very important!

[supercheesegirl]

do i want a guinea pig? one of my mom's students raises them and she's got one that she'd give to me, but i have to let my mom know during the day today, probably before noon, so that the girl can bring him in tomorrow and then he can ride up to my place in the car with lauren & co. tomorrow night.

i think that i really want a guinea pig. since i can't have a cat. the girl says that he likes to be held. he's only three weeks old. and i won't be able to use my hamster cage, so there won't be a stupid tube for him to hide in. oh, i don't know... jorn doesn't think i should get him. he remembers how miserable howard made us because he hated us and all i wanted to do was love him and snuggle him. but maybe a guinea pig would be different, maybe he would love me and like to cuddle.

what do you think: should i get a guinea pig?

Comments

[queende.livejournal.com]

mel's sister has one and she is so adorable. they say that guinea pigs recognize people and will whistle when they hear you walk in the door, and they make these cute noises. i have considered getting a guinea pig myself, they are too cute!

[supercheesegirl.livejournal.com]

they do sound really cute. i was looking up some guinea pig info online and thinking that they don't look too tough to take care of, either. but we won't be getting one this time around, we decided. :(

[darxus.livejournal.com]

You should definitely get a cat.

I dunno anything about guinea pigs, but pets can be good for your sanity.

What sort of animal was howard ? I can't remember anyone else having a problem with a pet that hated them.

[supercheesegirl.livejournal.com]

howard was a hamster. i didn't even have him for a year because he got sick and died. i think he was depressed. he hated to be touched, hated to be around us, and would hide in the tube of his cage whenever we came over to him. getting him out so we could clean his cage was a nightmare. once we got him out we'd put him in his rolley ball, and he seemed cool with that at first, but after a while he would just go and sit under the couch and not even explore around anymore. maybe i could've done something better for him, i don't know. i cried so hard when he died, i felt like such a failure. poor little guy.

i would love to get a cat. we can't get a cat. believe me, there have been tears and cajoling and storms of rage and more tears, but there will be no cat. jorn thinks cat hair is disgusting and that it will get all over his stuff. he's also slightly allergic. no cat. end of story.

[darxus.livejournal.com]

I had a gerbil like that once. Long ago, I was stupid and got a male and female gerbil (I think actually intentionally), and kept them in the same tank. Ended up with lots of gerbils. But the dad was a grumpy mean thing. One time I actually managed to pick him up and hold him and tried to pet him and he latched onto my finger, I dropped him, but he continued to hang on to my finger.

I'd guess the problem was that howard wasn't held by humans enough when he was young ? I really think you shouldn't be so hard on yourself about it.

And yuck, sorry to hear the nature and extent of your cat problems.

Mom didn't get to have a cat for years (I've always been around cats) because my step-dad was raised to hate cats, because they eat birds. And his mom was really in to birds. This is dumb, because if a cat ever manages to actually catch a bird, that bird was in bad shape to begin with.

Mom now has 3 cats (although two were brought back from Turkey by my sister). Just took... years.

[supercheesegirl.livejournal.com]

i grew up with cats too; i've always had a cat or two in the house, and it's been weird to not be around cats for the past few years.

that *is* a silly reason to hate cats. don't want it to eat birds: don't let it outside. even when we had an outdoor cat she hardly ever got birds anyway.

my mom's best friend nancy swore for years that she would never get a cat. her three kids begged and begged for a pet and she got them fish. then an alley cat had kittens on her back porch. now they have three cats and she adores them.

i don't know, i've been with jorn over four years now and i don't think he's going to change his mind on this. his family had outdoor cats (entirely outdoor cats, not inside at all) when he was young, but i would insist on an indoor cat, especially being in the city and especially because my last outdoor cat was hit by a car. getting cat hair on his stuff really skeeves him. last fall the four of us roommates discussed getting a cat, and since he was outvoted three to one jorn said okay, but he planned to hide in his room and lock the door and never hang out in the common cat-filled areas. we swore we'd clean, we'd sweep all the time and brush the cat and everything but he continued to be skeeved. so we agreed not to get one.

turkish cats?

[darxus.livejournal.com]

She was stationed in turkey, got cats, came home.

[sleepyworm.livejournal.com]

My family's cat, born wild and slightly domesticated by us, was for 99% of his life an outdoor cat (there was a brief and disastrous indoor-cat trial period in there). There were so many times that I saw him leap impossibly high into the air and snatch a bird out of the sky mid-flight. They really are killing machines, and I think that even quite healthy birds are in danger if there's a cat anywhere nearby.

That being said, I also think cats are cute and all. As long as somebody else owns them.

[painkiller.livejournal.com]

We should definitely not get a guinea pig. No place to put it's stuff! I meant to say that yesterday. but forgot all about it.

[supercheesegirl.livejournal.com]

yeah. that's what we decided. i talked to both jorn and dylan about it and i figured you'd concur with them. s'all good.