Significant others and your piggies

[ginipigsinspace]

My husband never had a pet growing up, so he was somewhat tentative when I said I wanted to adopt a pair of pigs. However, he let me move forward, and, after meeting our two boys, agreed that having them around might be cool. Although I do the majority of the caretaking, it's been so delightful to watch my husband slowly bond with our boys. He enjoys feeding them, and will send me pictures of the piggie salads he makes while I'm at work. However, he's a little squeamish about potentially getting peed on, and he's still a little nervous about interacting with them, so while they will both fight over my lap, sit calmly and bubble as I pet them, and even run up my chest to snuggle under my chin or perch on my boob "shelf", they tend to be a bit more nervous and less affectionate around him. However, last night we had a break-through!! Here is Han happily cuddling with and climbing on my husband.





How about you all? What is your significant other's relationship to your piggies?

 

[AmberCalzone]

My boyfriend is extremely allergic to them and their food, so he can't be in the same room as them. He does think they're "kind of cute" though, and admitted that they would be cuter if they didn't make his nose bleed

 

[jinxie]

How cute! My husband is so attached to the pigs he says "daddy wuvs you" in his baby voice and the first thing he does when he gets home is go to the pigs. I love how you mentioned the piggy shelf. My husband is actually very jealous cause my pigs are both Momma's boys and I really think it is just the shelf thing cause that is my younger pig's favorite spot in the world and my husband doesn't have a place like that to snuggle. Sometimes he will just sleep there. To fix this my husband lays really far back during lap time just to get his own under-chin snuggle time. We have no other pets or children so they are absolutely our babies and everyone knows it.

 

[allieh26]

My boyfriend likes them, he likes to lay on the floor and let them crawl on him or when I'm spot cleaning he tells me to hand him one of our pigs. He thinks I fuss too much over them but he enjoys them. I do all the cleaning and care taking. If I'm going to be gone I pre make salads because he clueless to that part but he does like them

 

[Lizzieball12]

My boyfriend and my pigs get along well. He's kind of allergic to them (along with like everything) but he's nice to them. there once was a time that he implied guinea pigs were not his favorite and bonding with them wasn't going to happen. My dad and I went out to dinner, only to come back to my apartment to see said boyfriend on the couch with Moses on his lap. They have a strange relationship, but it works for them I guess. We're all living under the same roof

 

[lunarminx]

My husband really enjoys the pigs. However I'm a very over-protective Mom and insist that only I lift them out of the cage. I'll let him hold them as long as he sits on the floor. I know that he'd probably do fine but I have been around animals all my life and I realize how quickly they can jump out of your grip. He's really good about helping me take care of them. A little while ago I had some surgery and couldn't clean their cage. He cleaned the cage and even made their salads twice daily. I'll often come into the room and hear him talking to them. I grew up with lots of different types of pets but he only had a dog. Sharing your life with rats and pigs seemed strange to him in the beginning of our dating life. We've now been married 18 years and they are as much a part of his life now as they are mine.

You have a keeper!

 

[kraizy randoms]

My other half wasn't aware of the fact that we were getting pets until our piggies moved in. He checks on them a lot, and I know he has been sneaking them treats because they go absolutely bonkers when he comes in the room. (He just looks at me and shrugs like he hasn't done anything to deserve their excitement.) He likes them, and texts me when I'm not at home if they are up to something.

 

[ginipigsinspace]

@AmberCalzone Oh, no! That would make it difficult to enjoy them (especially since I spend a lot of cuddle time with my nose in their fur). I assume that means you guys don't live together.

 

[ginipigsinspace]

@jinxie That is adorable! Yeah, they love the shelf--they actually fought over it the other night. My husband got a pick of them both trying to claim it and there was so much bubbling! I felt very loved.

 

[ginipigsinspace]

A little while ago I had some surgery and couldn't clean their cage. He cleaned the cage and even made their salads twice daily. I'll often come into the room and hear him talking to them.

Such a good piggie dad. I love watching my husband interact with the boys.

 

[slendermella]

First two pigs, he authorized but wasn't excited about because he doesn't like rodents at all. But then he grew fond of them, very quickly. Then we added a third, which he loves (she is the sweetest of all), and a fourth...and we just picked up a fifth...and the first two are pregnant. Soooo....we have a herd. First pigs entered our home March 11th and now we have five with two pregnant. He loves them so much now. He loves giving them treats and goes over and talks to them all the time. He doesn't ever pick them up, actually never has, but he loves interacting with them. That works for me

 

[ginipigsinspace]

@slendermella Wow, that is a swift accumulation of piggies! Good thing he likes them.

 

[slendermella]

Yea, I knew I wanted 4-5 when we first decided to get guinea pigs. I wasn't counting on having to deal with the stress of pregnancies with pigs...but hopefully, God-willing, that will all be over soon :::fingers crossed:::

 

[AmberCalzone]

@AmberCalzone Oh, no! That would make it difficult to enjoy them (especially since I spend a lot of cuddle time with my nose in their fur). I assume that means you guys don't live together.

No, we do
The pigs (and all of their things) are just kept in a bedroom that he never goes into, and I wash/change clothes after handling them.

 

[ginipigsinspace]

Speaking of significant others and pigs:

Last night my husband and I were heading out for a date night at Book of Mormon and he was prepping our piggie boys' dinner. He had carefully assembled it all on a plate: a lofty hill of lettuce ribbons, a generous sprinkling of thinly-sliced red peppers, strategically placed endive leaves, and fanned-out baby carrots...Six of them!

"Babe, that's too many carrots!"
"Oh, well I just...."
"Were you trying to make them a fancy meal?"
"Yeah, I figured we were having a nice night out, and they should get something special too! ...how about two each?"

I agreed to two each. I mean, it's not like they get baby carrots every day. Plus, they were so very excited about it!

 

[kmorain21]

My fiance was very skeptical for me to get one but he kept telling me I could. I got one recently and unfortunately for me, she responds better to him than me! Today I reminded him that he said that they were ugly and he said they are but Tessie is adorable. Haha! It made my day and warmed my heart.

 

[porkchophamster]

Lol my fiance tolerates my obsession but he does like to watch them because he thinks they're funny. He will go up to them and talk to them like they are little people. It's hilarious. A few weeks ago he took a video of them "being fat" as he says, but they were munching on their lettuce. He thought it was pretty funny.
All that being said, he was cool with getting them as long as they were my responsibility, (unless I'm unable to care for them) which still holds true lol he thinks they are taking over the apartment because the cage is big but he's cool with a 2x4....I'm trying to convince him to let me expand again....probably won't happen til we get a bigger place.
I'm going out of town tomorrow so I premade their salads ahead of time and will be going over everything in the morning with him. I've never left them for a full week before so I'm not what to expect haha

 

[GeekPrincess]

My girlfriend likes them but rarely handles them.
I spent most of January in the hospital and she took such good care of them for me. They didn't get as many cuddles or floor time (she hates lifting them because she's scared she'll hurt them) but she swept their poops daily, changed the liners, filled their hay rack, gave them pellets and made their salads and told them she loved them.
She also bought them toys (they love plastic cat balls with bells inside) and sent me pictures daily.

My nana would drop off hay and veggies for them, so my girlfriend didn't have to try to run to the store.

Before that, and now, she likes to watch them go about their guinea pig business and gives them each a cherry tomato or slice of cucumber when she gets home. The fact that they popcorn when she walks thru the door makes her very happy.

 

[Starthecavy123]

The only way I'm gonna get married is if the guy is also a animal lover like me.

 

[kanojochan]

My boyfriend didn't have pets growing up, and as an adult he never had any of his own. There was a cat that moved itself in to the last place he rented, but his roommates did most of the caretaking. He had the luxury of petting it when it came his way, but that was about it

When he and I found a place of our own, I moved out of my mom's house and left my two dogs with her to keep her company. It was really quiet and got pretty lonely after a while with no critters running around.

So in my loneliness I looked into having a pet I'd never had before. My boyfriend agreed to adopting two guinea pigs. Of course, I'd be the main caretaker. When I came home with three, he just laughed. He thinks they're cute and likes to pet them when I have them out, but he doesn't try to pick them up on his own. And he does take an interest in watching them. If I ever had to be away, I think he'd be totally ok with taking care of them.

On a side note: my dogs are staying with me for a week while my mom is out of town. My boyfriend has taken to them pretty well! And my skittish little girl is doing pretty well with him, too!