One for the pigs

**PumpkinPunk** · #1 10-22-05, 05:31 pm

I was at the local petstore (Petco, I believe) yesterday buying bedding for my "kids" and I always check out the guinea pigs to see that they have hay, water, food, etc. There are 4..er, cages? Basically 4 glass aquariums measuring roughly 1x2 grids. And they put multiple pigs in them. I was horrified when I saw FIVE pigs in one cage!! Granted they were all young, butthere was barely enough space for them between the oversized food dish (with what looked like Kaytee food...the kind with the seeds/dried veggies....what they shouldn't be eating...) and the 1 hidey house. And in the cage below, there was a single pig. So I found the nearest sales associate and in a not-so-nice tone asked why there were 5 pigs crammed into the tiny space. He panicked and called someone else over, I'm assuming this guy must have been the manager or supervisor or something. I asked him about the situation and his reaction was shock that there were that many together and noticed the single pig below and immediately relocated some pigs. He thanked me several times for "noticing" and informing them and said they appreciated people who saw things that aren't quite right, or something to that extent. Whether he was being sincere or panicking because he was caught, I don't know. I'd like to believe he was sincere but it's a pet store...Anyways, I'm hoping I did the right thing but now I'm wondering if maybe the one below was being isolated for a specific reason...but what am I saying, petstores don't actually monitor the health of their pigs, do they?

Anyways, I just thought I'd share. I've seen a cage waaay overcrowded with ferrets before and brought that to their attention. I think maybe I should go in with a camera some day and send some pictures to the head of the company or something. It sickens me to go in there but it's the only store in my area that sells aspen shavings. So I left with a smile, hoping I did what was best for the pigs. Any thoughts?

**rabbitsncavyluv** · #2 10-22-05, 07:49 pm

Are you sure they were all the same sex? He may have put females with a male or vice versa. They are probably already pregnant or sick from the mill anyway.

I'd have been more concerned about their lack of hay.

**PumpkinPunk** · #3 10-23-05, 10:21 am

Am I sure? Well, we all know how bad petstore employees are at sexing their animals. I did ask if they were seperated by sex and he said yes, the males were on on side (the display has 4 cages as I mentioned, 2 on each side) and the females on the other. So in theory, if they were correctly sexed, then the pigs that were relocated should have been males and put in with another male. In reality? Who knows. And the pigs did have hay.

**suzilovespiggie** · #4 10-23-05, 01:16 pm

I have gotten to where I buy nothing from a petstore anymore. I buy all my supplies from a local feed store. I cannot stand to see the poor animals in petstore type cages and the conditions they are in. I want to take them all and I know it only adds to the problelm, so I avoid them all together. When I was at the vet's last night, even they said "Do not buy from the petstores. The animals are sick".
The best to do if they are in bad condition is to report them. I think the man reacted as he did because he doesn't want to be reported.

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