Different Ways Of Different Countries Owning Piggies

[CarnivalPiggy]

I was thinking about a post I saw a while ago, an user had a friend in Germany who owned piggies. The German friend was suprised to hear they were coddled in fleece cages rather than a shed with natural logs in etc, not much interaction. This was a while ago, but I'm curious as to how much countries differ in ways of owning piggies. Excuse me if this a stereotype, I'm not familiar with other piggies in countries.

 

[*kate*]

I suppose a lot would depend on the various countries outdoor temperatures and the amount of predators.

I don't know anything about how piggies are kept in other countries but I do know that rabbits are often kept on wire floors which we find to be totally unacceptable in this country.

 

[CarnivalPiggy]

I saw in another country, can't remember one, an image of piggies on a flooring similiar to wiring due to the heat climate being too hot even for woodshavings. However, it was less harsh and had circles in the floor rather than wire I think, it looked really interesting.

 

[Swissgreys]

Here in Switzerland it is illegal to own a single guinea pig.
If you have an older piggy who looses their mate, there are 'loan' schemes available when you take on a new friend for the bereaved piggy and then return it to the breeder when your own piggie passes away.

There are literally no piggies in rescue here, and the wait lists are long.
I think this is largely because all male guinea pigs are castrated between 2- 3 weeks of age, and immediately put back into the family group. This prevents accidental or irresponsible breeding, and means that unless you own a small animal license, it is literally impossible to get hold of an uncastrated male.

Breeders are licensed, and subject to yearly inspections - the standards are very high.

Whether you get your piggie from a pet shop or a breeder, you will be expected to provide proof of your set up and ownership of other piggies.
I was quizzed very thoroughly before being sold my pigs, and had to provide not only several photos of my pigs, but the contact details of the local vet and receipts to prove I had actually bought the cages pictured in the set up (and not just swiped a photo from the Internet I guess). It is quite hard to get hold of a single piggy,
and all breeders and pet shops will take back any animal that you an no longer care for.

C&C cages and fleece bedding are somewhat of a novelty here - our cage was visited by a lot of people when we first got the pigs.
Most guinea pigs are kept in wooden hutches on disposable bedding, and the few other people that I know who have guinea pigs, tend to bring them inside (or at least into an outbuilding) over the Winter.

 

[Freela]

I'm in Ontario, Canada. Here guinea pigs would have to be indoor pets, as the climate in the winter is too harsh to have them outside unless the shed was fully insulated and heated (so basically a mini house!) There are very minimal guidelines in place about guinea pig welfare, so no laws on number of pigs, size of cage required, spaying and neutering, etc. Most pigs come from pets stores. There are some rescues around, but they are very few and far between (there is only one guinea pig rescue in my area, and I'm near a major city centre in Ontario. Occasionally the Humane Society that mainly handles dogs and cats also has guinea pigs and rabbits, but pretty seldom.) People who want to rehome guinea pigs are more likely to put them on Kijiji or Craigslist than to rehome through rescues. There are no services like 'pig dating' for a new companion or 'loaner pigs' that can be company for an existing pig and then returned to the rescue once the original pig passes on. Mine are all pet store pigs because with my initial pair I really didn't know any better, and after that I have always needed one new pig to keep a remaining pig company and the only rescue in my area bonds them all into pairs and then adopts them out together, so there's no way to acquire just one via adoption in my area, even with another guinea pig at home. Guinea pigs here still tend to be seen as starter pets for children, and keeping guinea pigs as an adult is not as common. Most pigs probably do end up living alone in a smaller cage in a child's room, but I do think there is a growing awareness that they are better off in pairs and in a larger cage. We do have vets here that have guinea pig knowledge, but you have to search them out and if you are in a rural area you are not likely to find one at all. Most people probably never take their guinea pigs to the vet. Because of this, some surgeries that are more routine in other areas are seldom-performed, higher risk, and a LOT more expensive here. Even with a good vet, there is a risk of your guinea pig being a "guinea pig" (in the sense of a test animal!) for a procedure because, in all likelihood, your vet has not done many of these procedures on guinea pigs before, even if they are a competent guinea pig vet. There just isn't as much opportunity to practice the skills here and it wouldn't be financially sustainable here to just treat small exotics because not enough people have them and not enough of the ones who do ever seek out vet care. There are no subsidies or anything like that for vet care here and minimal insurance options for small pets (even our 'large pet insurance' doesn't cover the issues most common to your breed of dog or cat!) so most vet services here are contingent on ability to pay upfront for the service.

It's interesting to read about care and practices in other parts of the world. Some areas seem so far ahead of us! Indeed, I think that most of Europe is far ahead of North America in terms of animal welfare legislation.

 

[Skittypigs]

Here in Switzerland it is illegal to own a single guinea pig.
If you have an older piggy who looses their mate, there are 'loan' schemes available when you take on a new friend for the bereaved piggy and then return it to the breeder when your own piggie passes away.

There are literally no piggies in rescue here, and the wait lists are long.
I think this is largely because all male guinea pigs are castrated between 2- 3 weeks of age, and immediately put back into the family group. This prevents accidental or irresponsible breeding, and means that unless you own a small animal license, it is literally impossible to get hold of an uncastrated male.

Breeders are licensed, and subject to yearly inspections - the standards are very high.

Whether you get your piggie from a pet shop or a breeder, you will be expected to provide proof of your set up and ownership of other piggies.
I was quizzed very thoroughly before being sold my pigs, and had to provide not only several photos of my pigs, but the contact details of the local vet and receipts to prove I had actually bought the cages pictured in the set up (and not just swiped a photo from the Internet I guess). It is quite hard to get hold of a single piggy,
and all breeders and pet shops will take back any animal that you an no longer care for.

C&C cages and fleece bedding are somewhat of a novelty here - our cage was visited by a lot of people when we first got the pigs.
Most guinea pigs are kept in wooden hutches on disposable bedding, and the few other people that I know who have guinea pigs, tend to bring them inside (or at least into an outbuilding) over the Winter.

Sounds like Switzerland have got it spot on!

 

[Kylie80]

In Australia I have found Guinea Pigs to not be as popular here as say in the UK. It's very hard to get quality hay and pellets here and the pet food super stores have a tiny area devoted to small animal food and accessories. We also don't seem to have the amount of piggy savvy vets and rescues available to us like other countries, perhaps the bigger cities might be different. I am not from the city (but not in a rural region either) so perhaps guinea pig owners from the city have different experiences. I can't comment on rescue rules and procedures here as we don't have one nearby.

 

[Kithri]

I think in the US there are a lot of misconceptions as to how to properly care for a guinea pig. If you go to a pet store, anywhere from one to four cavies are in a small cage together, not to mention the much too small cages that are sold. What disturbs me most is the fact that you can easily buy giant exercise balls with a picture of a guinea pig on the box. A very small bit of research will tell you that those are very bad for cavies, yet if you just show up and assume that a guinea pig is just going to be the same as a gerbil, hamster, mouse, or rat, you can go home with a small cage, one pig, and no one at the pet store will bat an eyelash. That's why I wanted to be sure we found a good shelter to adopt our pigs, rather than perpetuating the cycle of pigs raised in mills and stores.