What happens to pet store piggies?

[shannie7]

Quick question! We just got a piggie, yes from the pet store, (I didn't realize that so many needed adopting until now). I have been researching on this site about care etc. We already love our piggie, and I have posted questions, with plenty of answers. My big question is.... If no one adopts the piggies in pet stores what happens to them??

I realize I should have adopted, but didn't know that much about it until I came to this site. I plan on getting him a cage mate, so I will be checking out adoption centers in our area, east Tennessee, eventually. I was just wondering about the little fellows in the pet store, they need someone to love them too. I checked out the site about pet stores, but there are still many piggies in stores around the country.

 

[VoodooJoint]

Shannie

Unfortunately unsold pigs in pet stores don’t usually meet a happy ending.

Some get sent back to the supplier and get used for breeding or are euthanised

Some are put on sale and if they get bought as a pet they are lucky. Often the one’s put on sale are used as snake food.

Some get dumped at shelters to take their chances with adoption.

Some sit their whole lives in the petshop. Usually their lives are short due to disease and improper care.

Their fate is usually sad but the fact is that you cannot rescue a GP by buying it from a pet shop. When you buy from a petshop you are a customer, not a rescuer. You may have managed to get one Pig out but really you have encouraged the store to get more in. Your kindness perpetuates the problem.

Petshops treat the animals they sell as "product". They are sold to any fool with the money to buy. Pet shops keep animal mills and BYBs in business. Unless you find the strength to resist buying animals from pet shops the cruelty will never stop.

 

[Ly&Pigs]

Also for every pig "bought" at a pet store, 2 or more will replace it. If we educate people and get them to adopt over buying then eventually there will not be such a high demand for pigs in pet stores and that will cut down on the amount of pigs that come from BYB's or piggie mills.

 

[Piglet]

I never get that... why would that pig be replaced by 2?

 

[Ly&Pigs]

To pet stores, the live animals are just "stock". So when one piece of stock sells, they get more and more stock to replace what they have sold.

 

[kat_0521]

Pet shops keep animal mills and BYBs in business.

What's a BYB?

 

[Marlania]

What's a BYB?

BYB=Backyard Breeder

 

[kat_0521]

Thanks Marlania!

 

[laura220]

But aren't the sick and unsold piggies put in a freezer to die?

 

[VoodooJoint]

Some pet stores do kill sick pigs by freezing. I haven't heard of them doing that for healthy unsold pigs. I'm sure someone does it though.

Believe me I understand it's hard to turn away from pet store animals. We all have to do our best to do just that and encourage others to do the same if we ever want the cruelties associated with pet shops to end. If we continue to buy from pet shops then the freezing alive, over crowding, horrible breeders and the mentality of disposable pets will continue.

 

[VoodooJoint]

Piglet. The idea of getting in 2 GPs to replace one sold is simple econonics and supply and demand.

Imagine you have a store. One item you carry you sell often. There is a demand for it. So next time you need to order you order twice as much to keep up with the demand and in the hopes of selling even more. If you sell out again you order even more the next time.

Another item you rarely if ever sell. It sits on the shelf getting dusty. When/if it eventually sells you are more likely to discontinue carrying it because you are losing money on it.

 

[Katie]

I have a friend that works at a Pet Supplies Plus near me. They sell their pigs for $24.99. She told me for every one pig they sell, they buy 5 more because they get them from the mill for only $2 ea.

 

[KatieJean]

If you really want to feel like you've saved a life, don't adopt from a petstore. go to animal control, because if they run out of room they have to euthanize them. i've adopted 2 from my animal control.

 

[Ly&Pigs]

For clarification purposes here, you don't "adopt" guinea pigs at pet stores. You buy them. The way you adopt pigs is to go to a shelter or a rescue. Pet stores are businesses and as I stated earlier, all the live animals carried in pet stores are merchandise. You buy merchandise, not adopt it.

 

[zakfoxmom]

I was just at a pet store by my house this afternoon and was horrified to see how the piggie there was living. It had the wire mesh on the bottom of the cage and his poor feet looked red and painful. To top it off he looked soooo sad! I felt so terrible for him that I could not take him home and give him a good life. Just thinking about it makes me want to cry.