Do Guinea Pigs Like Music?

Music is termed as therapeutic by a lot of people. We all love listening to it and at some point, you may have wondered if your guinea pig likes music too or if it’s okay for you to listen to music in its presence.

After all, the pets live with us and it’s inevitable that they will get to listen to our music at one point or another. So, is it okay for them to?

Could it be therapeutic to them like it is claimed to be to other pets? Let’s see.

Do guinea pigs like music?

Guinea pigs like music. Although it’s not scientifically proven, many owners agree that their guinea pigs do enjoy listening to music. Guinea pigs have different personalities that will make them have different tastes in music. Just like humans, they will have a preference for certain kinds of music than others.

How to know which music your guinea pig likes

When trying to figure out the type of music that is loved by your guinea pig, you should begin by introducing it to soft soothing genres. There are many YouTube videos with a variety of guinea pig music that you can try out.

Do not limit your music choice to YouTube only. Other sources include Amazon Music and Spotify which all have guinea pig friendly tunes that you can play for your pet.

Test out different kinds of music and observe their reaction keenly to know if they like it or not. If they like it, you can play it for them more often.

Which type of music does your guinea pig like?

Generally, guinea pigs do not like noise. This makes them gravitate towards soft music because it helps them relax and calm down.

If you like soft music, let them listen to it with you and you may notice that they like it too. Classical genres, jazz, piano music, bells, chimes, and water sounds are tunes that most guinea pigs love.

Signs that a guinea pig is enjoying music

To be sure that your pet is enjoying the music that you are playing watch for the following reactions:

• Whistling sounds.
• Going on with its normal activities as usual.
• Purring contentedly.
• Popcorning joyously around its cage.
• Eating normally.
• Closing their eyes.

Which sounds do guinea pigs dislike?

Although we said that guinea pigs are different and they’ll like different types of music, there are some sounds and music genres that most will not enjoy. These include:

• Loud music with high tempos like hard rock.
• Alarm clock sounds.
• Vibrating music with high bases like those produced by loudspeakers and woofers.
• Fast loud sounds like sirens and fire alarms.
• Loud sudden banging sounds like a door slamming.
• Loud noises e.g shouting voices.

Signs that a guinea pig doesn’t like music

If a guinea pig doesn’t like certain music it will have adverse reactions like;

• A change in normal activity levels e.g. they may stop playing as usual.
• Teeth chattering which shows agitation.
• May get scared and run away to hide.
• Whining and shrieking.

Can music be harmful to guinea pigs?

At this point, you could be unsure whether music is harmful to your pet or not. Several studies have been carried out to test this and we’ll look at the findings of three of them.

But before that, let’s learn a bit about a guinea pig’s hearing.

How sensitive are they?

Guinea pigs are very sensitive animals. Being prey animals, guinea pigs have various natural instincts to stay safe from predators.

One of these is their sense of hearing. They have such powerful hearing capabilities that they hear much better than humans do.

In fact, music volumes that are normal for humans are possibly quite loud for guinea pigs. According to the Acoustical Society of America (ASA), guinea pigs are used in studies for hearing and hearing loss because of these high hearing frequencies.

 Now let’s see what the studies discovered.

Study One

In a study done by Molecular Therapy, results showed that not all guinea pigs experience hearing loss from loud noise exposure. This is due to the varying characteristics of guinea pigs.

Study Two

Another study published on The Laryngoscope (Wiley Online Library) revealed that young guinea pigs are more susceptible to inner ear damage compared to older ones. It is therefore wise not to expose young guinea pigs to high noise levels.

Study three

A third study by The Brazilian Journal of Otorhinolaryngology confirmed that guinea pigs have the ability to heal themselves of inner ear damage.

So, listening to that loud music may not cause ear damage to your pet, and if it does, it may not be permanent, but why take the risk?

You definitely don’t want to hurt your dear pet. Other than harming the ears, loud music brings about stress to guinea pigs.

Stress makes them more susceptible to illnesses and parasites. It could also reduce their ability to process Vitamin C which is something that can bring about health problems.

Can you leave music on for guinea pigs?

Yes. It is perfectly okay to leave music playing for your guinea pigs.

Guinea pigs are social animals that enjoy the company of other guinea pigs and humans too. This can leave them feeling lonely if left alone for long periods of time.

It is a great idea to put on some music for your pet to keep it company and boost it’s energy if it enjoys it. Always make sure that the music has low volumes which will not irritate its ears and make it agitated.

Whenever you see your pet looking stressed out and unsettled, try soothing it with the kind of tunes it enjoys most.

Do Guinea Pigs Get Used to Music?

Just like humans, guinea pigs can get used to music that they frequently listen to. If you keep putting on the same music for your pet to listen to, they will gradually learn to recognize it and get used to it.

Conclusion

Guinea pigs do like music. Though as stated before, it’s not scientifically proven, their reactions to music sounds show that they enjoy listening to music.

They may love some genres more than others. For instance, if the music has guinea pig sounds involving whistling, the guinea pig will identify with the sound and it could start whistling joyously.