Early in November the members of Metropolitan Guinea Pig Rescue were contacted by the Event Coordinator for the World of Pets Expo. For quite a few years now MGPR has had an educational booth at the event. This year they asked if we could also fill a rather large space that would be open on Sunday with guinea pig events. So we tossed the idea around on our forum and decided why not? After all we all think our personal pigs are brilliant. Why not have guinea pig events? The Guinea-Pig-A-Thon was born.

Then the earnest planning stages. Now what can guinea pigs do to compete? We finally realized that they can pretty much sit, eat and be cute but most of them weren’t going to compete. So we decided on really cute names for our competitions like “Phat That’s How We Roll” for our biggest pig contest. You get the idea. We just knew that the people that came out to our event (if there were any) would understand that with guinea pigs it’s mostly going to be about them looking exceptionally cute.

Much to our surprise lot’s of people turned out with their pet guinea pigs and spent the entire day with us. The piggy parents encouraged their pets through the maze event with carrots tied to sticks, primped them to perfection for the costume contest and held their breath as their pigs weighed in. Some were disappointed that the food used for the fastest eater contest was a carrot. Maybe we need to have carrot and lettuce divisions next year. However I’m pretty sure a good time was had by all.

In addition to the events Papua Piig and Decoy were there to meet their fans and a professional Photographer Jesus M Photography donated his time and efforts to do piggy portraits. Prizes were donated by Oxbow Animal Health, Value Pet and some of MGPRs members so there were lots of nice prizes for everyone.

So what makes this notable for Guinea Pig Today rather than a fluff piece for MGPR?
I think the event is relevant because it shows a growing acknowledgement of the guinea pigs place in today’s society. A very few years ago the space may not have been offered to guinea pigs. They just weren’t considered much of a draw. Most likely not very many people would have shown up. Today with an ever widening fan base of well educated owners, guinea pigs are finally starting to get the respect they deserve. Todays guinea pig is an adorable lump of love that lives in a huge clean cage and is capable of achieving what ever its owners think it can. Just like the big boys the dogs and the cats

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