Pet stores improving?

Post Reply
User avatar
Cheshire Catfish

Post   » Fri Jun 06, 2008 4:36 pm


Feylin, that is a terrible horror story. It sounds like she *thought* she was doing it right... but I just can't understand how a person can decide "yes, I should go out and get 30 of these animals and start breeding them in my house" without doing enough research to know what they need. It's amazing.... but it happens all the time, doesn't it?... look at how many posts you get on forums that say, "I just bought animal X. What does it eat?"

Honestly though, if it were me, I don't think I would take a breeder's word for it that they are "treating the animals right" - I would insist on seeing the breeders myself, same as if I were buying a puppy or anything else.

EDIT: Let me clarify that last statement was hypothetical- if I get any other pets they will be adoptions.

User avatar
Feylin

Post   » Fri Jun 06, 2008 10:54 pm


The lady IS allowed to own animals, just not any more breeding animals as a business. She can have litters if she does not intend to sell them for profit. She gave up all of her breeding stock pigs voluntarillary (sp). I think she has a dog. The petstore now doesn't have a source for pigs due to this and Oprah's show on puppy mills- people came in demanding that the petstore not buy anything from mills. So, at least there are no more pigs being sold!

I think she was in total shock and gave up her animals right away. The pigs hair pretty much covered the big sores, and the little stuff always healed. She learned from books and thought she was doing right. The cages were clean, the pigs always had fresh hay and water. Sometimes babies died, but to her they were obviously not right (lethals) and she had no clue about the genetics.

So yeah, I could be mean and say she was a complete idiot for not researching guinea pig care. But. She DID and she found sources that are wrong. She wasn't one of those breeders that has 80 pigs in a shed out back- just a lady with 10 or so of each sex who had a "hobby".

Anyways- you caught me at a bad time on this topic. Alice, the sow, died a week ago and I adopted out 2 of the worst boars yesterday which made me drag up all their vet reccords and remember t all. I was swayed by the hugenormous amount of niceness in the thread so far (on your part) or I would have been really not a nice person about it.

I think that you do not get it at all. I also think that you are here and at your pet shop in good faith, though, and doing what you know to be best. I can't ask anything else from anyone and being a not nice person never accomplishes anything. I can't really fault you for not getting it- I didn't get it until I experienced it. And honestly? I think I had too much experience. Reflecting back on cleaning up this "responsible breeder's" mess, I am just drained emotionally not to mention financially (plus my family thinks i'm freaking insane).

Please stick around here and share with us about your shop and pig/ fish/ crapweasel. I think you would be an excellent person to advocate for guinea pigs once you have your experience to help you get it.

rpaws

Post   » Sat Jun 07, 2008 11:03 am


Feylin,
Thank you for being able to drain yourself financially and emotionall enough to help those poor piggies. I think you are freaking wonderful to do what you did.

What you described about those poor guinea pigs is what I have seen in photos of puppy mills. The 'for sale' puppy stock looks so nice and cute...but then you see the parents and it's a living horror show on earth.

User avatar
Quinc-Emma

Post   » Wed Jul 09, 2008 1:25 pm


I was heading out of town on the weekend and noticed our local pet store had a sign up, I glanced at it and it said

"Kids bored this summer? Why not get them a pet! Hamsters & Guinea Pigs coming soon"

The pet store is totally disgusting. It is very dirty inside, the fishtanks are green, they keep small animals in little aquariums, I could just go on and on about how wrong the place is.

There guinea pigs come from a breeder, I know this because I went in to get some emergency hay and they had a very very sick looking pig on the floor (With a hamster wheel) so I asked about him/her. They told me it was a girl when really it was a boy (I had to show them how to properly sex him), then they went on to tell me he came from a breeder and that is where they get all their pigs.

Anyways back to the sign that made me so mad! Why say that? A small pet is just going to provide maybe a months worth of entertainment for a small child then they will be bored again! Once school starts up they will forget all about the damn pet!

I absolutely HATE this pet store and I hate that our small town would even continue to shop there!

User avatar
sus4rabbitsnpigs

Post   » Wed Jul 09, 2008 2:10 pm


All pet stores get their animals from breeders.

rpaws

Post   » Wed Jul 09, 2008 2:21 pm


"Kids bored this summer? Why not get them a pet! Hamsters & Guinea Pigs coming soon"


What happens when fall comes? Instead tell them what I was told when I was whining about being bored, "How about cleaning your room?" Stops the bored talk.

User avatar
Quinc-Emma

Post   » Wed Jul 09, 2008 2:36 pm


Yes I know sus4rabbitsnpigs, I just typed it wrong.

Thats what I got told too rpaws. There are so many other things to do during the summer rather then getting a temporary pet.

Post Reply