Just because vet... piggy neglect is acceptable!!!!!

[babytulip07]

http://www.thestate.com/living/story/249496.html

I usually don't post my opinions but I just had to express my absolute disappointment and frustration that this lady was featured in our newspaper. Not only is she a vet whom people trust with their pets but she has over 170 guinea pigs. I fail to see how each of these pigs gets the required 7.5 sq ft of space. Plus at least a cup of vegetables per day, not to mention the risk she puts her "beloved" pigs in every time she purposely breeds them.
Contrary to what she says, she sells her "unshowable" pigs to petstores outside the county. They both work for Petsmart at Banfield. The SC Guinea Pig Rescue has gotten surrender pigs from people who had bought from her who were in unhealthy condition. She obviously doesn't screen her buyers.
I am so angry that she gets this kind of publicity, showing people how much she cares about her pigs while consistently putting them in mortal danger. She even said in the article that its hard to keep track of how many she has because more babies are born every day!
What's worse is that I received an email at the SC Pig Rescue from someone who wanted to surrender their unexpected babies and they were referred by the guy who wrote this article. So he obviously knows we exist but he still didn't even mention us in the article!
I'd like to write an letter to the editor but I need to wait till I am less angry. How can I convince people that their idolized vet is so incredibly wrong? Please help in any way that you can! Help me fix this! Email the newspaper and the guy who wrote the article, anything to help! Just because she is a vet does not mean she should get away with keeping pigs in a smelly and cluttered concrete house!



(I also posted this on guinealynx.)

[chexxy]

Could yoiu write, like a letter to the editor saying how dissapointed you are in there article, because they are breeders, and many rescues are around. It says it would take 8 hours to do all the cages! It takes me 1 hour for 2 small petstore cages ( Less then a month to my C&C Cage!) for a complete clean! I try for atleast 30 minutes floor time for my pigs, which means 1 hour. No way she can do that! And Just breeding, shes a vet, she should know the risks! Thats crazy!

[gpigluver14]

It all started on her 11th birthday when she got her first guinea pig, with its cute face and floppy ears. Her two dogs befriended the strange little critter, and she occasionally let it play outside with the dogs.

Then one day, a stray dog wandered into the yard and snatched up the guinea pig, quickly killing it.

Ugh. The lady's just stupid. I don't care if she was eleven at the time. Leaving it outside unattended is one thing, but letting it "play" with her dogs? Come on, all it takes is a little common sense. Poor pig. Poor 150 pigs that she owns.

And from the picture it looks like the one pig is in a too small pet store cage. Because of course she would have never heard of C and C cages. What she is is a hoarder. She needs help.

With such a large population, there’s also the occasional death. Most species of guinea pigs live five to seven years, and some have shorter life spans. Blaes also sells some of the young ones, mostly to people she meets at guinea pig shows or through her mobile veterinary practice.

The females are probably dying daily from the pregnancies, then they breed again, because of course she probably doesn't separate them after they give birth, since she can't even keep track of them all. Someone needs to tell her about shelters and what she's doing! And what's wrong with her husband!? Doesn't he care that she's running a breeding farm, neglecting animals? It's animal cruelty. One person is not going to be able to care for that many animals. There's no way she would be able to give them all proper care. She's out of control. And she's a vet? With that many pets you wouldn't even be able to have a job first of all. She obviously was not educated at all when it comes to breeding guinea pigs, and with what she's doing.....

[babybunny]

This is so sad. Heartbreaking even.

[Biscuit]

Ugh, she "simply reduced her herd" when she went to college. Reduced is one way of putting it I'm sure...

[TX_2_Pigs]

Originally Posted by gpigluver14

There's no way she would be able to give them all proper care.

The first paragraph of the article proves it:

The aroma hits the senses first as you walk through the door, an animal waste pungency that takes some getting used to.

Ummmm, ya think?

Kevin Blaes, her husband and also a veterinarian, puts it another way: “Obsessed is the word I like to use.”

I sent this response to feedback@thestate.com. I will let you know if I hear back.

I was very disappointed to read your article "Guinea pig heaven: Irmo woman can’t get enough of pets that are ‘like little people’" You are actually making it sound like what she is doing is a good thing. Do you have any clue how many pigs are in rescues because of people like her? The main rescue in Texas currently has 137 pigs looking for homes.

In the opening paragraph the article states "The aroma hits the senses first as you walk through the door, an animal waste pungency that takes some getting used to." This is proof in itself that she can not and does not properly care for her pigs. If she were taking proper care of her pigs there would be no odor problem. The fact that she can't keep count due to all the babies being born is another indication that there is a problem.

The picture shows a pig in a cage that is horribly inadequate. That size cage should be used for transportation or quarantine only, not a permanent home. If she thinks those pigs are adorable now, can you imagine what she would think if she put them in proper cages? Their cuteness factor multiplies exponentially with the more space you give them. You can go to www.guineapigcages.com for more information on a better standard of housing and care for guinea pigs.

I sincerely hope you consider removing this article and doing some research before you publish such misinformation again.

[gpigluver14]

The first paragraph of the article proves it:

Quote:
The aroma hits the senses first as you walk through the door, an animal waste pungency that takes some getting used to.

Ummmm, ya think?

Umm, yea, obviously.

I love your line "their cuteness factor would multiply...." So true.

Here's what I wrote....

[FONT=Arial]Dear to Whom it May Concern,[/FONT]

[FONT=Arial]I am very upset with your article [FONT=Times New Roman] [FONT=Arial]"Guinea pig heaven: Irmo woman can’t get enough of pets that are ‘like little people’". As a owner of guinea pigs for several years, and after much researching, I fail to see any accurate information involved within this article. First of all, the cage shown in the picture is much too small- a proper size for one guinea pig should be at least 7.5 square feet (more is better)- please see guineapigcages.com for more information. T[/FONT][/FONT][/FONT][FONT=Arial]he quote "The aroma hits the senses first as you walk through the door, an animal waste pungency that takes some getting used to", is an obvious sign of a lack of proper care because with the correct care and cleaning of the cage, there should not be any smell. Because of this woman's mass amount of guinea pigs, she is not able to give them proper care. Therefore I see this as animal neglect. She is keeping 150 guinea pigs, caring for them by herself. Guinea pigs require attention and extensive care, things she is failing to give them. She cannot keep track of her pets, she is breeding them so ignorantly. Did you not know that she is contributing to the overpopulation of guinea pigs? Hundreds of animals are dying in shelters and rescues daily due to her acts. Not only is this article sending out extensive amounts of inaccurate information, it is sending the wrong message: that it's okay to breed animals. She is putting her guinea pigs lives at risk just letting them breed- every time you breed a guinea pig there is a twenty percent chance the female will die.[/FONT]

[FONT=Arial]I ask that you please remove this article and become more educated with this topic as well as similar ones. Some good websites to help with this are guineapigcags.com, guinealynx.com, and cavyspirit.com. Thanks for your time.[/FONT]

[babytulip07]

Thank you guys so much for writing! The more people who write the more they will have to listen to us!
I and some people at guinealynx have been writing to the guy who wrote the article directly. Here is the thread I started there, Guinea Lynx :: Topic - Grrr....Vet/Breeder featured in newspaper
Here is what I wrote him.

Dear Mr. Holleman,
First I would like to say how happy I am to see an article about guinea pigs in our paper. I feel that these small creatures have so much personality and are often under appreciated. However, while I believe that this article was innocently written, it only uses one person as a form of research and information. It does not fully explain the risks associated with the breeding of any animal. It promotes the idea that breeding guinea pigs is fun and easy to care for. It promotes the idea of pets in general as disposable. Mrs. Blaes is such an example when she so deftly "reduced" her herd when she felt inclined. What ever happened to those pigs?

As many vets will tell you breeding of any kind is very risky. Because guinea pigs are so delicate, breeding them is even riskier. Male pigs reach sexual maturity as early as 3 weeks and females as early as 4 weeks. As with other animals, breeding a guinea pig this early is very dangerous to the health of the mother and pups. Sows go into heat immediately after giving birth and therefore can be impregnanted. All pregnancies can come with endless possible complications. Guinea pigs hide their illnesses extremely well and usually by the time it is obvious, it is too late. I am sure that Mrs. Blaes understands the rules and risks of breeding and as a vet I am sure that she is attentive to their health. However, with over 150 pigs to care for I wonder how it is possible to keep an eye on every single one of them. If she loves her pigs so much how can she knowingly and consistently put her pigs in danger? She says that she knows the name of every pig, but if it's "hard to keep count, with new babies born often" how in the world can she properly care for all of them? An average litter is 3-4 pups, if one pig has one litter every day that's over 1,095 guinea pigs a year. What happens to all those pigs, its obvious she doesn't keep them. If she can find that many good, knowledgeable homes I would love to know her resources because there are many pigs in rescues that go without homes.

By your own admission, the smell of the pigs was overwhelming and the space was cluttered. Unlike ferrets, guinea pigs do not smell of their own accord, there is no reason they would smell if adequate care was given to them. This requires daily cleaning. With only 24 hours in a day I seriously doubt that this is possible, even with a helper. Many rescues have cared for this many pigs at one time and have said it does not smell.

I am an assistant to the SC Guinea Pig Rescue, we are a small rescue operated out of our homes but we are here nonetheless. Rescues are the true guinea pig lovers. We are the ones who rescue them from neglect and painstakingly nurse them back to health. We are the ones who take in hundreds of pigs when a breeder wants to suddenly stop breeding. We take in the "accidental" pregnancies when a pet store mis-sexes the babies. We take them in when a child "is no longer interested." We do this not to have a ribbon on the wall but because rejected pigs deserve a home too. Hundreds of pigs are in need of a good home, one that will properly house, feed and pay attention to them. Do a search for guinea pigs on petfinder.com and you will find thousands of pigs available for adoption.

Ask any guinea pig rescue and they can give you numerous stories of rescued pigs, of cleaning up after breeders, of pigs so neglected there was nothing they could do. They can give many more instances of being so full with guinea pigs that they can not take in anymore: All Creature Rescue in Raleigh, NC; North Georgia Guinea Pig Rescue; Cave Spring Piggie Rescue in Roanoke, VA; just to name a few. You can find many more here.
Instead of using her obviously endless resources to help the pigs already in existence, Mrs. Blaes prefers to bring more pigs into the world. I would hate to think that this article is responsible for hundreds of guinea pigs deaths due to amatuer breeding. I ask for a retraction of this article, or at the least an article that features the other side of the story, those of us who rescue pigs rather than bringing more into the world.

A friend of mine who emailed you about this article has said that you are looking to rescues to adopt your pig a companion. I commend you for this decision, both for wanting to rescue and for knowing that pigs do better in pairs. When you decide to rescue I hope you think of us at the SC Guinea Pig Rescue. You are welcome to check out our petfinder site.

Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,
Andrea Coreth
SC Guinea Pig Rescue

[chexxy]

Ok, Well I think I did the math right, I divided 1200 by 150, and I got that it was possible for each to get 8 square feet...Forgrt about aisles, storage, ect...I highly dubt she has that!

[crazywiggy]

I did the same calculation! But as you say, these aren't free range pigs, so there will be lots of wasted space beteen cages, plus storage etc. The cage in the photo alongside the article looks like the standard tiny pet store cage.

I wrote back, detailing all the neglect (small cages, smell), the irresponsible breeding etc. The worst bit (in my opinion) was that they said the place smelled bad. I have been in a lab where one room (much smaller than hers) housed 80 guinea pigs, but the only smell at all was fresh hay - certainly not waste. The ONLY time a room housing guinea pigs smells is if it is really filthy.

I also pointed out that I think it is ridiculous this woman claims to know all her piggies individually.

I worked out that even if she spent the whole 24 hours a day in there, this would only total 9.6 minutes per piggie! Considering she also works, eats, sleeps, shows, etc there is no way she could keep a safe eye on all those pigs let alone give them any attention.

People neglecting their pets is bad enough without the media promoting it as acceptable!