When do you first fall in love with Guinea Pigs?

[JimmythePig]

I'm late to Guinea pig love. Growing up we were a dog family all the way.
When did you first realize how much you loved these guys? I'm guessing most grew up with piggy pets, or maybe not.
I would love to hear the piggie love stories.

 

[Tales of Bonnie and Frieda]

I had a guinea pig growing up along with dogs and all manner of hamsters and budgies but I think I truly fell in love with pigs when I got my current sow Bonnie and her sister teacake who sadly passed away recently, watching these scared little things come out of their shells and seek me out when they heard my voice melted my heart and now I wouldn’t be without them !
- Mia , Bonnie and Frieda

 

[SkyPipDotBernie]

I grew up having hamsters, rats, rabbits, then a springer spaniel.

I came home to a Guinea pig one day when my wife got home from work before me (at a primary school) she bought one of the two home for the weekend because no one wanted to have him, I fell in love with him after the weekend, I made sure he never went back as a classroom pet, then I worked on rescuing his brother aswell who was left in the same classroom . Just after I managed to permanently get him with me, a fire broke out right near where he was caged.

They were both 2 years old when I got them, they lived to 6 and 7 years old.

 

[horsefeather]

my daughter got her first guinea pigs about 5/6 weeks ago and i like them alot more than i thought i would. they bring me a joy that i missed when i lost my cat and horse 2 years ago

 

[Lorcan]

When my friends guinea pig pooped on me at a rate of about 5 poops a minute when I first met him.

 

[JimmythePig]

What beautiful piggie beginnings by beautiful piggie people.. Thank you so much for sharing.

 

[anyar.dris]

Hubby has already been keeping guinea pigs for years when I met him. He's the one who introduced me to them. His last 2 piggies (Tootoo and Noinoi) passed away around 1.5 years before I migrated to UK to be with him. So a couple of weeks after we got married, we adopted my first piggies from RSPCA, sisters Meemee and Deedee. That was 8 years ago and sadly, both of them are already in piggy heaven. We've had another 7 piggies in the span of 8 years, including my current 3.

 

[Marlee and Fluffy]

Before quarantine, I was too busy to always visit my guinea pigs, so my brother always took care of the guinea pigs. During quarantine, I was researching about guinea pigs and found out that they live 4-8 years. I started panicking, because my guinea pigs are already 4 1/2 years old, and I started having nightmares of my guinea pigs dying. So, I started spending a LOT of time with them, and as if I could feel their time coming, a few days later my Guinean pig pooped out his intestine, and was sent to the Emergency Vet. We put her to sleep forever, and buried her. I’m still very sad to this day because this was pretty recent. Anyway, I started to really love my guinea pigs during quarantine when I started getting really worried about them. So now I spend lots of time with my single guinea pig, and I have really started to love her a lot. I hope this helps you.

 

[Sweet Potato]

I had piggies growing up but i have to admit they were more my mums pet and I really didn't appreciate them and they didn't have great care and were outside piggies so I could go weeks without seeing them.

then when I was at university (2 years ago) I was really struggling with loneliness and was desperate for a companion animal so I spent a lot of time popping into pet shops to have a look a the buggies and hamsters. one time there was a lone piggie in a small pet shop cage with no hides just a small pile of hay, a bowl full of musili and dirty wood shavings. It was love at first sight and I was desperate to take it home and give it a better life and my fiance felt that too. so we spent the next week getting all the things we thought we needed doing very little research and not knowing at all what we were getting ourselves into. when we went back the next week the poor little piggie was gone and to be honest I'm glad we didn't contribute to that business. but we did end up buying our little boys from pets at home and they've been a huge part of the family ever since and 3 cage upgrades later I'm finally happy with there care.

 

[PigglePuggle]

I had guinea pigs as a child, but that was over 30 years when welfare standards and life expectancy weren't so good, so I was very pleasantly surprised getting piggies again as an adult how much personality they have and how much fascinating behaviour they display when kept in the correct housing and social groups!
My husband never had small pets as a child, his family had goats and outdoor farm cats, but he became completely smitten when we brought home lonely little boar Theo, so Theo spent his quarantine and post-neutering weeks living mostly up his new daddy's jumper until he could meet his lady friends!

 

[teddymouse]

My 1st piggies were from my auntie when l was 7 year old, 2 black and white, l was not allowed to keep them in the house. They would watch for me coming home from school, l would clean their hutch and have grass time with them, sadly they died in the middle of winter. During a bad snow snowstorm, over 6 foot of snow in a week. I married at 16,and my pets were piggies and budgies, both in abundance. And my beautiful rough collie Lady. Now nearing 70,my piggies and dogs are my companions.

 

[Siikibam]

The guinea pig bug bit me when I saw the school ones. We live in rented accommodation and are not supposed to have pets. However, I thought I'd ask the landlord if we could bring the school ones home for the weekend. He said yes, and that was it! He also allowed us pets. The intention was to keep them outside but he let us keep them inside. I'm so happy we have a lovely landlord

 

[Flutterby]

When I was given two to look after for the winter for a friend

 

[alpacasqueak]

I had piggies as a child/teenager so I’ve always been a big fan! They were outdoor pigs.
But I started helping at the rescue in my town years ago (now closed) cleaning piggy cages and the obsession started again! A month there and my RB Reggie and Sheepy moved in! I love having them indoors and being able to see so much more of them being pigs!

 

[piggieminder]

When I was 12 my friends guinea pig had babies and my parents let me have one, we found her a friend, the school caretakers piggies had also had babies. My lifetime love affair had started and I've had guinea pigs on and off since then.

 

[Lady Kelly]

I got guinea pigs for the first time around 10 years ago. I wish I could say that was when I was a teenager but I was in my late 20's

 

[Gem789]

I was 19 and asked my mum if I could have a rabbit, she said no and when I saw guinea pigs in a local pet shop I thought they were so cute and asked if I could have them instead. She agreed I could buy my 1st 2(bill and Ted) .My love for them started from there, I didn't know anything about piggies and have learnt a lot from this forum over the years.

 

[Merab's Slave]

I had guinea pigs as a child and loved them.
As an adult I had hamsters as they were easier to care for but then I adopted a pair of unwanted boars (red eyed whites) and was totally smitten. That was about 9 - 10 years ago

 

[VickiA]

24 years ago, and with the exception of about a short gap I have had piggies pretty much constantly during that period.

 

[Bill & Ted]

I adopted an unwanted rabbit and guinea pig from a neighbour when I was around 10. The poor piggie was bald as they were in the same hutch and the rabbit was a Male. I have also had guinea pigs when my son was little and once I retired I got Bill and Ted over five years ago as I could give them lots of my new found time. So around 50 years on and off!