Update: cavy in classroom

[WendyK]

A few weeks ago I asked for some opinions about keeping a cavy in a classroom - most of you said "Don't do it!" Well - I'm reporting back to say (after trying it for about a week) that I now wholeheartly agree with the general opinion here - it just did not work - basically - it is just not pleasant for the guinea pig to have many different sets of hands on its body - just too too much - and I was always nervous about the noise level in the room - once I brought my little girl home and she settled in - she started to spend periods of time where she merrily popcorns around the cage and then other periods where she would gently roam and graze about - much different from when she was in the classroom - all she did there was hide in her pigloo - constantly. well thanks again for the sound advice!

 

[widallas]

Glad to hear your girl is claming down and enjoying life...at home!

One of my sons teachers used to bring her gp into the classroom a few times a year. She was great -- she told the kids about the pros and cons about owning a gp (and pets in general), and had other families bring in pets as well. As preschoolers, it was a good age to 'plant the seed' of pets being living things, and not glorified toys. The kids loved her, and I think many of them took what she said to heart (Probably the reason we built a C&C cage, and will have two incredibly spoiled piggies!) She broke the class into small groups, and allowed them to gently pet her little guy over the day, so the stress was minimalized. (Also, there were only 15 kids in the class.) I think that's probably the only appropriate way to bring an animal into the class-- treat them like a guest, and not a decorative fixture.

 

[RyanR]

My brother back when he was in day care about 10 years ago had a guinea pig name Patches and while they looked at it, they were not allow to pet it unless an instructor took him out. However, it got to much for him and they ended giving Patches to one of the employees and he's still there happy with his two buddies, Quilt and Pier.