Building a pet-owner relationship

Why get a guinea pig? Building a pet-owner relationship Basic care/Illnesses How to understand you Pig Showing Breeding your Guinea pigs Newborn guinea pigs Introducing your cavy with other pets Cavy personalities How to become close you your cavy Cool cavy facts More random facts Guinea pig fun and games What's New Guinea Gallery About the authors Guest Book

Guinea pig learning to trust you. Forming a bond.

Laughing

January 14, 2008

Guinea pigs may be small, but their hearts are very big. Starting a friendship with your guinea pig does take some patience, but patience wins your guinea pigs trust, and a close bond begins to bloom. Below shows a list of what to do to gain your cavy's trust, and becoming friends with it.

1. Speak to your cavy slowly and calmly. Pet her with one finger, and speak kindly and reassuringly.
2. Offer the little fellow a carrot, or a slice of cucumber. She may just sniff it at first, but in a little bit, she will cautiously come up to take a bite of the treat being offered.
3. Once she has allowed you to pet her and give her a treat, slowly begin stroking her fur and speaking softly. If she doesn't retreat at that, you have gained her trust.
4. Now that your cavy lets you feed her, pet her, and say hello, you may try to pick her up. To pick up your cavy, gently scoop her from her sides, and support her rump, as to help make her feel secure. This time of your guinea pig's life is very important. Try to be very careful with her and do not drop her, as this could make her scared of you for a long time, and when things like this happen to baby animals, they remember it for life.
5. Every day feed your guinea pig and hold her constantly until she isn't afraid of you any more! Now you are friends, and can trust each other!

        Remember through, this may take a few days. Try not to rush the process, If one thing doesn't seem to be working, try doing the same process for a few days and see what happens. If this still doesn't look like it's working, try starting over and taking more time on each process. Sometimes guinea pigs might have been abused or traumatized by the previous owner, in this case, it may take up to a year for the guinea pig to be comfortable with you, but whatever you do, don't give up.

Links

The purpose of the AMERICAN CAVY BREEDERS ASSOCIATION (A.C.B.A.), is to promote the breeding and improvement of the cavies, and to secure publicity for and interest in the cavy as an exhibition, pet and research animal.


To Learn more about Cavies go to:

Links to Other Sites