G-force puts guinea pigs atop pet list

[rabbitsncavyluv]

'G-Force' likely to put guinea pigs atop pet list - Yahoo! News

[NicholsS10]

I shudder when thinking of how many poor, innocent guinea pigs bred, back-bred, kept in horrible conditions, go to homes that don't know how to care of them, and eventually be euthanized in shelters because of this movie...

[fieryone]

I saw this on my Yahoo page and I posted it to my facebook. Most of the people on my friends list have kids. If I can dissuade any of them from getting their kid(s) a guinea pig then it'll be a good day.

[bamby71994]

Yes this movie will probably put them in the news, so kids will want guinea pigs. I only wish at the end of the movie, it promoted adopted a pig instead!

[Res Judicata]

I would prefer a message at the end that said something like "Hey stupid, we know you are going to want to give in to that compelling need to consume and instantly grant any wish your little brat desires, but think before you blindly go get a pet you know nothing about. This is a living creature we are talking about, not a 'My Little Pony,'" but I suppose it would have to be a bit more polite.

[blessedbeingmom]

I posted this to my facebook also with these comments...
"
As an owner of 3 *guinea pigs, I can tell you they are a lot of hard work & require special care that many people don't know much about. *Also, they are herd animals & do best in pairs (at least) of same-gender pigs. *They require fresh veggies every day & hay on demand. *Plus pet store pigs are highly likely to be sick &/or pregnant, which is very dangerous if you don't know much about it. *Bottom line, as with any pet, please adopt, don't buy, & do your homework first."


Sorry for the weird formatting. I'm on my ipod, which makes it hard to do stuff sometimes.

[blessedbeingmom]

I went back this morning (when it wasn't 2 a.m. and I was more cognizant, LOL!) and added these comments on my Facebook page:

I forgot to say that pet store pigs are often mis-sexed, so even if you think you're getting a male, it could still be a female and pregnant. Also, I know what I'm talking about with the sick pet store pigs. Our first two guinea pigs were pet store purchases (before we knew that wasn't really a good idea) and one of them died of an upper ... Read morerespiratory infection after about 2 weeks, that he had to have had before we got him. And I was already attached to him, so it was hard. It was a sudden thing too, since guinea pigs are excellent at hiding symptoms until they are nearly dead. Since they are prey animals in the wild, it's in their best interest to be very good at hiding signs of illness. When they do start showing symptoms, it's nearly too late to do anything about it, and it's hard to find vets that will treat GP's and actually know anything about it unless you live in a large city. You have to find a vet who specializes in exotic pets and knows things like the fact that penicillin will kill guinea pigs, and there's a whole list of medicines that aren't good for GP's. Also, GP's will live up to 8 years or so, so when you adopt one, you must take that into consideration. If you look up small and furry animals in your area on petfinder.com, and put guinea pig under "breed" then you can see that their are lots of humane societies and rescues out there who already deal with a lot of unwanted GP's & are very afraid that this movie will cause a lot of people to rush right out and buy GP's for their kids without really researching it very well. By the way, there is a great rescue in Marietta, GA outside of Atlanta which is where we got our last two piggies. Oh and here is a great site for anyone interested in learning more about GP's: http://www.guineapigcages.com
Another thing not often known about GP's is that they really need a lot of space, more even than the largest pet store cage. I've got pics in my pet album here of our pigs & cage

[xxlizzybordenxx]

All we can really do as guinea pig owners is try to educate as many people as we can. Tell everyone you know (with children especially) to adopt their new guinea pig instead of buying one, and suggest a local rescue. They will continue to make movies on all subject matter no matter what we do or say, maybe we can change the need to buy guinea pigs into wanting to adopt. Turn this into a better thing instead of a bad thing, the damage is done, do your part in educating your friends and family. Hopefully even if in a small way we can make a big difference.

[Ilovemypiggies1]

People, especially kids need to learn about these animals before they hopefully adopt them. I've seen kids begging for their parents for guinea pigs when they know nothing about them. Then these poor pigs are in tiny cages, no veggies, and are not treated how they should be. Most un-educated people don't know that pigs need veggies every day, need big cages, a good brand of pellets, another piggie friend, need at least an hour of floor time each day, a constant supply of hay etc. A lot of people also don't know to adopt, they buy from pet stores and wonder why their animal is sick or pregnant, not only that, why they are overpopulating animals. Being educated about adopting from shelters and not buying from pet stores or BYB is a must and so is learning about guinea pigs before you adopt. Guinea pigs require more work, care, time, and money than most people and kids think.
I 100% agree on the article that you showed us, Rabbitsncavyluv.

[fieryone]

Do we know if it would be possible to get the flyers that guinea lynx has made up set in a format that can be shared on Facebook, etc? I have no idea how to go about making them shareable (is that even a word?) but someone out there might.