I have a cold. Can my guinea pig catch a human cold from me?

Thank you for your question about your guinea pig. There are cases where herpesvirus has been spread to rabbits - this has been through kissing or having close contact with the mouth. I would not recommend that your mother, or anyone, kiss your guinea pig due to the risks. As far as the antiviral medications that you are referring to, yes, many of them are tested using laboratory animals, including guinea pigs. I hope that this helps to answer your question, and thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

No, it's not possible for a hamster to get the same type of virus that causes the common cold in people. Generally, the diseases that can cause an upper respiratory infection in people are not the same that hamsters can get and are not transmissible from people to hamster, or vice versa. I hope that helps and you feel better soon.

Thanks for reaching out about your pets. Different species of animals commonly carry bacteria that can be harmful to other species, but most commonly transmitted by bites or claws. It is not recommended that predator and prey species co-habitate. Just be careful. Good luck.

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! This will depend on which type of infection but generally not. Usually animals get infected from the environment and not directly from other pets especially when it is a different species but again, this depends on the type of infection. Good luck!

Guinea pigs do not get URI from cold weather, they get it from bacterias in most cases. this could be from other guinea pigs and sometimes can be present in the environment. the treatment for URI is antibiotic treatment only.

Ringworm is highly contagious to Guinea Pigs and seems to be able to spread easily with minimal contact, but strict hygiene is effective for preventing transmission. Considering that Sebastian did not have direct contact with the ringworm lesion, and you recently washed your hands, the risk of spreading this to him is very low. For more information about preventing the spread of ringworm, I recommend click on the link below. https://www.cdc.gov/healthypets/diseases/ringworm.html I hope that helps and all is well with you and Sebastian.

Thanks for reaching out about Dempsey. There are few diseases that are transmittable from guinea pigs, but ringworm is a possibility. Your nieces oncologist should be consulted for this decision. Good luck.