Anyone else have NO guinea pigs in their area to adopt?

[Mortiaryfaerie]

Last month we were hunting around for morw Guinea pigs to bring into the family. We looked through pet finder, guinea pig finder, Craigslist, and the guinea lynx rescue list. The closest ones to us were 3 hours away. We've started looking again because we're hoping to bring a few new in next month. Slight improvement, now the closest one is only 2 hours and 45 minutes away. Anybody else have this problem?

 

[bpatters]

There are guinea pig "deserts" where there aren't any/many rescues, shelters, whatever. My suggestion is to use Petfinder to find the rescues closest to you, and contact them to tell them what you want. Rescues are almost always just a group of foster homes, and whoever does the bookkeeping has the address. But they might have a pig much closer to you than their address indicates. Also, they'll sometimes meet you halfway, or arrange for a piggie train (volunteers will drive the pig an hour or so in the right direction, then hand it off to the next person).

Also don't forget to check any city/county animal shelters in your general area. Look for other kinds of rescues (rabbits, ferrets, etc) -- people have been known to dump a different kind of animal than a shelter usually takes because they know anybody kind-hearted enough to run a shelter will take another kind of animal in.

Good luck with your search.

 

[Mortiaryfaerie]

We're currently on a 'wait list' for all four shelters within a reasonable distance for them to give us a call if they get in a girl or neutered boy. Eventually, when were closer to being ready to bring more in, well start calling around to further away rescues to see if theyre willing to meet half way/do a piggie train. It's just really weird looking at comments were people say they have multiple rescues close to them and its like 'wow am I in the twilight zone!?'

 

[Mortiaryfaerie]

Even pet stores around here don't have many guinea pigs. Usually if they have 3 at a time its a shock. Which is good because less breeding being done but its just so weird

 

[Mortiaryfaerie]

I just did pretty much the opposite move. I was in new Jersey and it was really easy to find rescues. Now that I moved to Mississippi its like finding a needle in a hay stack.

 

[pinky]

It's highly unlikely you'll find a neutered male. Why not look around for an exotic vet that does neuters and include intact males (that you can have neutered) in your search? Contact the closest rescue to you and ask if they'll meet you part way to get a guinea pig or if they know someone who does transports. Don't limit yourself to just guinea pig rescues. Shelters, animal control and other breed rescues also take in guinea pigs. I got one of my guinea pigs from a rabbit rescue.

 

[Mortiaryfaerie]

There's no vet around here that I would trust to put a guinea pig through surgery.

We've been looking at all shelters and everything. We thought we hit the jackpot a little bit ago because there was a bonded pair of females listed at the shelter were going to be by today, and when we called them to ask if theyd be able to keep them there until we made sure it was safe to bring them in and they said they had been adopted months ago and they forgot to take the listing down -_-

 

[CavyHouse]

What do you do for vet care for your piggies? I'd be worried about getting piggies if I didn't have one around that I'd trust enough to do a neuter.

 

[Mortiaryfaerie]

What do you do for vet care for your piggies? I'd be worried about getting piggies if I didn't have one around that I'd trust enough to do a neuter.

As if right now, were not totally sure on that.

 

[pinky]

I wouldn't bring any more into your home if you don't have access to a vet that can treat them in an emergency.

 

[Mortiaryfaerie]

I wouldn't bring any more into your home if you don't have access to a vet that can treat them in an emergency.

Right now there's no viable options for vet care because there's no local vets - the local vet who declared himself as a cavy king and had rave reviews possibly caused one of my guinea pigs to die, the only other two I'm being told not to go to because they're bad despite being on the guinea lynx vet list.

 

[pinky]

Right now there's no viable options for vet care because there's no local vets - the local vet who declared himself as a cavy king and had rave reviews possibly caused one of my guinea pigs to die, the only other two I'm being told not to go to because they're bad despite being on the guinea lynx vet list.

What will you do if any of them gets sick or needs surgery? What did the vet do that caused the death of your guinea pig?

 

[Mortiaryfaerie]

So its not like any guinea pig thatll be coming through a shelter or rescue here would be receiving any different medical care because the rescues have access to the same exact vets as us. Atleast I have some experience working as an exotic veterinary nurse, so I know how to identify things in a small animal, how to dose them, etc whereas most shelters around here quite literally don't even know if something is s guinea pig or hamster

 

[Mortiaryfaerie]

If there was a need for surgery I'd have to schedule it and wouldn't be getting them in immediately anyway, so in that wait time I could travel the 4 hours to the nearest useful vet

 

[Mortiaryfaerie]

And what I meant by theres no vet I would trust to put a guinea pig through surgery I meant it as I wouldn't trust any vet for that. Unless there's a need that would cause the pig to die otherwise I wouldn't have it put through surgery

 

[pinky]

And what I meant by theres no vet I would trust to put a guinea pig through surgery I meant it as I wouldn't trust any vet for that. Unless there's a need that would cause the pig to die otherwise I wouldn't have it put through surgery

How about a URI or UTI? Is there someone you trust to treat them? I've found that they get sick when you least expect it so it's good to know where to take them.

 

[Mortiaryfaerie]

Generally I can treat those things myself in a pinch because of my experience in the field. I'm still working with people over on guinea lynx to figure out what's up with the veterinary situation because I obviously would rather take them to someone with full tools and access to more antibiotics and such. I'm just getting very VERY mixed/conflicting answers, which is what I meant when I said I don't know at the moment

 

[pinky]

Generally I can treat those things myself in a pinch because of my experience in the field. I'm still working with people over on guinea lynx to figure out what's up with the veterinary situation because I obviously would rather take them to someone with full tools and access to more antibiotics and such. I'm just getting very VERY mixed/conflicting answers, which is what I meant when I said I don't know at the moment

I didn't realize you had veterinary experience. Are you a vet tech? I think those of us who have access to vets nearby probably take it for granted.

 

[Mortiaryfaerie]

I didn't realize you had veterinary experience. Are you a vet tech? I think those of us who have access to vets nearby probably take it for granted.

We called it vet registered nursing, but I'm pretty sure its the same thing. I stopped working in it a short while ago because the animal death was taking a toll on my mentak health, especially because with the area I was living in there was alot of really disgusting people doing disgusting things to animals.
And I totally agree. When I first started looking for a vet for them I was totally shocked. Where I used to live there was 3 exotics vets within 15 minutes of my house, and I didn't even consider it was different elsewhere

 

[pinky]

We called it vet registered nursing, but I'm pretty sure its the same thing. I stopped working in it a short while ago because the animal death was taking a toll on my mentak health, especially because with the area I was living in there was alot of really disgusting people doing disgusting things to animals.
And I totally agree. When I first started looking for a vet for them I was totally shocked. Where I used to live there was 3 exotics vets within 15 minutes of my house, and I didn't even consider it was different elsewhere

It sounds like your guinea pigs are in good hands with you. Have you checked at any universities near you to see if they have a veterinary program? Sometimes they have reduced vet services by students who are supervised by instructors. I've heard of people getting great care for their pets from university vets.