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It’s fun to walk a guinea pig on a leash and can give them some good exercise in a safe way. Allow your cavy to get used to a leash by putting it on them while you are petting them or feeding them fresh produce. This way, they will associate wearing a leash with pleasurable activity.
After a while, when you are sure that they feel comfortable with the leash, begin walking them short distances in the house. Eventually, you can move outside. Always be very gentle with a cavy on a leash. They break and bruise much more easily than dogs.
Guinea pig senses
Their keen senses are what make guinea pigs such good communicators. Their sense of smell, while not the best, is still almost one thousand times better than a human’s sense of smell. It is by your unique smell that your cavy recognizes you, so be sure to let them sniff your hand many times at the beginning of your relationship.
Guinea pigs have “telescope” eyes. They can see all around them. This is very useful in the wild to escape from predators, but it also accounts for their poor ability to gauge distance. If you place a guinea pig on a tabletop without any restraint, chances are they will fall off.
Color appears very sharp and clear to a guinea pig, so pick out the most festive toys you can find to put in their cage. They like the stimulation!
Some people are convinced that guinea pigs can see in the dark. Since most members of the rodent family have night vision, this is probably true. Also, guinea pigs in the wild lived in burrows and roamed about at night. It hasn’t been definitively proven, however. They may just be compensating with their sense of smell and hearing. Regardless of whether or not they have night vision, most guinea pigs enjoy being in the dark for periods of time. The darkness makes them calm and gives them a feeling of safety.
As they age, cavies begin to lose their eyesight. This is a normal process and most animals adjust to it very well.
The best sense for a guinea pig is by far their sense of hearing. While a guinea pig only hears 10 kHz more than a human (30 kHz to a human’s 20 kHz) that 10 kHz makes a big difference. Your pet can tell from a footstep alone who is entering a room. Your refrigerator may be on the other side of the house from the guinea pig’s cage, but make no mistake, she can hear that door opening and closing! Music can become a different kind of treat for your cavy if you can discover what they like and play it for them from time to time. Like humans, music helps animals relax.
Guinea Pigs Previous Page (26)
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