Swiss woman sets up rent-a-guinea pig agency

By Kerstin Conz Nov 3, 2011, 3:06 GMT

Berne - Whether black, brown, young and energetic or old and experienced, Priska Kueng has a guinea pig to suit every taste.

Kueng's daytime job is as a primary school teacher in the Swiss village of Hadlikon, 30 kilometres from Zurich. But, in her spare time, she runs a specialised partner service for guinea pigs.

Kueng finds homes for the rodent, a job that has grown in significance since 2008 when Switzerland banned the keeping of single guinea pigs.

But what do Swiss people do if they no longer want a guinea pig as a pet? Kueng was confronted with the problem through friends who were facing the issue. When a guinea pig dies that often leaves just one sitting alone in the cage at home.

Not only is that less than ideal, it's against Swiss law.

'Having just one guinea pig is not good,' says Kueng who is president of Switzerland's guinea pig association. 'When they're kept on their own, guinea pigs become apathetic and get obese.' Even keeping just two guinea pigs is a compromise, in Kueng's opinion, and far from an ideal situation.

That concern sparked Kueng's idea to start up her service where guinea pig owners could rent an animal for a set period of time. When Switzerland introduced stricter rules on keeping guinea pigs her agency grew.

Kueng has a webpage where prospective clients can look up animals. TV crews from around the country and the world have reported on the agency, and as a result, Kueng has also been contacted by customers from abroad.

In the mean time rent-a-guinea-pig agencies have sprung up elsewhere. Some animal experts, however, recommend going to your local animal welfare organisation to find single guinea pigs.

Strictly speaking Kueng's agency engages in a hire-purchase scheme. Interested parties pay about the equivalent of 62 dollars per animal and receive some of that money back when they return the guinea pig.

'Guinea pigs are relatively easy to socialize,' says 41-year-old Kueng. However, there are a couple of things to take into account. 'Sometimes older animals don't like it when an active young animal arrives.' On the other hand elderly animals have been known to get another lease of life when a younger guinea pig turns up.

Kueng also deals in elderly animals. Breeding females are pensioned off at the age of three - lively enough to be good company for a younger female. It's more difficult with male guinea pigs: non-castrated males are put in an enclosure and should not be kept with other males.

For families, renting a guinea pig is a good way to deal with the problem of saying goodbye to a pet. 'You don't feel so attached to an animal if you know it's only living with you temporarily.' Once a guinea pig returns to Kueng they are not rented out again. 'After all a guinea pig is not a trophy.'