People don't know what guinea pigs are?

[Sirene]

This is just a random question, because it came up again a couple of weeks ago. We had a party and SO MANY of our friends (who are otherwise pretty intelligent people ) asked what kind of animal my boys were! I couldn't believe it. It transpired that all the other guinea pigs they had ever seen were the short-haired, smooth-coated kind. Faced with an "Abyruvian" and a Silkie, they didn't even think they were the same kind of animal! Has anyone else encountered this?

 

[CavyCrazyLady]

Yes! People come over to our booth at rescue events all the time and think our adorable guinea pigs are large gerbils or some kind of puppy/kitten.

Really, the only thing people always ''get'' right away are the rabbits. They confuse rats, hamsters, gerbils, mice, you name it!

 

[lissie]

I've seen it on a local newspaper. They called guinea pigs "hamsters", with the guinea pigs picture on the front page. lol

 

[SFailed186]

Really, the only thing people always ''get'' right away are the rabbits. They confuse rats, hamsters, gerbils, mice, you name it!

We received our very first guinea pig from our uncle. His son was given the female, Mama (RIP), for a birthday present, and after a year or so, he stopped taking care of her. My uncle gave her to us because we loved animals and were older and more responsible than our cousin. My parents called Mama a gerbil for the LONGEST time because they had never actually seen a gerbil or a guinea pig before we got Mama.

(PS. Mama's name-sake is from the tv show Johnny Bravo, she was never bred.)

 

[pinky]

Oprah Winfrey called the guinea pig a hamster on her show about rescue animals.

 

[CavyMama]

My family, except my mom, tends to nonchalantly call them "hamsters".

I was at a wedding last weekend and my sister-in-law asked me, "Oh how are those hamsters of yours?". I mean it's nice that she asked. She knows I have a passion for them but it came off as kind of disingenuous. She was probably just making polite conversation so it wasn't worth my effort to correct her.

If I ever have corrected people, the immediate response goes one of two ways: either "Ohhh that's right, guinea pigs! Sorry about that" or "Hamsters, guinea pigs, what's the difference?".

 

[medusa_stew]

My friends call them rats and my girlfriend calls them hamsters.

 

[Paula]

Although she didn't say anything to outright indicate she didn't know what a guinea pig was, I once had a coworker ask me if guinea pigs eat frogs.

I asked her if she'd ever seen a guinea pig.

Cause, you know, they just don't look like the frog eatin' type. To my eyes.

 

[dra&pigs]

Hmm... A guinea pig eating a frog. I'm sure that would do wonders for it's digestive system.

 

[Onetwo]

Guinea pigs eatting frogs. Yuck! I will never own another animal that has to eat other animals. Uggg... On one hand it was kind of cool seeing my pet mice tear into those nasty june bugs. Haha

 

[louie_joey]

My friend once came up to my locker (I have a picture of the pigs on the inside) and she was like "Cute! What are they?" I have also been told by some people that they look "fake" or that they look like toys.

Haha... they are as far from fake as they get!

 

[SFailed186]

My friend once came up to my locker (I have a picture of the pigs on the inside) and she was like "Cute! What are they?" I have also been told by some people that they look "fake" or that they look like toys.

Haha... they are as far from fake as they get!

I have pictures of my girls on my MySpace and a long time ago, someone asked me why I kept stuffed animals in a cage in my living room... I asked them what made them think that they were stuff and they replied, "Well, they look way too soft to be real and they have button eyes!". -sigh- lol

 

[frillint]

When I was waiting at the vet to have them come out and get Darwin A couple people came in to drop off their pets for surgery and a little kid about 5 was totally fascinated by Darwin. He has no clue on earth what Darwin was. The kids eyes were huge just staring at Darwin. He didn't even say by to his dog and the dad said come on lets go he was like wait I want to watch it some more.

 

[blackarrow]

Although she didn't say anything to outright indicate she didn't know what a guinea pig was, I once had a coworker ask me if guinea pigs eat frogs.

I would have been tempted to have told her that only Sumatran guinea pigs eat frogs, and that yours are the rarer Manitoban variety, which are exclusively cannibalistic. :mischievo

 

[MaggieMae]

Wow, that made my night. I can't stop laughing. A guinea pig eating a frog. Guinea pigs would probably be scared to death of a frog let alone eat one!

The lady who adopted Lucy out to me didn't know the difference between a hamster and a guinea pig. We asked to see the guinea pig and she took us to the hamster cage. When we said it was a hamster after standing there kinda awkward for a while she had to ask someone else where the guinea pig was because she was confused.

 

[Paula]

I would have been tempted to have told her that only Sumatran guinea pigs eat frogs, and that yours are the rarer Manitoban variety, which are exclusively cannibalistic.

Ha. I wish I hadn't been too stunned to think of something so creative at that point. I just can't get past the mental image of a guinea pig sitting in a cage with a giant bullfrog while the two creatures stare at each other in abject horror. Until, of course, they realized the natural order of things and started eating each other. :crazy: