Re-homing my piggies

Piggy Pancakes

Piggy Pancakes

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I have had my Guinea pigs for one year and 9 months. I began with 2 and got a third piggy. I now realize they are a lot of work. I don’t know if I can survive the winter with them. I have to sleep with my window open because of the smell. And they are causing my family to get sick. Their cage is massive, which makes it a hassle to clean, which makes me want to re home them. Another part of me wonders if I get rid of them will I regret it, but they are just such a hassle for a small animal and I could be putting the same amount of work for an animal like a dog. My conflict is I love them to death and the thought of not having them in my life brings tears to my eyes, but I don’t know if I can do this anymore. I need someone’s advice to help me because I really don’t know what to do. I need to know if I need to let go.
 
I’m sorry you are feeling overwhelmed by them. Only you can make the decision as to whether you can manage them or not but piggies are not easy pets and do require time put into them.

Their cage should not be smelling though and if you are noticing smells then it is often because something in the cage set up isn’t working properly.
If you could tell us more about them then we may be able to make some suggestions to help

How old are they?
Are they all female? (Assuming so given you have three, three males together won’t work)
How big is their cage? (The actual measurements)
What bedding are you using?

How are your family getting sick because of the pigs?
 
I'm sorry you're feeling this way. In terms of smell I recommend rewashable puppy pads which is what we use. I have 4 piggys. When I first got them I was using sawdust and I, like you, did not like the smell.

I now change the mats every few days when they are wet and the smell is massively reduced. We have them in our spare room with little issue.

Hope that helps.
 
I am sorry that you are feeling overwhelmed by your piggies. Yes, they are a lot of hard work and cost a lot in vets fees when they are poorly but that’s part and parcel of owning Pets I’m afraid. Dogs and cats are also hard work.

As above, their cage shouldn’t be smelling. I use wood shavings and hay in my cage and the only time I notice a bit of a smell is by the time it gets to clean out day. The rest of the time, I can just smell hay and shavings. Are you spot cleaning daily? What substrate are you using and how big is their cage? Are they males or females? How are they making your family sick?

If you could answer the questions, may be we can help you so you don’t need to rehome them x
 
Yes, what do you mean they are making your family sick? Is it allergies? There's sadly not much you can do if somebody is allergic to the pigs themselves, but if it's something like dust from the hay or bedding, there are ways to reduce that. There are also lots of ways to change your setup to reduce the cost, work and smell of maintaining it.

At the end of the day if you need to re-home them, you're doing the best thing coming here, as this site has lots of contacts and information about how to find them a good home. There is also a lot of good information here if you really do want to keep them but want help solving the challenges you're having with them.
 
Piggy Pancakes said:
I have had my Guinea pigs for one year and 9 months. I began with 2 and got a third piggy. I now realize they are a lot of work. I don’t know if I can survive the winter with them. I have to sleep with my window open because of the smell. And they are causing my family to get sick. Their cage is massive, which makes it a hassle to clean, which makes me want to re home them. Another part of me wonders if I get rid of them will I regret it, but they are just such a hassle for a small animal and I could be putting the same amount of work for an animal like a dog. My conflict is I love them to death and the thought of not having them in my life brings tears to my eyes, but I don’t know if I can do this anymore. I need someone’s advice to help me because I really don’t know what to do. I need to know if I need to let go.
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I’m sorry to say this but If you feel overwhelmed by three guinea pigs then please, please do not even think about getting a dog! Dogs are a truly huge commitment
If your cage is massive and your piggies smell then perhaps you aren’t cleaning them out enough. I think your best bet would be to send some emails to local rescues asking if they will re home them for you. Youare very unlikely to get a reply until after the new year now as rescues tend to close their doors before Christmas. Good luck 🤞
 
True! A dog is a huge commitment. Not quite as much commitment as a human child, but you need to think of it in those kind of terms!

The truth is that any animal is a big commitment, takes a lot of sacrifice and causes a lot of inconvenience. You're taking on responsibility for another life, and that's never a small thing, even if it's something like a fish or a stick insect. It's a big deal. I was brought up with the philosophy that once you commit to an animal, you commit to it for life, and if you're not able to keep it, you need to put that same commitent into finding it a really good home.
 
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