New: Soon to be Guinea Pig Owner

Welcome to the forum!

Do be patient and give the rescue a chance. Most of them operate with only volunteers and are pretty short-staffed. Additionally, this has been a holiday weekend, and the rescuers may have had company or been out of town.

The two best guinea pig care websites out there are this one and Guinea Lynx -- both recommended by a number of large professional organizations such as the ASPCA, etc.

I am trying to be patient, and am capable of doing this- just the excitement and happiness my 12 year old has is very exciting.
I know the organization runs by volunteers, and they mention this on the site..
This website is amazing, and I can't wait to explore it more. I will also go and check out the other website you mentioned.
Thank you for responding.

hello and welcome to the forums....
lots of great info/people on here so you'll learn a lot by being here, i know i have....

Thank you Muddy Harper!!

Is it MGPR? @Rywen adopted her Penny from there. Before I realized that my pig was pregnant, I was trying to get her a friend and contacted MGPR. They took about 3 weeks to respond and I had almost given up on them, but they did eventually reply and the volunteer I talked to was very helpful. Being patient pays off! Good luck with your new pigs, and welcome to this great forum.

Hello and welcome! This is the best place for information and friends lol. Being patient does pay off and you'll get your piggies soon! In the meantime, (even though you said you're already doing it) look up everything about guinea pigs and you'll be the best mother to them!

Like everyone else has said, a lot of rescues that are reliant on volunteers can take a long time getting back to potential adopters! If you're really antsy, you can always call just to make sure your application got through okay, and that way you can tell your daughter that it's there too We have quite a lot of Maryland based members, I believe @melynda is from there too! I'm sure you'll get lots of info on where the best supply stores are etc.

You can use the (what seems like forever when you're excited) waiting time to prepare by making your C&C, finding the best quality and best priced hay, deciding on a pellet brand (KMS & Oxbow are what you want to look in to), choosing a bedding type (Fleece? Wood pellets? Shavings? Carefresh?), picking out hidey houses, making a veggie menu, and locating an exotic vet. By the time you're done, your pigs'll be in the house and you won't have even noticed yet!

I know one member made a really lovely care chart for her daughter, with things like "Morning - fill hay, freshen water, sweep droppings" and little pictures next to each task so as it was a fun activity too!

Hi and welcome to the forum. Im also in Maryland. One guinea pig rescue I know of is metropolitan guinea pig rescue. Not sure if that's where you went. But just in case you can always check them out.

Yes, it is MGPR. Thank you for letting me know this @pigger123. I will contact Rywen and see what she has to say!!

I will look into Small Angels, that name actually does look familiar. Might of come across it when I did my initial search.. Thank you. I am really impressed with MGPR, and will see what happens!!

Hello! Welcome to the forums! I am also a new piggy owner, and she is such a sweetheart! Good luck, I hope all goes well with the rescue, and you make lots of new memories with your family and the new pets!!

Hello and welcome to the forum! I did adopt from MGPR! It does take some time but it's totally worth it because you get a pair (sometimes already bonded), they are already spayed/neutered so no surprise pregnancies, and they have been thoroughly checked by an exotics vet and are healthy. MGPR works by keeping rescued piggies at foster homes so many are already used to being handled. Let me know if you have any questions I can answer!

@Rywen
Can you share your experience you had with MGPR when adopting your pig? I would love to hear about it so I know what to expect?? Did they come to your house for an interview, or just over the phone?? Did you meet them someplace to pick up your pig? Any insight you have would be awesome. Thanks!

Brigitte

Of course I will, hopefully I'll have time to type it up for you tonight (if not today then definitely tomorrow )!

Hi and welcome! I think researching and preparing like @Princess_Piggie said is a great idea. Let us know when you get the pigs! I'd love to see pictures of them.

So I submitted the application to MGPR and I heard back in about 2 weeks. The woman assigned to screen me for adopting was super nice and she sent me e-mails with questions over several weeks, they were mostly the same questions that were in the application (I suspect they were just verifying my info). She was very nice and helpful. My situation is a bit different from yours because I already had Ferb and I was looking for a female to bond him with so he wouldn't be so lonely. I was invited to bring Ferb to a meet (aka piggie speed dating) about 10 weeks after I applied, but that date conflicted with my niece's birthday party so I had to wait until the next month. That said, I was talking to the nurse at the doctor's today and she has 2 piggies she adopted from MGPR in 2012 and she said it was much faster for her, probably because she wasn't trying to pair one single with another. Ferb is neutered and MGPR neuters and spays all of their piggies before they adopt them out and it's a low cost to you (which is a plus, Ferb's neuter was $300). They usually have the meets once a month and they are in Gambrills or Gaithersburg. I did say on my application they could do a home visit but they never asked to. I did send a picture of my c&c cage and Ferb. Ferb and I are both very happy with Penny! The happy couple's pigture is in my profile. Yes it does take some patience to adopt from MGPR, but once you are approved to adopt you are a member for life (and there's an annual pignic in September in Reisterstown and everyone brings their piggies!). Good luck, and let us know how it goes.

Thank you so much for the insight. I gravely appreciate this, and it does help me a lot. I am glad they are very thorough in everything, makes me feel safe and secure about everything, but that is a really long time to wait. I know they are only doing the job, but 10 weeks is an awful long time. I know patience, but I also do not want my daughter having to wait too long. A lot of pro's, and a few cons- hence my daughter... I will wait til they contact me and go from that point!! Thank you Rywen!

Sure, the process may be faster for you, I submitted my application during the winter holidays and then sometimes it took me a week to respond to the e-mail questions. You can ask them if a home visit would speed things up at all if you're comfortable with one

UPDATE: MGPR has contacted me yesterday about the pair of pigs I am interested in. They asked me a few questions, and I responded this morning. Not very intense at all. Hope they respond again this weekend!!

What vet do you use @Rywen?