cat and guinea pig

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i leave my guinea pigs cage open most of the day when I'm home so they can go in th garden n munch the grass, but this cat has started watching them from on top of our fence and the other day it was right at the cage looking in :( luckily monty was in the bed bit and fudge had gone n hidden. will the cat eat them? I'm worried to let them out on their own now but they love running round the garden :(
 
cats are predators, although usually they go for anything that moves fast and small.

My cat is very laid back and just will lay there whilst I groom one of the piggies and dosesn't pay any attention to them but I would never trust them alone near a cat
 
As much as I adore cats, they really cannot be trusted. I think it's more likely to try and play with them and cats are pretty brutal with their play things.
 
I would suggest attaching a run with a lid to the hutch to be on the safe side. My cat is very good with the piggies (he's generally scared of him since Whiskey tried to bite him on the nose...) but I would never leave him with them unattended or leave them uncovered unless I am there to watch them, as we have other cats round here too
 
I agree, my cat is fab with my piggies but i would never trust him with them completely. He happily snuggles with my pigs on my lap, but sometimes when he watches them and theyre boucing around popcorning i can see his little preditorary instinct kick in. Even if they are the most laid back cat i wouldnt trust them I'm afraid.

x.
 
god i cant even imagine exposing my pigs to my cats. we have 4 of them, and they all go outside, and we frequently find murdered birds and mice on the porch. i know that if they saw the pigs one way or another they would become gourmet cat food.
 
i think cause you've asked the question you've already figured out that cats are predators.......it's their nature it's not fair on them or your darling piggies to put them at risk :...
It would be great to be able to let them free range........but unless you have a huge covering and run ............SIGH...........just what we'd all like eh!
Good advice........get a good sturdy cover and try to shoo away the puss if you can
Monty and Fudge are lucky they have someone that will ask questions, you must love them to bits :):)
 
My cat isn't bothered at all bothered by my pigs and the pigs run up to him and kiss him.

However, I would never leave him unsupervised with them as you just never know what could happen.

I also would suggest that you do leave your piggies to free range around the garden unsupervised as anything could take them including big birds from above. There was a story on here once where a piggy was left alone outside for a matter of minutes and he was taken by something :(
 
You can buy prikka strips that you attach to the top of the fence panels so that the cats cant walk along the fence and thus can't jump in, although as already said, a run is really needed to keep them safe.
 
thank * all for replying:)
Glynis yes they are very loved, especially by my 2yr old lol she picks dandelion leaves opens the downstairs cage door and monty comes running to her and she laughs her head off while he eats them from her :))


:( them poor lil piggy's that got taken by a bird or cat! thats so sad.
the cat came back twice so i shooed it away and havent seen it since, so now i just let them out while were in the garden but i do sometimes pop in for a while then go back out so ** job theyve got lots of hidey places or they might of got taken, i will get a run just to be safe though xx
 
It's a pity isn't it, you'd love to give them the run of the garden, but it isn't worth the risk :( I'd love to let mine run free in the garden but there are too many hidey places they'd run to and I'd never get them out xox
 
i remember when i first had guineas my mum built a run for them not realising that they needed a covered part and birds used to come and try to peck at them through the chicken wire we used to cover the run. We immediately put some wood slats over a section so the piggies could hide and also get some shade. This was many years ago when me and my mum were new owners of guineas so please don't judge and we did learn from our mistake and my old girls had many happy times in that run before weather got the better of it! X
 
I don't trust strange cats at all, even though both of mine are great with Guinea pigs, someone else's cat might not be. So I always keep them safe.
 
I don't worry about cats but I don't trust one of my rabbits with the guinea's, they all go out in the garden in open top runs while they are cleaned out but aren't high enough that the rabbit couldn't get in if he wanted so I have to keep him in his hutch while they are out.
The other rabbit I trust a bit more (but still keep an eye on her) even though she's a rescue and been with us for a shorter time and she won't try to get in the runs, she had a run in with one of the pigs last week when she stuck her nose through one of the large runs and he bit her.

Our rabbits have the run of the garden alternate days to each other and we don't worry about cats getting to them as it's all enclosed and we haven't seen a cat in the 7 months we've lived there.

Our old next door neighbours cat was a bengal and she loved nothing more than to stalk the guinea pigs when they were out and would try to paw them through the runs when she was a baby, I think one of them got her one day and she then always stayed away and watched from a distance even when we were out.
 
after trying to get the cats to stay out of my garden (mostly as they poo in it and the dog eats it :)>>> but also because my next dog might not be cat safe), I have found that turning the hose on them is the only message they listen to. All the neighbouring cats have taken to watching the pigs in their enclosed run - I knew I would have to get enclosed because of the cats and foxes issue, I only have to open my door and they run off. I will be setting up the hose pipe next to the bedroom window so I can spray them while I am at my window, they might learn to off then.
 
when we first got piggies at our last house, we added the prikka strips along all sides of the 6ft enclosed garden, but within no time at all of putting the guineas in their newly built run one day, we went out to see a cat drop down, inside, grab one of the girls, and then leg it over the fence with the pig screaming. it was horrific, and by the time my husband has scaled the fences and found the pig, the cat had killed her with a bite to the back of her neck and had just left her laying under a bush. we buried her after putting the other 3 piggles in their hutch and immediately went to buy the stuff to enclose the run on top too. it all happened in seconds, and it was just by chance that we opened the back door to see the cat drop down there. before that day, we never saw a cat in or around our garden for the year or more we had lived there. i will never ever let my pigs out unsupervised and uncovered.
 
when we first got piggies at our last house, we added the prikka strips along all sides of the 6ft enclosed garden, but within no time at all of putting the guineas in their newly built run one day, we went out to see a cat drop down, inside, grab one of the girls, and then leg it over the fence with the pig screaming. it was horrific, and by the time my husband has scaled the fences and found the pig, the cat had killed her with a bite to the back of her neck and had just left her laying under a bush. we buried her after putting the other 3 piggles in their hutch and immediately went to buy the stuff to enclose the run on top too. it all happened in seconds, and it was just by chance that we opened the back door to see the cat drop down there. before that day, we never saw a cat in or around our garden for the year or more we had lived there. i will never ever let my pigs out unsupervised and uncovered.

That's so sad :0
 
Thats awful.

I am afraid I cannot bear cats, they kill birds and small mammals who are on the decline, and they make a mess in the garden (never their owners either!). Not a fan at all.

I find a well placed fog horn (literally right by them, can do the trick and so far I have had two not come back). Also 'smelly powder' you get from garden centres helps We are surrounded by the blasted things and I have tried everything to get rid of them but to no avail. I would never hurt one though but they are my least favourite animals by a long long way.

The other thing to consider is birds of prey. There are more and more of these nowadays so its not just the cats you have to watch. Mine will never go out without a securely fastened lid not even for a few seconds, its just not worth the risk.
 
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