Guinea Pigs Project Proposal

Introduction

Guinea Pigs, also known as cavies, is a type of small mammals that belong in rodentia

family. Based on Care of Guinea Pigs documentary, guinea pigs characteristics are somewhat

different from most of those animals in their family since they are docile, social, trainable, and

slow; which enables them to become popular household pet (n.d.). Though they are known to be

trainable, different guinea pigs still tend to have different learning ability. One of the major

factors that can cause an effect toward their learning ability is diet, in which will be used as a

variable in this project.

Within this experiment, two guinea pigs will be tested on their learning skills based on

the diets. Two different types of food will be provided to the guinea pigs; one with fresh food,

and one with pellets. The two types of food that are given will allow the guinea pigs to have a

distinct learning ability due to the particular nutrient that are stored within the vegetables and

pellets. Hence, conducting this experiment prepares the owner of guinea pigs to get some basic

ideas of which type of food is suitable to feed to their pets. They will be able to compare the

effectiveness between vegetables or pellets, in term of having long term memorization and at the

same time, they will learn how to indicate what is best for their pets. By this, it will guide the

owners of how to shape a better meal for their pets, therefore this experiment is considered to be

very important.

Literature review
 These days and ages, studies about animals are conducted more often whether it is about

their diets, the environment they are surrounded by, or their genetics. But out of what all the

experiments that have been done by many scientists, the experiment in this project mainly

focuses on how guinea pig diets affect their learning ability. There are many studies that have

been dealing with the effect of food on humans and animals brain and emotions. An experiment

called Brain foods : the effects of nutrients on brain function by Fernando Gmez-Pinilla

states that nutrients can affect cognitive processes and emotions which is influenced by neuronal

function and synaptic (2008). This idea is a beneficial knowledge to this project due to the fact

that it can be used as a consideration for a guinea pigs diets plan. Also, the idea about foods that

have impact on their cognitive system is a useful information as any animals learning ability

depends on their memorizing skill.

It is necessary to understand the molecular basis of the effects of food in order to use the

information to enhance any studies about humans and animals diet conditions that impact mental

fitness. The most abundant type of omega-3 fatty acid is Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) which

locates in the cell membranes of the brain (Gmez-Pinilla, 2008). As a brain is one of the most

important organs for learning and memorizing in animals, to have right molecules that are

essential to the brain in order to work proficiently is a major factor that should be concerned.

Even though, most of the studies are done in humans, this idea of having the right

molecules in the brain can be applied to animals. As a result of being unable to synthesize this

nutrient in humans body, humans are dependent on dietary DHA (Gmez-Pinilla, 2008).

Because of that, omega 3 fatty acids is an essential nutrient that should be included in humans

diets in order to nourish the brain. This idea can also be used in this project by making sure that

every meal that is fed to guinea pigs has omega 3 fatty acids.
 This nutrient also has a responsible for increasing the brain/body-mass ratio. Because of

the job of DHA that associates with brain and cognitive system, it might have something to do

with guinea pigs learning capability, which can be applied to the project as well.

To focus on the food choice for guinea pigs, there are many choices that people who have

the animal can choose from. For example pellets, fresh food, and also other additional food

products. However, the various types of food in the market might concern the people about

which one is the best one to feed their animals focusing on essential nutrients it contains.

According to a table of estimated nutrient required for Guinea pigs growth from Nutrient

Requirements of Laboratory Animals: Fourth Revised Edition, feeding guinea pigs with food

that includes corn oil is recommended due to the nutrient it contains which is omega 3 (1995).

Pelleted diets were also explained in the article that the animals can also be fed with this type of

food. Nevertheless, they often do not willingly to accept the food unless they have been

introduced to it regularly. From this information, it can be concluded that extra time should be

provided as the experiment is being conducted for guinea pigs to get used to being fed with

pellets. That way, the experiment could be done more productively.

Based on several studies (Gmez-Pinilla, 2008; Nutrient Requirements of Laboratory

Animals: Fourth Revised Edition, 1995; omega-3 fatty acids, n.d.), the idea could be adapted to

this project by scoping the idea of depending on omega-3 fatty acids of humans and animals,

down to one specific animal which is a guinea pig. This idea will be focused on the project the

most due to the fact that it was explained and experienced the most. The information from these

sources are reliable because some of the experiments was done under the website that was

created by the government which can be considered as the site that is trustful. Also, the

information explained in each website seems to be connected to each other, which means that not
only one group of people got this conclusion to the idea but also many others. Even though, all

the information from the sources are not the exact same idea but they all can be strong

supporting ideas for our project.

Though guinea pigs are considered to be popular household pets among other animals in

rodentia family, not many researches papers or experiment are done on the effectiveness of their

food. Questions about the comparison between fresh and pellet food are left unanswered by a lot

of guinea pigs owners in which led to bad feeding habits on the animals. Not only bad feeding

habits are influenced, but many owners will still lack of knowledge about how different food

may involve in guinea pigs learning ability. Thus, this experiment can help to prevent these

problem from occurring. The experiment, itself, will focus on the efficiency of the two types of

food that had already been stated above. It will lead to further analysis of how these food may

affect their learning ability and so will be able to fill in the gaps of unanswered questions about

the comparison of guinea pigs food as well as this projects research question.

List of Materials

- Food; Grass Hay, Vegetables (Carrots and lettuce), Pellets

- Cages
- Food Plates and Water Bottles
- Cardboard box for Maze Constructing
- Bedding (Shredded paper to be changed every day)
- Stopwatch
- Glue
- Duct Tape
- Nail Trimmers
Methodology

- Maze Design

In order to indicate which kind of diet is the

best for guinea pigs learning development, the maze

must be designed and created. The maze design

should not be too complicated or too easy for the

guinea pigs so that the outcome will be fair for both

subjects that join the experiment. The maze design in

this experiment will be based on Tolmans maze. This

type of maze is consisted of many T shaped

connecting together. The design of T shaped maze

will create various choices for the guinea pigs to decide whether to go left or right based on their

learning and memorizing ability. By using Tolmans maze design as a guideline in this

experiment, it can be ensured that it will be challenging enough to test the guinea pigs

development due to their diets.

The maze will be created from cardboard boxes. This is because cardboard boxes can

modify and easily customize into many ways. For instance, it can be used to fold or cut into

different shapes depending on the design. While being useful, the cardboard boxes are also safe

and chewable for the guinea pigs. In the case that the guinea pigs accidentally consume the

cardboard boxes, it can be guaranteed that it will not be harmful to their health, though large

amount of cardboard boxes may cause a blockade in their throat.

- Literature Review on methodology

After gathering information from many resources about the research question, the design

of the experiment is planned. The experiment will produce the results which will answer the

research question in a clear and efficient way. Since there have not been obvious ways to test

about the effects of diet on guinea pigs learning yet so the experimental design is based on the

background knowledge and information gathered. According to Saul McLeod, maze running

using rats was designed by Edward C. Tolman to demonstrate how rats learn to use cognitive

map to solve the maze. This cognitive map is created by the rats when they are shown different

stimuli such as rewards. In Tolmans experiment, the food was applied at the end of the maze as

a reward. The experiment was a trial each day for 17 days of learning the maze. The rats were

divided into 3 groups, one applied treats as reward every time they get to the end of the maze
while another groups reward will be given after day 10 and the none for the other group. The

results is that delayed rewarded group of rats will perform better than the group that always

given reward and the group that never given reward at all. From this, the experiment will be

considered how the reward should be given. For instance, the treats will be provided to the

guinea pigs only on the last 3 days of all trials in which they will be placed at the end of the

maze.

- Experimental Design Procedure

Maze Part

1. Construct maze by cutting the cardboard into different shapes and

put them together onto another cardboard mat to create structure walls and maze

floor. This whole design will be based on Tolmans multiple T-maze (page 6).

Experimental Part

1. Once the maze is created, start training the guinea pigs to reduce

stress and get use to human by feeding them with treats for 3 days.
2. The training will be based on one of the classical conditioning

techniques which is graded counter conditioning.

a. In the first step, the timothy hay will be placed

outside the cage. The cage will be opened in order to allow the guinea pigs
 to come out by themselves. When the guinea pig finished eating, it will be

touched by humans.
b. Next step, the animal will be held in humans hands.

Once they started to get scared, timothy hay will be fed to them within 3

seconds.
c. The animals will be moved closer to humans, and

the same process will be conducted, which the timothy hay will be fed.
d. While the guinea pig is held closer in humans

hands, it will be fed with timothy everytime it starts shaking, touching

their head, pacing (sign of fear).

e. The process ends when the guinea pig can interact

with humans without any fear (no shaking, no pacing, no touching their

head)
f. This will be repeated again with the second guinea

pig.
2. After 3 days, one guinea pig will be fed with pellets and grass hay

while the other one will be fed with vegetables and grass hay for 5 days.
3. Then, the two guinea pigs will be placed onto different mazes,

where there will be some food that acts as a stimulus at the finish line of each

maze. The treats will be used as rewards for solving the maze, however the

rewards will be provided only on the last 3 days of the experiment. The trial will

be once a day which will take approximately 10 minutes per trial for 5 days. In

each trial, the guinea pig will be solving the maze and then they will be taken out

after they reach the end of the maze unless the time reaches 10 minutes. Keep in

mind that each guinea pigs must be fed with the same types of food every single

day.
 4. Make sure that one of the group members keep track of the time

starting with when the guinea pigs start to run until they reach their destination.
5. Make sure that the video is recorded at all time during the

experiment.
6. Record results in a data table and analyze them by comparing the

route as well as the average time taken for each guinea pig to finish the maze.

- Ethical/ Humane Statement

In order not to harm the animals during the experiment, every student will ensure to take

good care and will not suffer them. In the period of conducting this experiment, the guinea pigs

will be kept in an optimal-temperature room; 65-75 degrees fahrenheit. Water and food will also

be provided at all time in a separate bottles that stuck to the cage. Food, however, will be

different for the two guinea pigs since this experiment is based on the types of food. Yet, the food

will be proper food that all guinea pigs can be fed with so it is safe and not harmful to their

health (GuineaPigAdvisor, 2017). Another important consideration that will be taken into this

experiment is the materials that are used to make the maze. Every single materials will be created

from non-toxic elements and blunted with no sharp edges, which means that the guinea pigs will

be out of danger and are always protected from being hurt. The combination of these safeness

considerations permits the guinea pigs to be safe and will not be harmed in any ways.
 - Data collection/ Limitations

For the experiments data collection, the important factor that will determine guinea pigs

ability to learn is how fast they go through the maze. Every times they do this, a video will be

record in which will help to keep track of their movement in the maze. An observation of how

many time the guinea pigs make a wrong turns or go back to the same place will also be made.

Apart from making observations and timing , this experiment will be conducted three times and

the result in each trial will also be documented in a line graph in order to see the trend and can

easily analyze the result.

- Timeline of experiment

Date Work

1-5 May 2017 - Plan the experiment

5-12 May 2017 - Start to record the video.

- Bring in materials and start to

construct the maze.

13-20 May 2017 - Feed the guinea pigs with

different types of food.

- Classical conditioning of

guinea pigs.
- Train the guinea pigs how to

run a maze every day, for ten minutes.

- Test the guinea pigs learning
 ability by letting them run in the maze.

21-26 May 2017

- Analyze results.
- Finish editing the video.

- Conclusion

In conclusion, the guinea pigs pellets and fresh diet will be compared to see which types

of food is more efficient than the other, by putting them into the mazes and observe which

individual learn to solve the maze faster. At the end of this experiment, the guinea pig's owner

will be able to identify which diet is better and also provide an information about what food

should be given to the pet.

Bibliography

Fernando, G. (2010). Brain foods: the effects of nutrients on brain function. Retrieved from

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2805706/

McLeod, S. (2013). Toman- Latent Learning. Retrieved from

https://www.simplypsychology.org/tolman.html

National Research Council (US) Subcommittee on Laboratory Animal Nutrition. (1995).

Nutrient Requirements of the Guinea Pig. Retrieved from

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK231932/

Owning A Guinea Pig As A Pet English Language Essay. (2015). Retrieved from

https://www.ukessays.com/essays/english-language/owning-a-guinea-pig-as-a-pet-englis

h-language-essay.php

Purdue University. (n.d.). Care of Guinea Pigs. Retrieved from

https://www.vet.purdue.edu/vth/sacp/documents/CareofGuineaPigs_001.pdf

Steven, D. (2015). Omega-3 fatty acids. Retrieved from

http://www.umm.edu/health/medical/altmed/supplement/omega3-fatty-acids
GuineaPigAdvisor. (2017). Guinea Pig Food List. Retrieved from

https://www.guinea-pig-advisor.com/feeding/food-list/