Just turned DOWN for adoption

[beespiggy]

I've been looking for a cagemate for my 4month old Piggy. I purchased her from a petstore and just had her checked out by the vet and got a clean bill of health and a pat on the back for the care I've been giving her. I emailed the ONLY gp rescure near me and inquired on a female. All of their females listed on petfinder said NO KIDS. Well, I do have kids and they are younger, I am a stay at home mom with an enclosed cage that sits in the common area of the house. I have 2 large dogs and 2 children so I put a lid on the cage so there would be no one handeling the gp unless they were with an adult. We have floortime with our gp twice aday, once while the children are at school, I take her out and play with her while the dogs are outside and again after our dinner the entire family, minus the dogs head into my daughters room and have another 45mins of floortime. I am a responsible parent not only to my humans but to all of my pets. I have never had to take my child to the emergency room, I have never had to take my dogs to the er and I have never been so insulted that I would not be able to adopt a gp from rescue because I have a 6 and a 3year old. Her response was that she will only adopt to houses with teenagers or with no children at all because they could be dropped. I guess I shouldn't of disclosed the fact that I have children, I could of simply lied and come home with a new bestfriend for our very loved piggy. What am I to do NOW? I am simply crushed!

 

[Ly&Pigs]

I'd start looking on craigslist and your local newspaper as well as (broken link removed), gpan and guinealynx adoptable sections. If there are none in your area available at this time, just wait a while and see if more come up for adoption. If you stick to your guns and don't buy from a petstore again, you won't regret it.

I'm sorry you weren't approved for adoption with the rescue but some rescues do have strict policies.

 

[meaakn33]

Dont feel bad I wasnt approved because at the time I kept my cage in my daughters room + my dogs were a issue for them too. I to felt very insulted by this. I felt at the time they must not really want to find homes for there OVERCROWDED rescue that there asking for money to run. I still get mad about it but I also realize they must care to make these rules. I still donated to them thru paypal. Also the closest rescue to me is in texas and I was willing to drive 7 hours.
I called my local shelter and gave my name but she said in 7 years she's never had a piggy turned in.
But do check craigs list, one will come up, I guarrantee it!

 

[Kipsie]

I'm sorry you were let down. Hang in there!

 

[lulubird6]

Oh! That makes me sad! You sound like a very nice piggie mommy. I'm sure it was a blessing you were turned down because your perfect piggie is just waiting for you elsewhere and not at that rescue. Maybe it is waiting for you over at Craigslist, guinealynx, etc. Good luck!

 

[rabbitsncavyluv]

Try an animal shelter or rehoming ad.

 

[Sekhmet]

I'm sorry to hear about your turn down on rescuing a GP from a rescue. I would have been red in the face (like the face icon) too if I was in your position.

I would do what others have suggested to you. Go to Craigslist and see if you can find someone or people thats giving away their GP for obvious reasons. I was going to do exactly that if my application was denied.

Good luck and hope you find your special piggy

 

[mekat]

I'm so sorry. That is why I didn't bother to even try a rescue because my son's situation is so unique I thought they would turn us down without even understanding our full family dynamics. I went through Craigslist instead.

I also got rejected once by a poodle rescue because my animals weren't vaccinated but at the time we only had a cockatiel and fish so of course we didn't vaccinate but the tiel got yearly check ups and I had dropped several hundred on her just a few months before our rescue application was submitted when she got sick (never did figure out the cause but the vet was able to nurse her back to health).

 

[scarlett]

In addition to Craigslist and shelters, try Petfinder.com and Pets911.com. Sorry you were turned down and I understand how you would feel insulted and unfairly judged.

 

[Cogni]

Don't feel insulted. Their policies are designed for the "usual case" scenario of people getting gps for children. They are no reflection on you.
I have also seen ads on petfinder that specify no kids because the piggie bites.

 

[fieryone]

I can't blame you for being insulted. But unfortunately the rescue can't be positive that your children won't try to take a pig out of the cage unsupervised. They are only doing what they feel is best for the pigs and have developed a policy that fits their idea of what they want in adoptive homes. Try not to feel insulted. Easier said than done I'm sure because I would feel the same way. Based on their policy, they would turn me down, too. I have a ten year old but he never tries to get the pigs out of the cage. When he holds them, I bring a pig to him while he's sitting down. But the rescue doesn't know my child and doesn't know that he won't go take a pig out of the cage unsupervised.

Try Craigslist. I got the sweetest, most wonderful boy from Craigslist

 

[magicaldreamr89]

That kinda pisses me off. I have 4 kids under 6. Three dogs (german shepard and 2 pit bulls), Two cats, three bunnies and of course 4 guinea pigs. All indoors and get along well. Not that there all together. There Not. I hate people that act like just because kids are young they can't listen and behave. All of my kids do everything i ask. You should of told her where to stick it.

 

[JD In Van]

Often no Kids on petfinder means No Young Children (like toddlers).

The rescue I'm most involved with has this policy. My daughter was 9 when I first fostered for them and the cavy originizer came down to meet her personally and see how she handled small animals before she was willing to leave them with us but they were more than willing to concider house holds with 8 - 9 year olds who can be calm and quiet, just not any younger.

Most uneducated people think guinea pigs and hamsters are the ideal pet for small children because they're "gentle" and don't realize how terrifying grabby little hands are to prey animals.

 

[ferndalezoo]

I'm sorry to hear you had that experience. Please remember that the rescue's policies don't have any reflection on you or your personal ability to care for a cavy properly. They exist for the protection of the pigs in situations under which the rescue has very little control. So many pigs end up turned into rescue because "the kids were too rough with it!" or "the kids lost interest". It's possible that your kids wouldn't be too rough or lose interest, but the rescue has no way of really knowing that for sure, so it's easier to have a blanket policy of "no kids under age 10" or whatever. Try not to take it personally. The good news is that I can guarantee you that even if that is the "only guinea pig rescue in the area", it is NOT the only source of a friend for your pig that isn't a pet store. Scope out Craigslist, Kijiji, Backpage, Hoobly (On ALL of these, do read the ads carefully to avoid buying a Backyard Breeder pig being passed of as a "rehoming"!). Check petfinder.com, both the normal part and the classified listings. Check ads in your local paper.

It's also worth calling the rescue back to talk to them again. Invite them to your home, or show them pictures of your setup. Offer to introduce them to your dogs and your children. I volunteer for a dog/cat rescue, with a strict policy of requiring fenced-in yards for all puppies and most of our dogs. An application came in on a sheltie puppy two weeks ago that was otherwise perfect-- except they didn't have a fence (live in a community that doesn't allow it). Originally, we declined. The family called us back, and emailed us twice. They showed us a picture of their property, with the 40-foot zip-line that they intended her to use (supervised) when she was out to potty. They showed us a picture of the local fenced-in-dog-park where they intended to take her regularly. They gave us a letter-of-reference from their training class they had taken with previous dogs. We revisited the application, and ultimately approved it on a case-specific basis. As of their one-week-followup, the puppy is doing well.

It's worth a shot.

 

[utsarah]

The rescue closest to us had a policy of no young children. I can definitely understand why. We have a two year old who is very gentle. We also know well enough to not let her EVER pick up the pigs by herself and she has supervised time with them.

I also think maybe part of the hesitance of rescues is that a lot of people buy guinea pigs as a pet for their children..which is not realistic. We told Natalie the guinea pigs were hers, but obviously I'm the caregiver of them. Natalie likes to help put pellets in the bowl and feed them fresh vegetables from her hand.

Toddlers are a crazy bunch...I know mine is, but we are teaching her to be gentle with animals. We have a cockatiel that she has been around since birth and is very gentle around him.

 

[akstrohm]

I guess I shouldn't of disclosed the fact that I have children, I could of simply lied and come home with a new bestfriend for our very loved piggy.

No, you absolutely should not have lied. If you are adopting from a rescue, you must abide by their policies. They are acting in the best interest of the pigs, and they are allowed to set whatever rules they feel will ensure that their pigs get the best care possible. The truth is that many children are too rough with pigs and can unintentionally hurt or even kill them. Children are also often loud and energetic, which is not a good environment for most pigs. The rescue is under no obligation to take this risk.

 

[utsarah]

Not sure you could have lied. When I was a foster mom for dogs we did home visits before placing a dog. I don't know if guinea pig rescues do these as well.

I can understand the policy in a way. I fostered for a chihuahua and maltese rescue. In general small dogs and small children don't mix. We did make some exceptions. If a dog came in that was used to children, etc.

I know that Petfinder used to have classifieds for people wanting to place their animals. I don't know how much guinea pigs would be on there.

Also they are sometimes on Craigslist.

 

[khptown]

I'm sorry to here that. Keep checking with your local animal shelter, that's what I did. Unfortunately, my local shelter doesn't do much back ground checking, basically I just had to fill out a small piece of paper and Gizmo was mine. They classified guinea pigs as "pocket pets".

 

[Duffinvt]

You know, you could place an ad on Craigslist yourself, saying you would provide a good home and already have a gp and know the proper care, etc. It might be seen by someone who would like to rehome theirs, for whatever reason, and perhaps they'd give their pig to you. That kind of happened to me. I was doing the groundwork and went on Freecycle to ask if anyone had grids, supplies, etc. as I intended to adopt. Lo and behold, a nice lady wrote and had a family in-law medical situation that turned serious and needed to find a home for her two guinea pigs. She had not had the courage to post them on Craigslist for fear they'd get in the wrong hands. We talked and talked on the phone and she was thrilled to have a good home and I was thrilled to have two very nice guinea pigs. We still keep in touch.

 

[ferndalezoo]

The only problem with an ad on Craigslist is that, depending on your particular community, most will get flaged down as "soliciting a pet sale" relatively quickly. It's worth a try, though, as it's free, and even if it's only up a short time, someone might see it who has a pig to rehome. If you go this route, I'd suggest wording like this:

Is anyone looking to rehome their (female or neutered male) pet guinea pig? We are looking to add a second pig to our family. We provide a proper diet (high-quality pellets, grass hay, and fresh veggies daily), and after quarantine, your pig would join our girl in her spacious (list dimensions) cage. S/he would enjoy daily floortime and lots of love. We do have one small child, but s/he is very pet-experienced, and while she enjoys helping, the guinea pigs are adult pets. She is never with them unattended. We do NOT want to purchase from a breeder, but rather are looking to take one in from someone who for whatever reason cannot keep their pig. We prefer a female or neutered male, as our current pig is female and we do NOT want to breed. We are willing to pay a small adoption fee, and you are welcome to (call our vet? Visit our home? Put whatever you are comfortable with here).