How To Avoid Wanting To Rescue Every Guinea Pig You See...

4pigs&counting

4pigs&counting

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I know there is no answer to this question! But I can't help wanting to 'save' guinea pigs I see advertised e.g. on fb. A post came up yesterday advertising two baby boars for £25 - only 2 months old. Now, I could house them if absolutely necessary, and I could afford another two sets of vets bills if absolutely necessary - but, where does it end?! Feeling guilty about not offering to take them on but at the same time am sure it would not be a good idea (limited space and I already have 4 piggies and 2 rabbits). I do try to avoid seeing such adverts, I would never seek them out...but when they appear I can't help but feel I need to 'rescue' them!
 
4pigs&counting said:
I know there is no answer to this question! But I can't help wanting to 'save' guinea pigs I see advertised e.g. on fb. A post came up yesterday advertising two baby boars for £25 - only 2 months old. Now, I could house them if absolutely necessary, and I could afford another two sets of vets bills if absolutely necessary - but, where does it end?! Feeling guilty about not offering to take them on but at the same time am sure it would not be a good idea (limited space and I already have 4 piggies and 2 rabbits). I do try to avoid seeing such adverts, I would never seek them out...but when they appear I can't help but feel I need to 'rescue' them!
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Sympathise with you as we all will on the Forum but we have to stop somewhere! I now never look on sites such as Gumtree or FB due to not just seeing poor piggies but posts on cruelty!
 
I avoid looking at places like Gumtree and FB. I also have a path round Pets at Home that avoids the rehoming section, although I somehow keep managing to still finding myself in front of piggys! I also remind myself of the £1,000 + I spent on vets bills in one month last year and how another guinea pig could take up the vet fund that one of my current ones might need.
 
Hi, the problem is the same as all, you love your piggies so much, that you can't cope with abandoned piggies, you want to rehome them all & you just can't bear it.
I wish the selling on gumtree & other sites should be banned. There are enough rescues around, I'm sure they would rather squeeze another in if they can.
Maybe these rescues would take a donation to help them out. I had to ask them to take one of boys on because he didn't fit he fought with them all.
The rescue wanted to neuter him so I'll pick him up, have the neutering, done & I'll pay for it.
I think we can help a little. Although loads of people on here foster them & move them around. These people are god sent.
 
piggieminder said:
I avoid looking at places like Gumtree and FB. I also have a path round Pets at Home that avoids the rehoming section, although I somehow keep managing to still finding myself in front of piggys! I also remind myself of the £1,000 + I spent on vets bills in one month last year and how another guinea pig could take up the vet fund that one of my current ones might need.
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I’ve to send my hubby or friend in first if an emergency means I have to go to a pet store. They then come back out and tell me there’s no piggies needing adopted! Sounds crazy but they both know I find it next to impossible NOT to find somewhere for another wee piggy.
 
I think everyone has a limit of animals they can manage (both financially and time wise).
Sadly we often don't know what our limit is until we are juggling several problems at once.
I know I was seriously considering taking on another piggy or two at one point, but then my group needed to be split unexpectedly, and we ended up with a very ill rabbit which required a huge amount of care.
At that point I just knew I would struggle if one more thing went wrong, so I agreed no more animals for a while.

But it is still hard to say no sometimes.
Thankfully my DH is good at reminding me!
 
I get a helpful reminder every month in the form of my credit card bill which is what all my vet expenses go on, still paying off a substantial amount needed by my special needs girlie last year!

That being said..It's not a fool proof method as I'm now up to 9 piggies :lol!:
 
I feel the same as you so I just never go in pets@home anymore, and deleted my fb account so don't have that problem. The ones at my local rescue aren't as much of a trigger because even though they don't have a 'proper' home, at least they're getting looked after, and I can give them cuddles which makes me feel better : )
 
Thanks all, you've made me feel better!
Last time I went to the vets (at the end of a long period of treatment/visits for one of the pigs), I happened to ask if I could have a print out of my 'account' - big mistake! Quite shocking how much I had spent over the last couple of years on all of the animals!
At the moment I am still feeling guilty about not getting the two advertised, but I need to remember what it was like having to medicate a piggy several times a day for weeks and how much harder that would be if I had more...we seem to be in a good spell at the moment with all animals in good health, but it only takes a bit of bad luck before things start getting more tricky :)
 
Julie M said:
aww no hamsters aren’t any real trouble. They’re great pets.
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I know hammies are great pets I've had 4 dwarf and 4 syrian over the years. OH was put off last hammie as he was very antisocial infact he was the most antisocial hamster I have ever had. He said he quite liked Bob as she was lovely. He now just says they are like rats without a tail now (he does NOT like rats) sorry to all you rattie lovers out there. It's just how it is.
 
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Betsy said:
I know hammies are great pets I've had 4 dwarf and 4 syrian over the years. OH was put off last hammie as he was very antisocial infact he was the most antisocial hamster I have ever had. He said he quite liked Bob as she was lovely. He now just says they are like rats without a tail now (he does NOT like rats) sorry to all you rattie lovers out there. It's just how it is.
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Aww. But I suppose we can’t all like the same things in life.
 
the vet bills and time is what keeps my numbers in check !also i was unable to say no to any piggie coming my way a little while ago,due to illness was not coping,so had to rehome some piggies.that has given myself a realistic number i can manage.I avoid all social media websites with adds for piggies !
 
I hope you explained that you were actually saving the piggies and giving them long and happy lives.
 
The cynical side of this is that probably 50% of young pigs up for "rehoming" for a price are breeders unwanted stock and by taking them on you are allowing their practice to continue. I always check the story behind rehoming if from pets at home as I find too many "I've been in the store too long and need a good home" which to me means the store wants to make space for profitable babies. My lily was a pets at home purchase. At 6 weeks old placed on a ramp in a hutch, fell off and broke her leg so returned as faulty goods. She was 15 weeks and had only been handled to medicate her. I nearly didn't take her but knew she was going to be hard work and I'm a sucker for trying to win over the hardest of piggies. It's going to be a year in a couple of months and she's only just started to dare to take food out of my hands (but I'm still not allowed to look directly at her when I do)
 
The P@H near me only has 2 guinea pig enclosures, one for sows one for boars. When a new batch of babies comes in any leftovers go in the rehoming section to make room. There are always some of these looking for homes. When I adopted Willow and Bracken from there they had been returned to store as unwanted pets, the lady had discovered she was pregnant a week after buying them! The only thing to be said to that really is:rant:.
 
@BertisKing you'd think they would be grateful for a very good customer. That has got to be a briilliant claim to fame though - banned from P@H. I keep thinking I am going to be banned, I go in there so often and walk out with nothing. I go to compare prices and their's are always a lot more than elsewhere.
 
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