Getting Along The Anti-Pet Store Generalization

[crazywiggy]

I know its a long shot but at the top of all these big companies are people just like us (okay, not quite like us but hey...).

Maybe you could take the job, work hard etc. Tow the line officially so the boss likes you (while quitely educating people as best you can). Maybe you could eventually end up managing the store and have more say over what happens there?

Even if you don't, the people who make the decisions are more likely to listen to someone they know and respect who makes helpful suggestions than a bunch of strangers who criticise. Sometimes being on the inside is the only way to make a difference. Gain their trust and respect, approach subjects carefully and they might just listen.

Good luck whatever you decide though...

 

[aloren]

I'm new to the G-pig movment, but I've always wanted one since I was a little boy growing up in a smal house in some dustball city.. anyway. I read through a couple of posts in this thread and its kinda alarming to believe that you would seem to discriminate against petstore pets because they are more well off than the homeless rescue center abandoned 1's. That my frens is wrong.

Sounds ur jus lookin for a freebie to me.

Freebie? Last I checked, rescues charge an adoption fee for their animals. In my case, my newest pig is from a rescue, and I paid a little more for him than I would have from a petstore.
Although you do save money in the long run when you adopt from a rescue. Less of a chance of an emergency vet visit a couple of days after getting the pig because of illness. Pigs you acquire from rescues usually are vet checked and are certainly in better shape than any neglected pig you get from a pet store is.

 

[Cavy Cuckoo]

I'm new to the G-pig movment, but I've always wanted one since I was a little boy growing up in a smal house in some dustball city.. anyway. I read through a couple of posts in this thread and its kinda alarming to believe that you would seem to discriminate against petstore pets because they are more well off than the homeless rescue center abandoned 1's. That my frens is wrong.

Sounds ur jus lookin for a freebie to me.

First of all, I could barely read that paragraph. Anyway...

I definately wouldn't consider them better off than the ones in homeless shelters. Animals in pet stores are sick, pregnant, stuffed in tiny cages, being trampled on and constantly mounted, etc. In shelters, the majority of the owners are actually knowledgable about the animals that they are housing.

 

[OliversMomma]

hi all,

I'm new to this forum, but I'm a college student, and firmly believe in understanding your pets needs, so I've done my research, and I think I'm as reasonably informed as I can be. If only by reading everything I can get my hands on about cavies and any other pet I plan on taking on.

I am in no means saying that guinea pigs should not be rescued. In fact, I think adopting a pet that has been removed from its original home is a very kind and noble thing to do. I am not looking to be attacked, or start a fight by saying this... but shouldn't we simply support giving the proper homes to our pets? I feel like being a proponent of education and excellent care and housing is more important than arguments about where our pets come from. I am reading through these posts, and I feel very strong opinions and feelings (which are for the most part, entirely well founded), but, it seems to me that the point being made is slightly out of focus. I know that I'm here to figure out how to give the best home possible to my pig and future pigs. I've had 3 guinea pigs in my life time, all from pet stores (Please read past this, and don't shoot me down out of hand). The first had no health problems and lived a long life, the second had lice, which i worked hard to get rid of and she lived for over 6 years, the third, my current guinea pig was given to me as a gift, and came in with a URI, which I took care of with vet care and antibiotics. To me, as long as you're willing to take the steps to make sure your animal has a long and healthy life, why does it matter where it comes from?

Again, I am not trying to put down rescues IN ANY WAY. I just wonder why those pigs are more worthy of love and attention, or why they seem to be more capable of giving love. I get that unwanted pets need homes, that is absolutely true, but pet store pigs need love too, probably more love, because they're not in a rescue that will take care of them as they need to be taken care of. I feel like, if you go to a pet store expecting health problems, and planning on vet visits, why not take on an animal that needs a home?

Please don't hate me for buying from a pet store, it wasn't my choice. I'd really just like to calmly point out another view on the matter, so I'd like this post to be taken as such.

Thank you

 

[OliversMomma]

I'm absolutely willing to change my opinion if calm and rational reasoning is offered to me.

 

[crazywiggy]

OliversMomma

Please read all the threads about why this site is pro-rescue and anti-pet store and you will understand. But I will clarify the main points here...

To me, as long as you're willing to take the steps to make sure your animal has a long and healthy life, why does it matter where it comes from?

1) Most pet stores buy their stock from back yard breeders who cram lots of piggies into tiny filthy cages, and breed them back to back until they die. The pet store buys these poor baby piggies cheap so they can sell them to the public and make a profit. In the meantime most pet stores do not look after them properly - they mis-sex them, house them in tiny, badly ventilated cages, house them with rabbits, etc. So many pet store pigs are ill or injured or pregnant.
When you buy a pet store pig you are effectively telling the store "what you are doing is fine. Better than fine - I will actually PAY you to mistreat animals." You are encouraging cruelty and neglect.

2) There are lots of piggies in rescue all round the world - there is a big problem of overpopulation, i.e. more piggies than homes. Every time someone breeds their piggy they take away homes from other piggies. For every 1 baby piggy that is bred, another has to be turned away or put to sleep in a rescue. By buying a pet store pig you actively encourage breeding, and indirectly contribute to the death of other piggies elsewhere.

No one is saying that pet store piggies are less worthy of loving homes, but people here try to see the bigger picture. Pet stores want to make money, the work according to "supply and demand". We want to stop pet shops selling animals because it would stop back yard breeders, neglect, cruelty and overpopulation. The ONLY way to stop pet shops selling piggies is for people to stop buying them. If piggies didn't sell, the pet shop would stop stocking them, the breeder wouldn't be able to sell so would stop breeding and lots of piggies lives would be saved.

I hope that explains why we feel so strongly about rescue and pet shops.

No one here should attack you for having pet store piggies now or in the past- most of us did until we knew better. We just hope you educate yourself to the whole situation and make a better choice next time.

 

[seagirl96]

Nice summary, crazywiggy!

Once you have seen pictures and heard the stories of where so many pet store pigs come from, once you have had them die after great expense, once you have have watched a four month old baby give birth to more babies, once you have seen the truly awful way so many pet stores treat small animals, you will understand why most of us are anti petstore pets.

Everyone here has been perfectly kind to those who bought pet store piggies because they didn't know there were alternatives. The people here that get ripped to shreds are the ones who insist on breeding when they know there's a over-population problem. I suspect you would frown at any cat or dog owner who let their pets breed indiscriminately instead of neutering because the over-population problem with cats and dogs is more widely understood and publicized. But the same problem exists with guinea pigs. We don't want to see these little cuties, abandoned, dumped in the woods, thrown alive into dumpsters and all the other horrible things that happen every day. Pet stores are also guilty of supplying lots and lots of misinformation, bad food, dangerous toys and bad cages.

I got my first piggy education from the "expert" books that Petsmart sold me and the same kind of pet store books in my library. They advised feeding the pretty food with seeds, etc and supplying hay or vegetables as a treat. They showed small cages and didn't mention anything about clipping nails or how to interact with your pets or how to tell males from females. I thought I was reasonably well informed because I had read everything I could find about my piggies. My poor piggers spent three years in the largest rabbit cage I could find. I fed them "the best" pet store pellets.

So I hope you have read lots of the health and nutrition threads here and lots of guinealynx and cavyspirit so you can be a whole lot more well informed than I was. Please tell us all about your piggers because once they are yours, they're yours and we only want you to love them and spoil them in ways that keep them healthy and happy. Oh, and PLEASE don't put males & females together to make more!

 

[OliversMomma]

Thanks for the response, what you're saying does make sense. Next time, it'll be a rescue pig for me.

 

[crazywiggy]

Thank you OliversMomma - you just made my day! Well done for making a great choice. lol

 

[mommyoffive]

I got my first piggy education from the "expert" books that Petsmart sold me and the same kind of pet store books in my library. They advised feeding the pretty food with seeds, etc and supplying hay or vegetables as a treat. They showed small cages and didn't mention anything about clipping nails or how to interact with your pets or how to tell males from females. I thought I was reasonably well informed because I had read everything I could find about my piggies. My poor piggers spent three years in the largest rabbit cage I could find. I fed them "the best" pet store pellets.

Thats were I got mine from too. Even though I was working at petsmart, I was a cashier at the tim and I knew nothing about guinea pigs. The girl (who no longer works at my store) told me that they have to have Viatamin C drops in their water or they could die! yay whatever! she also told me that seeds were fine for them and I should get the honey nut bars for them because they loved them. Yes, Lucy did love them. but she choked on them as well...never again! I'm glad that when a guinea pig customer comes in, I can give them the right info, especially about pet store cages being way to small. Its rare that you can find a petsmart worker who knows the RIGHT stuff about guinea pigs, thank goodness for me that I have found this site and its wonderful and RIGHT info!

 

[rabbitsncavyluv]

Not all guinea pigs are lucky enough to end up in a reputable rescue as they do not have endless space to take in every pig that comes their way or needs rescue. Maybe because people are buying from pet stores or breeding?

Many still end up euthanized in shelters, dumped in a park or used as snake food.

 

[Jenah]

Thanks for the response, what you're saying does make sense. Next time, it'll be a rescue pig for me.

Ironically in some of my first/early posts around this forum I was also struggling to understand why pet store piggies were being left out of the desire to give piggies good loving homes. Why only rescue/shelter piggies...I was asking myself.

And after a lot of reading and deeper digging, I too can see the bigger picture. That even as my heart will break for those darlings staring out from their glass cages - I cannot financially support the breeding mills or the big corporations. Even if some of those corporations do have good employees that do their best to provide good care in very limited surroundings to the piggies.

Heck it's even gotten so that I cannot even look a Petco or Petsmart. I go to a Pet supply store that doesn't sell live animals or shop online for all of my needs now. And it's all been through further research to find out just where I sit on that narrow fence.

It was a good question to raise - and welcome to the forum!

 

[OliversMomma]

Ironically in some of my first/early posts around this forum I was also struggling to understand why pet store piggies were being left out of the desire to give piggies good loving homes. Why only rescue/shelter piggies...I was asking myself.

And after a lot of reading and deeper digging, I too can see the bigger picture. That even as my heart will break for those darlings staring out from their glass cages - I cannot financially support the breeding mills or the big corporations. Even if some of those corporations do have good employees that do their best to provide good care in very limited surroundings to the piggies.

Heck it's even gotten so that I cannot even look a Petco or Petsmart. I go to a Pet supply store that doesn't sell live animals or shop online for all of my needs now. And it's all been through further research to find out just where I sit on that narrow fence.

It was a good question to raise - and welcome to the forum!

Thank you!

 

[PiggieMamaKelly]

Also Oliver's Momma, you were lucky to be able to heal your petstore piggies. My petstore pig died soon after I got her from a URI. Even if I cared nothing about animal welfare- I'd never put myself through the heartache of a petstore pig again! So nice to hear you'll be considering rescue the next time around. I know many people buy from petstores because they want a baby, but there are babies in shelters too. I have the most adorable teddy boy with curly wiskers and grumpy face that I brought home from the shelter at only three weeks old!

 

[seagirl96]

True, you can get babies from rescues as rescues often take in pregnant sows. The rescues then house & feed the mamas until they deliver then do the same for the babies until they are old enough to go.

I was planning to adopt a little piggy baby named Sedona who was rescued from the most ugly situation in a barn in Pennsylvania. This was a back yard breeder who left over 100 pigs with no water, no food, etc, in a barn that was so awful I can't describe it. It turned out that Sedona was pregnant so my Rescue wouldn't release her, then she developed an infection in her jaw so now she's permanent at the Rescue.

It's a great idea if you can do a little bit to support your nearest rescue. They take donations of pellets, veggies, hay, old towels as well as money.

 

[d0rked]

True, you can get babies from rescues as rescues often take in pregnant sows. The rescues then house & feed the mamas until they deliver then do the same for the babies until they are old enough to go.

I was planning to adopt a little piggy baby named Sedona who was rescued from the most ugly situation in a barn in Pennsylvania. This was a back yard breeder who left over 100 pigs with no water, no food, etc, in a barn that was so awful I can't describe it. It turned out that Sedona was pregnant so my Rescue wouldn't release her, then she developed an infection in her jaw so now she's permanent at the Rescue.

It's a great idea if you can do a little bit to support your nearest rescue. They take donations of pellets, veggies, hay, old towels as well as money.

You must be talking about Cindy at the Critter Connection. I got my Tutter from her!

(And about the job thing, I didn't try for it. I just got a job at Chili's, even though I really would have preferred telling everyone how to PROPERLY care for their animals. There is a Petco moving in near me, however, so I may drop the Chili's job if they accept my application there.)

 

[rabbitsncavyluv]

Working at Petco is just enabling them. I wouldn't take a dime from them.

 

[d0rked]

This is true. I'm still very split on this idea. I'd really love for there to be a way for me to work for them, while not actually working for them. In other words, I wouldn't mind getting fired over an incident involving me encouraging adoption over impulse buying.

Another thing, you know how Petco has now started giving out leaflets with information about "How to care for your ____" and they do have one on guinea pigs that is completely wrong? Has anyone ever considered altering these? I haven't found any yet, but when I do, I plan on stealing one, taking it home, changing it on my computer, printing out many many more, and going back to replace the sheets they provide with my sheets. Just an idea. I'm wondering how quickly Petco employees would notice. It would probably take them forever in the Petco I live near (not the one that is opening up soon).

I tried to tell them that one of their guinea pigs had mites, but they didn't want to hear it. I ended up with a guinea pig from them with mites, and they had to give me compensation for the vet bills and all. The day I went in to get the check from them, I checked out the guinea pig cages, and in one there was a large white guinea pig that mine had been housed with with another guinea pig that replaced the one I had bought (this is before I knew about adoption). I had bought my guinea pig knowing that it was ill. It had visable mite infestation on its ear. The guinea pig in the cage with the large white one was in the same condition (obviously the white guy is carrying it), but when I told the manager about this, he didn't seem to care. He just told me that, next time I have a problem with an animal I bought there, I need to bring it back to them and not to my own vet.

Sorry this isn't very well explained. I'm not very literate tonight.

 

[seagirl96]

dOrked I was absolutely talking about Cindy at Critter Connection. I was there when you adopted Tutter! What a cutie boy he is too! I had brought Peanut the evil witch of Piggerland in to get her matched up with Toga. That didn't work in the long run but Toga stayed anyway.

I emailed Critter Connection last nigh to ask if the piggers were high & dry but haven't heard back yet. With all the rain we got, I was worried about them being in the basement.

 

[PiggieMamaKelly]

offtopic Dorked- I LOVE the name Tutter!! I guess I'm not the only life long fan of Bear in the Big Blue House.