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2 Cute Girlies

sfrangu

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Hi piggies parents!
I am writing here asking for some kind of help. We have 5 GPs, all girls, all cuter than anything imagined - but aren't they all the cutest little things? Unfortunately, in the past year our schedule became hectic. Busier than ever and we can barely find time for our girlies. They are well taken care of, fed and groomed but we have no more time for their usual floor or laptime. When we get home, after homework and stuff, we usually crash on a couch/bed really early compared with the past year or few years ago.
We would like to try rehoming at least the youngest 2 of them. Believe me, it took a long time for us thinking of the best solution for them... and unfortunately for us but maybe not for them, this is the only one.
Cuddles and Ginger are rescues, we got them from somebody moving out of state (if I remember well) and they might be around 3.3 years old, meaning 3 years and 3 months. When we got them they were babies. We feed them veggies twice a day, besides hay and pellets. Since last summer, when our schedule changed drastically, we are afraid Ginger is taking charge of their cage because we saw a couple of times how she didn't let Cuddles at her own veggies bowl. We would like to have them together still, because they were together since the beginning. Maybe with more attention to them, everything will get back to normal.
Here they are in this pic. I don't have others on my tablet now but I will post more if needed. We're located in the Inland Empire. They will come with their C&C cage and accessories. No fee required.


For their sake, we should rehome the other 3 too, but I don't think I could let them go! I'm already fighting my tears for the little ones!!


Thank you for any response.

Contact me first through private messaging or posting here. We'll go from there.
 

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Comely Guineas

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I don't think you should have to give them away just because they are missing out on some floor and lap time. Those things aren't necessary for their survival. Those are just luxuries. I just don't want you to regret anything. But either way good luck I'm sure you will find someone.
 

sfrangu

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I know they're not vital but when I see photos and videos of others posted on the internet, and I remember how we used to be, and now they're isolated in the bonus room that's their room, but in cages since we are not home all day long and they might chew on cables and stuff... makes me so sad....

i just realized: my profile pic shows the 3 older girls. They have a separate cage with a loft, next to the other cage. Cuties!
 

Comely Guineas

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They are all so cute. They're together in the room, not really isolated. I think you are probably taking such good care of them you're not giving yourself enough credit. Remember your life is busy now, but there will probably come a time when it's not as busy and you wish you still had your babies. I'm just talking from experience as I regret giving away some of my pets. But of course it's your decision.
 

sfrangu

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Awww, that's so nice, thank you! The current jobs and schedules will be this way for us at least for the next 3 years, and next year my son will start college so it will be even busier. And those years will be maybe their senior years. I really feel sad for them. It took us all a long time to get to this decision, believe me!
 

sfrangu

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I was contacted from GP Finder by someone wanting to take them if I'll bring them to the new family about 40 miles away. It wouldn't be that long of a drive but I remember driving to get them when we rescued them. It never crossed my mind to ask the owner to bring them to me. Anyway, I told the person I'm willing to meet halfway. I also told them that I want to make sure they won't end as reptile food, so I'd like to see some pics of the place assigned for them, especially because the C&C cage is not small. They never got back to me. Guess my gut feeling was right, they wanted them as food for other animals and they found the sucker-me giving them away without a fee.
After this experience, I changed the ad and I'm requesting a small fee. People willing to get GPs as food would say it's too small of a fee anyway but why bother with the driving, the cage and all the stuff that goes with them, in the first place? Why not go to the pet store without a hassle? So hopefully this will deter future occurrences like this. :)
 

sfrangu

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I followed the advice of keeping them and caring for them as before even without the human interaction time as we had before. Well, it goes well because they're together but we really don't have the time we had before to soend playing with them. It breaks my heart to see them there... sometimes getting scared of us approaching them and hiding in their pigloo... They started to not recognize us....
Still up for adoption to somebody who has the time to also play with them.
 

ClemmyOddieIndy

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I totally understand being busy, and feeling guilty, but can't you just focus on the future and get through the busy times now? I'm a PhD student, I teach at 4 colleges full time (3 face-to-face with 40 miles between them), I attend classes full time, I live on a horse farm with 40 horses and I nanny for a 2 year old boy. Some weeks I feel buried in life, and like I'm an awful owner. My Clementine died at 7 years old a few weeks ago, and I just kept beating myself up thinking I missed something because I've been so busy. But, at the same time I know they have their basic necessities, and that there are weeks I can devote to them the time to play. I make time to clean their cage (it sucks sometimes i wake up in the middle of the night just to do it), but as long as I can give them a healthy environment and food I know I'm a million times better than a lot of owners. I worked at a pet store for 3 years until I quit a year ago (yeah, that was on top of all the other stuff... it was stressful), and I've seen so many horrible owners that I know I'm doing pretty good, even when I feel I'm not. Go stand in the guinea pig isle at PetSmart or PetCo and listen to the people talk. You'll feel like the best owner in the world. Good luck rehoming them if that ends up being your ultimate decision, but there are so many unloved and uncared for pigs out there that would love a home with someone like you.
 

sfrangu

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So you must get it then. I'm a PhD student too. Besides classes I am involved in 3 different research projects that are not all located in the same city, including over the summer. I also have a family who definitely needs my attention (my kids). My husband has 2 jobs because, as you know, grad students are really underpaid. So my kids help as they can and clean their cages, feed them and sometimes play with them but not as much as before we changed our schedules. The piggies are most of the time by themselves. We lost one of the older ones at the age of 4 and a few months. She had a chronic respiratory ailment alright, bu I'm afraid that we weren't paying enough attention to it getting worse.... I don't want something like this happening to any of the others too.
 

pigger123

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My first guinea pig had four babies a month after I adopted her. I had only ever planned on getting one more to be her friend, and now all of a sudden I had five. It wasn't realistic for me to keep all of them, especially the boy, so I made the decision to rehome everyone except for one baby girl to be a companion for her mother.

Now it's been over two years and I still worry and feel very guilty about "getting rid of" the other three piggies. I was extremely selective during the adoption process and tried my very best to get them into homes that would take care of them as well as I would. Because of that I know they're probably fine, but I still can't help but wonder if my precious baby piggies got sick and died or were abandoned or are sitting neglected in a tiny cage somewhere, and I would feel responsible if that happened. The first time I emailed the adopters to check up on them, I got vague responses. After that I never got responses again.

I'm probably just paranoid and cynical, but it definitely didn't make me feel happier for my piggies to know that a stranger was taking care of them.

I still have the mommy pig and her daughter, and I do sometimes go pretty long stretches without giving them attention beyond food, water, and a clean cage. Honestly I really don't feel like they enjoy human company, which is probably my fault for not socializing them enough, but they're perfectly happy with each other and a bit of playtime every now and then. If you can make time to give them all a checkover when you go to feed them, and a bit of attention whenever you can, I think you and they will be better off in the long run.
 

sfrangu

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As I said previously, my kids feed them and clean their cages. They don't know to spot changes until they're already serious. Hope for the best.

Regarding the new owners, we have the 2 younger ones from a family who moved out of state. We emailed them pics and some news for a while but then we haven't found any more time for that either. So don't think that the families that took your babies didn't take care of them, maybe they're just too busy. :)
 

sallyvh

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I, along with the other members who have posted, strongly encourage you to keep them.

I'm an undergraduate student who is double majoring, I also do a ton of volunteer work every week. My life can get can be extremely busy. Right now I'm working full time for the summer and am out of the house for 12 hours a day working/commuting. I'm exhausted when I get home and don't really spend much time holding or giving them floor time.

I love my 5 girls to bits though and I know that they are all fine without my constant interaction. I ways make sure their cages are clean, they have constant access to hay and fresh water plus they get veggies twice a day.

They aren't the most outgoing pigs with people but they get a proper diet, have spacious cages and get medical care when they need it.

Every other guinea pig owner I know or meet thinks that I'm crazy for the level of care I provide my pigs. I think it's pretty difficult to find a new owner willing to provide the level or care that we expect.

If you have good sized cages, are able to keep them clean and can provide their proper diet I would strongly considering keeping them.
 

sfrangu

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I know it's difficult to understand when one thinks s/he has the same schedule with someone else. We don't have even a close idea of what somebody else is going through. I'm concerned that we could lose any one of the remaining 4 piggies like we lost Kelly. I'm almost sure she could have not been saved because of her chronic disease for the past (almost) 2 years. I'm pretty sure there are lovely families/persons out there that could provide better care for Ginger and Cuddles by interacting with them and catching any possible illness from the incipient stages.
My kids play with them once a week, when they clean their cages. For a short time, of course. They feed them properly because we have their veggies fresh in the fridge all the time. Same for hay and pellets. But they cannot ever pinpoint a change that might become a serious health issue just because they don't have that expertise. And we, as adults, are not home long enough to do any of those things. There are other issues to take care of when I'm at home than to have physicals for the piggies, as bad as this might sound.
 

sfrangu

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Honestly, I posted here to get some help with adoption/rehoming. I think I'm adult enough to be able to decide for myself and my family what's going to be the best choice for us and for our pets. Thank you for all advice.
 

pigger123

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Have you posted on Craigslist? I know it can seem kind of sketchy, but a lot of good owners do actually check there for adoptable pets. I found a home for one baby through GuineaPigZone and the other two through Craigslist.
 

sfrangu

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Have you posted on Craigslist? I know it can seem kind of sketchy, but a lot of good owners do actually check there for adoptable pets. I found a home for one baby through GuineaPigZone and the other two through Craigslist.

Never thought about that. Thanks for the idea! I'll try that too.
 

sfrangu

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Here's a couple more pics of them. The one with wood shaving was taken right before we switched to fleece die to the lack of time to clean the cage with wood shaving. I must tell you, there's nothing compared with wood shaving, maybe the paper type of bedding. The fleece is not absorbent, needs constant cleaning that we can't provide anymore, plus the wood shaving smells so good.

Anyway, as an update, our schedules will change even more starting end of August. My teenage son, who's their main caregiver, will start a hectic schedule so nobody will be able to take care of them for at least 12 hours a day. We still need to figure some arrangements to feed them their veggies twice a day. Their adoption becomes really urgent now. Hope we'll find a good home for them.DSC_0203b.jpg DSC_0202.jpg DSC_0014.jpg
 
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