Woman Spends $27,000 A Year To Care For 88 Guinea Pigs

• 31-year-old Sophie Mason cares for 88 guinea pigs.
• Her Facebook page Masons’ Cavies now has more than 266,000 followers.
• Fans are helping support the animals’ expenses through donations.

To say that Sophie Mason loves guinea pigs is definitely an understatement. Besides, the 31-year-old woman decided to give up her job as a shop worker so she can devote her time and attention to her 88 pets.

Yes, Sophie has numerous guinea pigs and as anyone can expect, it can take a lot of work and money to care for all of them. Four years ago, she started out with six female guinea pigs and the number just kept on growing from there.

The guinea pigs are certified social media stars!

These days, she spends about 80 minutes daily just chopping up vegetables for the animals. And she mostly does it in front of a live camera for fans to watch.

Since starting the Masons’ Cavies Facebook page last August 2018, they now have over 266,000 followers.

Sophie shared:

“For our subscribers I put on a live webcam with my phone while I’m chopping the veggies and you get the cheeky pigs slapping the camera, ones who butt it with their noses, some try and eat it and others have managed to turn it off.

“I think we are helping change how people view guinea pigs around the world. People are spending more time with them and seeing how wonderful they are.”

Caring for all the animals can be pretty expensive.

“Guinea pigs are classed as exotic pets, which puts up vets’ prices,” shared Sophie. “When they get ill, it seems to be outside office hours, too – at evenings and weekends, which adds to the cost!”

According to Sophie, they spend about £20,000 (US $27764.28) to care for the guinea pigs plus about £7000 (US $9717.50) for food every year. Fortunately, fans have been helping them out.

Sophie also said she has no regrets about leaving her job to care for the animals.

“I adored the piggies and they took up so much time and attention. But it turned out that giving up work was one of the best things I’ve ever done,” she reflected.