Cats and Prey animals

I'm really considering getting a cat, but my only problem is the amount of open caged guinea pigs in the house. My family is considering getting acordian doors for the room they are located in but I don't know how soon. Is it possible to keep a cat confined to the upstairs or a few rooms as long as the room is completely devoted to the cat? Would the cat go insane or would it be ok?

I would keep the cat and the guinea pigs seperate at all times unless you are in the room supervising them. It honestly depends on the cat's prey drive. maybe if you adopt a kitten and the kitten gets used to being around them, it should be fine but don't expect the kitten to get along with the guinea pigs when she/he gets older. good luck with your decision!

Whats the reason you can't get a lid for the chages? I wouldn't let the kitties and the pigs ever be left unsupervised, that would be dangerous!!! Once you get the kitty it's going to be very difficult to keep them from going in a room with the pigs. They are sneaky little bugars and would dart in when you weren't looking. I would really advise making lids for the chages if possible.

Would it be possible to just keep the guinea pigs confined to 1 room?

the cat would have the whole upstairs? I think that would be ok, like living in an apartment probably!

In my experience, how well that works out long term and how fair it is to the cats depends on how much contact they will have with people. Keeping them isolated from other animals should not mean isolation from their human family…which I think can sometimes happen when they are confined to their own room or an area of the house that people donâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]t frequently pass through or hang out in. The cats I had to keep separated long term did not do well like that and got lonely, so we always tried to keep them in a room (like a home office) that people used frequently.

The other thing…most of my cats can easily pop open accordion style doors so I donâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]t know how well they hold up to cats in general. I agree you might be better off just putting lids (with support) on your guinea pigs cages and leaving a few grids as doors on top to allow access to your pigs.

As a child, we always had a mixture of cats, guinea pigs, bunnies, and I think we even had some hamsters at one point, and they all just sort of wandered around together. We never had any problems with them getting along, but all of the cats were brought in as kittens and taught that the other animals were friends, not victims. I don't think it ever occurred to them that hmm, that might be dinner. It may be possible to just integrate them without having to seperate them.

I don't know how the Bengals would react, though.

I think if you brought in a kitten and introduced her to the pigs slowly, it may be fine. I had a bunny that roamed the house, and the cats didn't have a problem with her, but they were all brought in as kittens. A few of the cats even bonded with the bunny and they would groom each other. A guinne pig is bigger than a kitten, so it should grow up with a healthy respect of it, or at least realize it is part of the family and not to be harmed. Problem with kittens though is they want to play, and they don't understand that their playing can hurt if they are playing with something other than another kitten.

I wouldn't let them free roam together, either as a kitten or full grown cat. Maybe try to keep the cat in a room while you are gone, then let it out to roam, but keep a close eye on things if the pigs roam free too. A lot of it depends on the temperment of the cat too.

Originally Posted by Yorda

The other thing…most of my cats can easily pop open accordion style doors so I donâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]t know how well they hold up to cats in general.

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I can agree with that! When my brother moved back in, we installed accordian doors in the family room downstairs (it turned into his room), and I can't tell you how often he got annoyed because Buffy would poke the door open and wander in. If she saw the door closed, she'd open it. Sometimes she'd pry it open with her paw, other times she'd simply leap against it, making a much more dramatic entrance, lol

Unless you can get a more permanent door, I wouldn't recommend letting the two species roam together. If there's one thing about cats, they're hunters, pure and simple. They can appear to love a hamster, but one day their prey drive might kick in and they'll break the hamster's neck. It's just nature, it's what they were meant to do. As for containing the guinea pigs, I don't know, I've never had small rodents before, but it seems to me that if they're used to roaming, it might not be fair to contain them. So I wouldn't get a cat unless you get a sturdier door.

Perhaps that depends on the cat, because, when we had ours, we had several cats... three or four, and several guinea pigs, and hamsters, and a bunny, and there was never any issue. In fact, they used to sleep together. That's sort of like saying that cats and dogs can't live together.