Before you get a guinea pig it's good to know what to expect, one person had a question and here's the summary... Are guinea pigs clean and easy to take care of? Do they made a lot of noise during the night?

Answer

Guinea pigs like any animal in a cage needs to count on his or hers owner to keep the cage clean for optimum health. If you spot clean the cage daily take out the leftover veggies the guinea pigs didn't eat (if any) the night before, and little poo they leave behind you may get 4 or 5 days before you might have to clean the entire cage.

That's for one guinea pig, if you have more than one guinea pig or don't want to spot clean you are looking at every couple days. It can also depend on the size of your hutch or cage. You should always buy the biggest cage you can afford.

Guinea pigs need fresh water and food daily, and they do squeak, squeal, and get all happy when they know the food is on the way. They also talk to each other through squeaks. They won't keep you up all hours of the night carrying on since they are the most active during the day.

So if you are able to feed, water, pet and play with your guinea pig daily and willing to clean at the cage weekly or more if necessary then a guinea might be the pet for you. Undecided?

Consider reading Guinea Piglopaedia: A Complete Guide to Guinea Pig Care (Complete Guide To Guinea Pig Care) It comes highly recommended for people who are thinking about getting a guinea pig.

I read an article a few minutes ago about getting a guinea pig as a pet and the basics of taking care of your new animal. The author mentioned guinea pigs love to eat (don't we all!). Now I'm not saying they are party animals and will eat you out of house or home or anything like that but he brought up a good point, if you take a vacation or leave for a day or two you can't leave them alone like you could a cat.

Your cavy needs fresh food and water daily so if you need to get away for a few days and for some reason can't take your pet with you then you need to find a sitter or take your guinea pig to a friends or relatives house.

When you drop off your pet make sure you bring your own food as they may not know which fruits and veggies your guinea likes best, or worse feed him or her the wrong foods. It would be helpful a few days before you leave on vacation the sitter can come over and visit with your cavy and get to know them a bit.

If you would like to read the article that inspired this post you may view it here.

Just like humans’ guinea pigs need vitamin C to prevent scurvy, surely you two aren’t going to suck down a glass of OJ together every morning (well, I suppose you could teach them to drink from a straw).

Most guinea pig pellets have vitamin C included but you should still supplement with fresh veggies especially if your pellet food is losing freshness.

Guineas need veggies too just like you and me and what gives us gas (broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbage) does the same for them. More and more I wonder where the term guinea pig came from. Maybe they are more like us than we think not necessarily just to try experiments on.

Green veggies like... spinach, kale, dandelion greens are good choices, nearly any vegetable you eat your guinea pig can eat too. Although avoid potatoes, can you say Atkins diet.

Be smart start with just a little bit of vegetable to make sure he/she can tolerate the new food, just like you would with a baby.

Well that’s it for today; I’m going to check out where the term guinea pig (for medical reasons) came from.

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Jill my best friend had guinea pigs, I can't remember the exact number 2 or 3 furry, squeaky cavies. Jill lived in Lake Gregory (near Big Bear) California and I had moved to West Virginia, I would go out and visit her from time to time. The last time I stayed with her before she died was when I met the guinea pigs, they were so cute and very tame too.

The funny thing was at night Jill's cat Fiasco (daughter to my Jeepers) who Jill kept for me, would hop in the cage and sleep with the guinea pigs. What a site that was, they got along wonderfully, not sure this was the norm and I wish I had pictures. I suppose I thought she wouldn't die and I would come back someday. Other memories of while visiting Jill where feeding blue jays and squirrels out of my hand.

I miss Jill terribly and I'm not sure what her husband did with the guinea pigs or Jeepers (she was 17 by then) but it left an impression on me that I will never forget. Such wonderful animals for a wonderful woman who would pick up stray anythings feed them, find them a home, or keep them.

So I'm on a mission to tell the world about guinea pigs! (and cats too)