guinea pig care

Question
hello,i want to get a pet for my kid sister who is 17 years old. she has never had a pet before and wont be able to handle dogs. is guinea pig the option for her?she is in college for the day and comes home by 5 PM. i will be around to guide her but major responsibility will be hers.  should i get her a cavy?

Answer
getting any pet requires a degree of responsibility and while I am certainly not saying that a guinea pig doesnt really require alot of attention they do require far less than other pets like cats and dogs, really they only thing they require in terms of commitment is a clean out once a week, feeding and watering every day and an hour or two of playing/fussing a day.

but...

there are other things to consider,

firstly vet bills, if your guinea pig gets ill then you need to be able to pay to have him or her treated

generally speaking getting two guinea pigs is better for the guinea pigs and easier for you to look after, guinea pigs are sociable animals and tend to die younger and grow sicker more frequently without a partner

smells, while a guinea pig will be happy with a cage cleanout once a week you wont be, usueually they require a cleanout twice a week and a daily "pooping area" clean out which is not nice and is time consuming and needed to keep smells at bay.

finally you need to think of the long term, she is in college now, but a guinea pig lives for seven years, often longer, will she still want one in seven years.

if all of these are answerable with yes then go fotr it!

all the best