History Of Pig Adopted From P@h?

Bunty

Bunty

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We've had our wonderful Douglas for just over 2 months now, after we lost our girls in the summer of last year. Douglas is the sixth guinea pig we've had, and he's absolutely the most loving, and most handsome pig we've ever had! We adopted Douglas after going to the store to look around, and we fell in love with the grumpy chap who apparently could not be with other guinea pigs due to fighting.

We got him the day after, and he'd been in the shop for almost a month before we adopted him. He's a very happy, always chirping and popcorning and he spends a good few hours out of his cage every day!

However, like all other parents of adopted animals, we can't help wondering about his past. His previous name was Percy (Now Douglas Percival) and he "had to be rehomed because he didn't get on well with others" - my guess is that unexperienced piggy owners bought "percy" along with some others, and when he started fighting they simply got rid of him back to from whence he came.

Does anyone speak the p@h language and know what this could mean? was percy his original name or one chosen by an employee?

thank you!
 
Welcome to the Forum and congratulations on Douglas - he sounds lovely.

You are probably correct in assuming that he was initially bought by inexperienced owners and placed with another piggy that he didn't get on with.
Although of course there is no way of really knowing what went on, as P@H are unfortunately at liberty to say pretty much whatever they want on the re-homing cards.
Not to mention that owners who return these animals often feel guilty and make up reasons to justify the fact that sometimes that impulse purchase of a living creature didn't work out.
I spoke with one member of staff who said a lot of parents bought animals back a few weeks after buying them citing 'allergies'. They are ashamed to admit that their kids got bored, so it sounds better if they say their kids are allergic to the guinea pig/rabbit/hamster.
Or it could be something as basic as being sent home with a cage that was far too small, and that was the reason there were problems.

You might want to look into getting a friend for Douglas - piggies really are much happier with a companion, and just because he didn't get on with one other pig, doesn't mean that there isn't a friend out there for him.
It might be worth checking if there is a rescue you could get to, and asking if they would help bond him with another boar.
 
Welcome to the forum to you and Douglas! Be lovely to see some photos of him.

I totally agree with @Swissgreys
 
Classic P@H line there, "does not get on with other guinea pigs". Almost every single pig has that branded onto them and it's complete and utter tosh. Laziness and human ignorance at it's finest. You're absolutely right to doubt what they've told you. Although we may never know about our animals' pasts we can apply a bit of trial and error to their future to make their lives just a little better each day.

It sounds like he has a lovely home with you, lucky lad. As others have said popping to a rescue for some boar bonding for him to pick a friend would certainly be great for both him and yourself too :)
 
Cavy Kung-Fu - We find the exact same thing with P@H & degus on our forum.. they're the bane of the entire rescue world. They sell tiny cages that are around 4 times too small, say you can put 3 degus in there, then people come to the forum when they start trying to kill each other. Or they say the degu was aggressive, can't live with others, yet once in a suitable cage 99.9% of the time they're over joyed to have a friend. Hate them with a passion, won't set foot in there. Even the RSPCA lady I spoke to a couple of days ago was ranting on about them (off the record of course, as P@H donate stuff to try & mitigate their terrible reputation)

If I had one wish, I'd be to see all shops selling live animals closed for good. All us forums & rescues should come together & do something, but I don't know what.. kick them in the pants?!
 
Hi, the info from above shop is very limited and in general, if you're adopting animals you haven't been told some important info or they have limited info... Unless you know the owners or rescue knows the people were genuine. Many owners aren't and won't mention things like biting to make them more rehomable, or they try to make it "not their fault" so they just find lame excuse...
 
I’ll be honest with you, people don’t always tell the truth when they surrender their animals to P@H or even to rescues. So whatever you’ve been told you can usually take with a pinch of salt. Pets are often labelled as aggressive when they aren’t. Young boars are often labelled this way after they have come to blows with a cage mate. However, in the right environment 2 boars (even ones surrendered for being aggressive) can usually live together in harmony. The key to it is having the right animals and the right set up.
Douglas sounds a real sweetie. He could probably do with a buddy. But it’s best to find a rescue to do the introductions for you as they are skilled at reading the signs.
 
My two were in the P@H rescue section without any explanation whatsoever, but I'm pretty sure it's because Blitzen used to have this habit of biting everything and everyone and it would hardly endear him to new owners. Whatever, their loss is my gain, but I've had to settle knowing that I'll never know the actual reasons they were there.
 
I agree you can take their back stories with a pinch of salt. I took a pair a few months back, and was told they were 6 months old. I feel that they could be closer to 6 years judging by their nails and general overall appearance! They also lost a bit of weight when I got them (which has stabilised now). I reckon they'd had too many treats, pellets etc. and not enough exercise.
 
randomname said:
Cavy Kung-Fu - We find the exact same thing with P@H & degus on our forum.. they're the bane of the entire rescue world. They sell tiny cages that are around 4 times too small, say you can put 3 degus in there, then people come to the forum when they start trying to kill each other. Or they say the degu was aggressive, can't live with others, yet once in a suitable cage 99.9% of the time they're over joyed to have a friend. Hate them with a passion, won't set foot in there. Even the RSPCA lady I spoke to a couple of days ago was ranting on about them (off the record of course, as P@H donate stuff to try & mitigate their terrible reputation)

If I had one wish, I'd be to see all shops selling live animals closed for good. All us forums & rescues should come together & do something, but I don't know what.. kick them in the pants?!
Click to expand...

If I had a wish I'd wish that people actually cared about animals so that rescues didn't need to exist and that places like P@H was forced to be responsible for their actions.

But not to derail this thread, we can only do our best with what's available to us for our beloved animals. If I could I'd rescue all the animals but it's always great to see like minded people on this forum who love them as much as me. Seeing posts like this about rescuing piggies and caring about them all gives me hope :)
 
I would think your assumption would be very close to the truth. However, we will never know. P@H will only put down what the owner discloses to them and this may or may not be the real reason for surrender. With Daisy I got told that her owners were moving house and weren't allowed pets (which was probably true as she was clearly well looked after and seemed fairly tame with people) and with Lily I got much more detail as she was purchased at 6 weeks and taken almost straight back when she fell off the ramp and fractured her leg.
 
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