first Guinea pig?

Question

We just got our first guinea pig, and he's wonderful with my daughter. my question is do I have to worry that my cats will kill him in his cage or will he be safe if they get in the room where he is? He has a large cage with a bedroom to hide in. Do you think he'd be okay or should cats stay away from him forever?

Answer 1

I would keep him away from the cats. Make sure the cage is always closed/locked. And if you let him out to run around, make sure the cats are not in the room.

HTH : )

Answer 2

While some cats may be perfectly fine with guinea pigs, it's best to exercise caution.

Get a top for the cage that can withstand the weight of the cat. For my cage, I bought organizational shelving ($25) from a Lowe's hardware store that was happy to cut it down to the length of my cage. I put one slab of shelving on half the cage secured with cable ties ($2 at the same store) to the cage, and one slab in the front secured to the other shelf. This made the entire "line" where the two sets of shelving met act like a hinge, allowing me to open a wide enough area to let me access any point of the cage at any time for any reason.

In the meantime, the shelving is too heavy for the cat to open on his own, and sturdy enough that he can stand on top of the cage without causing it to so much as sag.

This doesn't stop him from putting his paws in through the side, but one of the girls began nipping at his paw, which seems to humble him well enough.

EDIT: I think my wording may have been a bit confusing, so here are some pictures I have online:
http://www.putfile.com/pic.php?img=4526753
http://www.putfile.com/pic.php?img=4526752

If you consider this method, but can't make heads or tails of what I said, shoot me an email.

Answer 3

Keep them away. They will only they frighten the poor little fellow. I'm sorry, I have no tolerence for cats being around Guinea pigs. I breed Guinea pigs and I have had the neighbors cats literally tear through the wire to get to my pigs, Finding half a dozen torn up pigs and half eaten young ones around the yard certainly convinced me that some cats will do anything to get to these helpless little creatures.

This of course is not the cats falt, its instinctive and small animals like Guinea's are the type of food a cat would hunt for in the wild.

Answer 4

never let the cats near it when your not watching and even then the gpig should be in the cage.
u can slowley try to interduce them but be very carefull if ur cats like tol hunt. leave the gpig in the cage and let the cats look and sniff the cage. prais them if they act calm and friendly and tell them NO and remove them if they show any signs of wanting to hunt it. also give the gpig some treats to keep it calm.

my gpig and cat from the house on the left were fine but cat on the right would go after him most of the time so i had to keep chaseing it out of garden.