I didn’t know that about Chihuahuas. Guinea Pigs were livestock too, but that’s much less surprising when you see how dopey and delicious they are.
People still eat Guinea pigs in parts of South America.
Here’s more than you could ever possibly want to know about it:
I went into a bit of a guinea pig hole and found this other random guinea pig fact:
In Switzerland, where owning a single guinea pig is considered harmful to its well-being, keeping a guinea pig without a companion is illegal.[66] There is a service to rent guinea pigs, to temporarily replace a dead cage-mate.[67]
Honestly, they’re not wrong. Guinea pigs are social animals and live in large families. Same is true with ferrets. You really shouldn’t have just one of either. People treat them like sort of lesser pets to dogs or cats, but they still require their own special and humane care.
(Yes, I have been reading a lot about Guinea pigs lately for reasons involving giving a teenager reasons to not get them. Or ferrets.)