Guinea Pigs – How Good of A Guinea Pig Owner Would You Make?
Guinea pigs are wonderful pets with great dispositions. They need just a little maintenance and make superb pets for older kids. But guinea pigs aren’t for everybody. Here are merely a few factors to consider before running down to your favourite animal shelter or petshop to pick one up.
Guinea pigs don’t do particularly well living alone. They are social creatures who need the companionship of others. Consider the lifestyles and personalities of you and your family members. Will your new addition be really integrated into your household and get plenty of attention – not just at the start when you first bring it home – but for its entire life? Or will it be virtually ignored, sitting alone in its guinea pig cage, left to become “just an obligation” once the initial novelty has worn off? Or, if you can’t give it enough attention, are you willing to house at least a couple pigs together in order that they can keep each other company?
With the joys of pet ownership also comes responsibility. Are you prepared to totally commit to long term care and feeding for your new pet for its whole life? Guinea pigs normally live five to 6 years – and some can live as many as 8 years. So remember, when you bring home a guinea pig, you are bringing home another living being. And when all is said and done you will be the one responsible for its safety and well-being for the remainder of its life.
Are you emotionally tough enough to suffer the loss of your pet in the future? As I pointed out earlier, guinea pigs generally live about 5 to six years. While this may be a considerable time in terms of making a commitment to your animal; it’s a relatively short time in relation to the lifespan of you or your kids. In other words, as indelicate as it sounds, it is probable that you’ll sometime in the future have to see your pet die.
This is neither bad nor good – it’s just life. But it could be a good learning experience for your children in terms of learning the way to handle death and loss in a healthy way. But it may also be a very unpleasant and difficult time.
Our family has owned many pets from guinea pigs to rabbits to dogs. We’ve had fish, snails, mice and even frogs. And, inevitably, we have sadly lost many pets. Over the years, the woods in our backyard are now a tiny pet graveyard. But on the whole, those pets have all contributed so much more to our family during their lifetimes than they ever took away with their deaths. For us, the positives far outweighed the negatives of pet ownership.
On the other hand, my sister-in-law was devastated by the passing of her ferret. So much so that she vowed never to have another pet again. For her, the negative overwhelmed the pluses. Which sort of person (or family) are you? You should know before you bring home a guinea pig.
Bringing home a new pet is exciting – but it also implies a serious commitment. Are you comfortable spending time with your pet and give it the attention that it needs? Are you willing to commit to this stewardship for the entire life span of your new animal? And are you emotionally prepared to deal with the unavoidable bad times that come with the good experiences that your guinea pig will provide? If you can say yes to all of these questions, then you are a good candidate for a guinea pig owner. Enjoy.
Irrespective of what kind of guinea pig you’re looking to have, every one of them have just about identical desires for a healthy, spacious and secure home. We here at BlueStoneCommerce are guinea pig owners as well as guinea pig cage sellers. Everybody knows what pigs like and what they have to have in a guinea pig cage to be healthy, satisfied and secure. So if you are looking for a lot of guinea pig cage for the money, Click one of those resource area links to go to one of our online web stores
