doodlecountry
Junior Guinea Pig
- Joined
- Sep 28, 2018
- Messages
- 37
- Reaction score
- 6
- Points
- 95
I know this isn't news to anyone that PetSmart sells sick piggies, but I wanted to share my experience.
I wanted to purchase a cute little guinea pig, and one of the employees helped me. Despite all the tags on every enclosure saying "want to hold me? ask an associate", I was unable to hold onto her. The irony. The employee had NO idea how to correctly hold onto a guinea pig, so it was difficult to see if she was in good health or not. (I have three other guinea pigs, so I know what to look for.) I noticed she had small bits of hay dust on her nose, which was concerning, but since she was flailing around in the employee's hands, it was difficult to tell if it was actually stuck on there. Then, when I was going to fill out the paperwork, I noticed she was breathing rapidly. I told the employee and he said "Oh she's fine, they don't usually get 'messed with' so thats probably why she's breathing hard..." I knew something was up, so I asked about how they treat their sick piggies, and they said they take it to the adjacent Banfield where they "have a doctor that specializes in guinea pigs". I called that exact Banfield, where the receptionist said they don't have a doctor that specializes in guinea pigs, and that the PetSmart employee fed me false information.
Now, I have to struggle whether or not to keep the guinea pig because I don't want to spend a lot of money for her to heal just to find out that she might not get along with my other guinea pigs. I looked for vet clinics that have free initial visits, but no luck. Does anyone have any advice for me?
I wanted to purchase a cute little guinea pig, and one of the employees helped me. Despite all the tags on every enclosure saying "want to hold me? ask an associate", I was unable to hold onto her. The irony. The employee had NO idea how to correctly hold onto a guinea pig, so it was difficult to see if she was in good health or not. (I have three other guinea pigs, so I know what to look for.) I noticed she had small bits of hay dust on her nose, which was concerning, but since she was flailing around in the employee's hands, it was difficult to tell if it was actually stuck on there. Then, when I was going to fill out the paperwork, I noticed she was breathing rapidly. I told the employee and he said "Oh she's fine, they don't usually get 'messed with' so thats probably why she's breathing hard..." I knew something was up, so I asked about how they treat their sick piggies, and they said they take it to the adjacent Banfield where they "have a doctor that specializes in guinea pigs". I called that exact Banfield, where the receptionist said they don't have a doctor that specializes in guinea pigs, and that the PetSmart employee fed me false information.
Now, I have to struggle whether or not to keep the guinea pig because I don't want to spend a lot of money for her to heal just to find out that she might not get along with my other guinea pigs. I looked for vet clinics that have free initial visits, but no luck. Does anyone have any advice for me?
