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Covers Pigs and Cats, Anyone Else With an Unlidded Cage?

mufasa

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As a little background, I have two guinea pigs, four cats, and a small dog. I've had the pigs for three years and the cats much longer than that; the dog has been around for a year and a half.

My girls were in lidded cages at our old house, although they had a kiddie pool as their floor time pen. At first I was paranoid about the cats being around them, but two of the cats totally ignored them, one liked to sleep with them, and one fell in love with Quinn and had to be removed from the pen regularly as he just wanted to be near her (no aggression at all, and it was mutual on her end...weird). I never left them all together unsupervised, but the cats have never, ever shown any aggression, or even play behavior, toward the girls. Three are very old and lazy; the young one is the one who has an unholy relationship with Quinn.

When we moved to our new house, the swimming pool became the girls' permanent home, and it sits on the floor without a lid. It's in a dedicated room that the cats can get into at will, but not the dog (he shows little to no interest, but he's a terrier with a strong prey drive so I'd never, ever trust him to be near them unless he was under strict supervision). The cats dont' hang out in the pig room much, other than to eat since that's where I feed them. SheiKra doesn't even hang out with Quinn anymore, as the main kitty hangout is in a different part of the house.

I really love using the swimming pool, and I honestly don't believe the cats will ever harm the girls (it's been several months already), but I can't shake the fact that it's felines and rodents, i.e. natural enemies. Does anyone else have cats with an unlidded cage? Has anyone ever had peaceful cats that suddenly went on a piggy-attacking rampage? I actually have something I rigged up to put on top of the pool, but I've never used it due to the total lack of animosity or even interest. Just wondering if anyone else is in a similar situation with an unlidded cage in a cat house.
 

joys_cavies

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I do. But I keep my door closed. And if my dog wants to sleep with me then our kitten follows right behind. Otherwise he cries. We tried an unlidded cage but he try to "play" with them. So now what we do if my dog wants to sleep with me I put the pigs in my mom's room. At my dad's tho I leave open and the cat (13 and declawed) shows interest but in a play way. She'll case Bailey and swat at her and Bailey popcorn and wiggle her but in her face. When my dad's cat sleeps with me she always sleeps by the cage and in the closest hideout to Bailey or Bailey switches to go down by the cat
 

Sparklederp

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I wouldn't chance it personally because even though I trust everyone in the house to close doors, sometimes accidents happen and a door will be left open. My cats have never tried to hurt any of my small animals, but my small animals remain confined in fully-closed, lidded cages out of my own preference to be cautious. Even the friendliest cats still have prey drives and I don't want to give them the chance to hurt one of my other babies.
 

bpatters

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I wouldn't worry so much about the cats as I would about someone leaving the door open and the dog getting in. Someone has had that happen either here or at GL in the last month, and lost all their pigs.
 

mufasa

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The dog is indeed my biggest worry, but we have three fail safes in place (two pet gates that the cats can get through but he can't, plus floor to ceiling wall dividers that are up to confine him to the back of the house when we're out). I know that might sound paranoid, but I've seen how he reacts to squirrels so there's no way he's getting to my girls.
 

joys_cavies

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Okay I'm sorry but..... Squirrel!
 

mufasa

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Yep, that's about it!
 

lunarminx

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I have two cats that love the piggies, the newest adopted has not learned to love them or stay away. Andy and Paul Blackfoot loved sleeping in the cage too. Luna was found on the streets the shelter said , so we have to give her more time. But your cats, I wouldn't worry.
 

lunarminx

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100_0674.jpg100_0663.jpg100_0671.jpg
 

dani_starr

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Have your cats ever jumped in there before? The moment I remove the lid of their cage and turn my back, my male cat will jump in it. He goes in the back (where it's hard for me to reach and there's a lid over it) and gets cozy and lays down. Or he will eat the hay. He ignores the pigs.

I see I'm not the only one with a cat who pretends to be a pig, [MENTION=27327]lunarminx[/MENTION] (by the way, I LOVE the snow leopard print)
 

joys_cavies

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My kitten will eat hay. He likes it more than the pigs. He now comes into my room looking for hay lol [MENTION=22050]dani_starr[/MENTION]
 

alblaylock

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I'm glad I'm not the only one! I have 4 boars. I recently found a kitten out by Dicks' Sporting Goods near my work (A two mile strip of concrete and mall after mall area). When I brought him home he was smaller than all of my pigs and wanted to be in there all the time! I'm not sure if it's because he was abandoned at only 3-4 weeks old and felt like they were family. He's now about 5 months old and continues to cuddle with Billy Joel, his BFF.
 

mufasa

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One of my cats used to jump in and sleep in there all the time. He didn't care about the pigs, just really liked being in the pool. The younger cat would jump in and seek out Quinn and they'd just sniff each other and hang out together. That was all at the old house where the pool was the piggy play pen in the family room. The cats don't spend much time in the devoted pet room at the new house, other than to eat, so they don't bother to jump into the pool anymore, even though it's out 24/7 now. It was so cute back when they did. I call Stitch my "nurse cat" because he'll hang out with you if you're not feeling well. He's the one who would just sleep in the pool but not actually by the piggies. However, when Borat was going through his long illness, he'd actually lay by Bo all the time; he must have sensed the poor piggy was sick.
 

ClemmyOddieIndy

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I would never trust a cat. I had a wild toad at our barn that lived there for years. My barn cat never showed any interest in the toad, and they lived peacefully for years. Then one day I came down to see the cat eating the toad. I don't know what happened, but it was shocking. I never would've expected him to eat the toad. Prey and predator can be fine for years, and then out of nowhere the predator will have a change of heart. I think it's risking the lives of your guinea pig on a guess/hope.
 

sosilly451

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I have 3 cats and 2 pigs and an unlidded cage, then again, I keep my door closed and my cats are mainly outdoor cats.
 

Nicks Pigs

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I find my cats (3 of them, ages 3-15) aren't interested. Then again, rarely are they allowed into my bedroom where the pigs are housed. My dog on the other hand would go insane. He's a husky..... no piggies will be around him!
 

mufasa

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Your mention of a husky made me think of my piggy Amy. We adopted her via Craigslist, and when we went to look at her, she was in a small cage on a coffee table at eye level with an enormous, boisterous husky! Surprisingly, though, he seemed to not care about her at all. He was more excited at seeing new people in his house who might potentially pet him. Still, I'd have been too scared to keep a piggy that close to a large dog.
 

joys_cavies

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Your mention of a husky made me think of my piggy Amy. We adopted her via Craigslist, and when we went to look at her, she was in a small cage on a coffee table at eye level with an enormous, boisterous husky! Surprisingly, though, he seemed to not care about her at all. He was more excited at seeing new people in his house who might potentially pet him. Still, I'd have been too scared to keep a piggy that close to a large dog.
I have a border collie and I let her play with my girls. Her and Bailey love each other and her and Emmy touch noses a lot. She doesn't bark and she only moves her paws little steps. She knows to be gentle. I let her around my mice when I had them and she was always by my first guinea pig Noel. In fact Noel had came from a house with dogs so she was used to dogs and they lived each other
 

joys_cavies

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But yeah I guess husky are different
 

mufasa

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Actually, in thinking about it, I mentioned large dogs but I'd be even more scared to let my small dog, Bolt, by the girls. He's a terrier mix, which means a little rodent hunter, so he'd probably go after them more quickly than some of the bigger breeds. He's been around them under strict supervision, but never, ever, ever alone.
 
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