Question about guinea pigs

The daughter of one of my co-workers, Sophie, has a guinea pig. They are looking for a place where the guinea pig can spend his/her holidays and another co-worker has offered to take it.

Now this co-worker has 3 cats and a dog. She has taken care of a guinea pig before and says her cats and dog have been curious but didn't do anything bad. She is also very responsible -I would leave my cats with her at any time.

Sophie however thinks the guinea pig could be seriously scared or shocked if it sees the cat.

So here my question: do you see a real danger in the guinea pig meeting the cats? Are guinea pigs easily shocked? I have no idea but I am sure, there are people her who know.

Sophie knows that the cats are a natural preditor (I didn't spell that right but I can't find it in the dictionary -- it's early!) but the guinea pig probably doesn't. My niece's guinea pig, Turnip, finds cats and dogs interesting. They look in her cage, she touches noses with them through the cage and then she goes into the igloo in her cage and looks out.

She has never appeared to be afraid and she has been observed by cats, dogs and people. We did put a top on her cage, however, when Eddie started sharing a room with her!

I have two guinea pigs, two cats, and a dog. The cats ADORE my guinea pigs, and they love seeing them. They have never even attempted to do anything bad ever. If the co-worker says the cats would be find, I would trust her because I guess it depends on the cats. And if she has taken care of guinea pigs before and everything was fine, then I would go for it. :)

My guinea pigs are fearless!! Barking dogs, curious kitties, loud noises like doors slamming, even vacuuming just feet from them doesn't phase them in the least! In fact, they purrrr when then they hear the dog's barking!:rolleyes: I have found they aren't nearly as skittish as other small roddies, like hammies and gerbils. My dogs are curious, but after a look into their cage, they just walk away. And like Chloe's kitties, my cats LOVE the piggies. Oliver sits for hours next to the cage, purring away; the pigs and Oliver often go nose to nose through the cage bars and Oliver will even lick Moon!

And as long as the piggies have a safe place in their cage, like a timber hide away or " igloo" to escape to, I wouldn't worry about them being traumatized. But to be safe, I'd probably suggest to the piggie sitters that they keep them in a closed off area where the other animals can't get at them. You never know if someone might inadvertently leave the cage door open, or such.

With piggies, dogs seem to be more interested in them than cats. My cats couldn't care less about Rolo and Scooter. Alex likes to smell them, but he doesn't try to hurt them or anything. I think the piggie will be fine, as long as you keep an eye on him/her when the cats and pig first meet.

Here are a few sites.

http://www.ahc.umn.edu/rar/MNAALAS/GPig.html

http://cavymadness.ne.client2.attbi.com/

http://www.caviesgalore.com/

That's all I will post now, but PM me if you want more sites, I've got a ton;) :D

The only one who doesn't like my guinea pig is Iggie... my iguana. She puts her dewlap out at him. All the dogs and cats don't mind him at all and Spike enjoys their attention.