[attackofthebear]

My family started out with four guinea pigs that lived in a ferret cage. They ate poor quality pellets with the colourful pieces in them, their water had vitamin c drops in it, and they were only given hay and veggies as a treat.

When we rescued Aurora and Rapunzel, we also purchased a c&c cage from the rescue, but it was a 2x6 with too many guinea pigs in it. A little after adopting Aurora and Rapunzel, my mom searched for guinea pig information on google and found GL and this site. She joined on GL and I joined here after looking on the site.

This site has definitely influenced me in a positive way. I now have 12 sows and 7 males, majority of them rescue. My guinea pigs have better pellets and more variety in their veggies, which they are given everyday, they also have timothy hay 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and occasionally have other types of hays, and the cages are huge and exceed the requirments.
My dogs are on a high quality dog food that isn't sold in common petstores and I have gone from eating eggs and dairy to eating an animal-free diet and not buying anymore animal products, except for my dogs.
This site has also inspired me to want to start a rescue when I'm more financially independent, but for now rescuing and volunteering is the way I get to help.

Envisionary333, I will thank you officially but I wanted to leave a reason why. I want to thank you for posting this thread because it made me feel less alone after learning that many of us made similar mistakes in the beginning. I'm not saying my mistakes weren't bad but it helps to know I'm not the only one.