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The Guinea Pig Ranch?

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ceretrea said:
Of course you have a right to comment. And so do they. I would hope they continue to post on here rather than keep emailing me as it would help make things clearer to everyone.

Thank you for saying that you mean't both of us as I did read it that you meant me...perhaps I am being oversensitive as I am upset by the rescue suggesting I have lied in some way.

I hope I haven't offended you, I did post on here for opinions and I rather hoped I wasn't going to be attacked. Which you Cgilchrist obviously have not done, so I apologise for jumping the gun.
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Thats ok I'm not offended just wanted to make it clear and i can understand why you both would be upset and in writing things often don't come accross right I am constantly correcting things I say! rolleyes in the end it was only the 2 of you involved in the conversation and the rest of us have no way of knowing who said what. its the whole 'he said, she said thing' but lets hope you both can have a positive experience from the forum and not let this stop either of you from gaining all the knowledge, support and information from all the users on here. :(|)
 
Yes it is between the 2 of us, however I did not make it public!

I'm not going to sit here throwing stones in galss houses. However I would like to ask avaryone to look at the post 09.05.10 @ 09.49.

The thread clearly mentions my rehoming to children and re homing with bunnies. Could any body please tell me where on my site or forum that I have mentioned that I do either of these?

Sarah.
 
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Bunny said:
Yes it is between the 2 of us, however I did not make it public!

I'm not going to sit here throwing stones in galss houses. However I would like to ask avaryone to look at the post 09.05.10 @ 09.49.

The thread clearly mentions my rehoming to children and re homing with bunnies. Could any body please tell me where on my site or forum that I have mentioned that I do either of these?

Sarah.
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:x [*]Just to help and I am not being critical in any way to anyone[/*] :) the only bit I saw was on the Easter Holiday blog you said 'Duracell has gone to live with a bunny rabbit friend' which is a bit you clarified earlier and might not be clear that they are not in a cage together but is on here now you told us. if that makes sense mallethead
 
Bunny said:
Yes it is between the 2 of us, however I did not make it public!

I'm not going to sit here throwing stones in galss houses. However I would like to ask avaryone to look at the post 09.05.10 @ 09.49.

The thread clearly mentions my rehoming to children and re homing with bunnies. Could any body please tell me where on my site or forum that I have mentioned that I do either of these?

Sarah.
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Hello Sarah,

I'm not too sure about becoming a referee on this thread, but here goes :))

I have looked on your blog and each entry has a lot of information. To make it clearer that you do not rehome piggies and buns together, perhaps you could do separate updates for them? I can see that if someone read the blog quickly they might get the wrong impression as you switch quickly between the two species. You do also say that

Snowy and Tinkerbell have gone to live in Poole, they have a rabbit has a neighbour.

This could imply to some readers that you consider rabbits to be suitable companions for piggies.

I know that this might sound pedantic, but keeping pigs and buns together is a very sensitive issue.

Concerning adopting to children, a comment in your guestbook reads:

Thank you so much, the children are loving there new piggies,and the responsibilty of looking after them.

I expect that you did not adopt these piggies to children as sole carers for the pets, but to their parents. If it were my website, I would be tempted to edit comments in the guestbook so that potential adopters do not get the wrong idea. The fact that you have published this comment suggests that you think it is appropriate when it is not.

Most people would expect to have to edit comments from the general public. I edit a prospectus entry for my department in the university prospectus. We asked a student for a comment on her studies and she said: 'You only have one or two classes a day. The rest of the time you can do what you like'. I changed this to 'You always have one or two classes a day. The rest of the time i[B]s[/B] for independent study'.

I hope this helps you see where potential adopters might be coming from. It is harsh, but as soon as you make content public you are bound to be held up to scrutiny.
 
threelittlepigs said:
I do also think that you have read my post the wrong way. The point is that Guinea Pig Ranch have read some things in this thread that must be very difficult for them to hear. The point I made was that this IS the impression that they are giving potential adopters and the comments that you made in this thread are surely the thoughts that many potential adopters are having when they read the website. If, for some reason, they are having difficulty expressing exactly what their rehoming policies are then they must correct their website so that people know exactly how they work.

You have given your opinions on the rescue in good faith based on the information you were given by them and I, like other posters, am keen to understand if their is a misunderstanding and if so, how it came about and how it can be resolved.
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Yes I see, thank you for clarifying. And again to you, I apologise for having jumped the gun. And thank you for saying that I gave my opinion in good faith...as this was the intention from the original post through, not to sneakily defame a rescue, so I appreciate that.

I hope to see some clarification on the aspects raised here and do also hope this rescue continues to use the forum to grow and become well known, and well respected amongst the wider guinea pig owning world.
 
Bunny said:
Yes it is between the 2 of us, however I did not make it public!

I'm not going to sit here throwing stones in galss houses. However I would like to ask avaryone to look at the post 09.05.10 @ 09.49.

The thread clearly mentions my rehoming to children and re homing with bunnies. Could any body please tell me where on my site or forum that I have mentioned that I do either of these?

Sarah.
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Gees. Okay, please go back and actually read my original post to understand why i posted this topic on this forum in particular. I have asked this person to make their replies to me public due to the fact that i cannot prove what was said in private emails that were still being sent. At least this way any misinterpretation can easily be seen and if I need to be corrected then so be it.

A public forum has its uses in situation such as these and as the others here are trying to do, to show where there has been confusion. Then it becomes clear where I was coming from in the first place.
 
Hi threelittlepigs Thank you for the advice. I would never edit any comments posted on my guestbook as these are people's genuinely held opinions about my site, equally, I would never refuse to publish a message simply because I don't like what has been said. I believe it would be dishonest and unethical to do so. Why is it that housing bunnies and guineapigs together is such a sensitive issue? Some people agree with it, others don't, simple! It was actually my vet that recommended it to me after I told him about one of my piggies being lonely after his cage mate died. He now lives very happily with his rabbit friend, and they really get on well together. I have also adopted guineapigs and rabbits that have been living together. Having said that, I wouldn't recommend that to everyone as everybody's animals are different, it is just something that I have found works well for me and I am sure it has for other people too.
 
I'm sure you'll get lots of more detailed responses about this as it's a hot topic but there is a risk of serious injury to guinea pigs from both rabbit kicks and humping. Rabbits and guinea pigs have different dietary requirements regarding dry food. There are some other issues regarding communicable disease but I can't remember the details. I'm sure someone else will fill in the gaps in my knowledge.
As far as I know, none of the other rescues on the forum will rehome guinea pigs to live with rabbits.
 
Bunny said:
Hi threelittlepigs Thank you for the advice. I would never edit any comments posted on my guestbook as these are people's genuinely held opinions about my site, equally, I would never refuse to publish a message simply because I don't like what has been said. I believe it would be dishonest and unethical to do so. Why is it that housing bunnies and guineapigs together is such a sensitive issue? Some people agree with it, others don't, simple! It was actually my vet that recommended it to me after I told him about one of my piggies being lonely after his cage mate died. He now lives very happily with his rabbit friend, and they really get on well together. I have also adopted guineapigs and rabbits that have been living together. Having said that, I wouldn't recommend that to everyone as everybody's animals are different, it is just something that I have found works well for me and I am sure it has for other people too.
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From what I have read on here it is mainly because they have different dietry needs, bunnies have such strong back legs that even a harmless motion from them can cause serious damage to a piggie like broken backs, legs and jaws etc and bunnies can bully piggies. I'm sure there are more experienced people that can give you some further advice/reasons why
 
flips said:
I'm sure you'll get lots of more detailed responses about this as it's a hot topic but there is a risk of serious injury to guinea pigs from both rabbit kicks and humping. Rabbits and guinea pigs have different dietary requirements regarding dry food. There are some other issues regarding communicable disease but I can't remember the details. I'm sure someone else will fill in the gaps in my knowledge.
As far as I know, none of the other rescues on the forum will rehome guinea pigs to live with rabbits.
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You just beat me too it! :))
 
Hello Bunny,

I understand your thoughts about editing people's comments, but these parents imply that their children are sole carers for the guinea pigs. Children should not be allowed to be sole carers and the RSPCA has recently successfully prosecuted parents who have themselves not taken care of their children's pets (in this case, rabbits). In my opinion, rescues have a responsibility to convey to adopters that children should not be responsible for caring for pets and the remark in your guestbook implies that you do not see a problem with this. The Cavy Spirit website has a very good page on this and in my opinion all rescues must work with adopters to make sure they are educated about the relationship between children and guinea pigs:

http://cavyspirit.com/kidsandguineapigs.htm

This is a quotation from the page which is particularly relevant to the guestbook comment:

We can TEACH the child responsibility with feeding and cleaning chores.
No. Not at the expense of the animal. It doesn't take a degree in child psychology to come up with more sane ways to teach children responsibility. Any 'mistake made' by the child means a 'price paid' by the animal.

Concerning rabbits, it is now widely accepted that both guinea pigs and rabbits need company of their own kind. This is why most commonly rescues will not allow guinea pigs to be rehomed as companions to rabbits and I have to say that I would not adopt from a rescue who did not follow this policy. The two species have different behaviours: they speak different languages and they also have different dietary needs. I have two house rabbits of my own and whilst one appears to be very sweet natured I would never house her with my piggies because she has a very strong kick which could be fatal for a piggy. On the rare occasions when my pigs and buns have shared a run (supervised and for less than an hour while I am putting them in their carriers) I can read the growing frustration in my bunnies as the 'little people' cannot understand their body language signals and therefore wind them up by poking their snouts around when the bunnies want more personal space. My rabbits have actually turned their backs on the pigs in disgust in an attempt to block out what they feel is unreasonable behaviour. I am sure it would only be a matter of time before my dominant bunny started bullying the piggies.
 
As Pollie has said, there are many reasons why keeping guinea pigs and rabbits together is not advised, unfortunately it is one of those things that has happened for many years and it takes a while to educate people as to why it is not generally ok.

I would not rehome a guinea pig to live with a rabbit, for all of the reasons above. Yes, people could just go out and buy them from a petshop and put them together - but our job is to educate people. The same with the children thing. I've just had an email from someone wanting 2 pets for their children - and have replied, very politely, and pointing out that most of the guineas that come here for rehoming do so because 'the children got bored'. This doesn't mean I won't rehome to them - I just want them to think about it first. A lot of people don't realise the extent of guinea's life spans, and don't realise that their child who is 11 or 12 might be 18 or older by the time the guineas pass on.

Independent rescues all have their own rehoming criteria but it is up to us to ensure it's the highest standard possible, otherwise the guineas will just end up in rescue again further down the line.

Sophie
x
 
I personally think the OP should be commended for doing so much research and choosing the source of her new friends so carefully. In my mind, adopters have as much right to scrutinise the ethics and practices of a rescue as rescues do to check out potential adopters. It's important to ensure that you are on the same page with ethics and husbandry standards. As a rescue I would welcome that sort of enquiry from potential adopters and I would be willing to answer any questions and defend any decisions I make about the care of my animals.
 
As you have explained your very valid reasons for not wanting to edit your guestbook comments, may I suggest that you add a by line on the guestbook page stating that the comments are the views of the author?

Also, I think that you should also make it clear on your 'Rehoming and rescue' page what you require as standard for potential adopters to know beforehand what they will need in order to adopt from you (cage sizes for example). This would be a good place to pop a comment in that you only adopt to a responsible adult.

These two things would then cover yourself for any comments made by an adopter in your guestbook that suggests (even unintentionally) that the piggies were rehomed to children.
 
Thank you all for the advice given on this page, and I do apreciate it. However as I work very closely with my vets and regularly get asked by them to rehome animals that have brought to them when the owner can no longer look after them, I will be following the advice that I have been given by them. They have seen the accomodation I provide for my guineas and they are very happy with the way I run my rescue. I see so much conflicting advice on here, and so many people presenting their opinions as facts. When I started the guineapig ranch I sought advice from both the RSPCA and my vets as to the standard of care that is required for the animals and I will continue to follow the advice of professionals.
 
Bunny said:
Thank you all for the advice given on this page, and I do apreciate it. However as I work very closely with my vets and regularly get asked by them to rehome animals that have brought to them when the owner can no longer look after them, I will be following the advice that I have been given by them. They have seen the accomodation I provide for my guineas and they are very happy with the way I run my rescue. I see so much conflicting advice on here, and so many people presenting their opinions as facts. When I started the guineapig ranch I sought advice from both the RSPCA and my vets as to the standard of care that is required for the animals and I will continue to follow the advice of professionals.
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Thats your choice obviously. I am pleased I made the descision I did, I have no faith in the RSPCA's standards as so many times have I seen them fail miserably. I wholeheartedly do not agree and that is why I choose to adopt animals from rescues with whom I do agree.

Its a shame I will not receive an apology for the accusation of defamation...I was right afterall.
 
Bunny said:
Thank you all for the advice given on this page, and I do apreciate it. However as I work very closely with my vets and regularly get asked by them to rehome animals that have brought to them when the owner can no longer look after them, I will be following the advice that I have been given by them. They have seen the accomodation I provide for my guineas and they are very happy with the way I run my rescue. I see so much conflicting advice on here, and so many people presenting their opinions as facts. When I started the guineapig ranch I sought advice from both the RSPCA and my vets as to the standard of care that is required for the animals and I will continue to follow the advice of professionals.
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It is a legal requirement now that animals' needs are met in the form of the right "to live with, or apart from, other animals". The RSPCA have interpreted this as guinea pigs need same-species company, NOT that of a rabbit. If you look on their guinea pig advice leaflet you will see it tells you to keep them away from rabbits. So, if you are allowing them to be rehomed to live with or near rabbits then be aware that this is against current RSPCA advice. You should also read up on pasteurella, a disease rabbits can carry but not be affected by and pass to guinea pigs.

I find it quite sad that some people just decide to discount all the evidence there is NOT to keep these animals together on the basis of "well, someone said it's ok". It's not fine and that's a fact.
 
Bunny- You may not agree with some of the issues that have been raised on here today, but I hope that you will take some time to think them over and do a little research for yourself.


The forum is a place where opinions and experiences are shared and discussed; we don't always agree but each of us can up our own minds on any subject.
 
my say

Kinda curious to know how can you judge some one by there web-site?

Perhap we should only use people with well designed site.. although commenting on somebody's grammer on a public forum could be considered extremely rude. Lets just hope the site owner hasnt any learning difficulty, as i for one would feel pretty bad about highlighting it on here.

As for spelling all the regs out on the site lets face it how many people are going to read it all ? i personaly do not, as i'm lazy which most people will be. More often than not, you look at the piggys then you email or phone asking if you can view ect.

I have dealt with different rescues, one which said i wasn't suitable to adopt. Thats fine and that is their choice but i would not bring up the subject on here.

With the gut feeling thats fine, i agree, but once again is personal opinion. I may not feel right about where other go but it would not be commented on.
We don't all feel the same or think the same.

Childern and pets ? The adult has to be willing to look after it yes. My daughter really wanted a female guinea and wanted to call her Bella, so yes i got it for her, and say it is her guinea pig. She has to check the food and water(she is 3) and i think they learn a lot from this. However i have adoped it knowing i will have to do alot of the care. so with that statement was the rescue wrong for letting me take her?
Common sense says we know that nobody would release a pet into a childs care without parental support.. in fact.. if anyone truly believe's otherwise, the lack of intelligence speaks volumes.

I have adoped from the guinea pig ranch and have had some checks to ensure my cages fit for purpose. Also sarah advised me and helped me with piggys i got from other places. She did explain everything to me before i took the guinea pigs and made sure i understood the basic care ect. Sarah never tells you how to do it as every piggy is different and has it's own needs.

Also my guinea pigs love her. i had one very unhappy piggy i tried lots of places for help for months with no help. I was talked down to and told by some i should give him up. I could really rip that place apart ( especially the 5 or 6 word replies via email, heck, i type more by putting a greeting in mine ) but again i wouldn't dream of it. Sarah was a star and help me. She found him a cage mate as well. I now wouldn't trust any one else with any of my guinea pigs ( and no , we are not related ).

i'm sorry that some one had a bad expericne that is a real shame. I do believe that wires got cross on both sides. This is no ones fault. Also the post was done to see what people know and yes thats the right thing to do. However it turned into a witch hunt which never should have happened.

Also this is between the two of them and should have stayed that way. Others on here haven't heard of the place let alone visted. So please before judging people go vist the place or talk direct to the person running it.

Sorry for the long post but needed to be said.

Kinda hope the mod will delete this thread before long )
 
chrissie said:
Perhap we should only use people with well designed site.. although commenting on somebody's grammer on a public forum could be considered extremely rude. Lets just hope the site owner hasnt any learning difficulty, as i for one would feel pretty bad about highlighting it on here.

As for spelling all the regs out on the site lets face it how many people are going to read it all ? i personaly do not, as i'm lazy which most people will be. More often than not, you look at the piggys then you email or phone asking if you can view ect

Common sense says we know that nobody would release a pet into a childs care without parental support.. in fact.. if anyone truly believe's otherwise, the lack of intelligence speaks volumes.
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With regards to your three points above...

I never implied that the lady running this rescue had learning difficulties. I merely said the I personally think that correct spelling gives a more professional feel to a business.

My point about adding the standard rehoming requirements was only a suggestion to help reduce confusion over other comments on the site.

I think the point people were trying to express is that NO animal should be released into a childs care - with or without parental support.
 
I have just copied this from my vets website regarding rabbit companionship

Keeping rabbits with guinea pigs is not ideal. Rabbits can carry a bacteria called Bordatella bronchoseptica, which causes disease in guinea pigs. Also, rabbits often bully guinea pigs.

As has already been said rabbits also carry pasturella which can also result in the death of guinea pigs.
 
Just to clarify to Chrissie whom I would suggest reread the original few posts.

I did not judge this website based on grammar. I judged based on the fact that she was willing to give me animals straight off the bat no questions asked, to keep them in a cage unsuitable for even one, and that I did not agree with her rehoming policies. She vehemently denied those policies only to admit them later on, after causing such a fuss.

[*]I did not get rejected from adopting from them and I would be interested to know where on earth you got that from.[/*]

I feel that my 'judgements' have proved completely valid especially given that there is plenty of information that hasn't made it this far. I am giving Bunny a chance to stop attacking me behind the scenes and we will see if this prevails.

Believe or not, this was not engineered as a revenge attack, again perhaps I am reading you wrong but I get the distinct impression you believe this lady turnedme down and this is the result. Again I urge to reread the original first page.

You are entitled to you opinion, I would just hope it was based on truth for a start.

I don't believe it is rude to comment on dodgy website spellings giving your a bad impression, it would have been rude if we had all stood round taking the mickey...which didn't happen.
 
ceretrea said:
[*]I did not get rejected from adopting from them and I would be interested to know where on earth you got that from.[/*]

I feel that my 'judgements' have proved completely valid especially given that there is plenty of information that hasn't made it this far. I am giving Bunny a chance to stop attacking me behind the scenes and we will see if this prevails.
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Chrissie states she got turned down by a rescue.

"I have dealt with different rescues, one which said i wasn't suitable to adopt. Thats fine and that is their choice but i would not bring up the subject on here."

Thats were that statement came from, she at no point is referring to yourself being turned down.

Too be fair we have had a very lengthy debate in regards to this matter and everyone is entitled to there opinions but I see this thread going no were fast.

Everyone can see there are 2 side's to every story, I personally ceretrea applaud you for taking so much care when searching for pigs, it shows a true piggy slave.

In regards to Bunny, Bunny has been given some very positive advice here, as Daftscots lass has suggested I would also suggest she contacted the RSPCA in regards to there policies of Rabbits and Guinea Pigs living together. She clearly stated Duracell was not a bun but then later admits she see's no problem with them living together. My question to you Bunny is if you see no problem with the two species living together, why denie it at first only later to state that your vet and Rspca state it is ok?

I personally do not believe that any 2 species should live together, as they would never meet in the wild, as someone once told me "You wouldn't keep a hamster and a Gerbil in the same cage?" It's the same thing, 2 entirely different species should not be kept together for numerous reasons already stated.
 
flips said:
Bunny- You may not agree with some of the issues that have been raised on here today, but I hope that you will take some time to think them over and do a little research for yourself.


The forum is a place where opinions and experiences are shared and discussed; we don't always agree but each of us can up our own minds on any subject.
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I just want to second this and hope that things are taken on board not much more to add as it is all a bit of mud slinging now and i appreciate people have their opinions and have a right to share them but sometimes we have to draw a line and agree to disagree.

Bunny I hope you do think a bit about what has been said about mixing buns and piggies, at the end of the day most of us are not here to criticise just help out and advise and most people have had lots of experience with piggies, buns and vets (not suggesting you haven't) so it is not just opinions the advice is mostly based on fact and everyone on here just wants what is best for the animals and no matter how long we have been doing something you can always learn new things. Numerous vets and organisations have acknowledged that buns and piggies should not live together and I would hope that the evidence should at least be considered.
 
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