Media: Does piggies have certificate?

[fridzalone]

I discuss about piggies in my country's pet forum. And when we discuss on how to know our piggies is pure breed or not, we all came into one thing : there's no pure breed in our country. Piggies are rare in my country (except for abyssinian and american) and having piggies as a pet is a new thing.

But then one of the member says that in other country like US or Europe, pure breed piggies have certificate, you know like what cats and dogs have. So I wondering how does that certificate looks like? I never know that even rodents have their certificate...

It's not like i'm really concerned about this matter, but this information is new to me as a newbie in piggies world. So getting information about piggies as much as I can is very important to me.

[JD In Van]

Here I think everyone's in agreement not to buy from breeders. So many of us have rescue piggies that we haven't a clue where they came from.

[teyah]

I'm sure that having a 'certificate' is another way for breeders to promote the 'quality' of what they do... it's actually very offensive. The thought of a 'purebred' piggie is really upsetting to me because there's no doubt in my mind what this notion entails.

What country are you from? I live in Australia, but on a recent trip to Eastern Europe was shocked to find piggies sold at a local market as "the fashionable new pet" (because guinea pigs were very new there - noone knew what guinea pigs were) and each one was bred for 'the right owner' - they had long hair piggies for 'pretty looks' and short hair for 'easy care'.

I'm sure that a 'certificate' is another one of those marketing ploys because to them - it's just a business. How come you ask what the certificates look like? I am not sure if anyone on this forum would even be interested in a piggie certificate of 'true authentication of breed' - it's a disgusting thought to me

[JessicaS]

As far as I understand it, there is not a place to "register" pigs. The American Cavy Breeder's Association (an offshoot of the American Rabbit Breeder's Association) does not have such a registry although they "require" all pigs being shown to have ear tags with numbers which is cruel in my book, I guess it is so they don't get them confused with each other, whatever.

But, a lot of "breeder's" give out "pedigrees" with the pigs you buy from them. Basically it just tells you the name of the parent's their parent's etc etc (a family tree). Sometimes they have if a pig on that list has won an award or anything like that. That is most likely what they mean by "certificate". But it is not an official or regulated document or certificate.

Before I found this forum and others like it and realized that there are actually pigs in shelters (I have 2 fosters currently and adopted another recently as a companion for one of my pigs), I was interested in showing. I acquired the ACBA (cavy breeder's association)'s guidebook (which is ridiculous and gives bad care advice and encourages indiscriminant breeding, such as "test" litters ugh).

Needless to say, I have never shown or bred a pig and never will. I have much more fun and feel so much more productive in society helping the rescues. I only wish I could do more.

[fridzalone]

So, those certificates are made by breeders and not by organization? At first when I hear about this "certificate" I thought it came from organization or maybe from a show. I know that in some countries there are show events for piggies, so I thought that's wherer those certificate comes from.

I live in Indonesia, where there's no shelter for rodents and even cat/dog shelter are not available in every town (i guess only jakarta owns shelter). Piggies are not popular in here, they used to live in the wild and people did not interested about them. The only breeds that usually sold is abyssinian and american (the seller don't even know the breed name). And about a year or 2 years ago, some people introduced long haired piggies (peruvian) which quite shocking because no one realize that piggies can be that cute and there's still a lot varieties of them. And so that's where it all started.

I have to admit that I bought my piggies from local pet market. And for sure, the breeders in here don't even think to give any certificate (they even don't give those piggies name, what should they put in those certificates?). All of the piggies lovers in my country are very new to this pet, that's why I think I need to share information as much as I can. And that's what i've been doing, gaining information as much as I can (pet lovers, breeders, vet, pet seller, etc), give those information to them, give my suggestions and let them choose what's best.

[teyah]

I think it's great what you're doing, it's usually how information is spread anyway! Ever since I've had my C&C cage with fleece, people have been saying things like "Oh, I didn't know you could keep guinea pigs like that" and "Wow look - it's not even smelly"

[DalesLass]

It depends on the country.

Originally Posted by fridzalone

So, those certificates are made by breeders and not by organization?

In UK there are no 'pedigree certificates' or registration of guinea pigs but breeders will say in their adverts that pigs 'come with a pedigree'. Yes, it is one they have written themselves to make their pigs sound more impressive.

At first when I hear about this "certificate" I thought it came from organization or maybe from a show.

In mainland Europe pure bred pigs have pedigrees (Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Norway, France have, I don't know about others).
One good thing is that it tells a new owner exactly how old a pig is.

[GizzyandMe]

Gizzy is a pedigree guinea pig = her mom was a guinea pig and her dad was a guinea pig = in my eyes that makes her a 100% purebred guinea pig! :-)

[JessicaS]

GizzyandMe - LOL, That's good

Yes, the certificate/pedigrees are made by the breeders. I did a little more research into it and you can buy blank pedigree forms from ACBA to use for your breeding program, or you can make your own. The breeders are not required to use pedigrees. And the ACBA does not keep a record to keep track of the pigs. I have been told that if you know the basic area the pig is from and the ear tag number that you can sometimes track down the history. But usually it's because some breeder knows another etc and they might know what number ear tags they use (some breeders put a special letter before or after their number to identify that it is from their caviary - example instead of just 100 it would be M100, something that no one else uses).

Although, even though the organization does not require pedigrees on pigs for regular shows, for "grand champion" and other high prizes and such you need to have a pig that is pedigreed to at least 3 generations. Meaning you must be able to prove (through pedigree, I'm assuming) that it's parent's, grandparent's, and I think great-grandparent's are the same breed. For example if you are showing a Peruvian, everyone on your pedigree must be a Peruvian.

2 of my pigs I did purchase at the one show I attended (before I knew of guinea pig rescues, I just attended and did not show) because they were too cute. I regret supporting that, but I love my piggies so much. They are my 2 favorites though, one of them is incredibly sweet and the other is a little trouble maker but he keeps things interesting.

1 of them did come with a pedigree, I'll have to scan it and post it so you can see what it looks like. I'll try to do that tonight. The other did not have a pedigree. I'm guessing that he was a pig that they were just dumping because he could not be shown as he has 1 blue eye (he is a Texel). What is sad though, is that recently we discovered he has a heart problem and I am guessing it is from all the inbreeding that the breeder did. As they do inbreed a lot.

But anyway - the only "certificate" I have heard of is the pedigree which is not regulated by the ACBA, which is the only organization that deals with guinea pig shows largely in the U.S. But, if you are not planning on showing then there really is no need for it. Plus, there are a huge amount of pure bred piggies in shelters (at least in the U.S.) that I'm sure a lot of them are dumps from breeders that couldn't show them. It's a true shame.

[teyah]

JessicaS - definately post up some photos of the cute little Texel!

[fridzalone]

Originally Posted by JessicaS

GizzyandMe - LOL, That's good

I have been told that if you know the basic area the pig is from and the ear tag number that you can sometimes track down the history.

Interesting share Jess...
I don't even know that piggies get an ear tag in your country.

[JessicaS]

Yes, the breeders put them in when they are young. I find it really cruel (I've always hated seeing cows with them in too). 1 of the pigs I had purchased (the 1 with the pedigree) had one in his ear. I had the vet take it out when he had stitches removed (amputation unfortunately), he made more noise about the ear tag then the stitches. Poor baby, his little ear was bent over under the tag and but now it's free The hole has healed up too since then.

But as far as I know there is no tracking system for the tags. Just the actual breeders themselves keeping track of their own pigs. I was told that some breeders can find out if they know the region the pig is from, but that is mainly because certain people stick with certain breeds and they all know each other so they might be able to track it down. As you can tell, I did a lot of research on this stuff before I decided to not show and breed (thank goodness).

One of my females I adopted (found her on this forum with her daughter and sister) has an ear tag, I haven't needed to take her to the vet yet (thank goodness) except for our original "health check", but at that visit I forgot to ask the vet to remove it. If we need to go there again, or when we go for our next yearly check up I'm going to get it removed. I don't trust my hands to do it myself, they shake too much. I would never forgive myself if I cut her ear! It doesn't seem to bother her though, so it's ok for now.

I have a couple of cute pics of my Texel, I'll have to post them later. I have to read up on how to do it, it's been so long since I have I've forgotten! It's late, so I'll do it tomorrow.

[JessicaS]

I found a pic that was taken a little while ago of my Texel when we were syringe feeding him some Critical Care (which we will probably have to do for the rest of his life). It's kind of out of focus because it's really hard to get a photo of him as he is always moving and will NOT hold still! He's a cutie with a big personality though.

[JessicaS]

And here is my baby Hershey's (the pedigreed one with the ear tag). He is my favorite, although I know we are not supposed to play favorites. He just purrs like crazy when you pick him up. This was after I had the ear tag removed.

[fridzalone]

Wow...they are so cute...
Thanks for sharing jess