I think some major education needs to happen fast with regards to sexing and breeding in cavies!
We have posters or someone who knows about us in every vets in the area have posters up elsewhere in schools (thanks to my Mum being a supply teacher) we put ads in local papers but yes sometimes people have to wait to get guinea pigs. I homecheck as quickly as possible and many great people have been happy to wait for the right guinea pig/s to come along. I do get frustrated sometimes when people chose not to wait and go to P@H or other sources for guineas as they can't wait for whatever reason. I had the case that someone did not wait went and got a guinea to get on with their existing guinea from a breeder then when it did not work out asked me to take the new guinea in. Sorry but that got me a bit
they obvious;y did not follow my advice and wanted me to pick up the mess
.
Often being well known but a small rescue results in a lot of I am sorry but we are perpetually full phone calls with pet owners looking for new homes for their guineas as you are dealing with more urgent cases. (Such as pregnancies from mis-sexing frm petshops, large rescues from unsuitable living conditions etc.) We said originally we would not expand from 1 shed but as Sprowston has closed we had to reconsider as the intakes will be going up and some of our intake are difficult to re-home so become long stay residents here until their special home comes up.
We do not have many guineas for re-homing at one time (at the moment we had a rush on as I decided to advertise them for reservation as we are pretty bursting at the mo! Roll on Thursday and my new shed :smitten
and sometimes people are dissapointed at the lack of choice. I have loads here but many are suspected pregnant or undergoing quarantine to ensure all guineas here leave fit and well and we have a great idea of their behaviour and what sort of home they would be suitable for. Many could be homed far more quickly if they just came in and went out without quarantine but I would hate to be responsible for a pregnancy or ilness to be passed on to the new owners lap! And also for an owner to get a guinea pig home then realise theirr temperament is not suitable so far only one pair of guinea pigs have been returned to us and that was through extenuating circumstances. We try our best to match people and piggys I often have certain piggys iin mind after chatting to people as their temprements are the most suitable.
Yes rescues can take a long time to get a guinea from but you are more likely to end up with a guinea pig that is happy in your environment and fit and healthy, treated for mites etc and lots of advice and support given.
Or if you already know about rescues and choose not to wait you risk pregnant, ill or animals not happy with your home arrangements and may not be very handleable.
It is a personal choice.
I welcome children here regularly to visit the guineas help with all the jobs and let the whole fanmily ask questions and get to know what it takes to look after a guinea pig. As I child I had to so a project on them before I was allowed any animal and the had to wait longer to be sure ift was something I was totally committed to. If we sat down to dinner and had not fed our animals first we had to go and feed them and let our dinner go cold. A child having to wait for and consider their pet will make them more responsible in my opinion. I understand the pressure a child can exert can be a nightmare for Mums, but having pursuaded a child I met out of wanting to get a hamster with a chocolate bar with a grateful look from Mum makes me think attitudes have changed a bit since I grew up.
I do not mean to offend anyone this is my personal experience and opinion and if it sounds crabby it is cos I have been up most of the night thanks to my OH snoring and wakin up to give Jumbo his late night and early morning re-hydration/critical care as the poor lamb is not looking happy still. We are off to the vets again had an appointment booked for tomorrow anyway will see how he does this morning and go from there.
