The friendly guinea pig
Written by: Jhudiel Ando
Keri’s story
When we heard the word pet what comes to our mind is that they might be raising a dog or a cat since these are the most common pets that humans take care of. However, I am not a dog or a cat person. I have a pet called a guinea pig. I’m not sure if people are quite familiar with guinea pigs. In other countries, a lot of people may be having them as a pet; but in our case, I rarely see anyone in our neighborhood raising a guinea pig. I know all of the pets are cute but I consider guinea pigs the cutest among all the other pets I have.
his is Browny, a year-old round male nose guinea pig. Browny is quite relaxed and friendly. He loves to play around with our other pets. Raising a guinea pig is not new to me because when I was a kid, I had other guinea pigs too. Browny is the fifth guinea pig we bought. We started raising guinea pigs because my mother likes how low maintenance it is in having them as a pet. I decided to buy Browny because it reminds me of the childhood guinea pig I had. If only guinea pigs’ lifespan is just like a human lifespan, probably we didn’t reach our fifth guinea pig. Sadly, guinea pigs’ lifespan lasts for 4-8 years. That’s why we kept on buying guinea pigs the moment they were gone. What I admire the most from Browny among all the guinea pigs we had is that he is very chill and obedient.
Guinea pigs are social animals. Browny is super friendly toward our Pacman frog, gecko, and parrot. My favorite bonding with Browny is every time we gather all the other pets with him. I find it cute when these animals are interacting. It is pretty rare to see different types of animals interacting. You’re going to expect that they’ll have chaos all the time; however, it’s completely the opposite. Seeing them being clingy with each other is just precious to see. If only I have connections with the National Geo channel, I’ll proudly consult them and let this feature this moment haha. Having Browny with us feels nice because our family is growing bigger and bigger. I felt really happy the first time I got Browny because another added member of the family; I know for some it is not something special since this is not our first guinea pig but for me, Browny is one of a kind. I haven’t seen someone as friendly as him. My other guinea pigs weren’t like that before. Those guinea pigs seem to have their own world but Browny? He treats other animals as a family.
Browny can be playful that sometimes I can’t have a decent photo with him. He kept on moving and that makes the photo blurry. Browny is the source of my happiness every time I’m bored or I am having a bad day. Seeing him being friendly with our other pets enlightened my mood in less than a minute.
The struggle of having a guinea pig is that it needs company. You can’t just leave them there. Your eyes must be on them because you might know what might happen since guinea pigs are quite small. I had an encounter before where I wasn’t paying attention and I wonder where my guinea pet went. It took five minutes for me to find it. From that experience, I learned to be more attentive every time I’m playing with a guinea pig. As I have mentioned earlier, raising a guinea pig is low maintenance. For Browny’s shelter, we provide an open space for him so he could move freely. For Browny’s food, we’re feeding him scramble and greens.
I know Browny is already a year old but there’s still the fear in me that he’ll be gone soon like my other guinea pigs. I’m so used to losing a pet but it doesn’t me I’m used to it; it is not painful anymore. Losing someone will always be painful no matter how used you are to the pain. I always treasure every moment I shared with Browny. If there are times I’m busy, my sister is always there to play with him. Raising a guinea pig in our family would always have a special place in our hearts. I’m so used to having guinea pigs because I grow up taking good care of one. Probably in the future when I have a family on my own, I’ll surely adopt a guinea pig as our family pet. It is not expensive in taking care of them like the other pets. I can be probably called a loyal pet owner of guinea pigs. To think, Browny is already our fifth guinea pig. I don’t mind if I reach the 20th or more guinea pigs I’ll be taking care of. Cheers to more guinea pigs in the future! As a guinea pig pet owner since 2005, I’ll surely recommend other people to have their guinea pig. They deserve the love in this world.
