First time help

Have you try looking in classifieds ads? If there's a pet store selling guinea pigs, there's probably someone rehoming them.

For us we have Craigslist which has nothing and they have a classified ads in a paper called bargain hunter which hasn't had anything. I am posting an ad this week in it and already posted in Craigslist earlier this week looking for some.

Please don't buy from a pet store. Those pigs are bred and raised in horrible conditions. They are just products to the pet stores, and for every one they sell, they order another to take its place to sell to someone else. The poor sows are kept continually pregnant until they're worn out, and then they're killed. The pigs sold in the stores are often ill, have parasites, are mis-sexed, and the baby sows are pregnant. If you want to know how bad the pet store conditions are, see https://www.petsmartcruelty.com. Rainbow Exotics is still in business, but when they were raided several years ago (you can google the newspaper articles), the rescues around Dallas took hundreds of small exotic pets, never mind the larger ones.

If you keep looking, you'll eventually find pigs to adopt. Use www.petfinder.com, and contact all the rescues that are anywhere near you. Rescues are often just a group of foster homes, and there may be one much closer to you than the address of the rescue would indicate.

It's sometimes also possible to set up a piggy train, where a pig gets relayed from one place to another with each driver taking them to meet the next. In those cases, drivers usually will go for an hour or so to meet the next person.

Another thing to consider is what you will do for vet care. Are there exotic vets near you? Small animal (dog and cat) vets are not trained to care of exotic pets, and some of them are downright dangerous.

Even a local pet stores are bad because they are breeding them and only care about the buck. Petco and petsmart get them from werehouses that also don't care. Yeah if you adopt, you are still getting a petstore piggie but at lease they would have an actual vet. Petco sells both male and female in one store so chances are very high for a missexed piggie. If you did your research then you most likely ran across videos of these werehouses. Please try adoption.

I wish you the best of luck finding your piggies.

Sometimes pet stores will have animals legitimately up for adoption, too- they can't sell disabled animals or animals who have been abandoned by customers who weren't originally Petco pigs, which is something that happens surprisingly often. I'd ask if your local Petco ever has cases like this.


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jaycriae said:

I wish you the best of luck finding your piggies.

Sometimes pet stores will have animals legitimately up for adoption, too- they can't sell disabled animals or animals who have been abandoned by customers who weren't originally Petco pigs, which is something that happens surprisingly often. I'd ask if your local Petco ever has cases like this.


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This is how we got our two girls. A local pet store was "rehoming" them because the owners didn't want them after a year.

Where are you located? @sonsofpiggies needs to rehome two young males

Unfortunately, he's in Eastern Kentucky. sonsofpiggies is in California. His pigs are darn cute, too.

If you do end up getting them from petco make sure you hold them and feel down their body to see if you feel any bones. My baby girl Roxy came from petco and she was extremely malnourished. I could feel every rib Bone, her spine, where her spine met her hips and her hips. If you discover that your guinea pigs are like that working 30 days they will pay for the vet bill, but you have to give up custody of them or of they need treatments they take custody of them while they need the treatments. So if you buy them from Petco be careful and really check them over.

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SaulGood said:

I am going to buy 2 guinea pigs, one for my wife and one for my kid. I have researched a lot which is why I am getting 2 instead of 1 and I also got an 8 square foot cage because I learned that the tiny cages sold in store are way too small. I have researched and researched and planned a lot even though the pets are for my wife and kid I like to know how things should be done because I am an animal lover. My problem is we have no small local pet stores or adoption places where I live. I live in a very small town in eastern KY and I have looked for somewhere with reasonable distance to adopt or a breeder and have had no luck. At this point it looks like if we are going to get a guinea pig I will be buying from petco. They seem well fed and clean with fresh carrots daily and 2 guinea pigs per cage which is still small for them but not as bad as I have seen. Anyone have any suggestions? I see no other way for me to buy one, I have all the supplies and everything set up ready to go, is petco so bad I should just not buy guinea pigs because I see no way to get one from anywhere else.

Thanks

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Hi! If there aren't any breeders or shelters in your area, most chain pet stores such as Petco or Petsmart often have pets for adoption. I'd suggest calling around asking, so you won't have to drive all over town. Animals that are for adoption were either mis-sexed (maybe had a litter or got injured), or had some medical problems which the pet stores often resolve if possible. In regards to fees, it will vary from place to place but usually they tend to be free, or really low adoption fees. Hope this helped and good luck!

Please don't buy from a petstore. Trust me, there are so many pigs in need out there.

Try your local classifieds paper as well as the websites already suggested. Also, here in the UK there are some sites where you can put 'Wanted' ads offering a loving home, just make sure you specify no breeders to contact you. That's how we found Artemis and Luna, and they needed us so badly. Their owner contacted us. I'm assuming there are sites where you can do the same.

Trust me, just because they may not be immediately obvious doesn't mean that there aren't pigs in need near you. Be patient, the pigs that are meant to be with you will come around. Don't give into the temptation of a quick fix store purchase.

Not sure without a Zip Code, but I think these guys are within an achievable driving distance for you.

https://rescuedguineapigs.weebly.com/

I appreciate the response. I am about 3.5 hours from that place but I am going to a city about an hour from there in 2 weeks so I am going to drive up to it while I'm there. I'll keep looking for somewhere closer but I'll be in Lexington,KY on the 27th so if I cannot find an adoption service before then I will be heading to that one in Indiana.


Thanks again

SaulGood said:

I appreciate the response. I am about 3.5 hours from that place but I am going to a city about an hour from there in 2 weeks so I am going to drive up to it while I'm there. I'll keep looking for somewhere closer but I'll be in Lexington,KY on the 27th so if I cannot find an adoption service before then I will be heading to that one in Indiana.


Thanks again

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Just wanted to say I applaud you for going the extra, extra miles that you possibly could to rescue a couple of little ones, instead of purchasing. I'm sure that whomever you find and bring back to their furever home will thank you too.