Blog Petstore vs Adoption

[Mamma-Harlow]

Now, I'm not trying to justify buying guinea pigs from pet stores as good, or better than adopting from a shelter. What I would like to say though is that I can't help but notice peoples hostility on this site, and others, when it comes to people who have bought their piggies from a store. Your snobbery is childish and very inconsiderate. People need to take into account that not all of us live with a guinea pig shelter in our areas, or even in our towns. For instance, my nearest animal shelter is a three hour drive away, so much as I would have liked to have rescued guinea pigs instead of getting my boys from the pet store, it was not an option. And it is the same for many others, so I hope next time you go to lash out at someone about this, spare a thought for the fact that it was not a possibility. Also try to take into consideration that buying a guinea pig from a pet store is also doing something good. Yes, I realize that it encourages breeders who do the wrong thing, and pet stores that don’t treat animals humanely, but unfortunately there is nothing you can do about the problem. People will still keep buying from pet stores whether you like it or not.

Buying from a pet store that is overcrowded and doesn’t look after its guinea pigs properly that they are sick and malnourished is kinder than going to a shelter sometimes. Because at least at shelters you know they are going to get vet care and kindness from those who work there. At a pet store on the other hand, there is no guarantee, often the guinea pigs don’t even survive to make it to a new home because they have diseases and are not fed properly, or enough. Where I live there is a pet store called “Pets Paradise”, which is like the Australian version of the “Petco”/”Pet Smart” chain and it treats it’s guinea pigs horribly. They are given hardly any food, are all crawling with mange mites in various cases ranging from mild to severe, and have URIs. Now, my nearest guinea pig shelter on the other hand treats their guinea pigs wonderfully. It’s run by a family of guinea pig lovers and they have spent a fortune on making sure all of the guinea pigs have lots of room, vet care, plenty of food, laptime, and of course LOVE. So really, just back off. Half the time the people here who like to give their self righteous two cents don’t even know half the situation, or have even thought about it. They just instantly think its “bad” because it’s what they’ve been programmed to think.
I bought my Picasso and Houdini from Pets Paradise this year and have spent a small fortune on vet visits, but it has been worth it because if I hadn’t bought them, they would have got worse and been left to die writhing in pain like some of the neglected guinea pigs in that store.
Every time I happen to go in there and see the guinea pigs, I am grateful that I was able to rescue my boys from that hell hole.

 

[VoodooJoint]

"I realize that it encourages breeders who do the wrong thing, and pet stores that don’t treat animals humanely, ... is overcrowded and doesn’t look after its guinea pigs properly...they are sick and malnourished ...often the guinea pigs don’t even survive to make it to a new home because they have diseases and are not fed properly...Where I live there is a pet store called “Pets Paradise”,...it treats it’s guinea pigs horribly. They are given hardly any food, are all crawling with mange mites in various cases ranging from mild to severe, and have URIs. ...They just instantly think its “bad” because it’s what they’ve been programmed to think.
I bought my Picasso and Houdini from Pets Paradise this year and have spent a small fortune on vet visits,... they would have got worse and been left to die writhing in pain like some of the neglected guinea pigs in that store.
Every time I happen to go in there and see the guinea pigs, I am grateful that I was able to rescue my boys from that hell hole."

You are happy, nay, thrilled to have given money to someplace like that? You seem proud that you encourage that sort of abuse. Do you get on your knees and apologize to the pigs you see in there? You are part of the reason they are suffering. You helped create the demand by rewarding the poor treatment with money. In essence you PAID the store to abuse animals. Then, after all of the horrors you described you have the audacity to claim the people that stand against petstores, breeders and actions like yours "just instantly think its “bad” because it’s what they’ve been programmed to think." Are you being purposely obtuse?

 

[Mamma-Harlow]

But did I say I was thrilled, or even encourage it? I find reporting the place to the RSPCA as sufficient and the only thing I can do. Regardless, I pity you and your obsession with looking for drama on this site. I've seen only too many types like yourself on other sites, at first it's amusing, but then I realize what tragic people you really are.

 

[blackarrow]

Here's an idea. If a pet store is neglecting and mistreating its animals, REPORT IT to the proper authorities, don't REWARD IT by giving them your money and thus encouraging them to do this to more and more pigs.

You didn't "rescue" guinea pigs from a hellhole. You ENCOURAGED a hellhole, and doomed other pigs to be bred to go replace the ones you bought. Way to go.

Read the sticky thread in the Kitchen about buying from pet stores. You don't bring up any arguments for your behavior that haven't been brought up, and discredited, a thousand times before. https://www.guineapigcages.com/forum/kitchen/47359-buying-pigs-petstores.html

 

[Mamma-Harlow]

Did you even read my last comment? Because I already made that part very clear. And big deal that I "encouraged a hell hole”, thousands do so every day, what are you going to do, sit on the internet and rage at people about it? Things aren't going to change; you'd have to be naive to actually think they would. Pet stores are accessible whereas a lot of shelters are not, doesn't exactly give those that don't live in a district with a shelter a choice, does it? The world really would be a perfect place if the fact that anywhere there were guinea pigs there would be shelters, but that’s not the case in the REAL world. Reality is people are not going to drive 3 hours and back, they are going to do what ever convenient and PRACTICAL.

 

[blackarrow]

Your post did not appear until I posted mine, so no, I did not see that you had reported them (along with encouraging them) until I posted. It doesn't excuse your support of the pet store with your business.

How convenient for you, to be able to excuse your indefensible actions by telling yourself you had no choice, and that change is impossible. Of course, if that had any basis in fact, we'd still have slavery, we wouldn't have child labor laws, women still would be treated as their husband's property - the list goes on and on of things that used to be considered "reality" that no longer are.

I'm not sitting on the internet raging at anybody - I'm on the internet identifying animals in need of rescue, and counseling people who need to rehome their pets, and making all the necessary arrangements for them to get into rescues, about thirty hours a week, for no pay at all. Not that you think it's a "big deal" that people like you undermine what I do every day.

 

[Seonta]

By purchasing rather than adopting you still caused a guinea pig somewhere to die regardless to if you saved yours or not. Also if you cared so much for guinea pigs as a whole the longer trip to pick up your new special pets would not bother you as much. I will have to drive an hour to an hour and a half to the nearest rescue and that is if there is no other traffic on the road. But what are my plans? To drive there and adopt anyway. Rescued animals are healthier than purchased animals because they often have seen a vet and been through quarantine. This is brought up over and over on this website and most of the time I feel like it is the purchaser trying to make themselves feel better, to feel justified... Would you buy a puppy from a pet store? I would seriously hope not.

 

[Africa]

Its the same concept in a democratic election, if you dont vote then you are supporting the guy you 'dont want' to be president. The point is that every vote counts. Same with the pet stores. If you refuse to buy their guinea pigs and adopt instead then you are making a difference by slowing down the breeding process. If every person thought the same as you Mama-Harlow then there would be an even greater demand for breeders. The point is that every "vote" or "decision to not buy" from a pet store counts towards a greater number of guinea pigs being saved.

 

[vicky2]

I only read a couple lines and would like to point out that most shelters and rescues are willing to drive those three hours. There's also craiglist and petfinder adoptables section.

 

[Tessa Bea]

I hate to break it to you, but a 3 hour drive does NOT make something impossible, just inconvenient. By buying your pig from a pet store, in the eyes of the company, all you've done is reinstate to them that there is a demand for guinea pigs and encourage them to populate our country with even more- while people are daily still giving up their pigs, abandoning them, etc.

You saved your boys, but at what cost? The lives of all of their brethren are doomed to be the same at that store. You could have pointed out the ones writhing in pain and dying to the manager and told him that you refuse to buy when they treat their animals that way, that you're calling a rescue, something, but no- with your dollar bills you're letting them know that it's okay for them to keep their animals that way.

Without protest, there is no change. Slavery would still be legal, women wouldn't be able to vote... I don't know about you, but I'd rather be part of the solution than part of the problem. We CAN make a difference. As educated consumers, we hold much more power than you'd believe.

 

[Mamma-Harlow]

Pffft, nothing is going to change, you have to be very naive and ignorant to think that it ever will. Big corporations will always have the money to keep doing what they are doing, so suck it up. What difference does it even make when the guinea pigs that were bought from pet stores END UP IN SHELTERS ANYWAY! It's the same as if I were to say don't adopt from shelters because it supports pet stores, because what you're saying is that retarded and pointless. Atleast they have actually survived and are now being cared for, the pet store guinea pigs don't survive to make it to shelters a lot of the time.

But yes, do go on and humor me with your over dramatic hippie nonesense that doesn't even care for logic and practicality, it's great entertainment for me, so kudos

 

[blackarrow]

Baloney. Big corporations have never been able to force anyone to buy guinea pigs, and they never will be.

It's hard to tell if you're even trying to make sense any more, you're so far from doing so.

 

[Mamma-Harlow]

Actually by selling animals at affordable prices in easily accessible locations they are doing just that! It's cute because you think you're so clever with your "got to save the guinea pigs" nonsense, you epitomise the word "fanatic" with your obsession over this issue and far fetched ideals.

So typical and a very common trait of people such as yourself. You dissagree with someones opinion, so you just play dumb and act like you don't get it at all. What, do I have to explain it in simple terms for you to understand? By saying that buying from pet stores is wrong, it is the same as saying adopting from shelters is wrong. Because by adopting the animals that get discarded you're just making room for the new animals to take their place. If people buying from pet stores didn't have something to fall back on, such as shelters for abandoning their pet, less people would buy guinea pigs in the first place because they wouldn't be able to get rid of them so easily. It's a vicious cycle, surely you'd atleast understand that by now, if little else.

 

[blackarrow]

Oh, it really is that you just don't know you are not making any sense, LOL. I'm sorry you don't understand that guinea pigs don't get sucked from pet stores into rescues by a magical vacuum caused by people adopting from rescues. People don't generally know rescues exist at the time they buy from pet stores, so they can't know they are there to "fall back on." Besides, you're the one who's saying it's sooooo impooooosible to get to a shelter. Does the distance magically shorten if you're dumping one?

It's funny - there are inexpensive guinea pigs in stores quite close to me, yet I haven't been forced to buy one by a big corporation yet! Wonder why I'm somehow immune to stores, and why you are so helpless? Could it be, that you want to pretend you are?

 

[Mamma-Harlow]

Well thing is, I have a LIFE! It doesn't revolve around driving for hours to pick up guinea pigs, or preaching nonsense on the internet to people who don't give a damn about your worthless opinion. I'm sorry that you can't understand a college educated response, but I don't lower how I say things so that simpletons will understand better.

Also, I don't need to "pretend", I know that I did the right thing in the end, by buying an animal that needed urgent vet care instead of adopting a healthy one.

 

[blackarrow]

For someone who doesn't care, you're sure spending a lot of time cursing and name-calling. I wonder why that is? My Ivy League law school professors never recommended that as a debate technique. I guess you know better than they do. Who'd 'a' thunk it? ;-)

You had another option you seem to have missed - you didn't have to get guinea pigs at all if it was so beneath you to do a little driving to get pigs from a shelter. But that's right - then you wouldn't have been able to "save" those poor piggies you cared so much about that you needed to encourage the place you bought them from to crank out a few more to take their place. Oh, wait a minute - you didn't care about "saving" them, you were just forced to buy them. Ohhh, it's just so confusing for a simpleton like me to understand!

 

[blackarrow]

Hey, by the way, congratulations on having graduated college by the time you're 18! You must be some kind of prodigy. Or by calling yourself "college educated" did you just mean you're currently in the process of attending some classes?

 

[Bamysmum]

Pet stores make most of their money selling pet products not the animals so anyone who so much as bought a water bottle from a pet store as as guilty as anyone who bought an animal from these stores. And I'll admit it - I've bought many drinks bottles from pet stores so I'm guilty as hell.

I don't approve of breeders who sell their animals to pet stores but my mum's best friend is one such person.

Guys, we live in a world where people do the wrong thing and are cruel to both fellow humans / domestic and wild animals. Getting cranky ain't going to help.

If you care, educate to change people's minds about what they do and push to legislate where you know their going to do the wrong thing. Yelling at the people on this is a waste of energy, they're already aware, care and trying to make things better just by using this site.

 

[Toadies]

Has anyone noticed that Mamma-Harlow doesn't play well with others?

 

[Ly&Pigs]

Blogs aren't for stirring up drama or starting debates, which is what you've clearly done by posting this. Name calling will NOT be tolerated.