already bored of their guinea pigs

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ts1

ts1

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I have a friend who bought 2 guinea pigs for her 6 and 3 year old sons for christmas, less than 2 weeks later and they are already bored and she's wondering to maybe rehome them. unbelievable mallethead, what did she expect?
 
My rescue piggies Bingo and Buddy were unwanted Christmas presents. A note left with them said the children didn't look after them properly. The poor things are still just little babies!

Its shocking how many animals are abandoned this time of year.

Amy
x
 
:laluot_32:
I would never really class an animal as a childs pet anyway - the parents who do have to be prepared to do all the work after the novelty wears off.
Sorry if that upsets people but this is not an unusual situation :{
 
i completely agree, we wanted to get a pet for our 3 year old daughter, and before getting our piggles i fully researched them, but more importantly i was prepared to accept the responsibility for them.

My daughter helps me clean out, feed them, holds them with supervision etc.

But essentially the well being of any animal has to lie with an adult.
 
Problem is that this just teaches the children that if you get bored of a responsibility someone will just get rid of it for you.

Paula
 
I foster animals for an animal shelter and see this happening far too often. I just wish the adults would act more responsibly over pets. They are living creatures for goodness sake, not disposables! mallethead
 
Its very sad. Our daughter was desperate for guinea pigs and we got some ONLY because we were happy to have them as a FAMILY pet and knew that we would be the ones responsible for them.

Our little girl adores her piggies but its me that cares for them. Yes she helps feed them and cuddle them but she is only five and given half a chance then she would get bored of them too.

I know its not a nice thing to say but parents must be very naive if they think a child is capable of caring for a pet without the help and encouragement of a parent. If you get rid of an animal because you cant be bothered with it, it just teaches a child that an animal is disposable.
 
Yes unfortunatley its inevitable that young children will get bored of them very quickly.I enjoy guinea pigs as much as my daughter so its not a problem in our house.I think mom or dad has to be into guinea pigs too because small children as young as that cant be expected to take all the responsibility of caring for small animals.
 
Its so sad to hear of all the animals abandoned at xmas :( I got my 1st piggys at 10yrs old for xmas and you know I was the sole person who looked after them. I fed them, cleaned them, put them out on the grass and at aged 11/12 I built them a cage out of an old tv cabinet, and it looked great and served its purpose! (my parents are right scrimpers and refused to buy them a cage) I was out there come wind or shine and I did it for 7yrs! But my parents knew I loved animals and I had bugged them for a good year or 2 for them. I was very responsible and my parents knew I would look after them as my parents arnt the sort of people who get animals on a whim. Alot of the abandoned animals are mainly purchases on a whim its really sad :(
 
It can take months and months to build up a trusting relationship with a new piggie but unfortunately people who go to pet shops aren't told this so it's inevitable that a child will get "bored" with it.
I think it's disgraceful, they're not playthings and they's not disposable and some parents really do make me wonder WHAT they were thinking when they thought giving a living creature as a gift to young children was a good idea?! . :laluot_32:
 
I got my first guinea pig when I was five and my parents never expected that I would do everything for her. I helped my dad clean her out, took her carrot peelings and apple cores and when she got cancer it was my choice to try and remove the tumour rather than pts or let her suffer. Even though my parents didn't know too much about hutch sizes or that she needed a friends they never would have given her away if I was bored of her.
 
I was so mad when delivering an avon order once, this family had got a new puppy, said o he'll be interested in me cos he can smell cats....they then proceed to ask if I want their hamster as they can't afford a hamster and a dog! Erm, if you can't afford a hamster, how on earth will you afford the vet bills etc for a dog - plus what does it teach children, you just replace/get rid of your pets when it doesn't suit you anymore.

It took me ages to convince my parents to let me have a pet, they were worried I think that I'd be like my older sister and they'd end up looking after it, when I was 11 I was allowed 2 goldfish, a year after a hamster, and after a ridiculous amount of pleeding a rabbit when I was 15. All of them I took care of, parents paid for most of their up keep obviously, but I did save my pocket money to get a bigger fish tank and once I had a saturday job I paid for more of the day to day things myself. I really don't understand how people can still think it's fine to give pets as a present to a young child, and then be surprised when the child can't/doesn't want to look after them.
 
children should not be expected to be responsible for any pet!
I had rabbits when i was little but they were family pets. didnt get my own pet till i was 16 n it was a hamster

my OHs aunt got piggies for her boys n it didnt last long, she looks after them now but she loves them and says they are her little friends and company when shes on her own lol. when asking the boys about them they couldnt even remember their names!
 
Parents are stupid to think a child will look after an animal! 2 of my piggys I always say belong to my kids, Rocky being my sons, Peppas my daughters and Zsa Zsa is mine, I bought them for my kids, but I dont expect them to have sole responsibility for them, yes they help me from time to time but I am the sole responsible person for them (even though I do see the OH sneakin them food even though he says he doesnt like tem lol), and I love piggys ao I enjoy having them around, its just unfortunate that some people are so dumb!
 
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