Curious about Petsathome adoption section - random question

[Fluffbabies]

Hello again everyone! It's been a while since I've been on the forum. I hope you're all well!

So not a new owner but wasn't sure where this question fit in the forum topics. Feel free to move it.

We just took in three sows from a lady who had a sudden health deterioration and could no longer manage to look after them as all the rescues around have long full waiting lists. She told me she doesn't know exactly how old they were as she got them from a Petsathome adoption section before Christmas 2023, but apparently she was told they were under a year old. No other information or background.

It got me wondering... does anyone know if Petsathomes keep a record of the piggies that go through their adoption section? Like if I phoned the Petsathome, would they still have a record of these piggies and could tell me how old they were? Anyone know how much information they take about animals when they take them in for rehoming? I heard that a lot of them have waiting lists too. Do they ever get animals left at their doors like I imagine vets and rescues do sometimes?

 

[Wiebke]

Hello again everyone! It's been a while since I've been on the forum. I hope you're all well!

So not a new owner but wasn't sure where this question fit in the forum topics. Feel free to move it.

We just took in three sows from a lady who had a sudden health deterioration and could no longer manage to look after them as all the rescues around have long full waiting lists. She told me she doesn't know exactly how old they were as she got them from a Petsathome adoption section before Christmas 2023, but apparently she was told they were under a year old. No other information or background.

It got me wondering... does anyone know if Petsathomes keep a record of the piggies that go through their adoption section? Like if I phoned the Petsathome, would they still have a record of these piggies and could tell me how old they were? Anyone know how much information they take about animals when they take them in for rehoming? I heard that a lot of them have waiting lists too. Do they ever get animals left at their doors like I imagine vets and rescues do sometimes?

Hi

Pet shops get dumped animals on their door step, like other places.

Sadly, information is often very scant from people wanting to get rid of their piggies; they often cannot even remember the ages or names (if the piggies have any) - I have adopted piggies that were basically just shoved into the hands of rescue volunteers with the front doors slammed into their faces and phones not answered.

The surrender questionnaire is accordingly precise or vague, whether that is a pet shop or a rescue. Even more so with any dumpees or piggies from large hoarding (uncontrolled multiplying) cases.

Generally, what is on a questionnaire is the gender, age and name (if known and proferred). Sometimes the reason why piggies are given up (if volunteered).

 

[MnJ]

My Jazzy is from their adoption section. They couldn't tell me his exact age, only that he is fully grown and above 1 year. There wasn't much of a background as well. I was told that he was surrendered, because he got some sow pregnant . I guess it depends on what info the previous owners give before giving them up. I know that they had piggies which exact age was known, in the adoption section.

 

[Fluffbabies]

Yeh, I don't know what I was expecting to be honest! It does shock me when someone doesn't know how old their pet is if they are its first owner but then a lot of people don't know if their pet is male or female. I guess some people don't care either.

I thought knowing ages would help with veterinary decisions but having said that guinea pigs the same age can have such different health. One can get arthritis at 3 and another can be 8 and seemingly have very few health issues. So it really is their overall condition that would inform decisions.

What a sorry state we're in with the amount of animals needing rescuing/rehoming. There's always been too many but it does seem extremely bad right now. I'm guessing a mix of pets got during Covid and cost of living crisis isn't helping matters.

 

[CTWC]

It is indeed sad I got told that every week baby guinea pigs are born ready for Pets ah Home to then sell, wouldn't it be lovely if they could be happy with the amount of profit they make selling pet items etc and actually supported real rescues by advertising them instead of having small enclosures full of 'new' pets

 

[piggieminder]

Well done for giving these piggies a caring home. I don't think they keep any records of the piggies that are surrendered to them once the animals are rehomed. I know the shop by us often gets animals left outside and one day I was in there someone had left a rat on the counter when the shop assistants back was turned.

They are often not surrendered animals, they are old stock that didn't sell! "Once they get past a certain age and new babies come in no one is going to want them", as told to me by a P@H employee. My Timmy and Freddie had hung around the store for months and then in the rehoming section for more months. I'd recently lost 2 guinea pigs and felt so sorry for them so I gave them a home.

And then there are the ones that were sick in the store who are too old to go back out on general sale by the time they are better like my Bertie who had very persistent ringworm and was 5/6 months old when he came to me.

They don't know how old these piggies are because they don't know how old they are when they get them in. If asked they will always say 12 weeks but I've seen obviously younger and older ones new in the store. If anyone buys from them and then surrenders their animals they won't know how old they are because they didn't know how old they were when they bought them.

 

[Fluffbabies]

Well done for giving these piggies a caring home. I don't think they keep any records of the piggies that are surrendered to them once the animals are rehomed. I know the shop by us often gets animals left outside and one day I was in there someone had left a rat on the counter when the shop assistants back was turned.

They are often not surrendered animals, they are old stock that didn't sell! "Once they get past a certain age and new babies come in no one is going to want them", as told to me by a P@H employee. My Timmy and Freddie had hung around the store for months and then in the rehoming section for more months. I'd recently lost 2 guinea pigs and felt so sorry for them so I gave them a home.

And then there are the ones that were sick in the store who are too old to go back out on general sale by the time they are better like my Bertie who had very persistent ringworm and was 5/6 months old when he came to me.

They don't know how old these piggies are because they don't know how old they are when they get them in. If asked they will always say 12 weeks but I've seen obviously younger and older ones new in the store. If anyone buys from them and then surrenders their animals they won't know how old they are because they didn't know how old they were when they bought them.

Ah it's worse than I thought.

I hope the government will one day ban or put a limit of the amount of animals being bred by these businesses. It's bad enough seeing people breeding them and selling them on ad sites.

 

[Ramia]

The pet store I go to, if they sell one and replace it with another, they don't do a proper bonding. They just put the new one in the cage with the old one.

Also, when I got Stripe they said I could just keep a single guinea pig. It's through this forum I learned I had to have two. I confirmed with my vet.

 

[Fluffbabies]

The pet store I go to, if they sell one and replace it with another, they don't do a proper bonding. They just put the new one in the cage with the old one.

Also, when I got Stripe they said I could just keep a single guinea pig. It's through this forum I learned I had to have two. I confirmed with my vet.

It's scary the amount of misinformation that is shared by these places. We've actually experienced some great staff working at the local Petsathome stores who are very passionate and knowledgeable about guinea pigs and owned them themselves. We've had some good advice and I've overheard some good conversations about cage sizes, companionship and other things that were focused on the pigs' welfare and not making the sales. It's something.

We've also been into a pet shop to look for new piggy enrichment and found they sold animals too. There were two guinea pigs. One of which did not look well and both had skin conditions. We went and raised this with the staff and were given a very icy response that there was nothing wrong with them. We reported them but I don't know if anything was done because the shop's been there for years and years and is still going. The other animals looked well but they weren't fussed about the guinea pigs.

I wanted to take them away with me to take them to the vet for treatment and look after them but of course I would have had to pay for them which I felt was making the problem worse. Plus back then I didn't have the space or resources for more.

 

[fluffysal]

The P@H my hubby got my boys from as a surprise present (we didn't know any better) weren't too bad as they wouldn't let him buy 3 boys. He was also advised that they would eventually need a bigger cage. They have signage to say they won't sell single piggies too.

 

[A Guinea Pig]

Hello again everyone! It's been a while since I've been on the forum. I hope you're all well!

So not a new owner but wasn't sure where this question fit in the forum topics. Feel free to move it.

We just took in three sows from a lady who had a sudden health deterioration and could no longer manage to look after them as all the rescues around have long full waiting lists. She told me she doesn't know exactly how old they were as she got them from a Petsathome adoption section before Christmas 2023, but apparently she was told they were under a year old. No other information or background.

It got me wondering... does anyone know if Petsathomes keep a record of the piggies that go through their adoption section? Like if I phoned the Petsathome, would they still have a record of these piggies and could tell me how old they were? Anyone know how much information they take about animals when they take them in for rehoming? I heard that a lot of them have waiting lists too. Do they ever get animals left at their doors like I imagine vets and rescues do sometimes?

At PetSmart and Petco in the US, a lot of their “adoptable piggies” are just guinea pigs who would not sell at another location.

 

[Wheekallweek]

It is indeed sad I got told that every week baby guinea pigs are born ready for Pets ah Home to then sell, wouldn't it be lovely if they could be happy with the amount of profit they make selling pet items etc and actually supported real rescues by advertising them instead of having small enclosures full of 'new' pets

Hear hear!