Still, you can do your part by researching the place you are buying your guinea pig from. As guinea pigs are more robust than their smaller cousins, they can live longer than hamsters that stay alive for around 2-3 years. The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals is more precise; they say guinea pig life span is five to six years “but some may live longer.”. . We put blankets and towels on the floor and we change them every couple days. We have devoted our den to the guineas and they do not live in cages except when we first get one until he can be integrated with the others. Most guinea pigs have fur, but one laboratory breed adopted by some pet owners, the skinn… 437–446. On average, they live from four to eight years. Since these genes are usually associated with specific pedigrees, we’ll look at them in the next section. The female guinea pig is called a sow while the male is called a boar. The longest life of a guinea pig has been fourteen years. They’re also pint-sized adventurers who like mental stimulation. – Average Life Span. We all know that a healthy, balanced diet is essential to living a long life. A guinea pig’s lifestyle will also affect how long it lives. The lifespan of a guinea big depends heavily on the breed. How long does a Guinea Pig Live? Published 13:47 pm. Enjoy Life With Your Furry Friend, Can Guinea Pigs Eat Spinach? How Long Do Guinea Pigs Live. Guinea pig pedigrees are created and maintained by breeding like guinea pigs with like. Below is a list of common risk factors. 2013 “Longevity and mortality of owned dogs in England”, The Veterinary Journal. Your vet will check for urinary stones and a possible urinary tract infection. As they are social animals, it’s best for them to have companions. The Guinness Book of World Records entry for the world’s longest living guinea pig was a boar in England called Snowball. They can live even longer. Domesticated guinea pigs that live in captivity as pets have a different lifespan than guinea pigs living in the wild. In order to submit a comment to this post, please write this code along with your comment: 1d54332c2225fa4cce78d9a82d9489f4, How Long Do Guinea Pigs Live? pp. It’s a natural question if you’re considering bringing one of these small furry friends home. Since guinea pigs live longer than other small animals, buying one is much more of a commitment. Breeding within a confined gene pool can also cause hereditary illnesses to become fixed, and even amplified in successive generations. We’ll talk about specific health issues and what we can do to help a little guinea pig life span further down. But compared to other smaller pet animals, like pet rats, a lifespan of up to eight years seems quite generous! Loneliness and boredom can be very stressful for guinea pigs, and this is bad for their long term health in two ways. By paying attention to their needs and health, you can maximize the amount of time that you get to spend with your cavies. Though they have far more freedom than guinea pigs who are kept as pets, most will become the victim of natural predators or even be hunted as food by humans. It’s Down in the Genes, Common Health Concerns and How to Avoid Them, Factors that Improve How Long Guinea Pigs Live, How Long Do Guinea Pigs Live? Guinea pigs on the other hand live much longer and grow to a much larger size. According to the 2006 Guinness World Records, the longest living guinea pig survived 14 years, 10.5 months. Some livestock breeds weigh 3 kilograms (6.6 lb) when full grown. Weir, B. However, this depends on quite a few factors and circumstances. Cute, furry and about the size of a hamster, something about the word guinea pig often calls to mind laboratory-based medical research. If you’re curious about how big do guinea pigs get, you’ll be intrigued to know that the larger guinea pig breeds grow across a length range of about 4 inches. It can be tempting to buy a guinea pig from a random seller. The good news is that nearly every one of these is entirely under your control. Share: Don’t let the name fool you, guinea pigs are nothing close to the size of an actual pig neither are they from Guinea. Life Span of Guinea Pig On the Basis of Breed This means guinea pigs require a long-term commitment on your part. Hi Kathleen, some piggies are more vocal than others. A suitable diet for a guinea pig can be broken down as follows from the most to the least: KEY TIP: Don’t let treats go bad! Still kept for the same reason in many areas, the guinea pig variant we are familiar with no longer exists in the wild. He may spend a lot more time sleeping than he used to. He reached an extremely stately fourteen years and ten months old. It is difficult when they pass but since they all have been abandoned we know they at least had a good life at the end. An enclosure should be the appropriate size for the number of guinea pigs living within it. Some don’t live long enough and some make it to a much riper old age. The average life expectancy for guinea pigs is 4-8 years. Or any species of animal, really. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. He is kept in the kitchen so can interact with myself and my dogs, and also goes outside in good weather. However, there are a number of factors that can affect how long a guinea pig can live. But a guinea pig may survive up to eight years. What they eat and how much they weigh can also add guinea pig years or take them away. Find out how long their predecessors lived, and what their overall health was like. In my experience adult guinea pig males can have a hard time accepting new friends. I can’t find an equivalent study in guinea pigs, but in 2013 Dr Dan O’Neill and colleagues at the Royal Veterinary College in the United Kingdom reported that mongrels live on average 1.2 years longer than purebred dogs. On the highest average lifespan level, guinea pigs can live for around 14 years. Most breeds of guinea pig have the same hardiness and generally decent health. On average, a Guinea pig can live anywhere between 4 to 8 years. And, scurvy is absolutely not fun. The oldest one we adopted was 5 years old who was left in a bix outside a pet store near where we live. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. The same goes for their food bowl and water bottle. About three months ago we rescued a pair of guinea pigs living in a tiny cat carrier. Notice: It seems you have Javascript disabled in your Browser. On the whole, they do tend to be fairly short-lived, unlike larger pets. 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