[CavySpirit]

I understand that and think that is a GOOD and WONDERFUL start, BUT many rescues/shelters DON'T spueter due to the reasons you mentioned. Also even though a rescue might only adopt out same sex pairs, they cannot stop a determined person from going to another shelter/rescue to adopt one of the opposite sex if the person wants to start breeding. People also LIE on applications. So again, even if inadvertantly, shelters and rescues can be "percieved" to contribute in an indirect way to pet-overpopulation as well.

Your assumptions and theories on how you think shelters and rescues work are not grounded in reality.

Many responsible guinea pig rescues do in fact neuter boars as needed at our own expense. Despite what you think, NO ONE that adopts from me BREEDS their guinea pigs even though many could. And it ticks me off royally that you would even dare to suggest that rescues contribute in any way to pet overpopulation. You may as well slap me in the face with that comment. I would pay $1000 reward to any one who can come up with any proof that one of my hundreds of adopters over almost 10 years has bred their guinea pigs. Adopters are screened multiple times in multiple ways. Why do you think we don't adopt out to everyone who contacts us? I would estimate that rescues across the board probably have a 98-99% success rate of absolutely no breeding in any way.

And the VAST majority of people that go do shelters to adopt, go there because they know that there are animals in need of homes BECAUSE of pet overpopulation. They are already sensitive and appreciative of the issue. Any extremely minor percentage of whackos who would adopt shelter animals to breed are statistically insignicant and would NOT be contributing to pet overpopulation.

When rescues and shelters spueter EVERY small animal that comes through their doors, then they can point the finger of blame directly on pet-stores. That's all I'm sayin'

To that I say, "bull." Big time.

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About Judi's cage specs:

In the pre-C&C days, she was the only advocate of larger cages. At the time, the ONLY larger cage available on the market was the Marchioro. They just got stuck in that rut. She was an early inspiration to me to promote larger cages. Unfortunately, the largest Marchioro still isn't big enough. I've used tons of them in big rescues (like the Hollister rescue and others). It's not an opinion. It's a fact based on observation of behavior of many guinea pigs.

JUST because GPC.com says that minimum cages sizes should be XXX, doesn't make it gospel. It is the opinion of the website owner and SOME members. Don't get me wrong, it is a GOOD opinion and one that does benefit the piggies. I have two large C&C cages myself, but that still doesn't mean this site has the ONLY right answers in regards to how big a cage should be.

It pretty much is gospel. The "OPINION" of this website owner, is not just the "OPINION" of A website owner. The FACTS stated on this website are based on the HEALTH & BEHAVIOR observations of multitudes of guinea pigs in a variety of cages and cage sizes over time--from someone withOUT an agenda of profit or turnover or maximizing the number of cages and pigs in a certain space. No pet owner has the same first-hand experience with the quantities of guinea pigs and cages. AND CONFIRMATION of the changes of behavior and health in quinea pigs is and has been validated by THOUSANDS of people around the world--not just SOME forum members.