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Oh dear, .........

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I have been foolish and bought 3 piggies from Pets at Home. I have 4 girls already who were healthy and happy little girls, but I have a MAJOR soft spot for ginger and whites piggies and I couldn't help but notice they had one in their shop so I bought her, the next day I had to go back to get some supplies and noticed another one! So, I bought her as well. I put them both together for 48 hours and noticed the first one, Treacle had inturned bottom lids and watery eyes, so i took her to the vets at pets at home, they paid for this, and the vet said she may need an operation to correct her lids, so he gave me some eye drops as a precaution which I had to administer twice daily. I then noticed the second piggy Pancake had sore eyes, so treated her with the same eyedrops. All looked well after 3 days so I put them in with my girls. Last week when taking Treacle in for a check up, I noticed in the support adoption section, a little girl piggie all by herself and she was terrified of people. I asked to look at her, she's a cfrested agouti and has the most stunning face, I felt so sorry for her, it took about 10 mins to catch her in a small cage and I held her and thought she would have a better life with me and the other girls, so I took her home. I stupidly put her in with my girls straight away as I felt company would be better for her ( she spent approx 2 months in a cage on her own on pregnancy watch from previous owner housing her with her brothers)

Well, a week ago I noticed she has lice. So back to the vet with all 7 for invermectin. Pancake has a huge baldspot on her back which I am hoping is not fungal but the vet did seem sure it was lice that caused it as one morning it wasn't there, then in the eve it was and she has been scratching at it.

Pancake is now sat on my lap as this morning she has a grotty nose and swollen eye and is quieter than is n ormal for her. She is going back to pets at home vets to be looked at again later. Thing is I have heard a few sneezes going on with some of the girls.

I am soooo angry tha P@H sold me 3, yes 3, sick piggies, how can that happen? I should have quarentined them for longer, that I have learnt the hard way, but come on, 3 sick piggies??

They are paying for the treatment but I'm questioning what state the animals are in at the back of the store, and how many other sickly pets are they selling?

My DH thinks I should have taken all 3 back and asked for a refund and concentrated on getting my piggies well, They all have sore eyes now and I'm treating all of them for conjunctivitus. I was worried they might just PTS the 3 I took back so I am keeping them and will nurse them back to health myself.

Lesson learned?

DO NOT BUY ANIMALS FROM pets at home. They may look pretty and appear to be well, but the odds of buying 3 that are all sick is pretty low but has happened.

QUARENTINE new animals for a week or so before adding to your herd.

JUst had to have a moan, I know it's all my fault, I should have known better, shouldn't have bought them from there, I'm jsut such a sucker for ginger and whites......
 
Don't feel bad, many of us have bought pet shop piggies and got more than we bargained for!

Normally the advice is to quarantine for 2 weeks to be sure that nothing is wrong.

I went in to pets at home yesterday and they had some unbelievably cute guinea pigs in... I can see how people with the space for more piggies could be won over by their cute fuzzy faces!

I'm glad that p@h are paying for all the treatment for your babies. Focus on getting them all better and then you can enjoy your newly expanded herd!
 
I see you are in the south west can I ask which p@h it was as I am in the south. hope your piggies are better soon and can only be thankful they found you!
 
Hi, it was the Abbey Wood branch in Bristol. Little Pancake is at the vet now, they are going to look at her inbetween other appts, it cannot wait till tomorrow.
 
Awww poor little things, hope they get better soon

I've had problems with abbeywood p@h many a time, it took an hour and a half of shouting the other day for them to agree to pay for my sick piggie who we brought because we couldn't resist after only going in for a fish tank

Good luck with having them treated and hope p@h pay till they are better.... Don't let the companion care vets try and fob you off cause they are good at that

Xx
 
I had 8 piggies in all, 5 from just for pets or P@H and 3 rehomers. Never had a problem with the pet shop piggies- I think it's just luck of the draw.

To be fair, look at it this way- they're better off with you than stuck in a pet shop x
 
Aww I am so sorry that you have had this bad experience. After all I have read on this site I think you're right about P@H. I had no idea people were having such bad experiences. I have never bought a Guinea pig or the like from them but I did buy a fish once for our tropical tank. Thing is they never told us that as this fish matured it needed brackish (slightly salt) water. We watched him die before our eyes with no idea why. Made me angry that they sold him to us as a tropical fish.

With the problem with too many guinea pigs in rehoming it is probably best to rescue them anyway. I hope you manage to sort the problems out. x
 
The sow with inturned eyelids is just a normal smooth coat. One eye has corrected itself, probably due to me smoothing it out each day? but the other is still turned in. Her eyes are not cloudy anymore which is good.

Thanks for the warning about being fobbed off, they were supposed to check them all but only weighed them and gave them invermectin, they think Pancake may have ringworm, SO TREAT HER FOR IT THEN DURRRRRRRRRRRRRRR, makes me so angry. Those are my piggies they have made ill with their badly bred. badly kept stock. They didn't ask to be bred, I shouldn't have bought them, I have so learnt my lesson here.
 
There used to be some pretty knowledgeable staff at Abbey Wood I even saw them refuse to sell someone piggies once, but I will admit I too got caught out by them. My first bun was from there and he's been on medication on and off all his life for a horendous respitory infection, he's been on his current course of antibiotics for a year! I also have collegues who have got piggies from there with ringworm, hubbys collegue got buns with ringworm too. I always tell people to never buy animals from them now despite the temptation.
 
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