Rabbits and guineas housed together.

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curiousorange

Hello!

My name's Gemma. I used to be on here quite often a while ago, but as life goes I found less and less time to be on the computer.

Sadly, I no longer have any piggies. Since my baby boy was born, I wasn't able to give them the standard of care and attention they deserved. So, with a heavy heart I rehomed them. I am pleased to say that they went to good loving homes and now get the love and care they deserve.

The reason I wanted to get back in touch with the online guinea pig world is that I have recently been taking my son around to farms. You know the sort of petting zoo places. Of course, we found that there were guiea pigs there. But it made me sad to see that they were sharing their home with rabbits. I'm sure that all piggy fans agree that this is not on for guinea pigs. Many guinea pig experts including the late, great Peter Gurney condemned keeping rabbits and guinea pigs together. The guinea pigs could be seriously injured by the rabbits, and they also have completely different dietry requirements.

I am posting on this message board this evening to ask for your help to contact the farms I have witnessed keeping guinea pigs and rabbits together, and to politely advise them to house them seperately.

A couple of years ago, Pets at Home were guilty of this practise. I contacted them on several occasions, as I'm sure many people did, to tell them that this is not a good idea. Since then, I am pleased to say that the Pets at Home stores I have seen have now seperated their piggies from their bunnies. So, power to the people, we can make a difference to change piggies lives for the better.

The people to contact are:

Nepicar Farm: [email protected]

and

Museum of Kent Life: [email protected]

Who knows, may be they'll listen.

Thanks, sorry for the long post.

Love Gem.x
 
Hi again!

Here's the email I've sent to give you some ideas. If you see the same thing going on in pet shops or at these family farms, please do let them know that it is a bad idea to keep piggies and bunnies together in the same house.

Dear Museum of Kent Life,

We visited the farm earlier today and we had a great time. We have pets ourselves and we are animal lovers, and we were very pleased to see all of the animals looking happy and healthy.

However, we did notice that the rabbits and guinea pigs are kept in the same enclosure. There is a risk that the guinea pigs could get seriously injured if a rabbit accidently kicked out and caught it. Rabbits are obviously bigger and heavier and have very powerful legs. They also have completely different dietry requirments.

I would please ask that you consider housing the rabbits seperately from the guinea pigs as soon as possible. Animal experts agree that this is for the animal's best interests. This is a quote from Peter Gurney's Family Pet Guides to Guinea Pigs:

"No matter what you have read, seen on television or have been told in the past, never house a guinea pig with a rabbit. Hundreds of guinea pigs are kicked or suffer injuries and stress when rabbits try to mate with them. This will most certainly happen if they are housed together. Most rabbit fancy organisations are as much against this practise as most dedicated fanciers of guinea pigs. They are well aware of the dangers of feeding rabbits too much green vegetation, whereas the opposite applies in the case of guinea pigs. They are different animals with different needs in their temperament, diet and handling. So for the health and safety of your guinea pigs, don't house them with rabbits - it results only too often in dead or seriously injured guinea pigs."

Please understand that I am not trying to criticise. I am a genuine animal lover with genuine concerns, and I am just trying to educate for the benefit of the animals in your care. Please consider seperating your guineas from your bunnies.

Many Thanks.

Love Gem.x
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There is a ton of info explaining why these two species should not be kept together. I would be happy to contact these and pop this info in the post as well.

I was also one of those "harrassing" Pets at Home too!
 
Welcome back to the forum. Yep totally agree as do I would say almost all of us here. I will email them adjusting the wording slightly as don't want to sound the same as your own post they may get suspicious.

I've seen with my own eyes a rabbit standing on a guinea and it isn't nice. It's crazy to think places like this think they can live together!

Louise
:)
 
Thank you for your support in this.

Even though I am sadly no longer able to care for piggies my self, I am still very passionate about their welfare.

By all means, use your own wording to get the message across.

We will most likely visit the museum of kent life again soon, so I can keep everyone up to date of any changes.

They have plenty of room at these places to house the piggies seperately, so I see no need as to why they are put together.

The ones at museum of kent life didn't even seem to have any hay, just straw.

Yes this can be the first pressure group challenge. Where ever we see the injustice of piggies having to share their houses with bunnies, we shall write, email and demand that they get their own place.

Thank you very much!

Love Gem. x-c
 
SunshineAndTwinkle said:
I've seen with my own eyes a rabbit standing on a guinea and it isn't nice. It's crazy to think places like this think they can live together!

Louise
:)
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Sadly i have seen a piggy after it's rabbit hutch-mate trampled it. The piggy looked like a cardboard cut-out :0
 
Isn't it against the law for a pet shop or any other organisation to house a piggy and rabbit together?
 
Well done, Gemma - let us know if you receive a reply to your email. Hopefully they will be responsive to constructive suggestions.
 
Hello,

Thanks to every one for your interest and support in this. I have received replies from both places basically saying they are going to look into the matter and get back to me. At least it's got them thinking about it. I probably won't be visiting Nepicar farm again for a while, but we will probably go to the museim on kent life fairly reguarly so that we can keep an eye.

I'll let you know any further developments.

Thanks!

Love Gem.x
 
PetCook said:
Isn't it against the law for a pet shop or any other organisation to house a piggy and rabbit together?
Click to expand...


Sadly, apparently not. I reported a pet shop as it says in the RSPCA's care sheet when we adopted Dylan that they should not be housed together. I got a phonecall from the RSPCA officer inspecting the shop who said that he couldn't see anything wrong with the rabbit being with the pig. I explained their own literature to him, they called back and said it's not actually law, it is just their guidelines. They say also that the RSPCA do not make the laws about this, they can only enforce them, so they wouldnt do anything about it.

I thought this was supposed to have changed with the Animal Welfare Act, but it appears not. If anyone knows any different if this has in fact changed, then I would love to know so I can get reporting again!
 
I would of thought it was covered under the animal welfare act under point 4:

To be housed with, or apart from, other animals (if applicable)
 
it really annoys me when i see the two housed together!

its like putting a hamster and a rat in the same cage!
or a lizard and a snake.
there is no difference, they are diffrent animals all together, and there is no excuse to keep them together grrrr
 
Hi,

Has any one had any replies to their emails? I got some saying they'd look into it and get back to me, and they haven't got back to me yet. Any one had better luck?

Thanks.

Gemma. : )
 
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