cultural curiosity :)

[piglet_and_rogers_mama]

so obviously this is a forum that is made up of what seems to be a majority of people in the UK (hence the .co.uk thing in the address lol). so i was just wondering if guinea pigs are a popular or common pet in the UK (obviously there are other forum members, myself included, that are not from there) or if it's just coincidence? it could be my particular region, but it does not seem like guinea pigs are super popular over here. and most of the websites on pigs have the .co.uk address. sooo just wondering

 

[mstori]

so obviously this is a forum that is made up of what seems to be a majority of people in the UK (hence the .co.uk thing in the address lol). so i was just wondering if guinea pigs are a popular or common pet in the UK (obviously there are other forum members, myself included, that are not from there) or if it's just coincidence? it could be my particular region, but it does not seem like guinea pigs are super popular over here. and most of the websites on pigs have the .co.uk address. sooo just wondering

yeah, guinea pigs are popular but I would not say anymore so than bunnies, cats, dogs, hamsters, gerbils, ferrets, degus, chinchillas, fish, birds etc.. I think we are just an animal loving country as a whole.

I do not know anyone with no pets at all, I think the most popular would probably be cats and dogs x

What pets are more common where you live?

 

[piglet_and_rogers_mama]

yeah, guinea pigs are popular but I would not say anymore so than bunnies, cats, dogs, hamsters, gerbils, ferrets, degus, chinchillas, fish, birds etc.. I think we are just an animal loving country as a whole.

I do not know anyone with no pets at all, I think the most popular would probably be cats and dogs x

What pets are more common where you live?

well honestly most of the people i know at least have a cat if nothing else. a lot of people have dogs, but it seems cats out number dogs (in my part of PA anyway). but in the sense of pets for kids, hamsters and gerbils seem to be the most prevalent. i have never met anybody who has had a degu or a chinchilla, and occasionally,you'll run into a rogue ferret, but it seems like in general rodents (dont think ferrets are rodents but whatev) are not super popular among the typical pet owner.

 

[mstori]

well honestly most of the people i know at least have a cat if nothing else. a lot of people have dogs, but it seems cats out number dogs (in my part of PA anyway). but in the sense of pets for kids, hamsters and gerbils seem to be the most prevalent. i have never met anybody who has had a degu or a chinchilla, and occasionally,you'll run into a rogue ferret, but it seems like in general rodents (dont think ferrets are rodents but whatev) are not super popular among the typical pet owner.

What a great thread! will be really interested to know about other areas too..

It seems strange that you dont have degus/chinchillas etc when they are so popular here..

Also snakes, chipmunks and sugar gliders (not as popular), horses, chickens, chamelions, bearded dragons, geckos etc x

 

[piglet_and_rogers_mama]

i have seen like 1 chinchilla in a petshop randomly, but DEFINITLEY no sugar gliders, but id love to have one, i think it would be hilarious to have a flying rodent hurl itself at me from across the room (like in youtube vids ive seen!). and i have neeever known a chipmunk as a pet, just scurrying around trees outside or on the porch when one of my cats is successful in there hunting adventures, which I'm not very happy about but can do nothing about lol.

and yea, i would love to know the popularness of pets from forum member across the world xx

 

[lissie]

I guess you have not found www.guinealynx.info and www.guineapigcages.com
Those two are based in USA. They're also rescue oriented.

Guinea Lynx has an extensive medical base in case you need a vet in the future.

Guinea Pig Cages obviously talks about cages. It's the home of the C&C cages. Their forums have different sections that talk about proper care.

 

[piglet_and_rogers_mama]

actually i have visite both of those websites frerquently

i just mean that in my experience, with the people i interact with daily, i have met one guinea pig until i got my own, (13 back then, I'm 23 now, so 10 yrs with no pig interaction!). i know there are gp resccues, but literally nowhere near me, so i think it's regional, after all the US is not exactly small

 

[piglet_and_rogers_mama]

ps I'm not inept at spelling, my keyboard is messed up lol. also to clarify, i was age 13 when i saw one, and I'm 23 now it seemed kinda confusing when i reread it

 

[Little Piggles]

Like Mstori posted, I would say that guinea pigs are as popular as rabbits here and readily available in most pet stores. I know of about four other people who have pigs (obviously not including everyone on here )

I wasn't aware of rescues until I joined this forum though and (like alot of people I guess) only thought of rescues for cats and dogs.

When I was alot younger we had dogs, piggies, rabbits, hamsters, gerbils and a chinchilla (not all at once!)

We now have cats and our piggies (plus the dogs back at my mums )

 

[Castaway]

Hi Piglet & Roger's Mama. I grew up in rural Southern Illinois (in the 70's though) and I can honestly say, I don't think any of the kids I knew had guinea pigs and I'm not sure I even saw one until maybe when I moved to Europe in the mid 1980's. I had a couple of rabbits when I was young (probably too young, and I'm embarrassed to say I wasn't good at looking after them,) and a couple friends also had rabbits, but most had dogs, cats and/or horses for pets.

It may be that because folks in the UK often have smaller homes and don't always have gardens/yards (or not really big ones) that there has been more of a tradition of keeping smaller animals as pets. It may be that some people choose to keep guinea pigs because, being a smaller country, you don't have to travel quite so far to find a good vet or a shelter to adopt from, as might be the case in some parts of America.

Just a thought!

 

[HairlessWillow7]

Around in here, quite a few people have pet guinea pigs. They are viewed as children's pets though. The nearest cavy savvy vet is an hour away, and the nearest emergency vet is 3 hours away! The nearest rescue is 2 hours away. Maybe it's just Michigan, i'm not sure about the rest of the US.