HOW TO...CARE FOR YOUR GUINEA PIG

After getting together in categories based on our 'how to...' we were to pick which we felt was the most interesting, the one with the most prospect of working as a good design. 

After some discussion, it was agreed that we would work with 'how to care for your guinea pig.' This seemed to have some really great possibilities, it could go in a number of directions. Previous research into pets in the UK, and also being a previous owner of guinea pigs, meant I felt pretty confident in our decision. 

Whilst I had a general overview of pets in the UK, I wanted to look specifically at guinea pig ownership. 

The Pet Food Manufacturer's Association has a really useful website that contains a whole load of recent and up to date data, including surveys and statistics, as well as pet care.

http://www.pfma.org.uk/

PET OWNING HOUSEHOLDS 2011
In the UK, almost 1 in 2 households own a pet (46% = 12M), with around a total 22 million pets owned (excluding fish).

In 2011 the percentage of households owning a pet in the UK were broken down as follows;

Dog: 22%
Cat: 18% Indoor Fish: 9% Outdoor Fish: 6% 
Rabbits: 2.7%Indoor Birds: 2%Guinea Pigs: 1.5%
Hamster: 1.4% 

Domestic Fowl: 0.6% 
Horses/Ponies: 0.2% Tortoises/turtles: 0.6% Gerbils: 0.1%Snakes: 0.4%
Lizards: 0.6% 
Rats: 0.4% 


(Research conducted by TNS
Face to face interview
Representative sample of the UK population
2,022 interviews completed
Weighted to be representative of all households)

As see from this data, out of the 22 million pets in the UK, 1.5% of these are guinea pigs. Although this percentage may seem small, it does in fact show that guinea pigs are an extremely popular pets, even beating hamsters which you would assume are easier to care for and more likely to be purchased due to size and cost. The population of guinea pigs is in fact estimated to be at 1 million.

Whilst browsing the PFMA, it's quite easy to come across other interesting information. Although not necessarily directed at guinea pigs in particular, some research carried out by the association has come up with some interesting facts relating to how happiness and mood of the owner is affected by their pet. This is quite a nice thing to come across. Hopefully, whatever we design can reflect the way in which the owner will be feeling about their new purchase. As we are looking at how to care for a guinea pig, we have assumed the audience are first time buyers, it would be nice to portray this feeling of how pets can create 'happiness'.


Government begins work on new happiness survey - the PFMA has already done one.

David Cameron and his helpers are set to travel around the UK to find out how happy we are as a nation. a new survey released by the Pet Food Manufacturers’ Association (PFMA) may already have done some of the work for him. 

The survey of over 2,000 adults got respondents to rank their happiness levels and found that pet owners rate themselves as being happier than those without a pet. 

Research Highlights:

•  Nearly 60% of people with pets say their pet makes them a happier person
•  A similar number say being with their cuddly companion makes them feel more relaxed.
•  Almost a third state their pet makes them a healthier person. 
•  81% of people (pet and non pet owners) agree that “Pets are the antidote to a bad mood”
•  On a scale of 1-10 in terms of happiness, Nearly 7 in 10 (68%) of pet owners ranked 7-10

As leaflets etc for animal care as usually quite information packed, usually quite boring, simple layouts, not much going on, it may be interesting to look into producing a piece that is going to go nicely alongside the way in which a pet generally makes their owner feel.