Pet stores: opinion. Please read :)

[DMS260820]

Sorry should have made it clear - it's been a long day! P@H adoption centre.

I thought that was the most likely one lol. When you want to, have a look on support adoption for pets web site, you can put your postcode in and search what animals are in what store. You can filter the searches to just show guinea pigs in your area

 

[lilyandluna]

I did adopt my pigs, but I buy all the supplies for them from a pet store. I wish I didn't have to, but I actually don't have a choice. I am vegetarian and am very against animal mills but there is nowhere I can buy orchard grass hay (I can't use timothy because I am allergic) , pellets, toys, and other things they may need. I think it's important not to jump to conclusions on why people do what they do ❤

 

[DMS260820]

I did adopt my pigs, but I buy all the supplies for them from a pet store. I wish I didn't have to, but I actually don't have a choice. I am vegetarian and am very against animal mills but there is nowhere I can buy orchard grass hay (I can't use timothy because I am allergic) , pellets, toys, and other things they may need. I think it's important not to jump to conclusions on why people do what they do ❤

I buy my pet food at pets at home, and kennelgate ( kennelgate dont sell pets, just supplies) because pets at home is open until 8pm weekdays, its convenient for me. It is supporting them though

 

[cavylover2002]

I did adopt my pigs, but I buy all the supplies for them from a pet store. I wish I didn't have to, but I actually don't have a choice. I am vegetarian and am very against animal mills but there is nowhere I can buy orchard grass hay (I can't use timothy because I am allergic) , pellets, toys, and other things they may need. I think it's important not to jump to conclusions on why people do what they do ❤

I'm a vegetarian too haha (nice to know there's more vegans/vegs out there lol). I try not to buy from stores like Petsmart, which I usually don't! I buy my hay from the local horse feed store or my grocery store.

 

[tatals]

Well, I'm one of those people who have had no other option than to buy my pigs. I don't like it, to be honest, as I've always been on the battle to discourage people from buying dogs - something awfully common and getting more and more popular by the day in my area. But, unfortunately, guinea pigs are not popular enough in my country as to cause the existence of local shelters. I've only ever heard of one, and it's awfully distant from me. I do plan though, with time and experience, to maybe arrange something myself in the future. I don't know yet how this would work. But I love the idea of people starting to consider adopting small pets.

As I've said, guinea pigs are not as popular here as in the UK. They are seen as 'starter pets', 'pets for kids', and the lack of information is huge. There's very little choice of products in pet stores. Most of the things we find is actually not at all recommended to guines pigs, and the salespeople will happily recommend dangerous stuff to buyers, but I'm pretty sure they are clueless themselves. People buy guinea pigs with very, very little information; they actually think pigs are like hamsters and will live the same amount of time, in a small cage and with no vet costs. The things I see on Facebook groups, you guys...

Anyways, sorry about the rant, I've just been a little frustrated with the local piggy community. I love this forum, and I wish more people could speak the language to learn with you.

 

[tatals]

Just realized I may have sounded like I disapprove of members who buy pigs, which is NOT the case, as I myself am one, haha.

I actually came here to support the OP and ended up taking a turn in my thoughts. My mind works in funny ways.

Sorry, everyone! Everyone has a different experience and reasons to make the choices we do. Hopefully in the future more of us will be able to adopt.

 

[Freela]

I fully support rescues... that said, my pigs are pet store pigs. I got my first pair from the pet shop not knowing any different... when we lost one of that pair after a couple of years I looked into rescue, only to find that the one rescue in my part of Ontario only adopted out pre-bonded pairs, hence pairing up my single pig was not an option. Guinea pigs are not really seen as an 'adult' pet here... I suspect most end up bought for kids and either languish there even when the kids get bored or are put up for adoption on Kijiji rather than given to the SPCA or rescue. I at least only frequent the pet shop that separates animals by gender, etc., and for what it's worth I do find that the animals there always appear clean and healthy. Actually there are pretty strict laws in my province about where pet stores can source animals from, which led to most stores closing down after they could no longer sell dogs and cats from puppy mills, which was where the bulk of their money came from. The one chain left that still sells animals has an adoption section for cats and guinea pigs are the largest animals that they sell, along with smaller rodents like hamsters, rats, gerbils, mice, and then fish and some reptiles. If you want a dog in this province, there aren't any more pet stores to buy from, it's a shelter or a breeder (though they need to crack down on backyard breeders, IMO. I know some pretty irresponsible ones, sadly.)

 

[Freela]

There is a debate that guinea pigs are not rodents

I've heard that they could conceivably end up with their own caviamorph branch on the family tree, which would be cool! That said, I love rodents... when people ask if I'm a cat or dog person I have to cross that out and pencil in 'rodent' underneath. Ever since my first pet mouse when I was eight years old, I have been hooked... the only drawback is they don't live long enough. If someone could create a guinea pig and a hamster that lived to be twenty, I would be first in line!

 

[anyar.dris]

Most of my piggies came from a rescue. My first 2, Deedee and Meemee, were sisters and adopted from RSPCA. Hubby has been keeping guinea pigs for years before we met but he had always bought from petshops. When we met, I insisted on adopting. Since then, we mostly adopted (Timmy and Prince from RSPCA and Sierra from Hartwells in Northampton).

But there are circumstances that we had to get from petshops, Bunny and Cookie. When one passed away and we've seen a drastic change with the other piggies, we just wanted what's best for them as soon as possible. We were really lucky we never had problems bonding them. Bunny and Cookie were with the herd and playing and cuddling with the older piggies the same day we got them.

We are fortunate enough that we can travel far whenever we want to adopt piggies. But there are circumstances that other people can't so we need to be understanding with them. Many people aren't that much knowledgeable that guinea pig rescues exist. Even hubby never knew in the past despite keeping them for years. What matters is how you treat the piggies you own. We treat ours as kids. Even hubby prefers them than his own (adult) kids as he always say his kids are useless.