Random thought - hypocrisy and judgementalness on forums/online

[Hotdogjohnson]

Hi all,

A random thought popped into my head, and just wanted to get some opinion and thoughts on the matter.

A lot of people on forums (this and others), ban the discussion of breeding guinea pigs and are against breeding.

Yet, at the same time, are against buying guinea pigs from pet stores.

So people are against guinea pigs being bought from private breeders and both pet stores?

So, where are we supposed to get guinea pigs from? A rescue 20 miles away that either sells guinea pigs with social problems, as a pair, needs you to jump though hoops and forms...

Sorry if this is ranting, but I think if people want to buy from breeders or pet stores then that is fine.
(For the record I have one purchased pet store piggy and 1 adopted pet store piggy.. both are healthy and happy.)

 

[Swissgreys]

People are free to get guinea pigs from where every they choose, and all guinea pig owners are welcome on this Forum.

Talk of breeding is banned as there are simply too many unwanted piggies in rescue and being dumped on a daily basis.

In most countries 'breeders' are totally unregulated, and many produce poorly bred piggies , kept in awful conditions, who often arrive with a myriad of health problems (as many members of this Forum will attest to).
Encouraging people to purchase guinea pigs from random strangers who have chosen to call themselves 'breeders' would be plain irresponsible - education about this is key to allowing people to make informed choices.

Whilst there are an unlimited supply of guinea pigs available from responsible rescues who only offer fully vetted guinea pigs to responsible homes and offer a lifetime of back up support, this will be the route that makes the most sense to encourage people to consider.

The fact that there are places with literally zero guinea pigs in rescue, and who still have far higher rehoming standards, and only allow fully vetted breeders who face strict yearly inspections shows that systems that encourage responsible ownership do work.

 

[Claire W]

Hi, it’s not that the forum is against buying from pet stores or private breeders but just promote rescue. Going rescue, you have lifetime support and are guaranteed not to get a pregnant pig etc

I’m sure that most pigs in rescue originally came from pet stores or private breeders. My Eliza was a pet store pig and she lived until she was nearly 7 and didn’t have many health problems. Edward was brought from a pet store as a trio of boars but he was badly bullied so was handed in to a rescue where he was neutered.

Everyone is welcome on the forum regardless of where your piggies came from and whether you have piggies or not

 

[weepweeps]

I think if you can adopt one from a rescue then adopt one. They will be sexed and healthy. But if you can’t, then I personally feel you are still rescuing them from a pet shop or breeder. I got my first two piggies from a breeder. One unfortunately passed away quickly. Maybe because of bad breeding . So I then had to panic buy a friend for the remaining piggy. This was just before lockdown 2 and the three pet shops in my area wouldn’t sell a lone pig to me even though I already had a piggy. So it was back to a different breeder.

But I think that intentional breeding is wrong as there are already lots of piggies waiting for homes.

 

[Eriathwen]

My 24 are from a range of places, some from various pet shops (including my 2 newest girls) some from breeders, some I've adopted from rescues, one was given to me by the rspca and the rest I've rescued myself and nursed back to health. I have never been, nor felt, judged by anyone on the forum for where I've got them from.
However quite rightly, pregnancy information on the forum is reserved for people who have found themselves in the situation of babies through no fault of their own. People intentionally breeding should not be getting their information from the internet. They should be getting healthy animals from an established, ethical breeder who will act as their mentor and guide, in person, alongside a good exotics vet. Reading info on a few websites then putting some male and female animals together does not make a responsible breeder and shouldn't be encouraged.

 

[Lady Kelly]

Definitely no judgement or hypocrisy from what I have seen. Of my last 4 piggies - 1 was from a rescue, 1 from a breeder and 2 from the rescue section of pets at home.

The difference for me is that once you have some experience and know what challenges you may face or know what questions you want to ask it makes it easier to make a decision on whether you are happy to re-home from a particular breeder etc. I questioned the breeder I purchased from quite a lot and got the tour of her set up, I used gut feeling for whether I thought she was being truthful and wouldn't have purchased from her if I thought that was the case.

Of course I would be much happier if both breeders and rescues where regulated in the UK because actually some rescues are far from being a rescue as well. When I was inexperienced I wasn't aware of that and travelled some distance for a piggy only to learn that she had been born in the rescue with two boars because they wanted to be able to re-home the mum as part of a pair - only mum died as a result of giving birth.

There is definitely a lot of work the UK could do to improve animal welfare standards from all angles

 

[Sue and Smartie]

When I needed a friend for Kanga there were no pigs at all in local rescues. I would have had to travel 2 - 3 hours. So I asked around to see if anyone knew of any local piggies needing a new home and was put in touch with someone who had a sow he no longer wanted to breed from. That's how I got Fifi.
I have been keeping pigs for 18 years (nearly all rescue pigs) and felt slightly conflicted about the lack of piggies in rescue centres. Good for piggy-kind but it wasn't great news for Kanga!

 

[Freela]

I think that this forum, while pro-rescue, is pretty open to the fact that it's not an option for everyone, depending on place and circumstance. Where I live there are very limited rescues that have guinea pigs and they really only rehome pairs that they have pre-bonded. I had no idea about guinea pig rescues when I got my first pair, and since then have always been in the position of needing a single piggy to bond with a bereaved remaining pig (I would love to adopt a pair and try to make a trio, but I don't have the space for that, unfortunately.) All my pigs have thus been pet store pigs. Honestly, no one on this forum has ever made me feel bad about it, though some people in my off-line life who have rescue dogs/cats have tried to do so.

Ultimately, it would be great if no one was out there breeding animals for profit until every homeless pet had a safe and stable home, but that doesn't mean that every prospective owner is able to adopt from rescue, or that pigs who arise from those circumstances don't deserve safe and stable homes too.

 

[VickiA]

There is no judgment on here about where pigs come from. We are all about how you keep them. Yes, we are pro rescue, which means that we would always advocate looking to adopt over shopping for piggies, but we are pragmatic - not everyone has access to a rescue, and even if they do, there’s no guarantee the rescue will have a piggy or piggies to suit your needs.

 

[Sweet Potato]

I'm glad this forum takes the stance it does when it comes to this topic. I feel like if forums allow the discussion of breading it opens doors for breaders promoting their Guinea pigs over rescue animals, discussions promoting certain breeds as being more valuable than others and novice breeders looking for advice without knowing what they're getting themselves into. Banning breading talk keeps the forum about the value these animals bring to our lives and not their financial worth and I appreciate that.