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Pet Stores I sorry but I DISAGREE with most people on this site.

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Collie 99

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Go on, send me the hate mails, see if I care. But that STILL won't change my opinion on Petstop Guinea Pigs. I must disagree with nearly everyone on this site. Not ALL Petstore Guinea Pigs are bad. I'm sorry but they are not. You can't just go off and say that every single Petstore on this earth is bad. You can't. Because do you know why? You haven't been to every single Petstore on this Earth, I'm sorry but you haven't. Most people hear others say it's bad and just trust what everyone else is saying. There are loads of Guinea Pigs in rescues who did come from a Petstore. Right? And when people just tell others 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? Not all rescues are good ones ever. Some kill the poor piggies if you don't rehome them fast enough. Do Petstores do that?

Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against rescues, I think they do a fantastic job. I'll be donating (Hopefully) £100 to the RSPCA soon because I know what they do is right and that they really do care for them. But so do Petstores, or most. I agree, alot of Petstores aren't the best in the world but some really do care for there animals. Don't just think a Petstore Guinea Pig is a bad, unhealthy one, because their not. Just becasue someone tells you that, doesn't make it right, does it?

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.

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.

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!

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?

I know many of you reading this have Petstore Guinea Pigs. Are they happy, heathly, clean? Are they living a happy life? Did they come to you with lice and worms? Are they living long lives. Most petstore Pets are lovely pets. Please don't judge a Guinea Pig from where it came from. Thats not right.

I'm not telling you to go buy the items they sell. I'm not telling you to go buy an animal for there. I am telling you, you need to make you own opinion about Petstores, not what someone else has told you.

Most rescue Guinea Pigs are just neglected Petstore ones. 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.

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?

Just keep this in mind, Petstore Guinea Pigs have hearts too.

Thank you for reading, comment what you wish.
 

Sl and S

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i know petco has a policy that for 15 days if the guinea pig gets sick a petco vet will see it.
 

kourt1313

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Reeeeally?? I'm not sure which gave me more of a headache. The ignorance, or the spelling/grammar... Must just be a combination of the two.

Why are you even here? You're begging for a war with this thread. I'll just watch the chaos unfold now... :eye-poppi
 

Zuidy

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I agree with [MENTION=21102]kourt1313[/MENTION]

Why would you bring this opinion here KNOWING you will get hate mail/ hate comments?

It makes no sense and this thread shouldn't be here, even to voice an opinion. By the looks of this thread, you aren't making any NEW points. We have all heard the occasional "Well uh not all Pet Store pets are bad" You are just repeating comments.

Nobody's opinion is going to change, honestly. I just hope your's will. You are very misinformed.
 

bpatters

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We've been over this many, many, many times. You can look back through and find plenty of threads that are saying much the same thing that you are.

There's no point in trying to start another argument about it. It's all been said before, and very recently. Why not read those threads and then see if you think another is needed on that subject?
 

Collie 99

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I just want to make it clear to people that not all Petstores are bad. I am not asking for a war. Just makes me angry that people hate the Guinea Pigs from them, I have one and he is the sweetest thing.
 

Crystalkate

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I honestly read the first paragraph, and then got too bored to read the rest.
 

Collie 99

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I have the right to an opinion, even if it doesn't change anyone else. None of you now what really goes on behind the scences... Anyways, thank you all though. Everyone has a right to an opinion! :p
 

nibbler100

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my too @Crystalkate me tooo .

and to you @Collie 99 i honestly don't think you'll get any serous reply to this thread... all it was was mumble jumble..

but just for the fun of it.. you could say all that about dogs too.. or even cats. still seems wired youd rather buy from a pet store then adopt.
 

Kieri

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Every pet store I have been to is very neglectful.

I have been to about 5-6 different petsmarts. Each one houses 7+ guinea pigs in small, dirty aquariums. I have seen hamsters housed together with wet tail, yet no employee feels obligated to separate and treat them.

One time I went into petsmart and a guinea pig clearly had an eye infection or something jammed in the eye. It was crusted, watery, and the pig was very lethargic compared to its cage mates. I informed the manager and she YELLED at me. She told me I was wrong and the pig was healthy. "HE WAS PERFECTLY HEALTHY THIS MORNING!" She yelled at me, as if she was personally offended. I was appalled. I told her it could spread to the other guinea pigs. Once again she told me I was wrong and had nothing to worry about. "That pig was perfectly fine this morning," she kept telling me. Oh, and she also told me, "They were playing with each other this morning... Rough housing. He probably got bumped in the eye, he is okay." Guinea pigs don't "play" like puppies do- which leads me to believe the pigs fought and injured the sickly looking pig.

I went to a pet store in Florida that kept boars and sows together. There were 2 newly born pups, 3 boars, and 4 sows all together in a cage. The boars were chasing the sows around. One was pregnant, one had just had pups. I'm not sure if the other two were pregnant, but they were being mounted. There was chattering and sows were constantly running away and occasionally lunging at the males to get them to back off. The employees did NOTHING. Not only that, but the pet store had at least 30 puppies. Two puppies were kept in each cage. The cages had wired floors, no food or water, and the cages were about the size of a 20 gallon aquarium. They had one puppy out for display, I am guessing. She was in a small playpen and her eyes were crusted and one was partially closed. What a great pet store! You're right, they're pretty wonderful. They must have really earned their license to sell animals.

I have heard pet stores in the UK take better care of their animals and have more regulations regarding the health and housing of animals in their stores. However, I do not believe many pet stores in America actually care about their animals. I warn managers about problems with the cage sizes, illnesses, etc. and I am told I am wrong. I go into pet stores only to see guinea pigs crammed together in FILTHY cages- feces and urine is caked against the bedding and on the animals' fur.

Educate yourself on breeding mills. Actually go into pet stores and see the horrendous conditions they are kept in.
 

Collie 99

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Just so you all know, but I live in the UK. So, not all Pet stores are bad in the UK.
 

Zuidy

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Amazing, out of around 10 views of this thread, only 3 people HAVEN'T replied.

I AM PROUD that we are all voicing our own opinions, apparently. Which will ALL be the same, if not, extremely close. The oddball is going to be you, Collie. YOU. Do you see how much you have appalled us, @Collie 99 ?

The numbers I gave show something. They show that WE CARE about Cavies. WE CARE. It is people like you that blatantly support Pet Stores and mill breeding. Even if a pet store gets their pigs from a BREEDER, and not a MILL, it is in the Guinea Pigs best interest to NOT BE BRED at all. It may be natural, reproduction and all, but what is NOT NATURAL is 10+ Guinea Pigs being housed in the same aquarium. What is NOT NATURAL, is repeatedly breeding a poor little Sow. What is not natural, are your BIASED opinions. HOW are your opinions biased, you ask? Anybody's opinion can be considered biased to a Guinea Pig if you agree with anything that a pet store does. I am really getting mad here.

Let me stop before I go any further.

I will say one last thing.

OUT OF 10 PEOPLE, only 3 PEOPLE HAVEN'T REPLIED TO THIS THREAD. It doesn't mean they don't care. But, it DOES MEAN that we are people who care about our Caveys! And, it means that you are 1 person who doesn't. I see that you are browsing this thread, hiding behind all of these comments. But the only reason you posted this is because you were TOO SCARED to think about the Guinea Pigs. Yes, too SCARED. You would have spoken up and changed your opinion after the first few replies to this thread.

That's it. If this post is deleted or anything, so be it. I won't argue, I am a 12 year old getting really mad. So delete it if that's what has to happen, I will understand. But, EVERYONE needs to understand why I posted this and what we all stand for. WHAT WE SHOULD STAND FOR:

Guinea Pigs.

(NOTE: The views/replies of this thread skyrocketed while I was typing this out. That is why this may seem not to apply now. BUT IT DOES.
 
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avengedsoph

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I agree that everyone has their own opinion and that is fair enough, if you like pet shops then keep going there. I had no problem when I first went in to pet shops, I didn’t really look at what they lived in only the animals. Then I took a better look. Fair enough not all pet shops are bad, but most are. Pet smart is a very bad company yet no one has done anything about it.
If you want to carry on buying from petstores that is up to you, but look into it. Like really look, google things about mills and such.
Do you agree with puppy mills?

i also live in the UK so maybe we can have a chat about our pet shops here, I am in chat so you are more than welcome to join.
 

Emissa

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I think all in all it's on how you the owner are and what kind of knowledge you bring to the table. Do your research before going anywhere to adopt to begin with. Know what kind of signs that show sickness. Know how to check the sex prior to leaving. Even adopting from a rescue may have issues, or adopting from someone who doesn't want there's anymore is always a risk. Check the area that you are going and view your surroundings on how all animals are treated. A woman was giving her guinea pig away but I selected not to because she didn't seperate any of her guinea pigs when born, so high chance of them already being pregnant when I was looking. There are no rescues in my area and the animal shelters here don't have any. I'm looking for a female at the moment but I've called all of them today in search and no one even has one. There's always going to be horrible places that do not take care of their animals. Someone who is an expert may want to look for these to rescue them and give them proper care. That's not saying you should look for a sick animal, but just giving an opinion. Once again, I think it's more on caregiver responsibility. Rescues can be just as shady as petstores or either or may be an outstanding place to be. :)
 

prayerdesign

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Just real quick: no one hates guinea pigs from pet stores. No one thinks they don't have a heart or they aren't lovable. That's not what it's about at all. People are against pet stores because of how much they love ALL cavies. That's all.
 

Frapplove

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I just want to point out, people don't avoid pet stores because they hate the guinea pigs that are in them. No one blames the animals. They avoid pet stores because they don't want more guinea pigs to end up like the ones already there.

Edited: Thank you above poster for also pointing that out :eek:ptimist:
 
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Emissa

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Yes, I think it's along the same lines as don't buy purebreds when there's plenty of homeless ones at the shelter. Just wanting to promote more to go for the homeless ones first if possible :)
 

Fizzlepop40

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Just makes me angry that people hate the Guinea Pigs from them, I have one and he is the sweetest thing.
We absolutely don't hate the pet store pigs. I have 2 petstore pigs also, and yes, they are just amazing. (I got them before I found out about getting pigs from petshops.) We hate the way the pigs are treated, NOT the pigs.
 
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pigsandme

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Okay, If "not all pet stores are bad" have you considered that ALL of these pigs come from breeders and more commonly mills? Have you seen the under cover workers that have come to these places where rodents are packed 30+ in sealed wooden crates for weeks forced to eat one another or die as they are shipped to pet stores? Have you considered that there are COUNTLESS guinea pigs with no homes waiting to be adopted? Yet people like you do not care, and instead support the needless breeding chain that continues everytime you buy a pet from a pet store. So yes, I can call all of them bad, because if they didn't do any of this, and instead rescued guinea pigs instead of breeding, it would be called a rescue.

Sure, I can't go and call every rescue good, but have you heard of this thing called a GENERALIZATION? Even if the cages might be a little too small compared to the cage they will live in once they get adopted, they are nothing, NOTHING compared to pet stores.

When you buy a guinea pig from a pet store, you just opened up a spot for the next guinea pig. Thus, supporting breeding. On the flip side, when you adopt a guinea pig from a rescue, you just opened up a spot for the next guinea pig that needs a temporary home.

Sure, in rare situations, the employees at a pet store may be "trained" to care for these animals, but walk into any pet store and you will see that what they learned was obviously incorrect. The cages are not even a mere fraction of what they should be. I don't expect any pet store or rescue to have each cage 7.5 square feet, but the AQUARIUMS they are jammed in are terrible.

They jam 3+ random guinea pigs, poorly (or not at all) sexed, jammed together in a ten gallon aquarium. Everytime I see the cages, it is apparent that they have not been cleaned for quite some time, and it doesn't help that these guinea pigs almost never get along.

Do what you want, be your own person. But don't say that I'm just going off of what other people say- you can't deny the facts that have been shown time after time after time. I know that you seem quite stuck in your opinions, but what bothers me more is that you bring them to a site that is CLEARLY against what you believe. It is as if this all is just amusing you.
 

Cavalicious

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No one tells me what to think. I see enough for myself with my own eyes; to assume that we all have this anti-pet store mentality because of what someone TOLD us is a fallacy. Just as presuming we hate all pet store guinea pigs. I can be against an institution if it goes against what I believe in. Wal-Mart treats its employees badly and puts small mom and pop stores out of business, creating ghost towns all over America. I don't need to go into a Wal-Mart to know that it goes against everything I am. Therefore, I do not patronize Wal-Mart.

If you're starting this thread to legitimize and stick up for your father's profession, that's your business. I wish you both well.
 
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