Guinea Pigs need our help!

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Henle15

Post   » Sun Aug 05, 2007 9:32 pm


To all Guinea Pig enthusiasts:

Recently it was brought to my attention that Petco will be having a Hamster Derby on Saturday, September 8th, 2007. After the Derby there will be a critter run for rats, gerbils, guinea pigs, and chinchillas where those animals must be placed in a ball to race each other. As all or most of you know, those exercise balls are extremely bad for guinea pigs and Chinchillas. I have since written a letter to Petco informing them of this bad idea and hope they will reconsider their idea of having guinea pigs and Chinchillas placed in exercise balls.
Please help me and all those guinea pigs out there and write a letter or call them about this. Let them know that they are promoting dangerous activities for Guinea Pigs and how bad those exercise balls are for the spines and feet of Guinea Pigs.
If you don’t want or have the time to write a letter or call, please email me and I have a generic letter written up that you can send by just changing it to fit your thoughts at the end. I also encourage you to go to your local Petco on that date and let everyone know how harmful those exercise balls are for guinea pigs.

Thank you,

Jeremy Henle
Crazy Cavies Guinea Pig Rescue
crazycavies@hotmail.com

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rshevin

Post   » Sun Aug 05, 2007 9:37 pm


I'm not positive, but I believe these balls are bad for ratties too.

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Jennicat

Post   » Sun Aug 05, 2007 9:41 pm


They're also bad for chins, if I remember right, because chinchillas overheat so easily.

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Nailfoot

Post   » Sun Aug 05, 2007 10:02 pm


Is this a national thing, or only happen at a single local store?

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mmercedesmom
Supporter in '09

Post   » Sun Aug 05, 2007 10:22 pm


It is a national thing, because we just saw that flyer in our local one, while doing an adoption event!!!

They had a whole table set up with those balls and the flyers. We figured it must be national since gerbils were listed and those are illegal here.

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sus4rabbitsnpigs

Post   » Sun Aug 05, 2007 10:27 pm


They have them regularly. I have seen flyers in different Petno's. But usually they just have hamsters :(

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Jennicat

Post   » Sun Aug 05, 2007 10:31 pm


It seems to be national, it's linked on their homepage. *shudder*

Henle15

Post   » Mon Aug 06, 2007 12:17 am


Yes, usually they only have the Hamster thing...but this time they are including guinea pigs and chins and other "exotic" animals. That is why I am so mad...I didn't mind them doing the Hamster races, but now they have decided to include animals that do not belong in exercise balls.

They also sent this on their portal to all employees this is quoted word for word " customer owned guinea pigs will have the chance to compete in the upcoming Critter Run race. Guinea pigs will be able to participate in appropriately sized plastic ball which gives the guinea pig plenty of space and air to move around comfortably and safely. An older version of the guinea pig care sheet contained a statement that placing a guinea pig in the plastic balls may lead to injury; this statement has been removed as it is not accurate. The newly updated guinea pig care sheet can be found on your store portal. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the guinea pigs participation in the critter run then contact your RCAC".

So they are now saying it's safe for plastic balls to be used for guinea pigs.

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Mon Aug 06, 2007 11:29 am


Henle15, we need someone to create a printable sheet that can be handed out or that could be held up.

NOT FOR GUINEA PIGS!!

Exercise balls cause injury!
Never put your guinea pig in an exercise ball.
Exercise balls are a dangerous choice for guinea pigs as they may cause injury to their spine, legs, or feet.

The only people to benefit from exercise balls are the manufacturers who push them!

And a pic of an exercise ball with a big X on it, a plus, and a picture/sketch of a guinea pig.

Could someone throw this together as a doc or pdf, I can stick it up here for downloading and put a link to it and a page concerning this crappy idea on the front page of the site.

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Sef
I dissent.

Post   » Mon Aug 06, 2007 12:43 pm


See how this looks.

What link did you want on there, Lynx?

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Mon Aug 06, 2007 1:32 pm


It's fab!!

I put it here:
https://www.guinealynx.info/pdf/exercise_ball.pdf

I'll work on a front page link to it today (will add thanks to you for composing the pdf).

Oh, maybe a good idea to put Guinea Lynx and a link to it somewhere, eh? Visit Guinea Lynx for more information on proper care of guinea pigs?

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Annie K

Post   » Mon Aug 06, 2007 1:49 pm


I sent off an e-mail to them immediately. How irresponsible of them to promote this unsafe practice! Unfortunately, I'm not surprised, just discouraged and disgusted.

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