Still pretty upset.

[Amylittlehands]

I hope you guys and gals don't mind me posting this but I had a fall out with my only GP rescuer.

Here's the story;
I'm a first time piggy owner (had one as a child but didn't know the inn's and outs of care). I absolutely love animals of all ages so my partner and I decided to bring in two guinea pigs. Obviously I researched for months to prepare and built a C&C cage for them. I found that there was one GP rescue near me and was looking on another GP forum (Where the woman is) and noticed some goreous baby girls that were in care while they were growing and mum was recovering. I asked the woman if I could reserve them and got a pretty nasty reply along the lines of "Don't be a brat, they're not ready you want to snatch them away before they're ready" which is ridiculous as I stated I had to wait until July to have them anyway.

After being pretty disheartened by that I still persitied to be nice to her and ask how the mum is etc ... I then noticed another piggy she had and meerely stated she's gorgeous and how I'd love to have her (Not saying, gimmie now, just complimenting her). Again, a nasty reply stating I should stop being just a brat and saying gimmie at anything I see.

I was extremely upset as to why she thought I was a horrible 12 year old or something, I'm 20 and damn well mature for my age. I was excited about becoming a mommy again (I have two cats).

Anyhow, I still looked for more rescues but my RSPCA didn't have any and well, I feel horrible saying this but I caved in and got my two girls from P@H. Please don't judge me as I was extremely patient and was close to not even getting any. I know it was a terrible decision but my faith in the rescues in my country has gone, I was able to offer an amazing home to needed piggys and was turned down due to poor judgement. I take amazing care of my girls and they absolutely adore me.

Even after all that crap I had, the emails had more writing in but don't want to look at them. I still offered to make cozy sacks from my own money and donate them, she didn't reply.

Am I a terrible person? Did I really deserve to be named a brat and selfish person?

Even after two months I still feel down by it because she thinks I'm a completely different person to who I actually am. I didn't even tell my other half about this whole situation because I felt like crap.

[Wildcavy]

Ugh -- I am so sorry to hear that you had this awful experience with the GP rescue. You don't deserve to be called a brat or selfish person, based on what you've recounted here, and frankly I don't think that ad hominem attacks do anything to promote the cause of animal welfare. If someone is behaving poorly, one could point out that behavior, but it really should have a constructive point. Saying someone is a "brat" does nothing to educate. And again, based on what you've said, I don't really see an issue.

It is easy for me to say, but I would recommend just letting go your frustration, sorrow, and anger and moving on with enjoying your new pigs. I wouldn't reach out to her, personally, even to offer to make cozies. If she has decided that she doesn't care for you, then she may see your attempts to do things for her and the rescue as artificial. If she ever feels she is wrong or needs help, let her reach out to you. At most, I would leave with a simple e-mail that if she needs anything for the rescue, just ask, and then let her go. That's the most I would do -- I probably wouldn't reach out to her at all from this point on.

While I have strong feelings about purchasing pets from stores, I'm not going to comment on you getting your pigs from a store; I don't think it would be productive here, personally. She clearly wounded you deeply and I think the first order of business is to sort yourself out and care for your piggies.

[Amylittlehands]

Ugh -- I am so sorry to hear that you had this awful experience with the GP rescue. You don't deserve to be called a brat or selfish person, based on what you've recounted here, and frankly I don't think that ad hominem attacks do anything to promote the cause of animal welfare. If someone is behaving poorly, one could point out that behavior, but it really should have a constructive point. Saying someone is a "brat" does nothing to educate. And again, based on what you've said, I don't really see an issue.

It is easy for me to say, but I would recommend just letting go your frustration, sorrow, and anger and moving on with enjoying your new pigs. I wouldn't reach out to her, personally, even to offer to make cozies. If she has decided that she doesn't care for you, then she may see your attempts to do things for her and the rescue as artificial. If she ever feels she is wrong or needs help, let her reach out to you. At most, I would leave with a simple e-mail that if she needs anything for the rescue, just ask, and then let her go. That's the most I would do -- I probably wouldn't reach out to her at all from this point on.

While I have strong feelings about purchasing pets from stores, I'm not going to comment on you getting your pigs from a store; I don't think it would be productive here, personally. She clearly wounded you deeply and I think the first order of business is to sort yourself out and care for your piggies.

Thank you so much. I will always feel bad about the way I got my girls but I'm a darn good mommy to them : ) currently making a hidey hut for them! (Will post pictures). I do plan to adopt from the RSPCA if they have any when I get more space.

I would like to add, although I bought them from P@H I did write an email to them demanding their regulations regarding breedings, vet care and where they come from etc ... and was surprised they actually replied. They admit that mistakes are made and illness can breakout sadly.

I'm not supporting P@H and agreeing but I'm thankful that they took their time to reply to me with a lot of detail. The store I got them from in Cardiff, UK was very clean and a lot of space. But again, I know it was wrong of me but I hope everyone can see pass this and be assured I'll be adopting in the future.

I'm also looking to become an animal welfare officer! Hard to get into but I've been looking into it for the past year : )

[MissJean]

I'd love to see the emails, actually. That sounds pretty bad from a rescue owner.

[Paula]

It's quite a bummer that you had a bad experience with the rescue gal. Though, without knowing the complete context of both sides of the conversation, it's hard to understand the entirety of it and whether or not either side was justified in her replies and reactions. That's neither here nor there, and I think it's great that you're giving a wonderful home to two sweet little guinea pigs - they all deserve great homes.

It is, at least to me, a little disappointing that you'd let a single bad experience send you out to a pet store to buy instead of exploring other avenues of adoption or private rehoming. And yes, I do find that a bit immature and I have to wonder if when you say you'll be adopting in the future, that's contingent on the experience you have with the rescue group itself.

In any case, like I said, they all deserve good homes and I do hope you'll be able to adopt in the future. In the meantime, it sounds like the girls you have are being spoiled rotten, and of course that's what they all deserve.

edit - you may not post emails or other private conversations in their entirety unless you have permission to do so.

[Amylittlehands]

I was going to PM to you, without realizing I cleared it out when I was going through my inbox. Gah, I'll have a look again. There was about 3 in total. I wasn't expecting the reaction she gave me, makes me wonder if she has actually rehomed any. It just upsets me to think that she believes I'm a 12 year old brat that want play things, I do anything for animals and have actually saved a few on the street buy bringing them in and wait for rescues to arrive so I wouldn't have thought that a rescuer would be so rude.

If I manage to find an archive or something I'll PM them.

[mufasa]

I wasn't expecting the reaction she gave me, makes me wonder if she has actually rehomed any.

When I initially read your story, the first thing that popped into my mind was "that sounds like something a hoarder would say." Obviously I don't know both sides, but if it's as you say, I wouldn't be surprised if she doesn't really want to rehome the animals.

I won't judge your choice to buy piggies because I bought my first guinea pig myself before I came here and learned about adoption. But for the future, do you have any online classified ads in the UK like we do here in the US (Craigslist)? That's a great source of guinea pigs here and where I got one of my current piggies. If you have a pet store nearby, I guarantee you'll have people wanting to get rid of their impulse purchases and the living toys their kids got sick of in a week.

Good luck with your new family members!

[Amylittlehands]

It's quite a bummer that you had a bad experience with the rescue gal. Though, without knowing the complete context of both sides of the conversation, it's hard to understand the entirety of it and whether or not either side was justified in her replies and reactions. That's neither here nor there, and I think it's great that you're giving a wonderful home to two sweet little guinea pigs - they all deserve great homes.

It is, at least to me, a little disappointing that you'd let a single bad experience send you out to a pet store to buy instead of exploring other avenues of adoption or private rehoming. And yes, I do find that a bit immature and I have to wonder if when you say you'll be adopting in the future, that's contingent on the experience you have with the rescue group itself.

In any case, like I said, they all deserve good homes and I do hope you'll be able to adopt in the future. In the meantime, it sounds like the girls you have are being spoiled rotten, and of course that's what they all deserve.

edit - you may not post emails or other private conversations in their entirety unless you have permission to do so.

Thanks for the comment, a fair statement
I will no doubt be adopting in the future, I've already got in contact with the RSPCA to ask what are the odds of them getting guinea pigs in. It seems it's mainly rabbits and hamsters. I would have ventured further to look for rescue pigs, at the moment I don't drive but I do see your point and can understand why you say it's immature. I agree with you on that. This is going off the subject a bit but all my life I've been avoiding having my hopes put up and get disappointed but always seems to happen, didn't have a great relationship with my mother so moved out before things got serious and animals are my only friends and escape. I think I'm waffling on .

I'm trying to retrieve the messages so both sides can be seen. I think she has had many teenagers contact her and thought I was one of them because of my rash excited-ness. But I still think it was wrong in the way she said it, she stated.
"I don't often turn people down after one day of contact but with you I will." And other things were said.

All I can think of as to why she thinks that was is because I asked for the two babies in advance and then it seemed to her that I wanted another pig that was sick, when I was merely complimenting her like another 20 members did.

Anyways, I'm going to go groom my piggies.

Comments are welcome.

[Dee_E]

No, you are not a brat! You were just expressing your desire for these two piggies. You asked if "I could reserve them." That tells me that you understand that they are too young and were willing to wait. This woman failed to acknowledge that fact. Do you have her name? Perhaps contact her boss with this story??

And no, I am not going to dun you for your choice

[Amylittlehands]

Thanks for your support, just came back from grooming piggies and Hermione just popcorned on me! haha.
She's the owner of the rescue, it's home based I believe.