Ly&Pigs
Cavy Champion, Previous Forum Moderator
Cavy Slave
- Joined
- Dec 5, 2004
- Posts
- 20,516
- Joined
- Dec 5, 2004
- Messages
- 20,516
"I bought a pig at the petstore because there are none in shelters/rescues near me." or "I bought a pig at the petstore because there are no shelters/rescues near me."
These excuses don't cut it anymore for those who know about rescues/shelters and know why buying pigs in petstores is bad. I am also seeing it on the forum quite a lot lately so I wanted to write more about it.
Anywhere there are petstores, there will be homeless pigs. Maybe there are no shelters or rescues in your immediate area but look for shelters/rescues a little further out of your immediate area.
I live in small town, no shelters anywhere nearby and when I was looking for friends for my lone sow, I did buy one petstore pig in my ignorance, but yet I managed to adopt 6 more pigs over the years without going to a petstore to purchase them. If I could do it, I know you all can. Even if you have to drive an hour or two to adopt a pig. It's well worth it.
For those of you that are minors and rely on your parents and they don't know about adopting or rescues/shelters, explain to your parents why adopting is so much better than buying. Explain to them the reasons you should not buy petstore pigs.
Reasons not to buy a petstore pig:
Here are some tips on finding pigs without having to go to a petstore to purchase them.
If you can't find any pigs to adopt through all those resources, then I suggest you wait until you can find a pig through one of those resources. Patience is a virtue and if you wait, a pig will come along. There is absolutely no reason you cannot wait, even if you have a single pig who needs a friend as your cavy will be ok for a while while you find him/her a friend.
I also want to mention that if you come on this thread whining or with excuses, you may find your thread deleted as this is not what this thread is about. The excuses are old and we've already heard pretty much all of them.
These excuses don't cut it anymore for those who know about rescues/shelters and know why buying pigs in petstores is bad. I am also seeing it on the forum quite a lot lately so I wanted to write more about it.
Anywhere there are petstores, there will be homeless pigs. Maybe there are no shelters or rescues in your immediate area but look for shelters/rescues a little further out of your immediate area.
I live in small town, no shelters anywhere nearby and when I was looking for friends for my lone sow, I did buy one petstore pig in my ignorance, but yet I managed to adopt 6 more pigs over the years without going to a petstore to purchase them. If I could do it, I know you all can. Even if you have to drive an hour or two to adopt a pig. It's well worth it.
For those of you that are minors and rely on your parents and they don't know about adopting or rescues/shelters, explain to your parents why adopting is so much better than buying. Explain to them the reasons you should not buy petstore pigs.
Reasons not to buy a petstore pig:
- They most often come from piggie mills or backyard breeders where the standards of care are very poor in many cases, or in the case of small mom & pop type stores, they breed the pigs themselves usually with no knowledge of genetics or history.
- They are very often ill with URI's or other illnesses because of poor conditions.
- They can have mites or other parasites.
- If not sexed properly, sows end up pregnant.
- Many, (not all) but many, petstore employees don't have a clue about proper care. They try to sell you all types of junk that cavies do not need. Their job is to make sales for the store and that's what they do by sometimes pushing crappy treats and foods and other items that are dangerous such as wheels or balls.
Here are some tips on finding pigs without having to go to a petstore to purchase them.
- Look for shelters or rescues in your area even if they are a couple hours drive away
- Look on Pet adoption: Want a dog or cat? Adopt a pet on Petfinder.
- Look on craigslist classifieds: jobs, housing, personals, for sale, services, community, events, forums.
- Look in your local newspapers
- Check this forum adoptables section.
- Check the listings on our sister site at (broken link removed).
- Check www.guinealynx.info and (broken link removed) in their forums to see if there are pigs that need new homes.
- Ask the forum members for help in locating pigs, many of our members will be willing to help you find pigs.
If you can't find any pigs to adopt through all those resources, then I suggest you wait until you can find a pig through one of those resources. Patience is a virtue and if you wait, a pig will come along. There is absolutely no reason you cannot wait, even if you have a single pig who needs a friend as your cavy will be ok for a while while you find him/her a friend.
I also want to mention that if you come on this thread whining or with excuses, you may find your thread deleted as this is not what this thread is about. The excuses are old and we've already heard pretty much all of them.
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