Rpsca Guinea Pig Leaflet

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piggyfan

Has anybody seen the stupid leaflet the RSPCA has produced about guinea pigs? Here are some of the quotes.
It is best to choose litter mates of the same sex

Don't breed from your guinea pig unless you are absolutely sure you can find homes for the offspring

Food bowls need to be washed in warm water with a mild detergent at least once a week

Bottles should be washed weekly

Guinea pigs need between 50-80 GMs of cereal each day. Ready mixed guinea pig food contains broad bran, crushed oats, maize and linseed cake. You can also feed them wholemeal bread and bran.

A bald patch in the middle of the back that neither spreads nor itches may be the result of an over rich diet

I cannot believe the rubbish printed! You have to wash bottles and bowls daily not weekly. Bread is dangerous! The whole leaflet was geared towards having them outside in a hutch and using shavings. It seems they still have the old concepts of guinea pig care.

This is very disappointing as I thought an organisation like that would understand a guinea pigs needs.
 
Sadly the RSPCA are in my experience, unless you come across a very good local small animal branch, not the least bit interested if it is smaller than a rabbit. And the knowledge of my local branch is appallingly bad, it is dangerously wrong. When people reach out to the RSPCA for advice it is because they are a trusted charity. Its not hard to google this stuff and they should NOT be getting it wrong!
 
Katherine said:
Sounds rather like a little booklet I had on guinea pig care as a child back in the 80's - the RSPCA doesn't seem to have moved on very much!
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I think I have the same book, although I am going to get mine an outdoor run for the summer, and have to grow some grass for them to graze on.
 
There is one good article of the RSPCA that has been written by somebody who knows their stuff, and that is the one about rabbits and guinea pigs - the rest on your website you can sadly forget. Worse than useless! Like boars should be litter mates... etc. :(
 
Ummmm should boars NOT be litter mates? Mine are. They are brothers... have been together all their lives?

I'll be honest and say I don't clean out the food bowl every single day... bad slave :-(
 
BeautifulBoyz said:
Ummmm should boars NOT be litter mates? Mine are. They are brothers... have been together all their lives?

I'll be honest and say I don't clean out the food bowl every single day... bad slave :-(
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To be honest, whether they are litter brothers or not doesn't make any difference as to their fall out rate as subadults. If anything, an age gap/adult-youngster combination of boars is a much more stable combination! the key to any successful piggy bond is character compatibility. Sadly, too much of the RSPCA advice is 80ies breeder advice... :(
 
Wiebke said:
To be honest, whether they are litter brothers or not doesn't make any difference as to their fall out rate as subadults. If anything, an age gap/adult-youngster combination of boars is a much more stable combination! the key to any successful piggy bond is character compatibility. Sadly, too much of the RSPCA advice is 80ies breeder advice... :(
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That's interesting, I didn't know any of this. Thank you.
 
They probably mean disinfected weekly which for the bottles is what I do, milton once a week and rinsed out every other day typically. But yes what a pile of crap.
 
Peter gurneys book he says he feeds them brown bread soaked in milk! I have never done this nor do I plan to!
 
Dammed if they do and dammed if they dont. My advice would be "Use Your Common Sense" and get on with whatever you think is right !
 
If someone can find a reliable email address we could all send emails complaining about this outdated leaflet which is more 70's than current!
 
I am sure the RSPCA have bigger and better things on their hands ! We are all gulity of the to quick to complain to slow to praise !
 
I'm sorry but if they didnt have current advice, they should not have produced a leaflet. The RSPCA have people working for them in small branches that actually know their stuff, and a care leaflet would not take a massive amount of time to produce with correct information. With the amount of public money they get youd think they would have access to google.
 
I agree - there are excellent RSPCA branches with very experienced piggy people that operate to the highest current standards and that practice pretty much the same that we advise on the forum.

The RSPCA are trying to do as much as possible with the money they are getting/fund raising. But in this case, I don't think that just printing off old inadequate leaflets again will help their cause.
 
i would have thought some of the advice was actually dangerous to their health as well or am i just overreacting
 
x-vic-x said:
These leaflets are no longer being produced, they are the really old ones from years ago there is a new booklet currently being sorted. The dog, cat and rabbit ones have all been redone and I believe the guinea pig one is next in line.
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x-vic-x said:
These leaflets are no longer being produced, they are the really old ones from years ago there is a new booklet currently being sorted. The dog, cat and rabbit ones have all been redone and I believe the guinea pig one is next in line.
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That is great news! I know what a great job you and several other branches are doing on the piggy front!

PS: Is there a way we could get hold of the new leaflet when it comes out. I am very interested in intergrating RSPCA recommendation whenever possible, like I have done with rabbits & guinea pigs information from the RSPCA website - which is very well written!
 
Perhaps one of you should write a leaflet for the RSPCA and send it to them so that they can publish?
 
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