SO mad at pet store!

**Sweet Pea** · #1 01-05-06, 04:13 pm

I know I should not of even gone in but a new Pet store opened and I wanted to see which products they carried. Well I went and was looking at all the poor animals and notice two bays with 3 Guinea pigs each. I asked the lady if she had the boars and sows seperated. She said it's so hard to sex a guinea pig they can never tell I was Horrified and told them that it was not good to have them mixed like that and if they did their research they could do it and that I would never be back aaahh I was soo upset.

**Binas Cavys** · #2 01-05-06, 04:18 pm

I wish petstore would do the reserch and not sit on thier butt saying "oh its to hard". I don't blame you one bit for never going back

**smoot** · #3 01-05-06, 05:22 pm

New pet stores are an excellent opportunity to educate people. I think new pet stores are less set in their ways and are more open to suggestions. Try printing out the Guinea Lynx care pamplet and bringing them some to give out to their customers. You can also offer to sex the guinea pigs for her, or better yet, teach her how to do it herself. It might gall you to help them, but you might be saving the lives of some young sows.

Macayle · #4 01-05-06, 05:56 pm

You should have offered to show her how.

**pinkbunny** · #5 01-05-06, 06:04 pm

When I bought my first one I was told that it's a boy but turned out to be a girl.

**Sweet Pea** · #6 01-05-06, 08:07 pm

I am going to print some pamphlets and go to see if they wouldn't mind me showing them how to sex the pigs. I will be going back to chat with them and have some information for them.

Macayle · #7 01-06-06, 12:52 am

I have only got one pig from the petstore and they kept boys and girls together.They knew very well how to sex them.They were right when they told me Tinkerbell was a girl,only problem was 9 weeks later I had 3 extra pigs.

**Eolith** · #8 01-06-06, 05:27 pm

I've never purchased a pig from the pet store... and at the rate I'm going, I never will. I mainly get mistake piggies from friends.

**pamziaw** · #9 01-06-06, 05:59 pm

I got Fudge from a relative who bred them (i'd already sorted out having him before finding this site (please forgive) and have since tried to dissuade them doing it again). They thought he was a girl so first he was put in with his sister but me and my boyfriend checked after they'd gone (the first attempt at sexing while they were there was messy) and his only response after putting pressure above his bits was, 'That definatly does not belong on a girl!'
Realised i'd forgotten the point! Breeders and pet stores are alike in that they don't truely care for the animals they're caring for, otherwise why would they sell them?? They're a product to sell which is so upsetting. Like that AOL advert, if someone put a price on a child and sold it on ebay there would be outrage!

**ChloÃ«-Jasmine** · #10 01-06-06, 11:25 pm

At my pet store they just have all the guinea pigs running around in the same AQUARIUM until they are all sold. They told me they can't sex any of the animals in case they are wrong. I wondered what was worse, a mis-sexed animal or an angry person who has discovered a litter possibly dead babies in their cage, as well as a possibly dead mom. But last time I went I had a good convo with a girl who knew how to sex them, but she wasn't suppose to. And at this pet store, they have them all with no toys or treats but yet they have a pet store, where all they have to do is open up a package. Grrr... I always want to rant when this subject comes up. I think we should make a CavyCages pet supply chain and have pamphlets for our shelters and stuff. And we can sell grids and coroplast. And all the pet stores would close down and we could shut down breeding mills. Sigh. And while I'm dreaming, I would like a pony and maybe a new car.

**smoot** · #11 01-07-06, 12:36 am

Good luck Sweet Pea! I hope they'll listen to you!

**billypig05** · #12 01-07-06, 07:09 am

As you may know, I am part of a small family owned and operated pet store. To relieve you, we DO sex our pigs, and know which are which! Un like those mega-stores.

**WritingLife** · #13 01-08-06, 02:12 am

Yes, yes, a CavyCages store! Most people get their small animals from pet stores because they don't know they can get them anywhere else. When you're in the average pet supply store and you say you want a Guinea pig or a hamster or whatever, they've got the cages, dishes, and supplies, too. So you go home with a "large" cage and your vitamins, yogurt drops, salt lick, "good" food with the seeds in it, and the dusty old hay. Then, maybe, if you're a really good pet owner and you want to do the best for your pet, maybe, MAYBE, you come across this site and learn what you should have done in the first place. (Unless you're lucky and you have a really good store with people who really know their stuff, and stock good products like Oxbow.)

Or, if you're like most people, you haven't a lick of curiosity in you, and you just keep doing what the pet store said to do until your piggie comes to the end of its short life in utter boredom and lonliness.

So, yeah, a nice CavyCages store, with large C&C cages full of piggies from the local shelters so people can see exactly how to house and care for them, and so the adoptable piggies have a chance of getting adopted. And lots of educational displays.

I reckon you'd have to have more than piggies, though. Rabbits. Ferrets. Chinchillas. They can all live in custom-built C&C cages.

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