Pet Store Frustrations

[curbie]

Pet Store Frustrations

I found this site about 6 weeks ago. I had one female baby guinea pig for about a month when I discovered it. (Lucky for her!) Since then, I have studied everything on this site and made my Guinea girl a nice C&C cage, got her a girlfriend, and added lots of different fruits and veggies to their diets. I now feel a strong urge to spread the word! I went into a pet store today, just to check on their guinea pigs living conditions. I discovered a few cages of guinea pigs who looked full grown to me. I asked the store clerk if they were seperated by sex and she told me that it was too early to tell!8o I told her I could tell. She did not want my help! I then informed her that they start to breed at about 3 weeks. She didn't care! They also had vitamin supplements in their water. Sorry for rambling, I just needed to vent!

 

[cavielover1964]

Re: Pet store frustrations

I would go to the manager and voice your concern to him/her. Vitamin suppliments in their water is ok, since the store does not give them fresh veggies like we do so they need the suppliment in their water since they cannot produce it and need it.

 

[Briana D]

Re: Pet store frustrations

Vitamin supplement are NOT okay. Once they are mixed into the water they deteriorate so fast they are of no use. In addition to that they can make the water taste bad discouraging the pigs from drinking. Not to mention pigs only need to be supplemented with vitamin C not a mixture of vitamins which can cause more harm then good.

 

[cavielover1964]

Re: pet store frustrations

When I said vitamins I meant Vit C you buy the supplement at a pet store especially for guinea pigs. I know it deteriorates quickly and that is why you change their water once a day and give veggies along with that. A pet store is not going to bother to buy veggies for them and all they care about is selling them. As long as the owner is responsible to remember to give the guinea pig their veg they don't need to supplement.

 

[momma cavy3160]

Re: pet store frustrations

briana's right,
the vit c in the pet stores that are for piggies are not pure vit c, those are mulit vitamin drops and if you look at the pic of some of the bottles theres a rabbit and piggie together, rabbits and cavys needs for vitamins are different. a rabbit doesn't need vit c, and cavys don't need all those other vitamins listed on the bottle. so if you have one of those bottles, don't use it anymore and throw it away or get a refund if it isn't used.

you should not add anything to a piggies water, vit c is water soluble and diffuse into the water very quickly making it hard to tell if your piggie is getting the required 25 mg of vit c needed a day. remember between the water driping sometimes and piggies playing with their bottles, some of that 25 mg of vit c becomes lost.

if you'd like to supplement the vit c for your piggie, then you'll need to go to a health food store or a store like GNC and get the pure vit c in either liquid form or chewables (you can get the 100 mg chewables and split it into 4 pieces). make sure its sugar free.

remember, just because it says its safe for a piggie, dosen't always mean it is (the extra large running wheels, the excercise balls are disasters waiting to happen)

~momma cavy3160

 

[cavielover1964]

Re Pet store frustrations

Well thank you for the information on the Vitamins. I was under the impression that they needed them, I guess I was wrong! I give them lots of veggies and fruits so I guess that should be plenty vitamine C plus the pellets and the hay.

 

[momma cavy3160]

Re: Re Pet store frustrations

yeah,
the veggies should be giving them the right amount vit c. and if your not sure on the vit c intake, you can give them about three pieces each of a red bell pepper (it has lots of vit c in it, surpirsingly more than an orange does). i know how it feels when it comes to pet supplies that are made for that specific animal, then come to find out it's not safe to use.

when i think back on all the times i used those drops and fed those piggie honey sticks with all of those seeds on it to piggies i had when i was younger (and had no internet to help me out when i had a question, and had to rely on out-dated books and pet store workers whom half the time don't give the proper information) i feel so bad. but now that i have acess to lots of info from fellow piggie owners and well informed sites like guinea lynx and many others, i always do my research on the best care i can give for my piggies, and every day i see how happy and content they are, it makes me feel better little by little.