My guinea pig purrs when stroked

PremierPig

PremierPig

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Does anyone else have a guinea pig who thinks she’s a cat? My lovely Caramel purrs loudly when you stroke her furry bottom! 😂 I tried to add video, but it didn’t support the file type.
 
That could possible mean she doesn’t like it, Pepper hates having his bum touched as well as hating music playing, he makes a purring sound and sort of vibrates!
 
PremierPig said:
Does anyone else have a guinea pig who thinks she’s a cat? My lovely Caramel purrs loudly when you stroke her furry bottom! 😂 I tried to add video, but it didn’t support the file type.
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Purring like a cat has the same meaning if the body language is relaxed.

A sharp deep short rrr is a sign of dispeasure (often as a reaction to a sound or gesture piggies don't like; often accompanied by head butt or shake off if you are something your piggy doesn't like) while a constant rumble with the weight shifting from one back leg to the next is mild dominance behaviour, including friendly measuring up between boars, impressing the ladies, demarkating the territory and showing who is the boss (or questioning it if it is the underpiggy) in a minor way.

The three similar sounds can often be mistaken by new owners. You always have to take the context and body language into account, too, when interpretating behaviours.

Our forum is entirely run by voluntary member donations and we are all doing this for free in our free time; a video uploading facility would cost a lot more expensive bandwidth. You have to upload the video elsewhere on a public setting and then copy across.
 
PremierPig said:
Thanks - no worries re: video, it was only because it was sweet. I’m not worried about her, she seems really happy and relaxed. She stretches out on me and half-closes her eyes. ❤ She has another rumble/purr which she uses when she’s arguing with her sister!
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Guinea pigs are great communicators; just look at the body language and the intensity/pitch of the voice; that will tell you a lot.
You can learn to spot some very useful interactive key behaviours in this guide here: Bonding and Interaction: Illustrated social behaviours and bonding dynamics
 
I was puzzled when Percy purred at me as I heard it was a sound of displsure in piggies... Yet he also stretched out and did a big yawn before resting his head on my lap like a black and white pancake getting backrubs, so I continued until he dozed off on my lap. XD

It was a deep, extended trilling sound, not sharp or quick. I have heard the fear purr before, a quick sharp trill, when a leaf startled him and he then charged into my stomach at lightspeed.
 
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