Guinea pigs and cats

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rosriddell

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Hi, I’m considering taking on a pair or even possibly three Guinea pigs. In the past 15 years I only ever kept free range paired house rabbits. I don’t have, and I don’t plan to have rabbits anymore. as I understand that it would be a real problem to try to keep both species
I have two cats, now aged 9 and 12. They always got on well with the rabbits I’ve had. These included over the years a pair of mini lops, weights 1.3k and and 1.2 k. Earlier I had a Netherlands dwarf mini lop 1.1k. Both cats were fine with them tending for the most part to ignore the rabbits. . The internet show the average weight of a gp as .09 -1.1k.
I realise introducing gps -even in a covered pen / cage might induce stress on them,But given my cats previous lack of interaction with my rabbits including the smaller ones I’ve mentioned
Any advice would be very welcome
Thanks
 
Welcome to the forum

We do have members who have both cats and piggies.
The key is to keep the cats away from the piggies and never allow them access to the same room unsupervised. Your cats may not be interested in the piggies but for the piggies seeing a predator will be hugely stressing inducing.

Their weights don’t really factor into it (although a piggy can weigh anywhere from 600g - 1600g); or are you thinking more from a cats preference for stalking smaller prey.

Yes keeping both rabbits and piggies requires a lot of ensuring no cross contamination can take place!
I have both rabbits and piggies and although they all live outside in their own sheds, I do still have to make sure nothing crosses. Keeping both species inside could make things harder, and they would not be able to share a room without risk.

Are Guinea Pigs For Me? - Wannabe Owners' Helpful Information
 
I have had both cats and guinea pigs but we had the cats from kittens so they grew up in a household that had guinea pigs living in it.

We kept our guinea pigs in a properly secured cage and kept the door to their room closed when we were out but we did leave the door to their room open when we were in but we were able to keep an eye out. The cats never bothered with the guinea pigs but when the guinea pigs were out of their cage, they stayed on the settee with me so I could keep the cats away from them.

Although the cats never bothered with the guinea pigs, I never let them free roam as it only takes one pounce from the cats to seriously hurt if not kill the guinea pigs.

Having both can work as long as you take proper precautions to keep every pig and every cat safe x
 
Ive an elderly cat,thats grown up with the piggies.ive lids on all the cages.keep door shut to piggie room.shes not interested in the cavies.Though i would not risk it.
 
Thanks very much for your replies and experiences. Plus apologies for not responding sooner.
(When I used a rabbit forum i was always notified by email that a post for me had been sent so had been waiting for a similar email from this forum)
It’s disheartening to read how the cats and Guinea pigs must always be kept separate and not what I had envisioned at all. As I’d said, my cats and rabbits had always got on despite rabbits being prey animals. Oh well. Thanks again
 
I’ll be honest, as a 35+ years rabbit keeper, I would still be advising that rabbits and cats be kept separate. It sounds like you had the rare exception with your rabbits and cats rather than the rule.

If you are able to keep piggies and the cats apart then it doesn’t rule out getting them, but it would be incredibly unsafe of us to advise anything other than keeping them apart - we have unfortunately had members report accidents with predator pets and prey pets. It’s never worth the risk.
 
I run a guinea pig charity and also have a cat. Whilst I would never let her have unsupervised access to the guinea pigs, she does spend time around them and is very respectful of them. I’m often syringe feeding a piggy with Priya, my cat, cuddled in at the side of me. Once, when a piggy escaped from a run in the garden, she came running into the house, vocalising loudly and then running back into the garden. As I didn’t immediately respond, she kept repeating this. I then followed her out and she ran straight to where the guinea pig was! She was clearly alerting me to the escapee.

When I had rabbits she would hang out with them and had a very close bond with them.
 
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