People that think guinea pigs are irrelevant pets.

Dilly's Piggies

Dilly's Piggies

Teenage Guinea Pig
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I have always owned guinea pigs throughout my life, right now I have 10, and with having so many it means frequent visits to the vet. My uncle is the one who drives me and I pay him to do so. Every single time he drives me there, he makes snarky comments about my piggies and says "Why are you even spending money at the vet for this, just put it down and be done with it."

It's sad that my own family think this way about my guinea pigs, I love them to death and every animal you choose to have as a pet is worth more than any amount of money. Whether it's a hamster or a horse, we love them all the same and when they get sick, as their owners it is our duty to get them to a vet! I am just sick of people like this, I am always getting comments from people about why I have guinea pigs, why don't I get a 'real' pet like a dog. If I said to my uncle that his dog is a stupid pet and whenever it got sick just tell him to euthanize it, he would tear me apart!

Sorry about the rage, I just really needed to vent this somewhere and I'm sure many of you have had similar comments about guinea pigs, it hurts to hear such things about my darlings.
 
finally, someone thinks the same as me! my friend owns a guinea pig but to her parents it’s a “dirty rat”. it’s not allowed inside and her parents won’t pay for veggies. she has other pets- a bird, a dog and horses and her parents love them. just shows that guineas pigs are overlooked.
 
My dad was exactly the same. Couldn't understand why you would spend hundreds on a £20 pet. My stance is and always will be that when you rescue an animal you are committing yourself to giving them the best options in life. However I never tried to convert him. We just have to accept that some people feel like that and as long as they aren't trying to adopt or buy those animals we just leave them be with their opinions for the sake of our relationship with them
 
I've been there too! I suspect most of us have.

Talking incessantly about our piggies (in the same vain as other parents' human babies) marks you out as a mad woman as is paying lots of money to keep our babies alive.

Thank goodness we have a forum that values our behaviour and love for our piggies and considers it normal to pay whatever it takes to give them a good pain free life
 
Flutterby said:
Grinds my gears it really does!
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I think the key there is to not let it annoy you. I usually just state my stance and if it's a respectful relationship that will be the end of it. Two people with different opinions respecting each other (and one definitely never getting piggies as pets)
 
Must be so frustrating listening to those comments! You must have to bite your tongue ALOT! I hope your piggies appreciate what you have to go through during that lift to the vets! Lol xx
 
Lady Kelly said:
I think the key there is to not let it annoy you. I usually just state my stance and if it's a respectful relationship that will be the end of it. Two people with different opinions respecting each other (and one definitely never getting piggies as pets)
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Oh yes I do ignore it, even when people try to bait me with saying things like 'feed them to a snake' etc. Still annoys me though lol
 
I think the people who are most disadvantaged are those who say what an irrelevant pet they are as they have clearly not (and never will) experienced the joys of keeping piggies, I sometimes call Tom and Mini my little furry anti depressants, they're far better than anything a doctor can prescribe!
 
Chatting to my lovely vet on one visit she did say that one reason they don’t get the chance to become cavy savvy is that not many people bother bringing a guinea pig to see them.
I always feel that people who don’t appreciate guinea pigs are missing out.
I love the forum because I can talk to others who share my love and don’t mind me talking piggies when other people would just glaze over.
We love our piggies- we can talk piggies to each other and enjoy it.
Sharing photos is wonderful so never mind those who can’t see the joy and wonder of these lovely animals.
 
Merab's Slave said:
Chatting to my lovely vet on one visit she did say that one reason they don’t get the chance to become cavy savvy is that not many people bother bringing a guinea pig to see them.
I always feel that people who don’t appreciate guinea pigs are missing out.
I love the forum because I can talk to others who share my love and don’t mind me talking piggies when other people would just glaze over.
We love our piggies- we can talk piggies to each other and enjoy it.
Sharing photos is wonderful so never mind those who can’t see the joy and wonder of these lovely animals.
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That’s why I love the forum meets too, we can talk to people who share our interest and don’t get funny looks lol
 
I have kept dogs, cats and guinea pigs. I mean I love dogs and cats too but guinea pigs have that extra special something that I don't think you can understand properly til you've kept them properly as a pet. Hearing the excitement at the sound of a rustling bag, or a fridge door opening, watching their interactions with each other while you just lay on the floor beside them, seeing their tantrums with each other, their difficulties with each other, how much they care for each other when things go slightly wonky, it's a whole other world in those cages and we're privileged to even glimpse a tiny part of it. "irrelevant pets", my %&^)!
 
I haven't had any funny remarks concerning the piggies but I did through my years with owning hamsters. I ignored those remarks then and I would now. It is sad to think that we love our pets more than some people do theirs (I have known people in the past who refused to give their pets vet treatment or let them die due to forgetting to feed them)

I have a little rescue dog who is a very loving, sensitive soul. He doesn't like me raising my voice and he will go and hide in his bed when I do. I don't understand why some people would think that he should have vet treatment if he needs it whereas the piggies/hamsters should not. They are all pets and loved equally.

But my herd of 8 piggies are something special. I haven't had much contact with them as I have allowed them to get used to the smell of a predator in the house. And on me. They don't know that they are the same size as him. They still get their veggies, nuggets and treats. And today they had their nails trimmed and weighed. My piggies are still my babies even if we have a dog.
 
Merab's Slave said:
Chatting to my lovely vet on one visit she did say that one reason they don’t get the chance to become cavy savvy is that not many people bother bringing a guinea pig to see them.
I always feel that people who don’t appreciate guinea pigs are missing out.
I love the forum because I can talk to others who share my love and don’t mind me talking piggies when other people would just glaze over.
We love our piggies- we can talk piggies to each other and enjoy it.
Sharing photos is wonderful so never mind those who can’t see the joy and wonder of these lovely animals.
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i definitely agree that the forum is great! i can ramble on and on about my pigs and most people love it, where as if i’m talking to friends or family about my pigs, they kinda just nod and move on with the conversation. guinea pigs need to be appreciated more!
 
When I bought Jake home, he was fine that day and then overnight his eye was gunked over shut. I took him to the vet immediately, got eyedrops for him, it was sorted within a few days.

My mum told me I should take him back. "Uh, no." "But they obviously sold you an unwell animal." "His eye was fine yesterday, don't exaggerate." Why the hell would I take him back *just* because of an eye infection? I kept Jake, screw that. Mind you he was an absolute handful lol, but worth every second. I bought him home with the intent to take care of him and come hell or high water, that was what I was gonna do. Screw anyone who thought otherwise.

Edit: My mum's become a lot better about them over the years. I mean she still insists a guinea pig over 1kg has to be overweight no matter how many times she's told otherwise, but she was quite happy to let Comet fall asleep on her and then feed him some parsley by hand afterwards. So she's getting there...over a decade later :doh:
 
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My Mum used to 'hate' guinea pigs before too, but because she has now gotten to know them through me choosing to own them, she absolutely loves them and also gets offended when my uncle makes these horrible comments. It doesn't bother me if someone doesn't like guinea pigs, certain pets aren't for everybody and I respect that, it just bothers me when people have the audacity to bully me for choosing to own them and spend my time and money on them. Telling me to just put them down rather than get them veterinary treatment for long term conditions is a seriously awful thing to say and completely uncalled for, hence this rant lol!

Thank you so much for all of the comments here, it's why I decided to vent here because I know all of you care about your piggies just as much as I care about mine, only you guys will understand the love for piggies <3
 
helloitsbecca said:
I have been quite lucky. My family love my piggies. My mum even calls them her grand-pigs haha. My gran (who HATES all things rodenty) absolutely loves them and is always asking after them :)
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My Mum calls the boys her "Furry Grandkids"

I've told her, it's the only sort of Grandkids she'll be getting!
 
My mother in law said to me one day "with the problems you have with your immune system should you really be keeping such dirty animals", I was really offended because I felt she felt i couldn't keep them clean which I do and I didn't have the heart to tell her that I was more likely to catch something from her than from the guinea pigs.
 
Kylie80 said:
My mother in law said to me one day "with the problems you have with your immune system should you really be keeping such dirty animals", I was really offended because I felt she felt i couldn't keep them clean which I do and I didn't have the heart to tell her that I was more likely to catch something from her than from the guinea pigs.
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I hate when people ask “don’t guineapigs stink?” Guineapigs don’t stink as long as you keep them clean. If they are stinky your doing something wrong I always tell people. It’s just like a cat or dog. If you don’t take care of them they will smell funny.
 
Sara’s Piggies said:
I hate when people ask “don’t guineapigs stink?” Guineapigs don’t stink as long as you keep them clean. If they are stinky your doing something wrong I always tell people. It’s just like a cat or dog. If you don’t take care of them they will smell funny.
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Very true! I hardly ever smell my two except when they are in season they sometimes smell a little and need a early cage clean and a extra change of their bedding during the day but they can't help that and it's not terribly unpleasant. I have actually come across humans that smell worse.
 
it's true generally people think of small animals as waste of time . . smelly. . etc.
or Why.
We building up our herd and got lots comments and head scratching . .
I reflect on one of our friends who at same time was excitingly gettin a Pug for their daughter.
Nearly a year later daughter not bothered with dog as it's into its druling :drool: stage and not the puppy to show off and it poos smell.
Dog cost £1200 plus vet bills they had a new carpet as pug ruined other cost hundreds.
We have a beer and dad says how are piggies Dave. :clap:
 
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