I’ve had two class pets die before their second birthday, yet I’m here to tell you the experience was worth it.
The timing of this blog post turned out to be a bit cruel. My second guinea pig, Smoky, passed away last week while I was on a family trip in Mexico. I am truly heartbroken.
I’d already begun writing this post weeks ago and had been planning it months before that. Questions about owning a class pet frequent my inbox more than any other topic-so I know how valuable sharing this information will be.
To be honest, I’m still a bit of a wreck. I lost my first guinea pig, S’more, while on a fall break trip to visit my parents. To now lose my second pet while away from home-it’s just mind boggling for me. It doesn’t make sense. More than anything-I wish it had happened while they were with me. I hate that other families had to go through experiencing their death and I hate that I had to find out over phone calls.
So…. why am I still sharing?
The normal thing to do might have been to push pause on this post. But somehow, I felt the urgency to post it even more. I know a lot of teachers crave this information, and I hope it will help many who are new to owning a class pet or deciding about whether owning one is right for them.
Think of it as my ode to my two boys, Smoky and S’more, who were the best class pets a teacher could ask for.
In their honor, today I’m sharing all the things about caring for a furry friend in the classroom. Let’s dive in.
How it Started
I felt the urge to get a class pet heading into my fourth year of teaching. At that time, I didn’t know any teachers who actively had a class pet in their room. I saw a few via Instagram who seemed to have so much fun with their class pets and knew I needed to explore the idea more. So, I did what I knew to do-research.
Is a Class Pet right for me?
I believe owning a class pet can be for everyone, but not in every season of life. Remember the pet will belong to you first and the classroom second. I think starting with this idea and really thinking it through will help you answer this question. At the end of the day, you’re the one buying the food and changing their crate. You’re the one checking on their health and arranging for their care if you can’t be there. If you don’t really want the class pet for yourself, it’s much more likely to feel like a nuisance.
Personally, I wanted a class pet for me AND for my students. We don’t have other pets at home (I married a sweetheart with terrible dog experiences, or I’d have one in a heartbeat) so this was my way to get an animal fix AND bring a valuable experience to my students.
If you decide you do really want a class pet for you and your students, the next step is to determine if you can commit to the extra time and expenses. This will vary by pet, but I found both factors to be very minimal with my guinea pigs. Each pet is unique, so you’ll want to research to find which pet is best for you.
The Research
Most of my research was done via the website Pets in the Classroom. I am so grateful for this resource! I found their articles and guides extremely helpful. They even break down how intense each class pet is to care for, which eventually helped me narrow in on a guinea pig.
Originally, I had planned to get a bunny. The few teachers I knew who had once owned a class pet all owned bunnies. When I learned how much room their habitat needed, I quickly shifted gears.
Perhaps a turtle? I thought. Oh wait…nope, cleaning their big tank and filling it with water sounded extreme. Hamsters were a bit too small for my preference, so guinea pigs, hedgehogs, lizards, and birds were my main options. I wanted soft and cuddly-so a guinea pig it was.
The Start-Up
Pets in the Classroom offers a wonderful grant for all teachers who meet their qualifications! I applied for this was able to get my guinea pig half off, a free cage, and a few other discounted items. At the time I applied, you did have to specify which pet you were wanting so they could send coupons that applied. Thus, make sure you’ve done your research before applying!
In all, the start-up cost with the grant was around $50. This included the guinea pig itself, cage, bedding, food, treats, toys, etc.
What about my Admin?
Every school is different, so you’ll want to “read the room” so to speak when it comes to having a pet at your school. If you know your school currently has rooms with class pets-you can be confident this will likely be a non-issue. If no teachers at your school currently have a class pet-prepare your case and ask your admin.
At my first school, I did all the research and typed up a lengthy email about all the pros having a class pet would offer my students. I emphasized how it would build community and responsibility. My admin were impressed with how I had thought through so many things. Their only concern was student allergies.
One of my students was allergic to all animals with fur (I am this way, too!) so I emailed them privately to ask if getting a guinea pig would be tolerable for their son. They ensured me their son’s allergies were mild. This meant the guinea pig was a go!
(Note: in most cases, even students with pet allergies are able to enjoy having a class pet. They may need to avoid directly touching the pet if their family prefers. In cases where an extreme allergy exists, the class pet would have to remain at home or with another classroom. This can typically be avoided by working with the school nurse to check class lists for allergies at the start of the year.)
At my current school-I learned several teachers in the building owned bunnies before I moved into my classroom. Thus, I did not feel the need to ask permission and just brought my guinea pig in. The first day my admin saw him she said “Oooh you have a pet in here?! How fun!” (seriously-I have the best admin ever!)
Introducing the Pet
If you’re bringing a pet to the classroom for the first time, have fun with telling your class the news! In our class, we played a game of “Hangman” to decode the phrase “Our Class is Getting a Guinea Pig!” Their reaction was absolutely priceless-I will never forget it!
You can also have some fun voting on names for your new pet. I let my students submit ideas but emphasized I would get the final say on the name. Though students eventually move classrooms, the pet stays with me-so we had to come up with a name I could live with. Each time, I took name suggestions and then picked my top 4 favorites. From there I let the class vote to see their consensus. Both times their favorite matched mine and that became our pet’s name.
I made the first day for our class pet a surprise each time (I told students the pet would arrive on Friday and then brought him in on Thursday.) Their reactions were once again, totally priceless, and precious!
On the years when I already had a class pet to begin the year-students were introduced to them in our welcome video (which you can read about here.)
Before anyone pets the class pet-we go over expectations for our bodies and voices. I purchased a small dog bed to keep my guinea pig in while student’s pet them (this makes the guinea pig more comfortable and avoids issues if they use the bathroom while being held.)
Class Management
We discuss class pet agreements up front to avoid any confusion during the year. Keeping this short and simple helped everyone follow through and keep one another accountable. In our class this included:
*Only Mrs. Munch will pick up the guinea pig from the cage
*No one tries to grab or pet the guinea pig in his cage
*Never stick your fingers in front of the guinea pig’s mouth (it thinks your fingers are food and will bite)
*Gently pet the guinea pig with the back of your hand, use a calm voice. If the guinea seems anxious, stop petting.
It’s also key to keep your pet in an area of the room that will not be a distraction during core instruction. You might need to test out several areas to see what works best! One of my trusted teacher friends experienced issues with this that made her class pet experience frustrating. I recall her saying “Every time the pet moved they’d want to go look and we just couldn’t get anything done!” If you find this to be the case in your room, I’d suggest having a class meeting about your expectations. You might incentivize students with a time to enjoy the class pet if their work is finished early, promoting them to remain on task.
Class Involvement
In my room, distraction with the class pet was rarely an issue. Something I believe helped prevent this was creating expected times during the week where the whole class could enjoy the guinea pig. For example, every Friday during our morning greeting we sit in a circle and discuss our weekend plans. Students take turns holding the guinea pig when it is their turn to share.
Students love reading by the guinea pig and watching them. I also have used “Guinea Time” as a class reward students can buy with their class money. They can hold him and pet him in their lap or on their desk while they read when purchasing that. Both guineas really seemed to enjoy this-especially when I gave the student a few carrots or veggies to feed them!
I also have a class job named “Pet Helper,” used to take care of a few basic things. The student with this job refills the water bottle and pellet food daily. They also grab a few veggies from the fridge to toss in the cage.
Monthly Costs
Though again, this will vary greatly by pet, I found the time and money required to care for my guinea pigs to be very low key.
It typically took 5-10 minutes a day to change the crate. Cost wise, my main expense was replacing the hay and pellet food. Both of these items were bought in large quantities that would last around 3 months. Each time I purchased; the cost was between $20-25-averaging around $8 a month.
Vet expenses can be very costly but may occur infrequently or never at all. S’more never needed a vet visit and Smoky went twice. Smoky’s bills were around $220 when all said and done.
The Set Up
There’s a lot more research you’ll want to do in order to set up a habitat for your pet. I’ll speak specifically to how I set things up for my guinea pig below. I’ll also link many of the products I use in my classroom below the “food” section for your reference.
When it comes to bedding for a guinea pig-there are two main schools of thought: fleece or shaved bedding. I prefer fleece bedding because it’s cheaper, and in my opinion, easier to use. You’ll want an absorbent layer underneath the fleece (I use two black towels) and a top layer that fully covers the cage area. My fleece is just cut blankets or fabric from Wal-Mart and fabric stores. The downfall of this method is that the guinea pig will sometimes burrow under the fleece layer and make a mess.
You can find expensive, more fitted bedding online that will eliminate this issue. For me, the issue wasn’t annoying enough to upgrade.
I change out the cage daily by shaking out the towels and fleece in a trashcan, sweeping the cage, and using a Clorox wipe on the plastic. This was mostly to eliminate any ill smells (cleaning every other day works, too.) After the week is up, I take the dirty bedding home in trash bag and wash on hot with a dash of white vinegar. I rotate between several sets of bedding to keep them fresh.
Food
A common guinea pig diet includes Timothy Hay, pellet food, and veggies. They also love fruit, but vets recommend giving this out sparingly as fruits have a lot of sugar.
Guinea pig teeth never stop growing, so they constantly need things to chew on (this will file their ever-growing teeth!) Chew toys and treats can be great for this. Guinea pigs open have trouble getting enough Vitamin C because their bodies do not naturally produce this. Our vet recommended vitamin C tablets as a supplement to help cover this. We ordered a year supply pack off Amazon that Smoky adored.
What about Weekends?
Some teachers bring their pets home on the weekend by taking home their cage or keeping a separate habitat at home. I did not find this to be necessary with my guinea pigs (both seemed to enjoy their alone time and school time.)
Both guineas stayed at school on the weekends during the year. I make sure food bins and water were extra full before leaving Friday. They also got extra veggies before I left. Sometimes I’d come up to prep school things and would change their crate on Saturday or Sunday.
Because I swap the bedding on Fridays, they had fresh bedding heading into the weekend. Monday mornings were often a bit smelly when I would first walk in, so I typically changed the bedding and turned on my diffuser first thing Monday mornings.
But, what if the pet dies?
As you know, this has now happened to me twice. It’s the worst thing that can happen when you have a class pet. No sugar coating that. Telling my class about S’more’s death was an incredibly difficult moment. I cried, like, for real cried. And many of my students cried, too.
But-we did get through it. And in some ways, it grew us closer together (although I would have opted for the non-death route, of course.) The beauty of having our class pet far outweighed the detriment of losing them. But because we loved them-the loss still hurt, a lot.
This is a factor you have to weigh out. Though we hope for the best- sometimes it just doesn’t happen. No one can guarantee the lifespan of your pet. They are not robots. They are living beings that sometimes pass quickly.
Being honest with our students is important-it shows them they can trust us. As much as we want everything to be sunshine and roses, processing through hard things teaches them valuable lessons. Discussing the death of our class pet in the safety of the classroom absolutely felt like the right thing to do-even though it was super hard.
Since Smoky’s death happened in the summer, things are a bit different this time around. It’s been harder for I me personally to process-perhaps because I am not going through it with my students. But was having him still worth it? Absolutely. Though I’m devasted it wasn’t for longer-I’m so happy we had him.
I have more specific tips and ideas for how to walk through losing a class pet-but I’ll save that for a future blog post (though hopefully you’ll never need it.)
Next steps for me…
With only a few more weeks until school begins, I’m still trying to figure out my next move in terms of a class pet. I’ll be emailing my families from last year before this post is live to inform them of the news. But after that, I’m not sure.
On one hand, I’d love to welcome my new students with a new guinea pig (or maybe two this time, since I know many believe they can get lonely if they live alone.)
On the other-I don’t want to rush back in to having a class pet as a band aid for my loss of Smoky. I want to be sure I am ready. And truthfully-I hate the idea of starting over again. I wish Smoky could do this year with me, not a new guinea.
What I’m most dreading are all the little things I have to redo. The postcards that already have a blurb about Smoky, the reward menu with “Smoky Time” listed, the “Meet the Teacher” letter, and so on. None of that will be fun. Your prayers and thoughts appreciated!
Regardless of when- will I get another class pet? Most definitely yes. With 99% certainty I’ll stick to guinea pigs. They are just the cutest-and they make amazing class pets. I just pray next time they’ll live a fuller life span.
I do have thoughts on why my past guineas passed away, and some plans on how to avoid this in the future-but I’ll save those for another post. For now-if you have questions about something mentioned in this post-drop them below! I’m always happy to share my experience with you.
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