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Wales Online
Wales Online
James J Turner & Nisha Mal

'My gigantic guinea pig could possibly be the largest in the UK'

A woman believes her guinea pig is so large that it could be the biggest one in the entire UK. Edith Rotherham loves guinea pigs and owns 14 of the cute creatures.

But Gizmo easily stands out from the rest due to how unusually large he is. The 44-year-old adopted him from Pets At Home, and says he eats the exact amount of food as her other animals, despite him being much larger than the rest.

While she isn't aware of his exact weight, Mrs Rotherham told Grimsby Live that when she took Gizmo to the vet, they said he was abnormally large and even recommended getting touch with Guinness World Records. The beloved pet loves his carrots, muesli and hay, but his favourite food of all is easily curly kale.

Edith now has a total of 14 guinea pigs, most of which have been rescued. "They help me with my learning difficulty and they make me really happy," she said.

"I'd recommend them as pets to children with autism, they're just really lovely," the 44-year-old added. Edith said they help with her mild form of autism.

Another one of Edith's guinea pigs - a 13-year-old called Bear - proved to be her rock during her treatment for leukemia. At the time, Bear was just one year off becoming officially recognised as the oldest guinea pig, according to Guinness World Records.

Unfortunately, he passed away before he could claim the title and so the record stills stands with a guinea pig called Snowball that lived 14 years and 10-and-a-half months. The animal eventually died in February 1979.

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