Guinea Pig Sounds: Purring

Similar to cats, some guinea pigs purr when they are pleased or content. You may hear this vocalization from your cavy when they are being petted or during cuddle time. Some pigs will also purr after being given one of their favorite foods.
Truffle occasionally purrs at the start of lap time, shortly before settling down for a snooze. She'll even purr back at me if I mimic her, like in the video above. But her loudest purrs are saved for when she is returned to the comfort of her cage. Diva pig!

What makes your piggies purr? 


  1. Food and attention.. what pig could resist!

  2. Haha Noah must have been interested in meeting a new piggy friend.. Truffle sends her wheeks hello to Noah!

  3. Hi Csenge, glad you find it useful! It's always great to hear from another piggy slave :) feel free to share a photo of your girls sometime!

  4. Virágmézi MalacokNovember 3, 2013 at 6:21 PM


    My name is Csenge , and I'm from a small Europian country , call Hungary. I really like your blog, and you have got sooo many good tips for guinea pigs! I ' ve got 4 female piggy , and I have a guinea pig blog too.

    Cool blog , cool tips , cute pigs!

    Sorry , I know , my English is not so perfect, but I learning how to speak english at the moment!

  5. My guinea pig Juki purrs every time you give him his favorite veggies and pet him the way he loves it at the same time! :)

  6. Mine purr when they see my dogs or when the snuggle up under there bunk bed .... The dog one confuses me cause given the option my dogs would surely eat them ... trust me they will never get that chance ! One of my girls purr when I cut her nails .. my Winnies are weird ! Lol

  7. Noah is very vocal. When he snuggles into my shoulder, he talks away to me, and when he's on my lap getting stroked, he purrs. Perky also purrs occasionally when he gets stroked on my lap.

    Noah was looking for Truffle when he heard her purring! You should have seen him running around, wondering where the new piggy was!

  8. My Rufus purrs when we snuggle him. The first few times we heard it, we thought he might be in pain. lol Then we listened to the various piggy sounds here (under Traits and Environment, then Behavior: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guinea_pig and we realized that he was purring. We were thrilled! :-) xo Jennifer

  9. Ha. I wish I could purr at my pigs like that. I can't produce that sound.

    My girls purr when they get a particularly good treat, usually cantaloupe rinds or a fruit or veggie they haven't had in a long time. I imagine it's they're way of saying "thank you!"