never go to a Petstore to buy Guinea Pigs but go to a rescue, you will just be buying a petstore guinea pig who has been neglected. It is as simple as. Are you really going to wait till that poor Guinea Pig has been abused till you bring the poor thing home?
So you admit that pet stores abuse their animals, and yet continue to spend your money there? And that if someone doesn't buy the animal, it will be abused?
Not all rescues are good ones ever. Some kill the poor piggies if you don't rehome them fast enough. Do Petstores do that?
Are you confusing rescues with shelters? I don't know of a single REPUTABLE rescue that kills piggies if they aren't rehomed quickly enough. They simply stop pulling from shelters. And the shelters keep getting full-up with pigs that people get tired of -- or are dumped by breeders (eye witness here, thanks). So yes, some shelters kill unwanted pigs. Think about the pigs getting gassed the next time you are buyina pig.
Pet stores euthanize pigs that are unsaleable. Don't forget that pigs are "product" to them - they aren't selling out of the goodness of their hearts. But so many of the pigs are sickly anyway, that they do die and don't need to be destroyed.
Yes, I know, sometimes they missex a Guinea Pig and then it ends up pregnant. But people make mistakes, we are all human! It's not like they do it on purpose, is it? You have to keep in mind, Guinea Pigs are one of the hardest rodents to sex, even trained vets can get them wrong.
Difficult, but not impossible, and a grown male pig is pretty obvious. If they cared even a smidge, they'd sell only spayed/neutered pigs -- take care of the sexing problem, and with over-breeding, no?
A lot of Petstores get there Piggies from breeders not mills. If Petstores want to make profit out of selling animals, then they need to make sure it's healthy first or no one would ever go there. The Petstore near here checks the breeders where they get the Guinea Pigs from. If the breeder is not a good one, then they will never get their Guineas from there.
Apart from your local store, do you have data on that? Evidence of the major suppliers and the conditions of their pigs?
Every Petstore needs a licence to sell animal. They must go by very strict rules when dealing with animals or they will be closed down. My dad works for a Petshop, and he has been training for months on how to look after the animals propally. They do have STRICT routeens. Every worker needs some knolegde in animals. They do train very hard!
In the U.S., licensing is a joke for small animal sales. A teenager in high school can manage the animal department. By the way the shops here treat their animals, they haven't even read a website. Absolute minimal standards to stay at legal standard and still make a profit.
How do you know the Guinea Pigs and other animals come from bad breeders of mills, have you ever worked there before? You can not judge someone by what others tell you, so why do it with Petstores?
Why do you assume we don't know? Why do you assume we are ignorant? Do you assume that because we disagree with you?
Most rescue Guinea Pigs are just neglected Petstore ones.
I agree. So why keep selling them? Pet stores do not have the rigorous screening process that a good rescue or shelter does. The language is money. Pet stores aren't charities.
Are your Rescue Guinea pigs happy? They are just Petstore ones with a bad history, thats all. They are no different. Rescue Guinea Pigs need homes, PetstoreGuinea Pigs need homes.
My pigs are very happy. My pigs are a combination of two things: petstore pets abused by their owners, and one pig is part of a litter that a breeder dumped in the woods (eye witness, thanks) because he couldn't sell them.
Go on, I know you want to shout at me for disagreeing with you, but lets face it, why would Petstores buy Guinea Pigs that they know are unhealthy if they are shout down for it and people won't buy them?
Pet stores buy unhealthy pigs because pigs and other small animals are a volume business. The overwhelming majority of people buying at pet stores are ignorant of the needs of cavies and other small animals, including ratties, birds, etc. The purchasers aren't necessarily mean, but ignorant, and ignorance kills. It's obvious from the stories on this forum alone, but also in the news, that pet stores are happily selling piggies and that people get them and they die days, weeks, or months later, and people go back and buy another, because few people in the U.S. anyway realize that pigs can live 8 years. I know I thought they lived maybe a year. Pigs are good at hiding things and can survive awhile on cheap food, in a way that a dog or cat cannot.
The point of educating people about the real needs of piggies is to get them to think before they buy and realize what they are supporting.
It's awful what is going on with individual pigs in a store and every pig deserves a good home. But if I buy one, another will take it's place, and the pet store will see the dollars or pounds and keep producing. Individual employees care, some of them, but they cannnot change overall corporate policy, and if a store loses money, they will change managers to people who care more about quantity than quality.
