Guinea Pigs As Pets: Culture

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SkinnyPigRiver

SkinnyPigRiver

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Since becoming a slave to guinea pigs mere months ago, I've noticed something I find very interesting. It feels like the greater amount of guinea pig owners are in the UK. My grandma was British, and I'm already enough of an Anglophile, but it really does feel like most guinea pig people are subjects of her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. Is it just me or have other Americans noticed this?
 
I'm in Canada, although guinea pigs are fairly common here, it seems that they are largely seen as 'starter pets for children.' From reading the forum, it seems like more adults keep guinea pigs in the UK, and that the vet care and expertise is more advanced there. In Canada a lot of guinea pigs probably don't see vets, as the prevailing opinion seems to be that guinea pigs only live a few years and if they get sick, they die and you get your kid a new guinea pig (one of mine had a lot of medical problems and a shocking number of people were surprised that they even HAD vets or medications for guinea pigs!) So I think there are plenty out there in the US and Canada too, but I don't think they are taken as seriously as household pets as they are in the UK, if that makes sense!
 
This forum is better than any other forum I've found so far anywhere. Except for a few words here and there spelled a bit differently than I learned in school, people here all talk guinea pig. The large retail pet stores like Petsmart and Petco in the US (our first piggie we got from Petsmart) just don't tell people anything they need to know when they buy small pets. My husband had no idea what he was getting us into last Christmas when he bought our 11-year-old daughter a guinea pig and one of those tiny litter box cages. Now we have two guinea pigs, a c&c cage, an exotic pet vet, a digital kitchen scale, fleece bedding, and homemade hidey tunnels and hay bags. (I've learned to sew in the last 3 months, shaping up to be a good slave) . These retailers can't know any better, or they'd be selling coroplast and wire storage cube grids, and scales and all the other things that piggy slaves need instead of the crap that we don't. I am happy to make the 30 minute drive to the to the rescue to buy farm fresh hay today. If it wasn't for rescues and forums like this one, especially this forum, this newbie would be clueless about how to care for Gizmo and Darwin .
 
Pet shops over here are pretty useless too. They sell tiny cages and inappropriate toys and treats.

Many people are amazed and slightly amused that I keep guinea pigs (I am in my 50s) as they are usually seen as a children's pet.

There are a few really excellent guinea pig savvy vets but that is not standard.

I wish we had laws like those in Switzerland (no single guinea pigs and all boars neutered asap, etc).
 
I'm from the UK and I used to find it the complete opposite. When I first went online to look for advice I ended up on a prominent US forum. They were already well into C&C cages whereas we were still very much pigs in a hutch outside.

Also when I was given medical advice it was close to impossible to find a good pig vet, especially for dental issues. The US has a much bigger pool of resources. There might not be a good vet close by but there were quite a few who were contactable by email and phone who could give advice.

I'm not sure whether the UK has caught up now as I'm more active on this forum than anywhere else. But we're definitely in a better position now than 10-15 years ago!
 
The staff, forum moderators and members here on The Guinea Pig Forum are very supportive and make this a safe place (I feel safe here) to discuss all kinds of issues related to guinea pig care and crisis without fear of character assassination or judgment from others. There are many forums that seem to "police" people or judge them as horrrible and bad for not knowing something or for buying an animal from a pet store. That is why I love TGPF. No one here has made me feel bad for being a newbie. Thank you for loving guinea pigs and me too.
 
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