out with them. I have to watch my 3 year old closly and keep reminding him to be careful. He also has a hard time holding them correctly. He really does try though. I think they are good pets for them but you really have to watch.

Also I had hamsters when I was a child.
 
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