I'm adopting a cat…how do I protect my guinea pigs?
Recently our dog passed away, and my mom especially is having a terrible time. Our dog was like another child to my mom.
We’ve been wanting a certain female cat for a few months now, even before our dog died. We won’t be ready for another dog yet, but my mom really wants a cat and she says she needs a "creature."
We made plans and we are adopting her this weekend.
Only problem is, I have four guinea pigs! They are in closed in cages, but they are wire tops so a cat could stick its paw inside. The door on my room is the old school kind, since our house was built in the 50′s. Meaning the knobs aren’t those new easy turn oblong ones, they are the round ones that take a human’s strength to twist them open. In addition, I myself have to shove my body into my door to open it because it sticks…I think when they put carpets down the door was too long.
But, what if someone forgot to close the door? The cat’s going to be indoors. I am going to put a sign on the door because my dad goes in during the day to feed my guinea pigs lunch and I wouldn’t want him to forget!
Will a fairly long pet or baby gate in front of the door prevent a cat from getting in?
Help! Thanks =)
Melody- We are not even going to consider getting her declawed. Do you know how inhumane that is? A cat’s NATURAL instincts is to claw things and hunt. They kind of need their claws to do that. We will gladly get her a scratching post and she can hunt if she wants, just NOT my piggies!
12 Comments on “I'm adopting a cat…how do I protect my guinea pigs?”
Best way is keeping your door shut. Besides changing the cage (which is more difficult since they are used to their home) shutting the door is the simplest and probably one of the only ways to protect them. Just keeping on top of your dad and a sign might help remind him.
A baby gate will not help. A cat can jump beyond ridiculous heights and a 3-4 feet baby gate is no match for a cat.
I have multiple cats and used to own a guinea pig and just keeping the door shut protected him and should protect yours, especially since the cat cannot open the door himself.
EDIT: OMG DO NOT de-claw your cat! That should be illegal and most good cat owners think it is inhumane. They actually break your cat’s feet when they de-claw them! Also it leaves your cat with no defense if something ever does happen to them.
Any good cat owner will know that if you set a guideline of where your cat will go they will stay in that area. When we only had 2 cats they were not allowed in my room. The girl is old now and we have put her in my room with another girl, but the boy is not allowed in my room (my rodent pets have long passed it’s just the cats now). If you put him in my room he goes to the door and wants out. Even though he loves to play with the girls he knows he is not allowed in my room and prefers to stay out.
Do not harm your cat because they can still harm your guinea pig with their teeth. After a few weeks it will be habit for everyone to shut your door!
You already know this, but to the other people, declawing isn’t the answer!
It is very cruel & painful… has been likened to having a human finger cut off at the knuckle! Also, some cats start having other behavioral problems such as biting and aggressiveness, but anyways, on to your question. A baby gate almost certainly will NOT stop a cat lol! They can run fast & jump quite high. That is great that the door sticks actually, because it can prevent the cat from getting the door open. My cat sticks his paws underneath the door and pulls as hard as he can to try open the doors, but mine are similar to yours & stick shut. If your cat were to get inside unattended though, all bets are off 
Although a friend’s kitten was scared of a baby pet mouse one time, that is unlikely for the majority of cats i think! Just try to remind everyone to shut the door behind them & also make sure the cat didn’t follow you in before you close the door !!
Sorry to hear about your dog too, btw
I own two guinea pigs and two cats-one of the cats is a hunter (she catches everything!!). We also have a mouse and a hampster. They all live together. Declaw the cat and nothing will happen.
Well a baby gate is your best shot if the door is often left open. I would move the guinea pigs to a place where the cat can’t go… like the garage or unused dinning room or laundry room. Or you could de-claw the cat so unless she can get a hold of them with her teeth… everything will be fine.
Good Question. When you adopt your cat, you should have a limit of how many rooms it can come in. Put your guinea pigs in a the room that your new cat can’t come in. That should work.
First of all, kudos to you for adopting! Baby gates will definitely cat-proof your room. If you want to be super secure, one of those pet playpens or something similar you can get from Wal-Mart or a hardware store to put around your guinea pig cage will also help.
FIRST OFF ALL if ur ok with leveing them in a cage for a while then do that . If ur not then put ur cat some where that ur guine pig aren’t like for example: take ur guine pigs in ur room and close the door so that way u can speend time with ur pigs too. OR u can just get a fat cat that’s lazzy he/she might not try to attack the pigs ( HOUSE CATS ARE MY #1 RECOMMMEND!!!!)
I have no experience with guinea pigs, but plenty with cats. I believe Ambre has given you the best advise.
I just have to comment on people suggesting baby gates. Seriously?? Has no one ever seen a cat jump or leap over or onto something? My cats can easily jump 4 or 5 feet. Don’t waste your money on baby gates.
keep the piggys in a high place nothing else tall next to it
I can’t speak for all cats, but mine love my daughter’s guinea pig. We have never had a problem with him being attacked or harmed in any way. It seems the cats don’t even see him as a "big mousie", but more like another cat. As a matter of fact, we don’t even leave the top on the guinea pig’s cage anymore, he seems to like having company – the cats will go in and have a nap or bathe him and he’ll climb on them and cuddle. It’s really cute. In the beginning, you might want too leave something heavy on the guinea pig’s cage, like a couple of books – just in case, but I don’t foresee a problem.
well a baby gate isnt gonna work its no match for a cat so if u was in ur situation i would just keep the guinea pigs in a spare smaller room that people usually dont go in and when they do go in it make sure they get in there head CLOSE THE DOOR
my guinea pig got eaten by a cat. we didn’t see it but there was a big fat cat always in our garden, staring at the guinea pig. he had managed to knock off a brick on the cage lid and eat the guinea pig and he also once broke a glass window in the shed. and there was fur everywhere afterwards.
even if the cat doesn’t hurt the guinea pig, the guinea pigs will be scared and stressed out. guinea pigs that are stressed have a shorter life.
a cat once jumped on top of the guinea pig cage and the guinea pigs were so scared after that, it took 5 hours for them to calm down and be their normal selves. so you can see how much a cat would scare a guinea pig.
if you had gotten a really young kitten and the guinea pigs were a little bigger than the kitten, then maybe they would have become friends and th kitten would have remembered and gotten used to the guinea pigs not being food.
and if you really are going to get the cat, try to make it stay outside at all times and your room window is shut tight because like I said, the cat actually smashed the glass window.
and also make sure the cat is not hungry at all and so it won’t go hunting the guinea pigs.
if you want to try and get the cat to become more used to the guinea pigs, put the guinea pig in a plastic box with a lid and put it near your cat. hold the cat really firmly and if the cat tries to pounce on the guinea pig in the box, you can do something bad to it like, yell or spray it with some water on to it. and give it some food when it os near the guinea pig so it isn’t that hungry.keep doing this and eventually your cat might learn to not hurt your little piggies.
but the best option is to not get the cat at all. or i would just get another dog because dogs don’t usually eat guinea pigs, they usually want to know what it is and then leave it alone.
so get another dog, then your guinea pigs won’t need to be that scared
owner of 11 guinea pigs