Finding Your New Pig & Avoiding Pet Stores
So now we have a spacious piggie cage and we know the importance of piggie friends so it's time to find our new pig(s)!
This article covers tracking down your new piggie, as well as the prickly pet store issue and why it's such a big deal in guinea pig communities in particular.
Adopting A Piggie:
Like many companion animals, guinea pigs are incredibly overpopulated. Sadly, many hundreds if not thousands of these lovely animals are put to sleep due to lack of homes. In some countries (such as the US and the UK for example) the problem is worse than in other countries, but the fact remains that where piggies are sold, there are piggies being surrendered, abandoned or turned loose.
Guinea pig rescues are the best place to get your new piggie from. Rescues have all kinds of pigs, long haired, short haired, curly haired, and in all varieties and ages from baby pups to retired lap pigs. It's a complete myth that rescue piggies are in any way damaged or behaviourally challenged. Pigs are incredibly strong mentally in that they can forget about bad humans in the past, and love on new humans in their future. Any pigs that do have problems are permanent pigs of the rescue, that is, full time residents who are not looking for a home.
"Apparently", says Purdie, "You can get quite exotic looking piggies from rescues!"
Many pigs that come into rescues are pregnant, and so pups are usually available all year round. Remember though that pups don't stay little for long at all, and many older pigs are looking for homes to be loved in. Rescues almost always adopt out in pairs - which saves on introduction stress! - but if you approach them looking for a pig to add to an existing pig or pig(s) they will happily work with you to find a good personality match.
Rescue pigs are also checked thoroughly for illness, the volunteers there know to treat for mites, to spot the signs of illness, and to treat everything as soon as possible. While guinea pigs overall are not healthy animals, when adopting from a rescue you usually know what you are getting. And often the rescue owner is happy to help with any future advice you may need!
Often a small donation is asked when you adopt a piggie - this is to cover the cost of any treatment the pig has required, and to keep the rescue running so it can help as many pigs as possible.
And when you adopt your piggie(s) you are opening up space for more piggies to be helped as sadly there are always too many piggies going homeless for the rescues to take in and save.
I adopted three of my piggies from my local rescue. Brie and Frisky are sisters who were taken in from a massive haul from a horrible petting farm style tourist attraction. The rescue saved over 100 pigs from appalling conditions. Brie and Frisky were the tiniest little pups, and were so riddled with fungal infections that you could hardly see what colour Brie was supposed to be. She was not expected to live, and neither were many of her family members. With supreme love and dedication, almost every single piggie was saved with them all either being adopted out to new homes, or kept to live out their years at the rescue.
Brie is the most energetic little furball I have ever met, and Frisky is a wonderful lap pig who loves her cuddles in front of the telly.
Purdie was taken in from a breeder who had got out of her depth and had too many pigs to cope with. She had lived alone all her life and was feared to be unsociable, a lone pig forever. As you know, despite her numerous health problems because of her bad breeding, she is the happiest little member of my herd and a joy to all who meet her.
Rescue workers do one of the hardest, most heart breaking jobs imaginable, and it is thanks to them that so many piggies have good lives today. The best way to thank them is to adopt your future piggies, and to tell everyone else to do the same!
My beautiful dynamic duo would not be here today without the hard work of rescue workers.
How To Find A Rescue:
There is a great list of rescues on Guinea Lynx that you can look through for your country or state, and Guinea Pig Home lists many guinea pig classified ads. I also have a list of UK guinea pig rescues on my UK Supplies Link List. Many rescues can be found by using Google or Google Maps.
If the rescue is a fair distance away, don't panic! Rescues are usually happy to work something out, either by meeting you half way, or directing you to a fosterer's home nearer to you.
Shelters often also have guinea pigs in, they don't tend to advertise them so you need to call them. You can also look through the classified ads on the likes of Craigslist - just watch out for backyard breeders in disguise, that is depressingly common. If the person is more concerned with the money than the pig, or obviously has more pigs than they are adopting out, stay clear.
You can also leave your details with local vets, many animals are abandoned on the steps of the surgeries for the vets to find in the mornings.
And members of communities like guinea_pigs and Guinea Lynx are always happy to help you track down piggies near you!
Pet Stores Don't Know Best:
Something that comes as a surprise to many of us is the fact that pet stores are full of bad and dangerous information. This isn't too surprising given that they are primarily a business, interested in profit above all else, but it does come as a shock to those of us who think we live in an animal caring society. Pet store cages are both expensive and too small for guinea pigs (this is also true for rabbits). C&C cages are cheaper to put together, and come with the bonus of being able to be built in whichever shape you prefer (square, rectangle, L-shaped, one floor or two etc).
The misinformation doesn't stop at the cages though. Pet stores sell many products that are dangerous for guinea pigs such as leashes, harnesses and large hamster balls. Much of the guinea pig food they sell is unhealthy and dangerous - mixed food is a choking hazard for example, and many products contain nuts or seeds which are not part of a strict herbivores diet. Some guinea pig treats even contain dairy which is incredibly irresponsible as guinea pigs are lactose intolerant!
"Beyuck, I don't want pet store foods!"
Advice approved by the pet store companies is often bogus too, such as feeding fruit daily (this can cause diabetes), or putting vitamin C drops in the water (unnecessary if pigs are fed daily vegetables and good pellets, and the vitamin degrades in the water making it taste bad, which dangerously discourages guinea pigs from drinking enough), or even telling customers that male guinea pigs can't live together.
Additionally, guinea pigs from pet stores are often ill with URI's or mites that can sometimes not be spotted in store, and there are plenty of stories of guinea pigs being bought and later found out to be pregnant.
The strongest objection most of us have to pet stores though is that they get their guinea pigs from breeders. These places are usually the equivalent of a puppy mill, where the female pigs are kept in plastic boxes and bred repeatedly. A female guinea pig can and will be bred from the age of 4 weeks old. Sometimes the breeder or pet store don't split the males and females up correctly and this is why some female baby pigs at the store will be pregnant.
Every time a female guinea pig is bred from she has a 20% chance of dying, no matter whether she is from a big breeder or a backyard breeder (this is a figure as quoted from the President of the ACBA (American Cavy Breeders Association)). Many pups don't make it either, particularly if the female guinea pig is being bred from repeatedly and is exhausted.
While it is so tempting to want to "save" the piggies in the pet store, know that if you do buy pigs from there they will be replaced with more, and then again with more, with the females back at the breeders being bred to exhaustion. It is a vicious cycle, and we can't stop it by taking part in it.
Adopting from a rescue gives a home to a piggie in need, and provides the rescue with a space to take in another homeless pig.
Why Guinea Pig Breeders Are To Be Avoided:
Breeders, including those who breed for pet stores, often want to breed the prettiest colours and varieties with little thought for health. Teddy and texel pigs for example are riddled with health problems, as are satin piggies whose life expectancies are shortened considerably. Roans and dalmatian pigs are considered to be amongst the prettiest, but breeding roan to roan, dalmatian to dalmatian, or roan to dalmatian then one of the four pups will be a lethal guinea pig, that is a pup that is born blind and/or death with misshapen teeth, perhaps no eyes or malformed eyes, and insides that are all tangled up. The life expectancy of these poor piggies is not good at all, and while some are lucky enough to end up at rescues, the usual breeder response is to cull these sickly babies. Cull, and continue producing them in order to get those "pretty" colours.
As far as I can tell, guinea pig breeding is quite different from a lot of animal breeding in this respect. While my own personal beliefs are against breeding in all animals I recognise the particular horror of guinea pig breeding. Some breeders with other animals do so for health reasons, to increase the health of the animals. But with a 20% fatality rate in pregnant sows, what breeder who was interested in the health of their animals would breed? And with varieties and colours resulting in poorer health, it is clear that guinea pig breeders are to be avoided. You can find every variety, every colour, and every age in a rescue.
"I know I am quite pretty", says Gracie, "But I have both roan colouring and dalmatian spots on my back. My humans get very sad thinking about my siblings."
But What If We Run Out Of Pigs?:
The short answer is that this won't happen. Computer simulations have been run that show that even if no deliberate breeding was undertaken guinea pig numbers would remain stable or even increase. Perhaps if we knew that every single guinea pig owner out there was as good as can be this wouldn't be a problem! But, accidents do happen, and with neutering pigs being too risky to be a standard medical procedure as with cats and dogs, guinea pigs will not be going extinct any time soon.
Hypothetically though, if the choice was running out of piggies or giving a female piggie a 20% chance of death by making her pregnant... 20% is one in five piggies. I have five female pigs. I know what I would choose.
Oh No, I Have Pet Store Pigs Already But I Love Them!
Many of us start out with pet store pigs, we either didn't know about the above or didn't appreciate the severity of the situation fully. That doesn't mean we love our pet store piggies any less! It just makes us all the more determined to do our best by the both the piggies we have and piggies in general.
This means not supporting pet stores any more, supporting rescues instead, and trying to spread the word.
My first two pigs, Rosie and Gracie, are pet store pigs. I do regret buying my piggies, but I would never regret my piggies themselves. They have taught me so much, not least how to care for piggies properly and to learn about rescues!
Out of all my pigs Rosie is the most friendly by far, and Gracie is the most skittish by far - she still freezes whenever we hold her and sometimes shivers in fear. Personality is almost 100% down to the pig herself no matter where she comes from, but I can't imagine what my girls went through, or the likes of Purdie before she was rescued. With unconditional love and care though, all my piggies have blossomed in their herd. Gracie may not ever like to be held, but I know she is happy with her piggie friends. I shudder to think of what happened to the other pigs in that store, and the ones that have come and gone since then (particularly as Gracie would have had lethals in her family due to her colouring, and because Rosie has a heart condition that is fatal when untreated which her family members will also likely suffer from), but I know by looking at my other three girls that I do the right thing by supporting rescues - supporting the people out there helping piggies.
Rosie gets three medications twice every day just to be able to live a normal piggie life.
Avoiding Pet Stores Completely?:
There are a few reasons that I, and many others, avoid shopping in pet stores altogether. My first reason for doing so was because I just couldn't take seeing the animals. Knowing all of the above like I do, and having to keep believing it while looking into an animals eyes was more than I could bear. After I got my first two pigs home and started to learn about the situation, I stayed away, and got my future pigs from my local rescue.
And I thought, if I disagree with what that store is doing so much, why would I give them my money anyway? Pet stores don't make a profit from their animals, the animals for sale are what is known as a loss leader. The pet store makes all the money from sales of the pet supplies that owners go back and buy once they have their pet.
Then I found out that the pellets and hay pet stores were selling was awful quality anyway! I know now that in the US you can get Oxbow in some stores but overall, the selection is really bad. And they hay? Dusty, rough and in many cases yellow - yuck!
I did a lot of looking around online, and eventually found a few different websites I was happy ordering from. For those in the UK, I keep a UK Supplies Link List as up to date as I can. For those in the US, the main website seems to be Pet Food Direct for Oxbow hay and pellets, Kleenmama's Hayloft for Kleenmama's hay and pellets, and Sweet Meadow Farm for Sweet Meadow hay and pellets. If you buy your supplies in bulk then even with shipping factored in it works out not that much more expensive than cheap pet store food - and it is so much healthier, and tastier!
Online isn't the only option though, there are pet supply stores around that don't sell animals, just supplies. There is a thread on Guinea Lynx that lists pet supply stores, and business listings will show these too.
Also, sometimes guinea pig rescues sell supplies with a small percentage going towards the running of the rescue.
And finally, if you live in the country and there is good hay locally, you might be able to cut a good deal with a farmer for a bale or two.
All this helps us get the best supplies we need for our piggies, without funding harm to other pigs.
You can also buy your toys and houses online or in supply stores, or make them yourself!
Will Pet Stores Ever Stop Selling Pigs?:
I absolutely hope so. Here in the UK, it is almost unheard of for cats and dogs to be sold in shops, and when we look at how much attitudes to pet care have changed in the last 20 years I can only hope that in the future no life will be able to be bought and sold over the counter of a store.
How realistic my wish is I do not know. But I do know that by decreasing demand for animals sold in pet stores, and by raising awareness of the issue, we are helping to save piggies that in the past would have simply been put to sleep. By opening our homes to "unwanted" pigs and by telling everyone we meet about adopting piggies instead of buying them we are making a difference to many piggie lives.
In Conclusion:
Adopting a piggie is one of the best things you can do when it comes to guinea pig ownership/slavery. By adopting a pig you also help save yet another pig that the rescue can then take on board. And wherever piggies are sold, there will be piggies for adoption, and many people willing to help you find your perfect piggie pal.
The reason we avoid pet stores and don't buy pet store pigs isn't out of some desire to condemn those pigs to a life of misery, but an attempt to spare the many generations of pigs that take their place, not to mention the ones being bred from until death. This is certainly not something I do with a light heart, but I feel I must choose the lesser of evils in order to help piggies the most.
We adopt to try and save the most piggie lives possible, and we share our experiences with as many people as possible to try and save as many piggies as possible. And the rescue piggies, who have so much love to give, are very grateful little piggies indeed.
Further Reading:
The "Pet Store Hate Thing" by kikayume
"Rescuing" pigs by fetteredwolf
Pet Stores and Guinea Pigs on Cavy Spirit.
NB: Next up are quarantine and introductions :)
This article covers tracking down your new piggie, as well as the prickly pet store issue and why it's such a big deal in guinea pig communities in particular.
Adopting A Piggie:
Like many companion animals, guinea pigs are incredibly overpopulated. Sadly, many hundreds if not thousands of these lovely animals are put to sleep due to lack of homes. In some countries (such as the US and the UK for example) the problem is worse than in other countries, but the fact remains that where piggies are sold, there are piggies being surrendered, abandoned or turned loose.
Guinea pig rescues are the best place to get your new piggie from. Rescues have all kinds of pigs, long haired, short haired, curly haired, and in all varieties and ages from baby pups to retired lap pigs. It's a complete myth that rescue piggies are in any way damaged or behaviourally challenged. Pigs are incredibly strong mentally in that they can forget about bad humans in the past, and love on new humans in their future. Any pigs that do have problems are permanent pigs of the rescue, that is, full time residents who are not looking for a home.
"Apparently", says Purdie, "You can get quite exotic looking piggies from rescues!"
Many pigs that come into rescues are pregnant, and so pups are usually available all year round. Remember though that pups don't stay little for long at all, and many older pigs are looking for homes to be loved in. Rescues almost always adopt out in pairs - which saves on introduction stress! - but if you approach them looking for a pig to add to an existing pig or pig(s) they will happily work with you to find a good personality match.
Rescue pigs are also checked thoroughly for illness, the volunteers there know to treat for mites, to spot the signs of illness, and to treat everything as soon as possible. While guinea pigs overall are not healthy animals, when adopting from a rescue you usually know what you are getting. And often the rescue owner is happy to help with any future advice you may need!
Often a small donation is asked when you adopt a piggie - this is to cover the cost of any treatment the pig has required, and to keep the rescue running so it can help as many pigs as possible.
And when you adopt your piggie(s) you are opening up space for more piggies to be helped as sadly there are always too many piggies going homeless for the rescues to take in and save.
I adopted three of my piggies from my local rescue. Brie and Frisky are sisters who were taken in from a massive haul from a horrible petting farm style tourist attraction. The rescue saved over 100 pigs from appalling conditions. Brie and Frisky were the tiniest little pups, and were so riddled with fungal infections that you could hardly see what colour Brie was supposed to be. She was not expected to live, and neither were many of her family members. With supreme love and dedication, almost every single piggie was saved with them all either being adopted out to new homes, or kept to live out their years at the rescue.
Brie is the most energetic little furball I have ever met, and Frisky is a wonderful lap pig who loves her cuddles in front of the telly.
Purdie was taken in from a breeder who had got out of her depth and had too many pigs to cope with. She had lived alone all her life and was feared to be unsociable, a lone pig forever. As you know, despite her numerous health problems because of her bad breeding, she is the happiest little member of my herd and a joy to all who meet her.
Rescue workers do one of the hardest, most heart breaking jobs imaginable, and it is thanks to them that so many piggies have good lives today. The best way to thank them is to adopt your future piggies, and to tell everyone else to do the same!
My beautiful dynamic duo would not be here today without the hard work of rescue workers.
How To Find A Rescue:
There is a great list of rescues on Guinea Lynx that you can look through for your country or state, and Guinea Pig Home lists many guinea pig classified ads. I also have a list of UK guinea pig rescues on my UK Supplies Link List. Many rescues can be found by using Google or Google Maps.
If the rescue is a fair distance away, don't panic! Rescues are usually happy to work something out, either by meeting you half way, or directing you to a fosterer's home nearer to you.
Shelters often also have guinea pigs in, they don't tend to advertise them so you need to call them. You can also look through the classified ads on the likes of Craigslist - just watch out for backyard breeders in disguise, that is depressingly common. If the person is more concerned with the money than the pig, or obviously has more pigs than they are adopting out, stay clear.
You can also leave your details with local vets, many animals are abandoned on the steps of the surgeries for the vets to find in the mornings.
And members of communities like guinea_pigs and Guinea Lynx are always happy to help you track down piggies near you!
Pet Stores Don't Know Best:
Something that comes as a surprise to many of us is the fact that pet stores are full of bad and dangerous information. This isn't too surprising given that they are primarily a business, interested in profit above all else, but it does come as a shock to those of us who think we live in an animal caring society. Pet store cages are both expensive and too small for guinea pigs (this is also true for rabbits). C&C cages are cheaper to put together, and come with the bonus of being able to be built in whichever shape you prefer (square, rectangle, L-shaped, one floor or two etc).
The misinformation doesn't stop at the cages though. Pet stores sell many products that are dangerous for guinea pigs such as leashes, harnesses and large hamster balls. Much of the guinea pig food they sell is unhealthy and dangerous - mixed food is a choking hazard for example, and many products contain nuts or seeds which are not part of a strict herbivores diet. Some guinea pig treats even contain dairy which is incredibly irresponsible as guinea pigs are lactose intolerant!
"Beyuck, I don't want pet store foods!"
Advice approved by the pet store companies is often bogus too, such as feeding fruit daily (this can cause diabetes), or putting vitamin C drops in the water (unnecessary if pigs are fed daily vegetables and good pellets, and the vitamin degrades in the water making it taste bad, which dangerously discourages guinea pigs from drinking enough), or even telling customers that male guinea pigs can't live together.
Additionally, guinea pigs from pet stores are often ill with URI's or mites that can sometimes not be spotted in store, and there are plenty of stories of guinea pigs being bought and later found out to be pregnant.
The strongest objection most of us have to pet stores though is that they get their guinea pigs from breeders. These places are usually the equivalent of a puppy mill, where the female pigs are kept in plastic boxes and bred repeatedly. A female guinea pig can and will be bred from the age of 4 weeks old. Sometimes the breeder or pet store don't split the males and females up correctly and this is why some female baby pigs at the store will be pregnant.
Every time a female guinea pig is bred from she has a 20% chance of dying, no matter whether she is from a big breeder or a backyard breeder (this is a figure as quoted from the President of the ACBA (American Cavy Breeders Association)). Many pups don't make it either, particularly if the female guinea pig is being bred from repeatedly and is exhausted.
While it is so tempting to want to "save" the piggies in the pet store, know that if you do buy pigs from there they will be replaced with more, and then again with more, with the females back at the breeders being bred to exhaustion. It is a vicious cycle, and we can't stop it by taking part in it.
Adopting from a rescue gives a home to a piggie in need, and provides the rescue with a space to take in another homeless pig.
Why Guinea Pig Breeders Are To Be Avoided:
Breeders, including those who breed for pet stores, often want to breed the prettiest colours and varieties with little thought for health. Teddy and texel pigs for example are riddled with health problems, as are satin piggies whose life expectancies are shortened considerably. Roans and dalmatian pigs are considered to be amongst the prettiest, but breeding roan to roan, dalmatian to dalmatian, or roan to dalmatian then one of the four pups will be a lethal guinea pig, that is a pup that is born blind and/or death with misshapen teeth, perhaps no eyes or malformed eyes, and insides that are all tangled up. The life expectancy of these poor piggies is not good at all, and while some are lucky enough to end up at rescues, the usual breeder response is to cull these sickly babies. Cull, and continue producing them in order to get those "pretty" colours.
As far as I can tell, guinea pig breeding is quite different from a lot of animal breeding in this respect. While my own personal beliefs are against breeding in all animals I recognise the particular horror of guinea pig breeding. Some breeders with other animals do so for health reasons, to increase the health of the animals. But with a 20% fatality rate in pregnant sows, what breeder who was interested in the health of their animals would breed? And with varieties and colours resulting in poorer health, it is clear that guinea pig breeders are to be avoided. You can find every variety, every colour, and every age in a rescue.
"I know I am quite pretty", says Gracie, "But I have both roan colouring and dalmatian spots on my back. My humans get very sad thinking about my siblings."
But What If We Run Out Of Pigs?:
The short answer is that this won't happen. Computer simulations have been run that show that even if no deliberate breeding was undertaken guinea pig numbers would remain stable or even increase. Perhaps if we knew that every single guinea pig owner out there was as good as can be this wouldn't be a problem! But, accidents do happen, and with neutering pigs being too risky to be a standard medical procedure as with cats and dogs, guinea pigs will not be going extinct any time soon.
Hypothetically though, if the choice was running out of piggies or giving a female piggie a 20% chance of death by making her pregnant... 20% is one in five piggies. I have five female pigs. I know what I would choose.
Oh No, I Have Pet Store Pigs Already But I Love Them!
Many of us start out with pet store pigs, we either didn't know about the above or didn't appreciate the severity of the situation fully. That doesn't mean we love our pet store piggies any less! It just makes us all the more determined to do our best by the both the piggies we have and piggies in general.
This means not supporting pet stores any more, supporting rescues instead, and trying to spread the word.
My first two pigs, Rosie and Gracie, are pet store pigs. I do regret buying my piggies, but I would never regret my piggies themselves. They have taught me so much, not least how to care for piggies properly and to learn about rescues!
Out of all my pigs Rosie is the most friendly by far, and Gracie is the most skittish by far - she still freezes whenever we hold her and sometimes shivers in fear. Personality is almost 100% down to the pig herself no matter where she comes from, but I can't imagine what my girls went through, or the likes of Purdie before she was rescued. With unconditional love and care though, all my piggies have blossomed in their herd. Gracie may not ever like to be held, but I know she is happy with her piggie friends. I shudder to think of what happened to the other pigs in that store, and the ones that have come and gone since then (particularly as Gracie would have had lethals in her family due to her colouring, and because Rosie has a heart condition that is fatal when untreated which her family members will also likely suffer from), but I know by looking at my other three girls that I do the right thing by supporting rescues - supporting the people out there helping piggies.
Rosie gets three medications twice every day just to be able to live a normal piggie life.
Avoiding Pet Stores Completely?:
There are a few reasons that I, and many others, avoid shopping in pet stores altogether. My first reason for doing so was because I just couldn't take seeing the animals. Knowing all of the above like I do, and having to keep believing it while looking into an animals eyes was more than I could bear. After I got my first two pigs home and started to learn about the situation, I stayed away, and got my future pigs from my local rescue.
And I thought, if I disagree with what that store is doing so much, why would I give them my money anyway? Pet stores don't make a profit from their animals, the animals for sale are what is known as a loss leader. The pet store makes all the money from sales of the pet supplies that owners go back and buy once they have their pet.
Then I found out that the pellets and hay pet stores were selling was awful quality anyway! I know now that in the US you can get Oxbow in some stores but overall, the selection is really bad. And they hay? Dusty, rough and in many cases yellow - yuck!
I did a lot of looking around online, and eventually found a few different websites I was happy ordering from. For those in the UK, I keep a UK Supplies Link List as up to date as I can. For those in the US, the main website seems to be Pet Food Direct for Oxbow hay and pellets, Kleenmama's Hayloft for Kleenmama's hay and pellets, and Sweet Meadow Farm for Sweet Meadow hay and pellets. If you buy your supplies in bulk then even with shipping factored in it works out not that much more expensive than cheap pet store food - and it is so much healthier, and tastier!
Online isn't the only option though, there are pet supply stores around that don't sell animals, just supplies. There is a thread on Guinea Lynx that lists pet supply stores, and business listings will show these too.
Also, sometimes guinea pig rescues sell supplies with a small percentage going towards the running of the rescue.
And finally, if you live in the country and there is good hay locally, you might be able to cut a good deal with a farmer for a bale or two.
All this helps us get the best supplies we need for our piggies, without funding harm to other pigs.
You can also buy your toys and houses online or in supply stores, or make them yourself!
Will Pet Stores Ever Stop Selling Pigs?:
I absolutely hope so. Here in the UK, it is almost unheard of for cats and dogs to be sold in shops, and when we look at how much attitudes to pet care have changed in the last 20 years I can only hope that in the future no life will be able to be bought and sold over the counter of a store.
How realistic my wish is I do not know. But I do know that by decreasing demand for animals sold in pet stores, and by raising awareness of the issue, we are helping to save piggies that in the past would have simply been put to sleep. By opening our homes to "unwanted" pigs and by telling everyone we meet about adopting piggies instead of buying them we are making a difference to many piggie lives.
In Conclusion:
Adopting a piggie is one of the best things you can do when it comes to guinea pig ownership/slavery. By adopting a pig you also help save yet another pig that the rescue can then take on board. And wherever piggies are sold, there will be piggies for adoption, and many people willing to help you find your perfect piggie pal.
The reason we avoid pet stores and don't buy pet store pigs isn't out of some desire to condemn those pigs to a life of misery, but an attempt to spare the many generations of pigs that take their place, not to mention the ones being bred from until death. This is certainly not something I do with a light heart, but I feel I must choose the lesser of evils in order to help piggies the most.
We adopt to try and save the most piggie lives possible, and we share our experiences with as many people as possible to try and save as many piggies as possible. And the rescue piggies, who have so much love to give, are very grateful little piggies indeed.
Further Reading:
The "Pet Store Hate Thing" by kikayume
"Rescuing" pigs by fetteredwolf
Pet Stores and Guinea Pigs on Cavy Spirit.
NB: Next up are quarantine and introductions :)