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Your animal shelter?

cottoncandy946

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Honestly my local animal shelter is not cavy savy in the least. I was checking in yesterday on these two guinea pigs I've been handling when ever Me and my mom have visited the shelter. "Sam and Spike" The two guinea pigs are super happy piggies but I'm pretty sure their previous owners didn't handle them much and they are quite frightened of humans. I've only been able to pet them in their cages. Anyways enough rambling. To my surprise I saw Spike...And not sam. So, I went up to the front desk just to simply asked what had happened and they told me "Oh, this couple adopted him but they didn't want to take spike because of his fur." Not going to lie I was pretty upset. They were together for 2 years and I can't imagine how they upset Spike is. :mad: My shelter is usually pretty good with other rodents except for guinea pigs. I mean . . . Its not like the end of the world for spike but I couldn't imagine having a friend for 2 years and living them and suddenly they were just "gone". Rant done.
 

mommy4kids

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Poor Spike. I am sure he is sad.
 

cottoncandy946

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My shelter's not very cavy-savvy either. They're a dog and cat shelter at their core, but they take in everything. At least they know to give the pigs hay. When I first got there, I noticed the pigs they had had ultra-long nails, so I asked them if they'd like me to cut them. They asked their vet, who said "please do." Turns out no one knew how. I can't blame them too much since I know they're trying to help. I don't think they separate bonded pairs, thankfully. Now I just take it on myself to make sure the pigs are doing okay when I go. I don't think anyone else really notices them.
I've always tried to make sure the piggies are okay, but being 14 the workers who've been there for 20+ years tend to think they know everything about every animal. It's quite frustrating, but at least the piggies are getting hay,good pellets, and veggies. I just wish they wouldnt seperate bonded pairs which surprisingly they do a lot. And for very stupid reasons like the adopters don't like their color pattern or their long coats.
 

KittyKrochet

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My shelter isn't cavy savvy either. Unfortunately, my county only has two or three shelters, and the one I go to is the most centrally located, so they get a lot of piggies in. They have no problem separating bonded pairs, which is really sad. They don't get any hay, and keep them in a 3 sq ft cage. At one point, they had 10 piggies in it! I can't imagine how they even MOVED in there! Their pellets are pretty good, though, but when I was there, they had 3 piggies, and only fed them 1/2 cup of pellets for all of them to share a day. =[

It's a shame, too. Where I go to Uni, there used to be a guinea pig rescue in town, which I had originally planned to adopt from... but they had to close from lack of funding.
 

cottoncandy946

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Thats sad. :( I REALLY wish there was a guinea pig rescue near me. I've searched and I couldn't even find one in my state...I was wishing that other peoples animal shelters were more cavy savy.
 

HappyHopperz

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If I were you, I would adopt him cause I would feel really bad also. Some people....
 

Wildcavy

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Ours isn't the most cavy savvy, either, but sadly they are always overrun by all kinds of animals. They try to work with local rescues but end up destroying most of their small animals, particularly guinea pigs and ratties, and many of their cats. It makes me ill thinking about it. I try to focus on the pigs we have saved, but I really can't look at their website or go there, because I know the piggies and others will end up killed and thrown out.

Breeders think they have no blame in overpopulation of small animals, but I put the blame on them and pet stores as much as I do the buyers who support the "habit" of treating animals as commodities instead of living beings. They polish up the "show quality" animals and then pretend to be shocked that people let their kids trade piggies because they aren't the right color or hair texture.

Though I guess humans have a long history of discriminating on the basis of color and hair texture.
 

cottoncandy946

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I would adopt him. I love the little piggie. <3 but I have two girls and I just got Daisy May from someone off craigslist. And honestly I need to get building on a larger cage. And I'm working on switching to fleece. I have a wooden cage I made which is okay right now for the 2 girls but would not have Nearly enough room for another. And I'm not going to have my C&C cage complete for awhile as I am having troubles finding grids OR coroplast. -_- If only I was a millionaire...lol
 

cottoncandy946

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Ours isn't the most cavy savvy, either, but sadly they are always overrun by all kinds of animals. They try to work with local rescues but end up destroying most of their small animals, particularly guinea pigs and ratties, and many of their cats. It makes me ill thinking about it. I try to focus on the pigs we have saved, but I really can't look at their website or go there, because I know the piggies and others will end up killed and thrown out.

Breeders think they have no blame in overpopulation of small animals, but I put the blame on them and pet stores as much as I do the buyers who support the "habit" of treating animals as commodities instead of living beings. They polish up the "show quality" animals and then pretend to be shocked that people let their kids trade piggies because they aren't the right color or hair texture.

Though I guess humans have a long history of discriminating on the basis of color and hair texture.
It's a shame, I wish there was more to do for all the piggies out there with no homes or homes that don't know the first thing about caring for guinea pigs. x(
 

Wildcavy

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It's a shame, I wish there was more to do for all the piggies out there with no homes or homes that don't know the first thing about caring for guinea pigs. x(

Don't give up -- as frustrated as I have been for the past few weeks, more so than usual about this, we win by going little by little without giving up the race. Educating even one person will have a multiplier effect. I've only been on this forum for less than a year, and yet I've passed on a lot of what I've learned, and it has had a good impact. Imagine that times all of the people on right now and in the past! And choosing to adopt instead of buy!
 

cottoncandy946

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Don't give up -- as frustrated as I have been for the past few weeks, more so than usual about this, we win by going little by little without giving up the race. Educating even one person will have a multiplier effect. I've only been on this forum for less than a year, and yet I've passed on a lot of what I've learned, and it has had a good impact. Imagine that times all of the people on right now and in the past! And choosing to adopt instead of buy!
I agree 100% I've only been on the forum for about a week now and I've already learned even more about guinea pigs. I will continue to educate people and hope that they make the right choices. Thanks for the encouraging post. :cheerful: The people on this forum remind me everyday that their are people who are actually taking care of their pets and loving them with tons of TLC. :))
 

LifeAsItMayBe

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Our local shelter doesn't know anything. When I got Zelda she was on newspaper bedding with no hay, and though there was another pig in the ad online (who must have been mis-sexed, since now there are babies), Zelda was alone when I got there. Her fur was coarse from her poor diet and stained with ink from the bedding.

However... at least they do take in pigs.
 

mufasa

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The shelter where I adopted Borat was definitely not cavy savvy. He was apparently brought in with another piggy who was adopted out literally minutes before we got there...I was bummed because I wanted to adopt both. He was in a small cage on wood shavings (not sure what type) with food with all those bad-for-piggies bits in it, and I don't know if he was getting veggies or hay. His nails desperately needed clipping, and worse of all, he was mis-sexed. The screening process was basically filling out a form and giving it back to them with the $10 adoption fee. Then, when they listed him as a recent adoption on their Facebook page, they said he was a rat!

But for all that, I'm still glad that shelter takes in piggies. It's very much focused on dogs and cats, but it also accepts rabbits, piggies, and birds. They might not get the best care before they go to their new home, but at least they're somewhere safe, getting fed, and have a chance at a good new life. I hope Bo's companion is with someone who cares about him/her as much as we loved our Bo. If the shelter was closer, I'd volunteer with the small animals there, but alas, it's over an hour away.
 
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