Where did you get your Guinea Pigs from? Seriously without breeders nice healthy piggies would not be available. And cavy shows. I mean I would'nt know about the 13 different breeds and I probably wouldn't be a cavy enthuisiast if it weren't shows.
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At that point, responsible animal enthusiasts and guinea pig gurus would probably get together to *discuss* a responsible program to ensure the survival of the guinea pig ... and this progam would cover all aspects of guinea pig care, including a mandatory spay or neuter program for the adopted guinea pigs.
Susan9608 said:Oh please ... you pick one part of my statement - regarding the spaying of guinea pigs - and totally ignore everything else I said. Sorry, I really did not mean to offend... I thought most of your ideas where rather lovely, I should have indicated so I suppose, I just got sidetracked in my mind about the spaying issue... it won't happen again.
Good public education? Gimme a break. Education is a wonderful thing, but there are some people so stubborn and so convinced that everything is different for *them* that they will not follow what they KNOW is right. I know exactly what you mean about these people who seem almost hell bent on doing the wrong thing, convinced they have a good enough excuse for it. However.... Education WORKS. And the internet is a powerful tool. It may take years to effect change, however over time it can and is happening. I came to Cavy Spirit looking for advice on breeding, because I was thinking about getting a Guinea Pig. I was spending a lot of time in pet stores looking at them. But, with what I read in about 10 minutes on Cavy Spirit showed me just how wrong breeding was, and exactly why not to get my pig from a pet store. I drove almost an hour, (acutally my husband did because I cannot drive) and it took a lot of heated discussions with him to convince him to go that far to rescue our piggy. We spent at least twice as much on gas as we would have just to buy a pig at a pet store. This weekend I have arranged with my husband to go another hour out of our way in the other direction to find a friend for our Bootie. I have a friend who got piggies from the pet store, she had no idea they where even available at rescues or shelters. She thought that was just for cats and dogs. Yes, we will always have butt heads who don't care, and no matter how many times they are told, they will come up with their own reasons, and rationalise their actions, and support the stores, but a good many people will listen. History has proven this with many other causes.
For instance, read through all the posts on this forum about people who KNOW it's bad and wrong to buy guinea pigs from pet stores but do it anyway. These people have been educated time and time again on the problems with purchasing guinea pigs from pet stores; they will even state that they know it's wrong. But they do it anyway. For whatever reason, they tell themselves that it's okay that they did it this one time.
So is the case with people who want to breed their guinea pigs. They think it's okay because they are the only people who will truly be responsible. Their children *need* to see the miracle of birth. They think it will be fun to have "just one" litter of guinea pig babies, then they'll quit mating their pigs.
You can't totally rely on education and count on the individual to take it to heart. There have to be checks and balances in the system to prevent that one person from thinking that it's okay for him to do it, but not anyone else. Therefore, some kind of spaying/neutering program is necessary ... whether that's simply neutering every male guinea pig in existence or both spaying the females and neutering the males, to ensure that no one slips through the cracks. Again though, and I am admittely not very educated on the whole spay / neuter process for piggies, but what is the mortality rate for spaying females? I know it can be risky even for cats and dogs depending on the vet and vet experiance. I have had 2 friends that lost cats that way. However, my cat is spayed. I had a cat several years ago that bonded to my sister in the end, so when she moved away I let her take the cat, and we had the cat declawed and spayed. We where first time cat owners, and the vet told us the procedure was fine. Afterwards, I found out more information about it and decided never to declaw again, no matter what. My next cat was only spayed. I suppose with cat populations it is looked at in that if you loose 1 cat out of every X amount, it is worth it to stop overpopulation, however what is this rate for G.P's? I have a feeling it is pretty high... But I could be wrong.
As for putting breeding operations in the hands of those that truely care for the breed, would it not be sad if it was the breeders we are fighting right now? We have a hard enough time in our world keeping kids safe and out of harms way, I don't see any legislative body spending any kind of significant resources to check out the breeders qualifications. Infact, the whole show industry to the untrained eye would probably look like the perfect governing body for this...
I don't want to fight. That was not my intention. I just wondered about the spaying mortality rates, and if it really is in the best interests of the pigs, considering most people are responsible with education and WOULD NOT breed them. Perhaps you disagree, that is your entitlement.
And, as Acess said, we will never be in danger of driving the breed to extinction anyways ... what is needed is control - population control.