THE 10 STUPIDEST STATEMENTS ABOUT GUINEA PIGS

1. Guinea pigs are stupid / intelligent.

In this point it depends on the definition of stupidity respective intelligence!
Well, you can teach guinea pig really a lot, but only because they are so greedy.
For a treat they would do anything.
If you would like to call them intelligent just because of this, well then I guess they are!

2. Guinea pigs stink.

That depends on the owner!
If the cage, according to his size, is cleaned often enough, your guinea pig will mostly smell of hay, or of what they have just eaten (i.e. Parsley, etc.).
So, if your guinea pig does smell, do not turn your nose up, but pick yourself at it and clean the cage more often!

3. Males do stink especially if you do not castrate them.

I could not discover this difference between male and female guinea pigs until now.
If highly aroused males do loose a few drops of urine, but these do, in my opinion, not really smell other than usual.

4. Females are more devoted than males.

All Guinea Pigs, male and female have their own personality.
If one is therefore more devoted has nothing to do with gender, but with the particular personality of the animal.
Observing my cavies I found that my males are more easy to handle and devoted to everyone, which might be because of the mating behavior.
But more of that later.

5. Males are more aggressive and bite more easy than females.

Neither can I confirm this point, because watching my "herd" I saw that my females bite faster and more often than the males.
The males tend to go away and try another approach later.
Whereas it's quite hard to calm down two fighting females.

6. Guinea pigs only rarely drink water.

Even if you serve enough green food to your guinea pig, it will also want to drink water, too.
Some of my cavies do from time to time really become "Aquaholics".
Therefore fresh water should always be there in a drinking bottle.

7. Everything the animal eats is good for it.

Because of the long time our guinea pigs have been domesticated they unfortunately have already lost some of their natural instincts.
Therefore it is not really said, that the animal can distinguish between good and poisonous plants.
It is better to find out whether the plant is poisonous or not, than to trust the animals instincts.

8. Guinea pigs do love to have contact with humans, therefore one can do anything with them.

For sure it takes more time than with other rodents to get bit from a guinea pig.
But that does not mean that it likes everything that you do. 
Always keep in mind, that even a guinea pig is a living being and that it wants to be handled like that.
If you only want a Toy it would be better for both of you if you'd buy a cuddly toy.
Even if it seems that the animal is more than fond of how you treat it, you should only hug it for some time.
When it start to get nervous, put it back in it's cage, because your pet also needs some time for itself!

9. Guinea pigs live in herds and so they always like each other.

Herd animal or not, there will always be animals, which simply do not like each other.
It will be of no help to put pressure on the animals to keep them together!
If two cavies do not come along, you unfortunately will have to separate them.
You will see that two singles are better than two quarrelers in one cage!

10. Caging of animals is not "natural living", therefore caged guinea pigs are fat and lazy.

That is again one point which depends extremely on the owner.
If you do not feed you guinea pig right, it might be that it will get fat.
About "natural living" I would like to say the following: There are people who, because of this reason, do not want to keep pets. In this case, well, that's a matter of opinion and well acceptable.
But to hear such a statement from people who own dogs or cats is really hard for me. Do you think that a dog in a small apartment is for the animal a "natural living"? This remains to be seen, however to condemn people with caged animals I feel as a sheer mockery.
Try to fit out the cage as varied as possible, so you animal can also spend some time with itself while playing around in it's cage, it will never be boring for your little friend then!