Seriously! I see so many post about adopting animals and then when they find out they're sick they don't have the money to take them to the vet! Ummmm then why did you adopt them! We are not rich or anything but when our animals are sick we take them to the vet! Even if we have to do without! This just baffles me! Why did you get the animal if you already can't afford to care for it!
OMG I KNOW. I honestly have no idea how the members who have been here a while (mods especially) put up with post after post of someone who has a sick pig and is asking for help but then insists that they aren't able to take it to a vet. I've been a lurker on this site for about a year now, an official member for about 3 months, and it gets to a point sometimes where I just have to stay away from the forum for a little while because some of these posts make me so angry! It seems like there is a script for posts like this:
Poster: My pig is very sick, what can I do that won't involve expensive vet care?
Forum: Nothing. Your pig is sick and could die. Take it to the vet.
Poster: Yeah I dont' have money for that.
Forum: Not providing proper medical care for your animal could be considered cruelty and neglect. If you're not going to get it proper vet care, you should surrender your animal to a rescue who will.
Poster: Noooo I love my pets and you people are being so meeeeean!
I do genuinely feel bad for the kids and teens who rely on their parents for money who have to watch their pigs get sick and even die because their mom and/or dad put their foot down and said no to going to the vet because a guinea pig is "just a rodent." I just really wish people would do their research before adopting (or in many of these cases, buying) an animal.
We actually never had pets growing up, and my sister and I thought our parents were soooo mean for this. But now that I'm an adult and see how much work caring (properly) for animals can be, I COMPLETELY understand. Like most children, I'm not ashamed to admit that we were fickle and probably would've gotten bored with an animal like a guinea pig, and my mom would have been left doing all the work, which wouldn't have been fair for her. That being said, I think another part of the problem is how inexpensive guinea pigs are upfront. Though I can't say firsthand since I didn't get my pigs from a petstore, I imagine nothing is said about how much you'll end up spending for hay and fresh fruits and veggies, and I'm sure nothing is said about the potential for expensive vet bills. In fact, my boyfriend and I were also considering chinchillas, but we read that they can be very high maintenance and get sick and hurt easily, with guinea pigs we had heard the opposite. So we decided on guinea pigs, and now that I've been on this site for a while, it seems like the situation is the opposite. I mean, don't get me wrong, I wouldn't give up my wonderful piggies for a second, and we fortunately do have money for vet bills, but if I had read into it a bit more, we maybe would have thought twice about it.