This article is horrendous

[Alusdra]

It's much worse for birds, but pretty inaccurate for guinea pigs, too. I read this article and just had to shake my head. Well, and post about how terrible it is.
CITIZEN-TIMES.com: Break out of the mold with cheap, easy pets

[Calliso]

Originally Posted by Alusdra

It's much worse for birds, but pretty inaccurate for guinea pigs, too. I read this article and just had to shake my head. Well, and post about how terrible it is.
CITIZEN-TIMES.com: Break out of the mold with cheap, easy pets

Yeah that article is horrible. My friend had birds two cockatiels and one quaker parrot. They are not simple easy pets to take care of. At least not if you want to do it properly.

[PolkaDotPig]

Well at least the article says you should do your research first. Though I don't believe there is such thing as a "cheap" or "easy" pet and I don't like the message they are sending out.

[catzeye21138]

That is very sad.

Parakeets are by far the hardest pet I have ever had. Between cleaning, training, cleaning, cleaning, and keeping them happy... There were vet bills! Much harder then guinea pigs in any case.

If I continued I wouldn't be able to stop on how much was wrong with that article!

[TX_2_Pigs]

I did comment on the wrong information they provided and left this website and guinealynx as references.

I just want to say that your information on Guinea Pigs is totally wrong. They do not make good starter pets for children and require way more work than is indicated. Putting a guinea pig in the commercial cages that are available would be akin to a person living in a closet. It can be done, but how happy are they? Guinea pigs need a constant supply of hay, a good quality pellet and fresh greens everyday, not just an occasional orange slice. A well cared for guinea pig can live 8-10 years. For more information on PROPER guinea pig care see cavycages.com or guinealynx.com.

[Guinea_Piggin]

I've not had a bird, but we've had our share of hamsters and fish in my house. And I have to say, fish and hamsters aren't quite so cheap and easy pets either, especially the fish. I remember many a time when we had to clean the tank and the contents, we only had a 10 gallon tank and it STILL took my brother and I the better part of an hour to get it all done.

Not to mention the cost of all the supplies to keep said fish healthy and happy. There's the water filter machine, carbon filters that you have to keep replacing, the chemicals and such to keep the pH of the water at the correct level, I could go on and on. If I remember correctly, the only "cheap" parts of owning fish were: a)the fish itself/themselves and b)the food since they didn't eat that much so each jar lasted forever.

I have to agree with most of you here, in that there is just so much wrong with this article, ugh.

[Mommy Of One]

The birds and reptiles are the worst!Why does it say they rarely need to go to the vet? Is it because by the time you normally realise it they are usually too sick to fix? If so, that is absoloutely horrid. Also it menchions sand based litter for reptiles, this can cause impaction as they strike their food! It also says all can comfortably eat a diet of crickets and occasional veggies, alot of lizards require alot of veggies, and many also need pinkies to eat! That is horrible, it is like they are giving out information which is wrong in hopes to convince people to buy them. Also, Quakers and cockatoo's and macaws are not nearly that cheap! My Quaker (Whom we bought five years ago befor I had to common sence to adopt) was 600 dollars, now I don't know about any other towns but around here you cannot get any lower than 550... Also, larger birds like cockatoo's and macaws infact are not very good at talking, the norm is to only be able to speak a few words and phrases. Also, they are more like 3,000, not 'at most 2,000' Also, for the reptiles, it doesn't meanchion the high electricity bill because of all of the heat needed, and again for the birds it doesn't menchion people can infact be allergic because of the feather dust. And also, why should rabbits have a salt wheel? Someone clearly needs to explain this one to me, and why doesn't it menchion the price of hay and veggies every week? Also, birds are not for everybody. They can severely damage you, even some of the smaller guys, they can be loud, they can pluck themself, and they can destroy your whole home if left unsupervised for even as much as a second! And the poor guinea pigs, they are apparently often reccomended to small children.. Why would any animal be?

[TX_2_Pigs]

Has anyone else posted a comment? They now have 92 comments and every single one of them stating that they are wrong. You don't have to register to leave a comment.

I have also written a letter to the editor. You do have to give your name/address if you want to do that.

Dear Editor,

I am registered as Tx_2_Pigs on the forum at guineapigcages.com and was directed to the horrible article titled "Break out of the mold with cheap, easy pets" by Jim Marks, by one of the other members who found it online. I can't believe the massive quantity of grossly erroneous information that article contains about the care and expense of all the animals mentioned. The care of any living being (animal or human) is neither cheap nor easy. The continued perpetuation of this misleading notion is why we have so many neglected and abandoned pets.

To date, this article has generated almost 100 comments and every single one has pointed out the flaws in this article. If this article was published in print, a very large retraction should be printed and the online version pulled. No one should have access to any of this information, ever.

Here in Texas, Texas Rustlers Guinea Pig Rescue currently has 151 guinea pigs available for adoption and your article is only going to add to that by encouraging people that these are cheap and easy pets.

Do the animal world a huge favor and fix your article.

[Alusdra]

Yeah, it would definitely be good if everyone could post a comment- I did before I posted it here. How blatantly wrong the whole article was, it just... dumbfounded me, I guess. I don't know where to start with it. There are maybe one or two facts in the whole mess. It's simply ridiculous.