Breeding Would you support breeding if...

[doganddisc]

I'm not making any statements for or against breeding- this question is meant to be neutral.

Would you support breeding if there were no homeless guinea pigs? Or do you think we shouldn't breed and own guinea pigs as pets at all?

 

[Gforcepiggies]

i think we should own them, but no. i would never support their breedings because its dangerous for the mother pig and they end up dying most times in the end. thats why i dont support breeding.

 

[guinnymom23]

Owning a pet comes with some serious investment - not just financially, but emotionally, I feel if you have enough love and care, to nurture and properly care for them, then yes you should be able to own guinea pigs, just like we have dogs and cats, guinea pigs are a wonderful pet to have in your home. Breeding is a tricky situation, but all animals/mammals have the urge/need to breed, it is a guarantee that the species will carry on and not become extinct. When there is already an over-population of one, there really isn't a need to purposefully breed. I am sure there are guinea pigs out in the "wild" who will continue to populate our world to make sure they will not face extinction. With that being said, who doesn't love a baby in many different species, right? As mentioned, very tricky but not needed at this day and age.

 

[Varcoda]

if there were no homeless piggies, i think i would support SOME form of breeding. i mean, where else would you get piggies, right? it would be best if the breeder knew very well what they were doing and having someone experienced is much safer than people who accidently get their pigs pregnant and have trouble with pregnancies or missexed piggies.

of course, the sad reality is that you will see some breeders do it only for the money and not care for the best interests of the pigs. those kind of breeders i will never support!

 

[Sagebrush Mom]

The question of breeding always opens a can of worms in any pet species. I worked at a shelter in college that averaged 700-900 admissions a month and less than 100 adoptions (dog and cats only), that's pretty brutal math. I have seen the neglect that random breeding and the closure of horse slaughter plants has had on the equine industry. In our area, we have seen literally hundreds of horses dumped out in various locations to fend for themselves - many of those die of starvation, illness or injuries. The high price of hay coupled with the lack of outlet for unwanted horses (no horse slaughter means $100 to 200 to euthanize and another $100 to $150 to haul off the body if you don't want to shoot them and haul them off yourself - grim picture but it's the truth) has led to numerous starvation cases. We don't seem to have a problem with guinea pig overpopulation in our area - I had to spend a lot of time looking (months) to find my two girls to adopt instead of buying pigs from a pet store. However, the local classifieds are full of ferrets, sugar gliders and hedgehogs that are no longer wanted.

In spite of this, I am not 100% opposed to breeding animals when there is a basis for genetic improvement - we have come a long way in reducing inherited disease in dogs with genetic testing and careful breeding. Horses can be bred for better perfomance, increased trainability and better health. In cattle, swine, sheep and goats we select for both health and perfomance traits that are important for food production and animal welfare. I do think that anyone who decides to breed any animal should be trying to improve the species; and not just for them to look pretty in a show - "halter" classes in horses and conformation classes in dog shows often promote type extremes that do not always promote healthy animals. That being said, there are no DNA tests in guinea pigs that will help you select animals with decreased risk of cystic ovaries, URI, or bladder stones. And, at this time, there seems to be more random breeding happening then there are homes available. If the tables should turn and there are good homes for all piggies, then I think an effort should be made to identify traits that could be selected for to improve overall health.

 

[Varcoda]

ohh genetic improvement- a very good point!

sadly though, again, most animals are bred for their appearances rather than health i'm more familiar with cats on this topic, how some breeds are more prone to certain illnesses or have shorter lifespans, yet people still continue to breed them.

which brings me to ask.. how many people wouldn't mind getting a specific breed of animal knowing that it has higher health risks/shorter life span just because of how it looks? not judging in any way! just really curious now

 

[bpatters]

how many people wouldn't mind getting a specific breed of animal knowing that it has higher health risks/shorter life span just because of how it looks?

I wouldn't, but a lot of guinea pig breeders produce satins because people like the really shiny coats, in spite of the fact that many of the pigs are in pain from ostedystrophy most of their lives.

 

[SqueakyPig]

I understand breeding dogs, and horses etc. improves genetics, but I still wouldn't breed guinea pigs if there was none homeless or no over-population, just the amount of stress, risks of complications in sows is no different in each scenario. I agree with @bpatters, whilst satins look pretty, they are in pain.

 

[mufasa]

Would you support breeding if there were no homeless guinea pigs? Or do you think we shouldn't breed and own guinea pigs as pets at all?

If there were no homeless guinea pigs, I believe that breeding should be very, very, very (did I say very?) limited because that would affect supply and demand. Guinea pigs would be expensive instead of being impulse pets and throwaways. People wouldn't just buy them because little Johnny is demanding one and they're so darned cute. Granted, paying a lot of money for an animal doesn't guarantee good care, but it makes people think longer and harder and tips the odds a little more into the animal's favor.

 

[doganddisc]

Why start this discussion again??? We have worn it out over the years and there is little new to be said. The overwhelming fact is that this is an anti-breeding forum and we should all respect that.....whether we agree or not.

I haven't seen any posts that address this particular question but perhaps you can point them out to me? Different people have different definitions of what is acceptable in breeding and I just wanted to know where we all are.

 

[Sagebrush Mom]

I fully agree, things being what they are, that guinea pigs should not be bred. I did, however, answer the hypothetical question because this is something I have thought a lot about over the years in regard to a number of species.

And, on the question of people purchasing purebred animals even if they know that breed has problems -they do it all the time. I feel very sorry for bulldogs, pugs, and other brachycephalic (short-nosed) breeds of dogs and cats because they cannot even breathe normally. I shouldn't have to do airway surgery on puppies under 6 months old just so their trachea doesn't partially collapse every time they inhale. The same goes for halter Quarter horses - an animal that weight 1200 - 1300 lbs should not wear 00 shoes (my 800 lb Arab wears size 1 shoes). No wonder so many halter horses do not make it into performance classes - many of them are crippled before they are 8 years old. Now, there has bee some improvement with halter Quarter horses with the increasing awareness of navicular disease, but they still have a lot of osteochondritis issues from growing so fast. Just as there is genetic improvement made with purebred animals, there are also genetic problems created.

 

[bpatters]

I haven't seen any posts that address this particular question but perhaps you can point them out to me? Different people have different definitions of what is acceptable in breeding and I just wanted to know where we all are.

Well, I think you know where most of us are. But there's a search function at the top of the page. If you use it, you can find every opinion on breeding known to mankind somewhere in there.

 

[CavySpirit]

Please do a search or look at the sticky threads on this forum.

This topic has been done to death. Please just use your fingers and search it out.

As has been said, we are PRO-ADOPTION, ANTI-BREEDING, PRO-PETS, ANTI-SELLING PETS AS COMMODITIES, PRO-ANIMAL WELFARE forum.

Pie-in-sky, 'what if we lived in a different world,' theoretical questions serve no purpose other than to cloud the reality of pets being killed in the shelters every damn day for lack of a home.

You are all entitled to your own views on the matter. You are welcome to start a thread that has something new to say on why breeding here and now is just fine. Be ready for the rebuttals and be ready to prove your points.

But, we don't need another breeding debate thread just for fun.

This thread is closed.

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I want to add, how about putting some energy into trying to come up with creative ways to help solve the problems rather than justifications for keeping them going? Let's see some of those kinds of topics. Thank you.