Love Where You Live Animal Style
So I found this old draft post and it was about comparing the concept of, “Love where you live,” but with animals in mind. At the time of writing the words below, we had a household full of young kids, dogs, guinea pigs, and fish. Life was so busy and a blur. I almost deleted this post, but I got emotional reading it and I found it has some great content that might warm your heart. Enjoy.
Love where you live … Animal Style
“Love where you live” can mean something different to any of us, depending where we are in our lives, our jobs, and those that might be depending on us. It is complex and never a straight answer of “what is love and what level of perfection do I expect to achieve said happiness?”
If one’s living environment isn’t ideal. Stress can set in … we can act out, or we can even shut down. If our home is not close to the grocery store, what are my systems in place for meal planning over a longer period of time, can I get items delivered in a pinch, etc. Some of the stuff we might take for granted in our life, can pose challenges with a change to our living situation (including location and proximity to items).
It can affect us both in success in business, and in life with our mental health and physical limitations to ensure we have time to manage it all.
Animals can also feel the stress of their living situation isn’t large enough, how social are they and do they need to be solo or with a partner, etc. Are they being held enough? What are the physical and social requirements? Are there limitations and what are safe “toys” for them physically? Food and diet quality matters as well. These fuzzy buddies are reliant on their owners to ensure a safe place to live and thrive.
If you don’t like animals (or maybe guinea pigs), this probably won’t be your type of post and wondering how is this on a real estate blog? And no, that “love where you live, animal style” is not a reference to In-N-Out, though we do love their burgers.
Our Guinea Pig Journey in making their house a home!
When we first got our single guinea pig, we were bad about it. We didn’t research the “psychological and physical needs” of a guinea pig.
We started out with the typical “starter” guinea pig cage. It was a good starting place for us – but we sooned learned thanks to Reddit and research that this cage was NOT adequate and that our guinea pig needed a buddy for social. (Did you know it’s illegal to have a single guinea pig in Switzerland?)
My kids … after a year of extensive research on guinea pigs … started wanting more for our sweet Dini (Houdini) and our newly added (at the time) Java Chip / Mocha to the mix (there was a slight controversy to Mocha’s name whether it was Java Chip or Mocha Chip or just simply Mocha).
The girls had big, big dreams for the ultimate bachelor pad. I so wish I had photos of it, but it wasn’t that fancy, but the girls did an incredible job with though towards all variables of entertainment, functionality, joy for the space, and ability to be cleaned easily and without the burden of one-use bedding.
The girls wanted the best for their piggies. Sure it might seem silly to some, but I am so proud of girls, for wanting to make a better space for them
My girls planned extensively how to craft a homemade cage (I initially thought it was nuts) … and finally, both Steve O and I gave in to the idea of a homemade guinea pig cage … Thanks to YouTube … their hints at a “better space for ‘Dini’ only grew. But you know what? That cage was so dang awesome, the girls made it happen.
Steve O took the girls out, to get all the supplies, watched a million more guinea pig blog posts, and YouTube video “how-to” videos … and voila … here we are … they put their dreams into motion for our sweet ‘Dini and Mocha!
I really encourage before embarking on ANY DIY project, research, research, research before adopting or contstructing anything. So many gracious folks share all their ups and downs for you to learn and benefit from their prior journey.
So what did the cage look like, Ostrom?
Gosh, I wish I had some photos of the cage, but I do not … I found one that it KIND of looked like … this photo belongs to DIY Michelle. I’m linking to her post. So check out her page
There’s so many great DIY creators for guinea pig cages.
Our piggie palace palozza was huge – it looked like a model raptor cage from Jurassic Park, minus the electrified perimeter. It was much larger than I envisioned and liked, but you know what – it was the right thing to do and our guinea pigs lived for almost seven years each – which I think is pretty solid. Animals are a responsibility and privilege. It’s our job to be better.
All joking aside … our guinea pigs were out more, they were “pop-corning” (I didn’t know what the heck popcorn meant, until my kids educated me on guinea pig behavior). I wouldn’t have believed it all, till I witnessed it.
The girls are truly our kids – mini-salespeople, trying to make a deal come together and it wasn’t what was best for them, it was what was best for their animal family and others. So proud of them.
For all your guinea pig needs – we’ll direct you to the O-girls. Though, after updating this post in 2026, they’re now in college and now I will try and not cry thinking about how time flies.
We all should be so lucky to love where we live. Including our pets .. if you need help finding a place to love to live … we’re here for you.
ADOPT, Don't SHOP
One other word of advice, update again from 2026 Heather Ostrom, adopt don’t shop. The more I have learned, I had no idea how many guinea pigs are given up. They’re even possibly at your local SPCA – so do your research. If you’re in Roseville / Sacramento region, google “guinea pig rescues.” I found one called Gardener’s Pig Pen – linked here and on the piggie photo. Don’t go to PetSmart. We didn’t start things out the right way, so we hope you can learn from us how to be a better piggie owner and new piggie parent.
Love Where You Live Animal Style Read More »