So cross at uninformed owners

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Tommies Mam

Tommies Mam

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I was in the pet shop the other day getting hay for my boys, there was a guy in front of me and he asked if mine was for guinea pigs as well I said yes his reply was that he got through loads of hay as they love it, I said that mine do too and that 80 percent of their diet needs to be hay but they also need fresh veg at least once a day.

His reply was oh really? I just give them guinea pig muesli, I explained that while they need that as well fresh veg was vital to their diet as they need vitamin C as they can't make their own. He picked up his bag of hay and said oh I might give them veg every other day and walked out. Felt so cross that he had pets and wasn't bothered to find out what their needs are or make the effort to meet them. I even told him the best times to visit the supermarket to get the bargain veggies.
 
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That's really sad! Apart from the obvious health issues, watching a piggie crunch and munch its way through a pile of veggies is brilliant!
 
TBH I don't know what annoys me more, whether its the man for not looking up this kind of information either before getting the pigs or as soon as he got them, or the fact that he didn't really appreciate the advice and will only look at giving them veg maybe every other day. Mine get a little salad twice daily
 
My friend recently bought guinea pigs from PAH (I told her to rescue but no, she couldn't wait ..) anyway, the other day I asked her what veg she fed them and she said 'a bit of cucumber or carrot every now and then, do they need veggies every day?' and when I told her she was like 'oh, woops..' grr. Then the worst thing ever was she said 'I really want to 'accidently' put a male in there with them' I was like excuse me? what? :|
 
The problem many people have is they listen to bad advice from pet shops.

When i bought my eldest boy from P@H they gave me very little in the way of dietary advice - all they said is they need pellets and hay all of the time. When i asked about fruit and veg (when they should have it and how often) i was told 'that's up to you, you can give them some broccoli and carrots as a treat every now and then' :{
 
popcornpigs said:
my friend recently bought guinea pigs from pah (i told her to rescue but no, she couldn't wait ..) anyway, the other day i asked her what veg she fed them and she said 'a bit of cucumber or carrot every now and then, do they need veggies every day?' and when i told her she was like 'oh, woops..' grr. then the worst thing ever was she said 'i really want to 'accidently' put a male in there with them' i was like excuse me? What? :|
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! What?!?!

Argh!
 
Personally, while I would agree that the gentleman is not providing an ideal diet for his cavies, I do believe that the gentleman is providing a satisfactory diet for his cavies, particularly, as you have stated yourself, Tommies Mam, a cavy's diet should consist primarily of a good quality hay. However, the gentleman's cavies should receive an adequate amount of vitamin C providing the commercial dry food on offer is designed for cavies, and remains fresh.

Unfortunately, I would imagine that the gentleman felt somewhat intimidated, patronised, and offended by being told that the care he is providing for his beloved companions is not good enough. Perhaps, in future, you could be more tactile, 'Yes, my cavies also eat a large amount of hay, and they adore it almost as much as they adore their fresh food. . . My cavies particularly enjoy eating. . .' Personally, the primary reason that I feed my cavies fresh food is to provide stimulation.

I do not wish to cause offence, and, perhaps, I have witnessed too many severely neglected animals. However, while I believe it is important to educate less knowledgeable individuals than ourselves, it is also important to remember that there is a vast amount of conflicting information available, our way of caring for our cavies is not necessarily 'right', and, when taking everything into consideration, all that is truly important is that a cavy remains healthy - and happy - throughout its life.
 
As much as it's frustrating that the gentleman didnt realise his piggies needed fresh veg; look at the positives. Your advice now means that those little ones will probably get a much better diet! You should be proud of pointing him in the right direction despite his reaction. He was probably a little embarrassed and quite rightly so.
 
Guinea-pigGaga said:
Personally, while I would agree that the gentleman is not providing an ideal diet for his cavies, I do believe that the gentleman is providing a satisfactory diet for his cavies, particularly, as you have stated yourself, Tommies Mam, a cavy's diet should consist primarily of a good quality hay. However, the gentleman's cavies should receive an adequate amount of vitamin C providing the commercial dry food on offer is designed for cavies, and remains fresh.

Unfortunately, I would imagine that the gentleman felt somewhat intimidated, patronised, and offended by being told that the care he is providing for his beloved companions is not good enough. Perhaps, in future, you could be more tactile, 'Yes, my cavies also eat a large amount of hay, and they adore it almost as much as they adore their fresh food. . . My cavies particularly enjoy eating. . .' Personally, the primary reason that I feed my cavies fresh food is to provide stimulation.


I do not wish to cause offence, and, perhaps, I have witnessed too many severely neglected animals. However, while I believe it is important to educate less knowledgeable individuals than ourselves, it is also important to remember that there is a vast amount of conflicting information available, our way of caring for our cavies is not necessarily 'right', and, when taking everything into consideration, all that is truly important is that a cavy remains healthy - and happy - throughout its life.
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I feel I need to defend myself here. I would like to reassure anyone that I was not intimidating in my approach I was simply giving advice in a conversational manner what you describe above is roughly the way I explained it, it did not become apparent that he did not give his piggy veggies until I said that mine get regularly get veg and he was surprised so I explained that they need veggies everyday for their vitamin C I said to him what mine loved (the woman serving also joined in naming some veggies they like) I also said that I usually go shopping late on to get their veggies cheap. I don't see how what I said could be taken as intimidating etc
 
Sodapops said:
The problem many people have is they listen to bad advice from pet shops.

When i bought my eldest boy from P@H they gave me very little in the way of dietary advice - all they said is they need pellets and hay all of the time. When i asked about fruit and veg (when they should have it and how often) i was told 'that's up to you, you can give them some broccoli and carrots as a treat every now and then' :{
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I think this is the point really, people buy pets from people they believe to be "experts" and ask their advice, how many people on here have started out with 80cm cages sold to them?

Before we got our boys I called a local rescue and was given some dubious information regarding cage size, and told that two boars couldn't live together unless they were born/brought up together (which resulted in me buying brothers) , the place I then bought them from told me what dried food and hay they were on, but failed to mention veggies. My old piggies were on shavings their entire life as until I spoke to Jo at the rescue my new boys came from I had no idea this wasn't good for them.

Yes many people are uninformed, but this isn't because they fail to find out any information before getting their pets, often they put faith in those who "should" know and believe that they are doing the right thing, that guy may well go away and read up some more and decide to give his piggies daily veg after your comment.
 
When the gentleman it became apparent that the guy didn't realise that they needed veg my first thought was that i bet he got them from Pets at Home I know from reading their guinea pig care book that the advise given on diet doesn't state that they should be given daily fresh veggies just to ensure that they have dried food with added vitamin c
 
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Firstly, I am sorry that you feel you are required to defend yourself, Tommies Mam.

Unfortunately, people are often naturally intimidated by others who appear to be more knowledgeable than themselves.

However, personally, I believe to become annoyed by an individual not providing an ideal diet for their cavies is insensitive, and potentially harmful, to the rescue industry - You are not required to search the forum in great depth to truly see neglected cavies.

However, I believe it is our responsibility, as experienced cavy owners, to not only educate other people less knowledgeable than ourselves, but to ensure that other individuals realise what a privilege it is to be owned by a cavy. If we continually criticise the care other people provide for their cavies, potentially, we risk awarding cavies with a reputation that will make them inaccessible to the general public.

Again, I do not wish to cause offence. However, when you have worked with severely abused/ neglected animals, unfortunately, you become annoyed when people begin to criticise trivial care issues.
 
well at least these poor guinea pigs will get some veg now...sounds like they never had any before...It makes me mad too that people just do not know how to care for their pet properley!
 
And yet, you have declared that this gentleman is - at present - not fit to own a cavy, on a public internet forum.
 
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