Dilemma about asking someone about their guinea pigs’ housing situation

lauryn1289

lauryn1289

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Hi all, I follow a few popular piggy accounts on Twitter and I came across an account with 2 piggies. The person does seem to love their piggies, but their housing worries me. Their housing is hard to describe but it looks like one of those plastic shopping baskets, it’s not an even surface, it’s plastic and there’s tonnes of holes. I worry it’s a big injury risk for their piggies? The holes are about the size of the piggies feet, I don’t know how they walk across it without getting their feet stuck. And the piggies nails are quite long too. This also doesn’t necessarily mean what I worry it means either, but they do post photos of them eating hay with captions like “enjoying their breakfast” and I worry they’re not hugely informed on how to care for piggies and how often they’re fed hay, but again that specific bit might just be me worrying extra. But the housing does concern me a bit.

I know it’s technically absolutely none of my business but it does worry me when I see it. I was going to include a screenshot of one of their tweets to show the housing but I don’t want it to seem like I’m being mean whatsoever since I can’t delete it again after posting. Would you say something in this situation? I’m not sure it I should or leave it alone
 
Decided I had to include a cropped photo for the scope of it! I really am not trying to be mean here and I hope it doesn’t come across that way 😞 I’m honestly just concerned about their housing and if the owner isn’t hugely informed on piggies and may not know better
 

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Ok sorry for another addition but I just saw they were also keeping another guinea pig,
presumably dead now, in a hamster cage a couple months ago and a piggy rescue had actually responded saying it isn’t suitable and got no response 😭 I think this also may be a (still unsuitable) cage for another animal, and a post about how their piggies were eating cucumber that was lying in their house for days!
 
Omg my last addition here but I also saw she feeds them paper? No hay in the cage and just throwing in paper for them in some posts. If anyone actually reads this thread feel free to ignore it, I'll say something to her!
 
All you can do is offer some kind advice suggesting maybe she looks at some website about piggy care.
Or link to a decent cage?
The problem is based on the small photo you added it looks absolutely filthy and totally inappropriate and if otter's have commented before and nothing has changed chances are it won't.

This is the reason I personally avoid such accounts because I find them deeply upsetting and people like this are unlikely to change.
Years ago I saw footage of a teenager keeping her piggy in one of those carriers you take them to the vet in (not as big as a cat carrier.
The pig could barley turn around it was so small and she just dropped in bits of food 1 at a time and was saying what a great appetite they had because they always gobbled it right up. There were loads of comments asking about a bigger space or hay, etc and she said it worked perfectly because it allowed her to carry her piggy round like a handbag :no:
 
Swissgreys said:
All you can do is offer some kind advice suggesting maybe she looks at some website about piggy care.
Or link to a decent cage?
The problem is based on the small photo you added it looks absolutely filthy and totally inappropriate and if otter's have commented before and nothing has changed chances are it won't.

This is the reason I personally avoid such accounts because I find them deeply upsetting and people like this are unlikely to change.
Years ago I saw footage of a teenager keeping her piggy in one of those carriers you take them to the vet in (not as big as a cat carrier.
The pig could barley turn around it was so small and she just dropped in bits of food 1 at a time and was saying what a great appetite they had because they always gobbled it right up. There were loads of comments asking about a bigger space or hay, etc and she said it worked perfectly because it allowed her to carry her piggy round like a handbag :no:
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I know, the cage is absolutely filthy :( Only noticed how dirty it is when scrolling her profile to see for certain if that’s their permanent housing, that looks like mold in the corner! Seems like the only comment they ever got about the housing was on their piggy who lived in a hamster cage the size of a small box with 0 food, not even comments on horrendous this cage. I really doubt she’ll listen but it was worth a shot. :( I tried to be as polite as possible.

And that’s awful! That poor little piggy. I’d never even heard of anyone treating a piggy like a handbag pet but I can’t say I’m shocked. I avoid situations like this as much as possible too it just breaks my heart, only came across it because so many “famous” Twitter piggies follow her! I was shocked nobody else has said anything about their conditions. I don’t know how she hasn’t learned from following these large piggy accounts too that they need constant hay and aren’t meant to be fed scraps of paper.

Really sorry if this post was upsetting too! Was just initially conflicted about whether to say anything but after seeing more of what they live like I wasn’t questioning it anymore
 

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lauryn1289 said:
I know, the cage is absolutely filthy :( Only noticed how dirty it is when scrolling her profile to see for certain if that’s their permanent housing, that looks like mold in the corner! Seems like the only comment they ever got about the housing was on their piggy who lived in a hamster cage the size of a small box with 0 food, not even comments on horrendous this cage. I really doubt she’ll listen but it was worth a shot. :( I tried to be as polite as possible.

And that’s awful! That poor little piggy. I’d never even heard of anyone treating a piggy like a handbag pet but I can’t say I’m shocked. I avoid situations like this as much as possible too it just breaks my heart, only came across it because so many “famous” Twitter piggies follow her! I was shocked nobody else has said anything about their conditions. I don’t know how she hasn’t learned from following these large piggy accounts too that they need constant hay and aren’t meant to be fed scraps of paper.
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Well done.
At least you tried.
 
RosieLily said:
So many people refuse any and all advice for reasons I personally can’t comprehend.. I’d be so grateful if someone took the time out of their day to give tips for my animals and their wellbeing!
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I would too! When I got my first piggy as a teenager I had no clue about them, but as soon as I learned more and got advice I got him a friend and upgraded the cage and continued to learn. She seems to have had piggies for a long time and follows so many pig accounts so I just truly don’t know how basic care information is lost on her even if she wasn’t googling anything to figure it oht
 
You've done the right thing in contacting them, not only does it look dangerous it also looks squalid. I hope they take the advice on board and not jump on the defensive.
 
RosieLily said:
So many people refuse any and all advice for reasons I personally can’t comprehend.. I’d be so grateful if someone took the time out of their day to give tips for my animals and their wellbeing!
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Totally agree with this. Maybe someone should direct her to this forum. It's been a godsend for me.
 
Jenni85 said:
You've done the right thing in contacting them, not only does it look dangerous it also looks squalid. I hope they take the advice on board and not jump on the defensive.
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I was so taken aback by the size of the “cage” and the holes in the floor I didn’t even spot how dirty it was initially! She had tweets about how hard it is to clean and no wonder because I don’t know what animal that cage has possibly been designed for? So many posts of bathing her piggies VERY often too :(
 
lauryn1289 said:
I was so taken aback by the size of the “cage” and the holes in the floor I didn’t even spot how dirty it was initially! She had tweets about how hard it is to clean and no wonder because I don’t know what animal that cage has possibly been designed for? So many posts of bathing her piggies VERY often too :(
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I've just had a look at her twitter and I wish I hadn't. It's made me sad.

She undoubtedly loves them but their loving arrangments are appaling. 😢
 
Jenni85 said:
I've just had a look at her twitter and I wish I hadn't. It's made me sad.

She undoubtedly loves them but their loving arrangments are appaling. 😢
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I was really hoping she took my message better and didn’t just block me straight away but can’t say I’m susprised. Ironically I only want what’s best for her and her piggies to live long healthy lives :(
 
Sometimes people just don't want advice. They think what they are doing is right even if it's wrong. Some people have the attitude that they are always right and won't be told otherwise.
 
Betsy said:
Sometimes people just don't want advice. They think what they are doing is right even if it's wrong. Some people have the attitude that they are always right and won't be told otherwise.
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I know, it’s so unfortunate anyone is so immune to help :(
 
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