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Not That I'm Looking For Validation But....

CriLondon

CriLondon

Junior Guinea Pig
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Slough , Berkshire
Hi all ,

Just writing a few thoughts down , as I've noticed some things ....

Does any of you get "laughed at" , called nuts or simply get dismissed when you mention guinea pigs as pets to your friends , relatives and acquaintances ?
It seems there is a general trend to see these adorable creatures as just "something for kids to play with" or "not such a satisfying pet" or things along those lines ?

as the title says , I'm not really looking for outside consensus or validation , these piggies are making me happy and they validate what I've done every moment I'm with them .... just trying to understand if others encounter the same skepticism , dismissal or disapproval .
 
I'm relatively fortunate in that several of my friends own small furries (mostly rabbits, guineas, ferrets or degus) and so talking about the herd as members of the family 'makes sense' to them; the big suprise has been my parents (who have always been rodent-other-than-bunny haters) who've taken to calling them the Furry Grandkids and seem to look forward to us going on holiday so they can come over and spoil their 'babies'!

I'm developing a bit of a reputation at work for being a 'crazy guinea pig lady', but I'm embracing and running with it.
 
CogGirl said:
I'm relatively fortunate in that several of my friends own small furries (mostly rabbits, guineas, ferrets or degus) and so talking about the herd as members of the family 'makes sense' to them; the big suprise has been my parents (who have always been rodent-other-than-bunny haters) who've taken to calling them the Furry Grandkids and seem to look forward to us going on holiday so they can come over and spoil their 'babies'!

I'm developing a bit of a reputation at work for being a 'crazy guinea pig lady', but I'm embracing and running with it.
Click to expand...

Hi and thanks for the reply!

Maybe what I'm trying to say is that I'm kind of struggling to share the moments and the emotions I'm currently experiencing with the people I know .... Everyone of us I'd imagine have people they prefer or would rather share things with.
i wouldn't call my friends insensitive per se , just they have a look on their face as if they think I'm senile and it's too pitiful to be said !
 
in Italy (in Rome) the situation is different. Here normal people has ONE dog or ONE cat. If you are insane (and lovely) you have more than one pet at home. You may want to have a rabbit... rabbits and hamsters are popular. But the guinea pigs... what's that? and WHY? you need to be really insane...
None of my relatives have pets at home and they hardly understand the reason of having a "trouble", but of course they don't express their feelings. Some of my friends felt a great disgust and one of them avoids now to come here... (also my cousin, who is not coming with his daughter because the risk is that the daughter falls in love with a pet)
Guinea pigs are not known here, but luckily only very few parents agree to buy a pet for the child, usually a fish, a hamster, something little (who dies fast). In fact we have few exotic vets (compared with the huge number of general vets) and the rescues don't give you a piggie if you live in a city without an exotic clinic (and don't give you a piggie if you have little children at home).
My two piggies were abandoned for the usual reason: the family bought a dog who gives more satisfactions... (?).
This is the situation here... The most sensitive people (with dog or cat) think that the choice of a piggie is only for having less troubles (no dog to walk, no ruined sofa).
 
A few times now my parents have told me " at the end of the day, they are just animals". I just ignore those sorts of comments.
 
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rome_italy said:
in Italy (in Rome) the situation is different. Here normal people has ONE dog or ONE cat. If you are insane (and lovely) you have more than one pet at home. You may want to have a rabbit... rabbits and hamsters are popular. But the guinea pigs... what's that? and WHY? you need to be really insane...
None of my relatives have pets at home and they hardly understand the reason of having a "trouble", but of course they don't express their feelings. Some of my friends felt a great disgust and one of them avoids now to come here... (also my cousin, who is not coming with his daughter because the risk is that the daughter falls in love with a pet)
Guinea pigs are not known here, but luckily only very few parents agree to buy a pet for the child, usually a fish, a hamster, something little (who dies fast). In fact we have few exotic vets (compared with the huge number of general vets) and the rescues don't give you a piggie if you live in a city without an exotic clinic (and don't give you a piggie if you have little children at home).
My two piggies were abandoned for the usual reason: the family bought a dog who gives more satisfactions... (?).
This is the situation here... The most sensitive people (with dog or cat) think that the choice of a piggie is only for having less troubles (no dog to walk, no ruined sofa).
Click to expand...

Ciao e piacere!

Being from Italy myself I can entirely relate to what you've said in your message .
That is the widespread mentality in our country , even though I haven't been living there for many years , your words resonate completely !

I suspect , although I've been living in UK for long now , many of my friends are Italian ... so maybe the answer is closer to home than I thought .
 
Eileen's Mum said:
A few times now my parents have told me " at the end of the day, they are just animals". I just ignore those sorts of comments.
Click to expand...

My family are just plainly unattracted by anything resembling rodent , and also question what kind of satisfaction I can get from the piggies ...
I try to explain but their puzzled faces say it all .
 
I get that reaction all the time. I'm at an age now where I don't care what people think, the more time I spend with guinea pigs the less I like people, and can happily do without most of them. That excludes all the lovely people on this forum who do get the love of guineas!
 
Rochester Piggy said:
It honestly pisses me off when people say hamster! And everyone's like "They weigh like nothing and you spend how much?!?!"
Click to expand...

My mother says "rabbit" ... and to think we even HAD a rabbit at home when I was a child !
Maybe generally many people don't understand or value the kind of complex bond which may occur with guinea pigs .
They relate more to the dog/cat sort of interaction.
 
Oh yes my parents constantly refer to guinea pigs, rabbits, hamsters, rats and gerbils are pets ONLY for children and you have to be a very childish pathetic adult to want them :eek:

You should hear it whenever they find out that one of the pets has been to the vets. "oh so you'll spend x amount on your stupid rats/guinea pigs but won't spend the same on -add horribly unhealthy junk food- for the kids when they ask. You're such a bad parent."

Yep because encouraging healthy eating and taking family pets to the vets makes me a teeeerrrible parent :lol::lol::lol::lol:.
 
I'm lucky that some of my best friends get it. Hell when I was on holiday there was a party, and the pig room was off limits...unless you needed a break from the party and people, then you could visit the pigs or Murphy the cat (in a different room). Hell I told random people how paranoid I was because it was the first holiday (again, this was at the party) and people kept trying to make me feel better about it, and there was nothing about "Well they're just guinea pigs".

Hell I needed a break and got told to bring them too since it was the only way I could go. I have a pretty good friend circle.
 
Lorcan said:
I'm lucky that some of my best friends get it. Hell when I was on holiday there was a party, and the pig room was off limits...unless you needed a break from the party and people, then you could visit the pigs or Murphy the cat (in a different room). Hell I told random people how paranoid I was because it was the first holiday (again, this was at the party) and people kept trying to make me feel better about it, and there was nothing about "Well they're just guinea pigs".

Hell I needed a break and got told to bring them too since it was the only way I could go. I have a pretty good friend circle.
Click to expand...

TBH I prefer the rats to the company of some people I know!
 
I get the same with my family. My husband reluctantly and with a huge amount of embarassment admitted that he missed our little family of 5 while we were away for 9 days. I asked him why he felt embarrassed as if we had had a dog he would quite happily say he was missing the dog! He admitted that this was true and changed the subject. My lovely late Mum and Dad used to love looking after our Rainbow piggies Lenny and Gizmo when we went away but my parents in law just don't get it.
 
CogGirl said:
I'm relatively fortunate in that several of my friends own small furries (mostly rabbits, guineas, ferrets or degus) and so talking about the herd as members of the family 'makes sense' to them; the big suprise has been my parents (who have always been rodent-other-than-bunny haters) who've taken to calling them the Furry Grandkids and seem to look forward to us going on holiday so they can come over and spoil their 'babies'!

I'm developing a bit of a reputation at work for being a 'crazy guinea pig lady', but I'm embracing and running with it.
Click to expand...
I too am seen as the mad guinea pig lady. I have no problem with this... It makes me interesting
 
CriLondon said:
Ciao e piacere!

Being from Italy myself I can entirely relate to what you've said in your message .
That is the widespread mentality in our country , even though I haven't been living there for many years , your words resonate completely !

I suspect , although I've been living in UK for long now , many of my friends are Italian ... so maybe the answer is closer to home than I thought .
Click to expand...
ahahah! :))well, I had the hope this mentality was only typical in Rome... What I hear from here is something that would be good for a comics. For example: just next to my building there is a cultural (!) centre with a large garden where wild grass grows in spring. One day I saw one of those educated men with the lawnmower and I ran downstairs with bag and knife asking him if I could cut some grass for my GUINEA PIGS. He stared at me and said yes of course. Then he approached me and asked: "what are you doing with guinea pigs? what is their usage?" I replied: "I do nothing special with them, they are our pets..." and him: "ah...... what do they do then? only eating grass?" and me: "and what are you doing with your cat over there?" (because they have a cat living there). Another educated man replied "oh, but a cat is a real PET".
And there are also other stories...
But I am glad that piggies are not used as toys for children; that is the poor destiny of hamsters, though... hamsters who never see a vet of course...
I am only worried about a thing: in Rome there are two valued and expert vets for exotic; one of them runs an excellent (expensive) specialised clinic and teaches at the University even abroad; the other one is very expert, too. But how many guinea pigs do they see in one year? they can be excellent in their knowledges, they can go to tv to talk about piggies/ferrets/rabbits but how many surgeries do they practice on piggies? That is my worry for the future...
 
CogGirl said:
I'm relatively fortunate in that several of my friends own small furries (mostly rabbits, guineas, ferrets or degus) and so talking about the herd as members of the family 'makes sense' to them; the big suprise has been my parents (who have always been rodent-other-than-bunny haters) who've taken to calling them the Furry Grandkids and seem to look forward to us going on holiday so they can come over and spoil their 'babies'!

I'm developing a bit of a reputation at work for being a 'crazy guinea pig lady', but I'm embracing and running with it.
Click to expand...

My colleagues also think I'm a crazy guinea pig lady haha!
 
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