Proof that pet stores aren't always right!

[*LovesGinny*]

Hello Cavy Slaves!

Ok, I was just at my local pet store looking for bedding and checking out the piggers, too see if there was one there that would fit with Harry, which we bought a week and a half ago from the same store. (I know, should of adopted, yada yada yada). Well, there were 2 guinea pigs there. One was small, black and white, looked pretty nice. The other, was a huge white one. This was weird as the pigs were the same age.

My dad said "why don't you get the fat one?" and I said "Dad, from what I've learned just on the internet alone, I know that it's pregnant." and sure enough when I asked to see the black and white one, i sexed it and it was defintely a male. I told one of the workers of my dicovery and pointed out the fat female. The worker took the female and showed her superviser. They hadn't even noticed that over the past week she had nearly doubled in size! This kind of made me mad, but now i'm glad i got Harry when i did, or else it would be her in that cage, ready to pop.

The reason why I can't adopt of get a piggy from a shelter is because My local SPCA does not have any small animals, just cats and dogs. The closest SPCA that does have guinea pigs is 2 hours away, and my parents do not want to drive me and spend $40 on gas when they can go to a store down the street.

I just wanted to share my story about the whole pet store thing.
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[roosterboy]

I've heard the very same scenario on this board, from a half dozen concerned, piggy loving citizens talking about their very own piggies at home having magical babies. So I wouldn't get any more excited about the store. The people working there probably like animals just as much as we do. It looks like they've made the same mistake as some of us who are supposed to be in the know. They do provide a service, by saving your folks time and gas, which is good for the environment. Adopt when you can, is all.

Get the "fat one" and you won't need to get any more piggies. But separate the boys and girls after the birth.

 

[CavySpirit]

They do provide a service, by saving your folks time and gas, which is good for the environment.

That's a new one on me.

It looks like they've made the same mistake as some of us who are supposed to be in the know.

If you are going to take the position that pet stores selling animals is okay, please make more of an effort to put forth a real case.

Adopt when you can, is all.

No, make every effort to adopt first.

Where there are pet stores, there are homeless pigs or pigs in need of new homes. Period. One just has to make more of an effort to find them sometimes.

 

[rabbitsncavyluv]

What service is that? Selling pet mill piggies and adding to pet overpopulation and abandonment? Oh yes, they're great because they make it easy to buy animals. You can just walk in and out after being given incorrectly sexed piggies and bad care info.

I've heard the very same scenario on this board, from a half dozen concerned, piggy loving citizens talking about their very own piggies at home having magical babies. So I wouldn't get any more excited about the store. The people working there probably like animals just as much as we do. It looks like they've made the same mistake as some of us who are supposed to be in the know. They do provide a service, by saving your folks time and gas, which is good for the environment. Adopt when you can, is all.

Get the "fat one" and you won't need to get any more piggies. But separate the boys and girls after the birth.

 

[roosterboy]

Make every effort to adopt first. Where there are pet stores, there are homeless pigs or pigs in need of new homes. Period. One just has to make more of an effort to find them sometimes.

This is so correct. By saying "adopt when you can", I really meant "adopt." There are so many piggies out there already, one can always adopt. And it really doesn't take much effort either, just the tiniest bit of looking around.

 

[*LovesGinny*]

i've done that, i have looked high and low in my community and found nothing. My parents don't want to drive 2 hours just for a guinea pig. period. No persuasion (sp?) granted. unless i want Harry to be all alone when i'm at school, i have no other choice than that pet store.

 

[kavykritter]

um, i don't think that is true, you know you could adopt,if you wanted to and were willing to try, the shelters aren't the only way to go, you can ask the local schools if they have any pet pigs from "classroom pets" that had babies or they want to get rid of, and check your newspaper, in my area, there are always tons of ads for "free to a good home" and stuff, just open your eyes.

also, the pet mills, did you know that by buying that pig in the store you just killed one that needed a good home, because you bought from the pet store instead, probably at least a dozen that died of poor treatment, no vet care, sickness due to poor living conditions, or the shipping trauma. You also indirectly killed thousands upon thousands of pigs by supporting the industry. Alot of pet stores also day they get the pigs because they were unwanted or from the shelter or local breeder, and they are almost always lying. Check. That is why adoption is better.

also, this site is very focused on pet stores not being right, so it already has alot of stories and stuff about pet stores not being right, so that was pretty obvious.

 

[roosterboy]

Look on the net for pet classifieds. Try craigslist.org. I found all of my piggies there.

 

[CactusCavy]

There's also (broken link removed)... or one of CavySpirit's websites that help you find piggs...


~Cactus

 

[*LovesGinny*]

Frustrated

Craigslist.com doesn't have anything in my area, the newspapers have nothing and there are absolutely no adoptions in my immediate area, believe me, I've triple checked and always have my eyes open. It makes me mad because I want to get a friend for my guinea pig, yet I want to help stop the breeders and mills. AAARRRRRRGGGGGGHHH!

The reason for this is because I live in a smallish community, and we're in the middle of nowhere.

 

[ChadWPB]

Petfinder also has plenty of pigs a few keystrokes away. Just give 'em your ZIP and voila!

https://petfinder.com

 

[roosterboy]

How about in school? Nobody has any piggies?

 

[roosterboy]

craigslist.org

You don't have to find piggies on craigslist.

I placed my own ad on craigslist saying I was "looking to adopt guinea pigs as pets." People found ME!

Do the same thing on craigslist, the pound, pet stores, at school, and everywhere else.

 

[critterlover]

I apologize in advance for repeating myself so please forgive me. Have you phoned the Nelson SPCA and talked to them? It is possible that someone that works or volunteers there regularly comes to Cranbrook and might be able to bring a pig to you. Just a thought.

 

[Susan9608]

Let me share my pet store horror story with you -

Before I realized that there were guinea pig adoptions available in my area, my husband and I went to a large-chain pet store to look for a guinea pig. We already had one - Mr. Pig - and though he should have a "wife" (I put wife in quotations because Mr. Pig was fixed, making a true consummation of their 'marriage' impossible. )

Anyways, we found an adorable little long-haired, all black guinea pig, who was very sweet. We thought she would be perfect for Mr. Pig, so we purchased her, took her home, and named her Oink. Oink was extremely small, and the pet store told us that she was only about 4 months old. But despite the difference in their ages (Mr. Pig was quite an old gentleman at 4.5 years old), they two got along famously.

As much as she loved Mr. Pig, however, Oink was very shy with my husband and I at first. We let her settle in and didn't try to really handle her for about a week. One day, when I was holding her, I noticed that one side of her face looked larger than the other. I felt around, and felt a hard lump on the left side of her face. Alarmed, I called the pet store and got to speak to their small animal "expert." This gentleman assured me guinea pigs are quite prone to getting abscesses in their mouths, due to the sharp, pointed hay they eat.

I'm a nurse, and this sounded fairly reasonable to me, as I had virtually no prior guinea pig experience. I went to the internet and found many sites that mentioned abscessed around the mouths of guinea pigs, so I simply followed the pet store expert's advice, and applied warm compresses to the site several times a day.

After 4 days of this, there was no change in the lump on Oink's face. It had not changed in size or consistency (it was hard as a rock). It did not come to a head, and it didn't even seem to cause her pain, which seemed odd to me, as abscesses (at least in people) are usually pretty painful.

So off we went to the vet. My vet is truly a wonderful, wonderful man and is often voted as one of the top ten vets in my city. However, he is older and I think, semi-retiring, so he's not in the office every day. Thus, it took me a few days to be able to get Oink in to see him. Naturally, during that time period, my 14-day trial period for the pet store ended.

Anyways, my vet examined Oink and said maybe her teeth were maloccluded, and wanted to x-ray her. $400 later I had a diagnosis. Oink had cancer ... an extremely large tumor that had existed for such a long period of time, that most of her jaw bone on the left side had been lysed away.

I asked the vet how that could happen in only 4 months, and he told me that you can see Oink's growth plates in her x-rays, which clearly show that Oink was several years old - not 4 months like I was told. My vet suspected that Oink had had the tumor for a long period of time, but that it was small enough and that her fur was long enough that people didn't notice it at first. He also suspected that she had been sold and returned many times as a result of the tumor.

That made me sick. I took Oink and the vet bill up to the pet store I bought her from and spoke with their manager ... I told him that they committed fraud by selling me a guinea pig that old while telling me that it was a baby, and I said that a bunch of animal rights' organizations would be hearing from me about them, since it was incredibly cruel of them to have this guinea pig being bought and returned and never getting any treatment. Of course the manager hemmed and hawed about it, saying they had no way of knowing anything was wrong with the pig (so much for their "expert") and then they offered to pay my vet bill for me. But they wanted Oink back! I suspect they wanted to get her back to sell her again before she died.

I took the money for the vet bill but refused to turn Oink over to them. We made our own "guinea pig baby food" by pureeing veggies for her and fed her from a syringe for 3 weeks before she finally succumbed to her cancer. It was very sad for us and for Mr. Pig.

I do not patronize that pet store any more for anything - I think they ought to be put out of buiness.

 

[leeannm81]

That is soo horrible!! Have you called animal control or any other agencies and reported them?

 

[Susan9608]

Yes, I reported them to the Humane Society in my area, the Humane Society of the US, PETA, and the Better Business Bureau. All said that they would investigate the situation - I know PETA has an ongoing vendetta against this particular pet store chain, so hopefully they will eventually be forced to clean up their act.

 

[rabbitsncavyluv]

If you're talking about Petco, doubtful. People just need to stop shopping there. It's a horrible coroporation that masks itself as pro adoption.

 

[Susan9608]

Actually it was Petsmart. I have steered away from Petco for a long time because of PETA's stance on that company. However, I had heard very little negative feedback about Petsmart, so I thought I'd try it out. Never again, though.

 

[mncavylover]

Sounds like you've taken all the right steps. I'm so sorry.