I am so angry right now

"I don't want bad blood"
Foot on bad blood!

If they can't or won't take care of the poor thing then if you don't want to PigNap him then turn him into the Animal control in your area.
And tell them if they remove him you'll take him in a heart beat.

In fact tell this person that if he can't and won't take proper care of him, Or at the very least give him to you. You will turn him in.
I doubt if he cares that little about the poor thing that he'll even bat an eye at giving him to you.
With the threat of possible legal action against him!!!

Some would call that blackmail?
But I prefer to call it extortion I think it sounds so much better. :shhh:

I love the idea of taking him to visit Grandma once a week! This is such a hard situation, but stay brave! I went through something similar not too long ago where I had to make the hard choice between defending animals in danger or bad blood at work. At the time I thought my world was crashing down, but everything worked out well. Follow your convictions and things will be okay! I think you should most definitely mention the maggots, because it will bring home how much this little guy really isn't getting the care he needs. My advice is to be as humble as possible, it's very easy to get self righteous when you see someone neglecting an animal; but no one responds well to that. <3 I wish you good luck and great strength!

Henrysmommy said:

My advice is to be as humble as possible, it's very easy to get self righteous when you see someone neglecting an animal; but no one responds well to that.

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I COMPLETELY agree. For the plight of this piggie in DESPERATE need, I would be as kind, or as thoughtful as possible when discussing this situation with your father in law. It does NO GOOD to come across angry or self-righteous.

However, after trying to talk as well as LISTEN, to his side of things, if he refuses to do what is necessary to take proper care of this piggie, then I would most definitely at that point, to get firm, and tell him that he has two choices.

1. He can give the piggie over to you, to take care of.

2. Tell him that he has left you NO CHOICE, but in good conscience you must report him to the proper authorities.

If that is what ends up happening, then accept that there may indeed, be "bad blood" between you, but so be it. Know though, that THIS WAS HIS CHOICE. He was the one who created the situation, that caused the "bad blood" between you.

You need to search your heart, and do what "you feel is the right thing to do" only then will you have peace, and if I may say so myself, your actions show a mature young woman, whom has character and resolve. Good luck sweetie ! I know this must be so HARD !!:weepy:

Okay, here's what has happened so far.

Ryan called his dad and told him what I found & that I immediately cleaned the cage out and gave him a bath. He said his dad sounded genuinely upset and sad that young man had to be in that mess. He changed it two days before he left so he was on his 4th day of being on aspen bedding in a 12x24 (guessing) storebought cage.

Ryan is going to ask if he wants to let us take him since they also have the 2 dogs to keep granny company. We know he will be sad to see him go, because it really is more like his dads Guinea pig (was Ryan's but his dad kinda stole him).

The ultimatum here is that if we don't take him, were building him a bigger cage. Period.

As for the flies. Ryan said his grandma has always had issues with them in the house for whatever reason. I don't understand it because the house isn't dirty or anything? But they're targeting the piggie once they get in the house obviously. I think we may have scared his dad enough to really think about young man and what's best for him. Young man is 5 years old so I don't know how much time we have left for him anyway considering he doesn't have unlimited hay and eats the gp food that's got lots of crap in it. I also warned Ryan about young man not being able to grind his back teeth down enough and showed him pics from this forum....

I will keep you updated.

Sounds like you're making progress! Good for you, and for the piggy!

Good job! I'm glad your husband came around and talked to his dad. It sounds like things are going to be better for Young Man. Just keep at it. =)

Good news,
Young Man is happy and healthy. His dad took him to a cavy savy vet for a check up today and that spot on his butt WAS gland crusties as bpatters had suggested. He doesn't have mites or fungus either. THANK GOD!

As for the flies, they're putting up fly traps and trying to minimize it as much as possible. We're going to get together the supplies for the C&C cage and get it made before we move this weekend.

I feel like a weight has lifted off my shoulders. I am also very glad that his dad did all that he did today. I guess he really does love the little fluff ball.

YAHOOoooo ! That is great news ! Man...that is just too awesome, what a DIFFERENCE you made in this piggies life !

:cheerful: Thank you for the update! I'm so happy it's working out well for all of you and Little Man. Your an amazing advocate for Little Man!

I just want to share here, I came to a different country and "had to live with" the way things were done... until I was asked to take care of the dogs (in this case) while the farmer went away....

I didn't ask permission, I firmly nailed very sturdy wooden water holders in their kennels, and put full water buckets in the holders. I said nothing. Everytime I passed the kennels I checked the water holders, if they were even slightly lower than the rim I'd fill them. And say nothing.

About a month later, I saw a tap had been placed right at the kennels, I never filled another water bucket as they were always full.

As for Young Man, his shavings level must have been very low in the cage for 4 days worth of pee to be as bad as you said!!

I must say Hhbean you made me laugh so... I really enjoyed your posts! Pig welfare conspiracy!! I am so glad to have found this thread and how it's turning out. Well done!!

Oh, I'm so happy things are improving. You did something truly worth praise.

Excellent report and GREAT to HEAR.
Thank You SO MUCH for Pigs as well as us Pig Lover's EVERYWHERE!!!!!
Well Done!!!!

Edit: Nevermind! That's a really good report, I'm happy to hear it.

I can't imagine what that must have smelled like. Maybe you could nonchalantly embarrass his father into taking better care of the animal. Nobody likes being told their living place has a stank.
You did the right thing, though. You should offer to take him, and should he say no, suggest to place the animal in an adoption agency. Even shelter animals live better than this guinea pig has been living.

New question though.
Are they living up to their end of the bargain still, And taking proper care of the piggie?
I sure hope so.....

That's terrible!! I too have a pet store cage but I spot clean every day and she gets plenty of floor time. Maybe if you were to Print out some information on care that might help a bit and go over it with them. Please let us know how it goes!!

Good for you for looking out for him! He is very lucky to have you. Hope things keep going great for him! Right now, getting a C&C cage, she has the largest store bought cage I could find, the length of a coffee table, and she is a tiny baby, but I keep it spotless. Its cleaned out and washed every two days. Her food bowl gets washed daily too. And she gets plenty of lap and floor time and she is a runner. She likes to popcorn all over the place. LOL! Anyways, so glad things worked out well for everyone, especially Young Man.

I'm with you, I would just take him. Are the dogs taken care of? Geesh poor lil guy. Please keep me updated!