Guinea pigs might not be the pet everyone wants but they are a relatively simple pet to take care of. Though guinea pigs are vegetarians and have an extremely sensitive diet that must be followed in order to keep them happy and healthy. A guinea pig’s diet consists of pellets, hay and certain vegetables and fruits on a daily basis, Hay must be constantly full as well as pellets but vegetables and fruits can be given once or twice a week in small amounts. Some vegetables guinea pigs can have are carrots, celery that is cut up into small pieces to reduce the chance of choking, kale and spinach. A guinea pig’s diet is not the only important thing when it comes to caring for the little balls of fuzz, having a clean cage is an important aspect for your guinea pigs health. A guinea pigs cage must be cleaned once a week at the very least and you must make sure your guinea pigs have a friend to live with, guinea pigs are social animals and can get depressed if alone for long periods of time.
To get another opinion on the matter I interviewed Jayden Lopez. The first question Lopez was asked was “ do you consider guinea pigs a good starter pet? Why or why not? “, the answer received was no with a quote “They are not a good starter pet because they are complicated to take care of.” The next question asked was “ What is it like owning guinea pigs? “ to which Lopez showed a strong sense of dislike for it, quoting, ” I personally do not like it.“ When asked if owning a guinea pig was a positive or negative experience Lopez responded that it depends on how much you know about caring for guinea pigs and how their crazy diet works. Lopez stated “Guinea pigs are a fun and cute pet to have but, it can be very stressful at the same time.”
The last three questions that were asked were about how hard and how easy it is to own a guinea pig from Lopez’s opinion. When I asked if it was easy for Lopez to take care of the guinea pig she owns she said no and that she could “hardly take care of herself, let alone a guinea pig.“ In my personal opinion I do not agree with Lopez but understand where she is coming from, not everyone will agree with my opinion. Lopez was then asked what the easiest thing about taking care of guinea pigs was in which she responded with feeding them, meanwhile when asked what the hardest part of taking care of guinea pigs was she replied with “cleaning up after their messes.“
In conclusion to this article, some people have very heavy opinions on how owning guinea pigs affects them. Some people will dislike owning guinea pigs where as some individuals will love having a guinea pig in their home. Guinea pigs can be hard to care for depending on the situation someone is in, they can be rather expensive based on the brands you get them. Consider this next time you see a guinea pig in the pet store, they may be cute and loveable but, you will need to do your research and remember they are an animal not a toy.
