Helping Guinea pigs

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Peggy&Pearl

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Does anyone else feel overwhelmed thinking about how many Guinea pigs are out there living terrible lives? Often I think about how many neglected hungry and cold Guinea pigs must be out there with terrible living conditions and bad diets and I just want to save them all. I feel so sorry for them cause a lot of people just think they are a starter pet and don’t take the time to give them a fulfilling life. I find myself looking through classifieds and wishing I could save so many Guinea pigs. They are such beautiful creatures and deserve to live a happy life. I currently have 5 Guinea pigs which are very spoilt but I feel like I am not doing enough. I just want to save them all and make them feel loved.
 
Yes me too. I try not to look at the free ad sites like gumtree. Makes me so sad. 😞
 
Hi

Would you consider supporting Gold Coast Guinea Pig Rescue in Pimpana? It is the best guinea pig rescue in your area and entirely reliant on fundraising. Your support means that they can continue to take in piggies in need and provide expert good care and medical treatment that you as a private owner would struggle to do.
Your contributions/donations and support mean that you reach more piggies than you would be able to privately.
Welcome to Gold Coast Guinea Pig Rescue
Gold Coast Guinea Pig Rescue Inc

Adopting from a rescue also means that you free up much needed rescue space and that you do not only give your own adoptees a happy life but also give other piggies in a bad situation a chance of getting into the right hands.
Alex does a really wonderful job.

Unfortunately, with the situation out of control in many countries, you can never help all but looking at the free-ads and feeling helpless can be very depressing. By supporting a rescue, you can do something constructive and help many more piggies than you own yourself. You do not have to be local to support a rescue as there are many different ways from volunteering, buying from rescue shops or online fundraising auctions, attending open days and events to donating money or goods to adopting. ;)

I am adopting (often piggies stuck in rescue or returned to rescue or piggies struggling to bond), donating and before the pandemic and me ending up with Long Covid I also made several hundred UK pounds a year for rescues with my stalls with baked goods at a number of fundraising rescue events or local charity events. It has the added feel good factor that you meet other people who care and it's usually good fun.
Kidsgrove rescue fair 2018-3.jpeg
My German and Swiss Christmas biscuit stall at the annual Kidsgrove Animal Rescue Christmas Fair. I often started selling before I even had fully unpacked and didn't come up for breath until several hours later. And yes, I baked all those biscuits myself over the course of two weeks solid baking in the run up!

TEAS open day Sept 2018.jpg
Running the tea corner for TEAS sanctuary (which looks after guinea pigs with chronic dental disease) with my Swiss and German cakes

TEAS open day 2017 auction cake -4 _edited-1.jpg
This was a chocolate cake I made to be auctioned off at a fundraising event

But you can find other forum members doing their bit in other ways and fundraise with felted or crochet piggies, sew piggy cosies, paint or draw piggy portraits etc.
 
Yes unfortunately with everything in the world there are a lot of bad people and when you care about something so much (piggies) it hurts knowing that there are these beautiful creature we look after and love like family are being treated as so much less.

If you struggle with it unless you are able to take some in, I would avoid looking online at these horrible posts, as realistically there is nothing we can do unless they are in very bad shape, you can contact a local rescue or RSPCA etc.
You can also do good on your side, donating to local rescues and trying to help when you can.

I struggle with mental illness and as a animal lover, piggy owner and training vet I find myself often thinking of the amount of bad in the world and the amount of animals being treated so much less than they deserve. There are things like straight up neglect but there is also neglect on the information side such as incorrect feeding/handling.
We are very lucky to have this forum, run and kept working by a bunch of amazing people to spread correct information and give advice to those who may not get it without, but also a great community to talk and laugh with.

Remember to take care of yourself when struggling with these thoughts, it can be good to do what you can but do not let it take over your life because it is tiring and stressful.
 
I try to keep this story in mind. We can all only do so much until we become part of the problem. I have 22 piggies currently, some of them rescued from horrible neglect, some just from cluelessness.

When I cant take on another piggy I do something nice for the ones I've already saved, or if I can, donate to a rescue. It's important to remember we can't save the world. Doesn't mean we can't try, but for our own sake we need to remain realistic.

FB_IMG_1683028196906.webp
 
Absolutely! We do what we can at the rescue but often have to turn less urgent cases away as we are full 😢
We are lucky to have an amazing foster foster home though which helps!
Supporting a rescue is a great way to help piggies in need. The more funds rescues have, the more of those piggies they can take in!
 
Wiebke said:
Hi

Would you consider supporting Gold Coast Guinea Pig Rescue in Pimpana? It is the best guinea pig rescue in your area and entirely reliant on fundraising. Your support means that they can continue to take in piggies in need and provide expert good care and medical treatment that you as a private owner would struggle to do.
Your contributions/donations and support mean that you reach more piggies than you would be able to privately.
Welcome to Gold Coast Guinea Pig Rescue
Gold Coast Guinea Pig Rescue Inc

Adopting from a rescue also means that you free up much needed rescue space and that you do not only give your own adoptees a happy life but also give other piggies in a bad situation a chance of getting into the right hands.
Alex does a really wonderful job.

Unfortunately, with the situation out of control in many countries, you can never help all but looking at the free-ads and feeling helpless can be very depressing. By supporting a rescue, you can do something constructive and help many more piggies than you own yourself. You do not have to be local to support a rescue as there are many different ways from volunteering, buying from rescue shops or online fundraising auctions, attending open days and events to donating money or goods to adopting. ;)

I am adopting (often piggies stuck in rescue or returned to rescue or piggies struggling to bond), donating and before the pandemic and me ending up with Long Covid I also made several hundred UK pounds a year for rescues with my stalls with baked goods at a number of fundraising rescue events or local charity events. It has the added feel good factor that you meet other people who care and it's usually good fun.
View attachment 223794
My German and Swiss Christmas biscuit stall at the annual Kidsgrove Animal Rescue Christmas Fair. I often started selling before I even had fully unpacked and didn't come up for breath until several hours later. And yes, I baked all those biscuits myself over the course of two weeks solid baking in the run up!

View attachment 223792
Running the tea corner for TEAS sanctuary (which looks after guinea pigs with chronic dental disease) with my Swiss and German cakes

View attachment 223793
This was a chocolate cake I made to be auctioned off at the event

But you can find other forum members doing their bit in other ways and fundraise with felted or crochet piggies, sew piggy cosies, paint or draw piggy portraits etc.
Click to expand...
Thank you so much for your reply. I will definitely look into helping at my local rescue. They have a fundraising event coming up so I will go down and talk to someone there about how I can help. You are incredible and I wish there were more people like you. I think what you are doing is amazing! I am so happy you are helping guinea pigs in so many ways. From the bottom of my heart, Thank you!
 
Merab's Slave said:
We can’t help every pig but we do make a real difference to the ones we can help.
Don’t underestimate the impact you do have.
We aim to change the world around us and allow the changes to ripple outwards.
Click to expand...
Thank you so much, I really appreciate your reply
Wheekallweek said:
Absolutely! We do what we can at the rescue but often have to turn less urgent cases away as we are full 😢
We are lucky to have an amazing foster foster home though which helps!
Supporting a rescue is a great way to help piggies in need. The more funds rescues have, the more of those piggies they can take in!
Click to expand...
Thank you! I am going to look at helping my local guinea pig rescue
 
Eriathwen said:
I try to keep this story in mind. We can all only do so much until we become part of the problem. I have 22 piggies currently, some of them rescued from horrible neglect, some just from cluelessness.

When I cant take on another piggy I do something nice for the ones I've already saved, or if I can, donate to a rescue. It's important to remember we can't save the world. Doesn't mean we can't try, but for our own sake we need to remain realistic.

View attachment 223791
Click to expand...
Thank you so much for your reply and for helping so many guinea pigs have wonderful lives. I love reading that you have helped so many from terrible backgrounds. The story you attached is beautiful and really resonated with me. Thank you so much
 
Peggy&Pearl said:
Thank you so much for your reply. I will definitely look into helping at my local rescue. They have a fundraising event coming up so I will go down and talk to someone there about how I can help. You are incredible and I wish there were more people like you. I think what you are doing is amazing! I am so happy you are helping guinea pigs in so many ways. From the bottom of my heart, Thank you!
Click to expand...

Thank you. I love baking but I don't have the stamina and the necessary background to run a sustainable good standard rescue myself, so I have concentrated on promoting welfare in a practical way that allows everybody to make positive changes via this forum (which we all do for free in our free time).
And of course, to adopt over the years - even that adds up over the years. :)

None of us can change the world and save all piggies (or even most) but we can all do something to make the world a better place in little ways and within our own means. Concentrate on what you can do constructively and what you do best. It does add up over the years and collectively, believe me! You do not need to be a hero - I certainly am not. Just follow your big heart, keep doing your own bit in whatever area that you vibe with and do not despair over what you cannot do. ;)
 
Peggy&Pearl said:
Does anyone else feel overwhelmed thinking about how many Guinea pigs are out there living terrible lives? Often I think about how many neglected hungry and cold Guinea pigs must be out there with terrible living conditions and bad diets and I just want to save them all. I feel so sorry for them cause a lot of people just think they are a starter pet and don’t take the time to give them a fulfilling life. I find myself looking through classifieds and wishing I could save so many Guinea pigs. They are such beautiful creatures and deserve to live a happy life. I currently have 5 Guinea pigs which are very spoilt but I feel like I am not doing enough. I just want to save them all and make them feel loved.
Click to expand...
Yes. 100 yes. I help run a rescue. I see countless messages a day. Usually the same reasons & the guinea pigs are always about a year old.

It severely affected my mental health a few weeks ago so I had to take a step back. It used to keep me awake at night thinking about it. The straw that kinda broke the camels back for me was there was 2 guinea pigs found on 2 separate days in a car park of a local supermarket. The second guinea pig was in a horrific storm.

But I've had to have the mind set of "you can't save them all".
 
Oh definitely yes, my husband banned me from looking at the classifieds for a time cos it was starting to severely hurt my mental health too. And I agree, it's nearly always just about 1 year old piggies that children suddenly turn allergic to. Sometimes it's hard not to judge but it's necessary to remain compassionate, as we ultimately don't know what people's struggles are and it's definitely better to rehome a piggy rather that neglect it or abandon it.
Realistically, you can't save them all is the right mindset. You can make the lives of your own piggies the best you can and help others within your means.
We don't have rescues here and piggies rarely do end up in shelters or foster care, and in my (very short) experience I've only encountered a couple old fashioned beliefs but no outright abuse or neglect, and people seem to be generally responsible here towards piggies. I do count myself lucky.
When I visited my home country there was an ad about three piggies to be rehomed and I am still in pain thinking of the poor darlings. A male and two females in a literal hamster carrier, no hay in sight, no bedding. They could barely move. I do hope it was just to take the photo, but no way the girls weren't pregnant. It was on one of the islands so no way I could have gone to get them, the only hope was to contact the volunteers and hope someone would be able to intervene. In short, there will always be piggies beyond our help, unfortunately, but if we let this break us, who will take care of our own piggies?
Take care ❤️
 
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