What sound is your guinea pig making?

As any guinea pig parent knows, piggies can be talkative and expressive little guys! With such a wide range of sounds, you may begin to wonder what they all mean. Here are a few of the most common ones: decoded.

Wheeking

Wheeking is a high pitched, repetitive sound. It has some urgency to it, but it’s not as urgent sounding as a squeak from pain. Sometimes, they recruit other piggies into wheeking with them. In the wild, guinea pigs wheek when they think there might be danger. In the home, however, guinea pigs wheek when they think there might be food, such as when you open a refrigerator or are slicing vegetables.

Rumble strutting

Rumble strutting is fun to watch (and fun to say), but it’s a dominance display around other guinea pigs. They make a low noise and waggle their hips in order to establish rank with other piggies.

Chutting

You may hear this noise if your guinea pig is out and exploring. Chutting isn’t directed at anyone or anything. It’s generally believed to be a happy sound that means your piggy is content with whatever is happening that moment.

Complaining

Sort of a squeaky grunt, complaining happens when a guinea pig wants more space. Something may be too close to them, or your guinea pig doesn’t want to share his or her food with a fellow piggy.

How talkative is your guinea pig? Share him or her in a video with us on Instagram!

Candace Elise Hoes is a pet sitter and blogger at Katie’s Kitty. She is a graduate of the MFA Writing Program at California College of the Arts.

Image by Livia Novakova from Pixabay