My Cali girl!

young_mommy17 · Nov 14, 2006

I've had two of my piggies die these past few weeks. I had bought two guinea pigs from PetSmart on October 23, 2006, one was a tri-color who I called Izzy, and the other was black and I called her Cali.

I hadn't researched diseases or anything for that matter concerning Guinea Pigs because it was a spontaneous purchase. But anyway, I was assured that Izzy and Cali were healthy little piggies and that everything was fine.

Only three days after having them did my mom and I notice that Izzy was breathing really weird, so that night I called my local Veterinarian and made an appointment for her. The next day, after I got off from work, I took Izzy to the doctor only to find out she was basically dying. But I had the Veterinarian keep her overnight, which she lived through, but that next evening, she had passed. So only five days after being with her, she passed on.

So since Cali had been in the same cage with Izzy, the Veterinarian gave me Baytril (which I only recently found out can stunt their growth) to give her daily. She seemed fine for about a week, and then she started to breath like Izzy and get nasal and eye discharge, so I immediatly took her to an Emergency Care Facility where they gave me more medicine and told me not to expect her to live much longer. Boy were they right.

The next morning, November 5, 2006, my sweet Cali-Wali passed away in my arms while my mom and I were trying to give her her medicine to live. I'm still so brokem hearted and I miss her and Izzy so very, very much! Although thoughts of Cali are more dominant since I had more time with her.

So today, I went to the Vet's office to get Cali and Izzy's papers to take to PetSmart (I'm fighting), and on Cali's dianosis papers was her picture, and I just starting crying, so did my mom and she never cries! I miss them so much, I see their furry little faces and remember how they loved to eat carrots and how Cali loved to be defiant and try to climb off my bed into my bedding on the floor and how they would make their little noises!

But now I have Abby, I know it's such a short time, but she's not gonna miss out on any love from me.

She's a sweetie and I plan to have her for a much longer time. I have already taken her to the Vet and she's nice and healthy besides a possible mite infection which is being treated and a spot on her back that had a scab, but her hair is growing back quickly. But I am incredibly paranoid now after being through the other two guinea pig deaths.

Thanks for reading!!

mkkayla · Nov 14, 2006

I am so sorry about your losses. Unfortunately it is very common for pet store pigs to be sick when you purchase them even though they may not be showing any symptoms yet. Keep fighting with Petsmart to get reimbursed, if it costs them more to treat sick pigs perhaps they will get smart and stop selling them. There are many rescued guinea pigs in your area looking for homes; contact a rescue, they will work with you on transportation. Good Luck!

DnLnEsMom · Nov 14, 2006

We too had the same thing happen with Baby, bought at Petsmart, she died on Nov. 3. They gave us a full refund, even though we were beyond their 14 day guarantee.

good Luck!

fairysari · Nov 14, 2006

I am sorry for your loss. I bought my first pig at petsmart too, and I noticed crusty eyes a few days later. Thanks to this site, I took him to a vet, where he was diagnosed with an upper respiratory infection. Luckily he was prescribed bactrim and it cleared right up.
Congrats on adopting Abby, maybe you can adopt her a buddy soon. If you adopt from a reputable rescue, they are usually already vet checked by a knowledgeable vet.

piggiebun · Nov 14, 2006

I am so sorry for your loss, I am glad that this had not turned you off of having another piggie. Pet store piggies commonly do have resp problems unfortunately. Don't feel bad, think about the love you've given in that short period of time, remember the love that they gave you. Take comfort in that.

young_mommy17 · Nov 14, 2006

Thanks everybody! I will keep fighting PetSmart, but not so much to get my money back for Vet bills, but to hopefully get someone in there to see how horrible they're treating those animals, and hopefully make PetSmart get better cages/ventilation and just a better and safer living environment. That's the most important thing, not the money.

After Cali died, I did give up on guinea pigs. I said I never wanted another one again, and I started researching chinchilla's, hamster's and rabbit's, but in the end I couldn't go without a guinea pig. I think when I get older, I'm going to have alot of guinea pigs (not to breed of course) because I love them so much!

Also, thank you piggiebun for saying that. I really believe it because they probably never had love and even though it was for a short-time, I already loved them with my whole heart!

fairysari · Nov 14, 2006

Young Mommy, I forgot to mention that I called PetSmart and talked to the manager after my pig was diagnosed with a URI. I didn't really care if they paid the vet bills or not, and told them that. But there were two other pigs in his cage at the store, and I wanted to make sure they looked at them, because they probably had URI's too. Well the witchy manager told me the other pigs had "already gone home so there was nothing she could do. I know for a fact they take your name and address and phone number when you buy a pig there - they could have at least contacted those new homes and asked them to bring their pigs in to get checked. Nope. It was a very unfriendly experience and the last straw in turning me off pet stores.

I'm sure the pigs you lost felt very lucky to have a home with you for the short time they did.

young_mommy17 · Nov 15, 2006

Yeah, when my mom and I went to PetSmart and the manager was VERY rude and so uncaring. She was trying to say that they care about their animals, yet they had TEN guinea pigs in one average size fish tank with one bowl of food, one igloo and one waterbottle and tiny holes in the back of the cage wall. It was sad. But they care! I should've known better but I was so anxious, I am the type of person to do things by impulse.

Thank you so much, that made me smilelol. I hope they did feel that way.

young_mommy17 · Nov 15, 2006

Thank you so much. You all have made me feel so much better and let me know that my girls and I were not the only victims to suffer. I am also sorry for all of you who also had to go through it as well. It was my pleasure loving those girls! They deserved it, that's for sure.

That is true, they got to see what a real home was like before passing. Yes, I've heard of Rainbow Bridge, it's so great! I truly hope that place exists because Izzy and Cali would love it there to just run around and mingle with the others. It is just sad that I can't see and play with them anymore. But, if what I have heard it true, I will be with them again! My Vet sent me a card about Rainbow Bridge, it was sweet. But I will look it up to get more info on it.

Oh, I didn't adopt Abby. I bought her at Petco (crazy after the PetSmart thing, I know). I had heard they were better than PetSmart and I didn't even want to, but my mom took me there just to see if they were really better, and I saw Abby and that was it. She got me. But I checked her eyes, fur, nose and watched her breathing and she seemed healthy, but I still took her to the Vet who said she's healthy.

But I am trying REALLY hard to find a piggie that I can adopt around my area, but my mom thinks I should get a piggie from Petco again because they cover Vet bills for the first 15 days and she thinks that it's more likely the piggie will be healthy. But she really likes how Petco pays for any Vet bills in the 15 days (I pay them, so I don't know why she's so worried. I guess just being that concerned parent.)

Wheekie said:
Wonder if we somehow could all get together and testify against PetSmart?:?:

Awesome idea! Maybe if enough of us got together to testify, they would be forced to treat ALL of the animals better; Guinea Pigs, Hamsters, Birds, etc. I was thinking of writing David Goldstein, he's a news anchor in California, and he recently did an investigation on petstores mistreating their animals.

VoodooJoint · Nov 15, 2006

rockyshero said:
. Petsmart GUREENTESS healthey pets. But how come none of them are?

Because they do not care about the animals at all. The only thing you can do is to stop buying animals form petstores and not support them.

young_mommy17 · Nov 16, 2006

I am going to do everything in my power to get PetSmart exposed to EVERYONE for their horrible mistreatment of all the poor animals they sell. Today I had to pick up more papers about Izzy and Cali (the guinea pigs I bought from PetSmart that died days later) and I found out something interesting. Not only did one of my piggies, Izzy, have an upper respitory infection (along with Cali), but she also had pneumonia AND neurological disease! I cannot see how they could be so heartless and then have the nerve to tell me they care for the animals, that's why they work there. It's not like Izzy got all three of those problems overnight, they were there while she was in their care, and I am sure that if they were supposedly VET ASSURED, that the "vet" would've seen how sick they BOTH were and treated them, and Izzy and Cali would be alive today. Izzy was only 3-4 months old and Cali was only 6 months. They didn't even get to live. PetSmart is going down.

hydrohoki · Nov 16, 2006

I'm sorry for your loss. Best of luck fighting Petsmart, it makes me happier to know you are doing it in their memory. *hugs*

rabbitsncavyluv · Nov 17, 2006

Petco is historically worse than Petsmart. They are both bad in general though. Next time, adopt from a shelter or rescue.

young_mommy17 · Nov 17, 2006

Thank you for the hugs, I give you hugs back *hugs*

I thought Petco was better then PetSmart, I know they used to be really bad and then got in big trouble and had to start ventilating the animals living space and give them larger spaces? I mean I am not saying either store is good at all, because their not, but that's just what I had thought.

Either way they both are bad. I'm not buying from either one or any other petstore for an animal again.

Does anyone purchase bedding and stuff from there and just not animals. I know it's a dumb question, but I'm wierd.

Percy's Mom · Nov 17, 2006

First of all, my condolences on the loss of Cali and Izzy. I know it's horrible having a family member pass on, and you seem like you truly loved her.

I hate that it takes situations like this to show people why you shouldn't buy animals from petstores or breeders. The harsh reality is an awfully sour lesson to learn.

As far as your question goes, it's really best not to buy anything at all in a store that sells animals. While you aren't opening a space up for that store to stock with another breeder animal that may or may not be cared for, the money all goes into the same pot. Profits from the store go to stock the store. That may be to a manufacturer for toys, food, and supplies, or it could be back to the breeders. In all honesty, everything in that store is treated as merchandise, and it's all paid for the same way. Please don't think you're asking a dumb question. The logistics of how the stores work isn't always completely obvious.

Once again, hugs and good thoughts to you on Izzy and Cali's passing.

young_mommy17 · Nov 18, 2006

Thank you, I did love them very much.

I am very upset that things happened the way they did. It certainly did teach me a lesson about impulse purchases. I’ve always been that person who does things on impulse, but now, after what’s happened, I’m definitely going to look into things more.

The bad thing is that even though that happened, it didn’t stop me from purchasing Abby from Petco. I had heard they were better, that they had gotten in big trouble for the mistreatment of their animals in earlier years and had straightened up their act, and when I went to see what kind of environment they had for their pets, I thought it was ok because the cages were ventilated, and they only had two guinea pigs in a good size cage, and they were separated cause they were supposedly male and female.

I just took Abby to the Vet last night and guess what? She has the early signs of an URI. I’m so mad at myself for getting her at Petco. I mean I don’t regret having HER, just where I got her. The Vet prescribed Baytril, and I asked for a different medication because I heard that Baytril wasn’t really the best for her health wise, but the doctor said it’s the strongest.

I’m going to stop buying from both PetSmart and Petco and any other petstore. But what about feed stores? There was this one place that sold guinea pigs and it was a feed store. I’m guessing that’s still bad?

Thanks for the hugs and good thoughts, can you just pray for Abby? For her to make it through this URI unharmed and healthy, please? I’m so scared and almost convinced that she is going to die because my other two did die.

Thank you.

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My Cali girl!

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