Would you buy a gp from p@h?

[millimat]

Sorry I know I've gone on and on, but for those who haven't seen me harp on here's a summary :

Had 2 god. Only 6 months but one died from ear infection 4 weeks ago. Need a buddy for other gp but had a holiday so promised dd we'd sort once home. Really like the idea of speed dating from a rescue centre so we know there's a higher chance of them getting along.
I don't like our gp being on his own but he's eating and drinking fine.
No rescue centre nearby has any single boars ready to adopt for a couple of weeks. Went to P@H today. They said if we pick one (obviously would be a baby) theyd put ours with it in a neutral space to see if they were ok.
The big plus point would be that dd has a week to get new gp settled before school.
Would you?

millimat I really feel for you, I know what you're going through (I've had two bereaved boars in a year and you want them to have company of a pigletty kind^ )

I know that people (myself included) will quote about PetShops and breeders, making money etc.

But, P@H - I've had issues with them myself, there was a pig with a gummy eye that I pointed out (and stood while I made sure they caught him)
"Oh he must be sleepy" they said.

"No " I thought, "he's got an eye infection. They don't sleep with one eye open. They are born with their eyes open"

I did say "I've kept guineas since I was her age" pointing at my DD.

I've also got major issues with Gumtree sellers who want to palm off their pets because their kids "got bored" and want £30/£40/£50 because they "want it to go to a good home".
I did consider looking at Gumtree myself but I wouldn't pay someone privately to take a guinea from them to rehome <span class="italic">unless</span> they were a proper breeder. If I'm doing them a favour, they won't profit from their unwanted animals, but I wouldn't need the cages anyway.

If you buy one piggie from P@H, it won't make a huge dent in the population in Rescue will it.?
OK, you could argue that you're preventing that piggie going into Adoption or an impulse buy. Because once they are beyond a given age, they are moved on for the next cute load of piglets.


Have you looked for a local breeder? One that will give you the time to pick a cagemate for your piggie? That will give you a return policy ?

P@H give something like 24 hours guarentee and there's no 100% with animals, I know.

They have an inhouse vet in lots of the sites so you could have a check done (especially double check if you need to get one particular sex. I saw a very pearshaped pig in a pen of males........)


If you go there, take a plastic box that you've cleaned  to make it neutral) and some newspaper and hay.
When we bonded GP3 and the girls, they spent 2 hours in the bonding pen (they'd chatted for 4+weeks).
If you get a piglet, get a young one (the ones in Rehome tend to be 12+ weeks and they might not see eye to eye)

Good Luck.

I would wait 2 weeks to get one from a proper rescue who will bond them. P@H are unlikely to accept the piggy back if they don't get on. If your boy is fine at the moment then a week or two shouldn't hurt. Give him extra attention and cuddles.

Arghh don't know what to do! Feel v sorry for gp on his own, but would prefer to use a rescue centre. But this week is an ideal time for getting a new one...

Arghh don't know what to do! Feel v sorry for gp on his own, but would prefer to use a rescue centre. But this week is an ideal time for getting a new one...

millimat if you can wait and your main reason for getting one now is the fact that you'll all be round the house, then wait till you get the pig you want.

Mine were bonded when my DC were in school time, (my boars) so they were left to their own devices during the day.

Is your piggie indoors? He'll get all the noise and chat for now, which although it's not the same as a piggie, it's better than nothing. You can leave a radio on for him when he's alone.

If I was getting more pigs (Don't worry DH , it's an IF ) I'd go down the Rescue route first.
Then if they didn't have what I wanted, a Good Breeder. One who breeds selectively and only lets their sows breed for a couple of years.
Then I'd look at Private Adverts, the non-grabby Gumtree or Pre-loved but I'd give them nothing (or a nomimal fee to cover expenses. They could accept their pig gets a good home, or they could lump it)

Though, I sometimes wonder if my girls had been re-homed as piglets before they got into the breeding cycle, their lives would have been different.
We got GP3 as a Rescue (he was from a Breeder, no idea if he'd been surrendered or was surplus and a by-product of breeding)

But, I reckon it's not where they start off, it's where they end up that's important. Whatever you choose, you'll make a difference to the guinea-pig you take on.

I did, because there was no other place for me to get one from easily (trust me, it really was last resort).

Got them last March, they were born in December 2012.

GP2 had an ear infection in April 2013 - left him hyperactive and stunted his growth
GP1 died at new year - was fine one day, dead the next
GP3 died at the weekend

Now it may just be coincidence, but I dunno. They are / were very well cared for (as the local vets can testify) so I don't think the above was in any way my fault. Seeing as how the average lifespan is 4-6 years, and 2 died before they were 2, with the other one having serious health problems of his own I'm not sure I'd recommend getting one from there.

We bought 3 boars from P@H.

One died within a few hours. They replaced him with another one.

About 3 months later we noticed that one of them wasn't growing as quickly as the other 2. We ended up having him put down about 2 weeks after that. He was really not well at all.

We stuck with 2. But one died earlier this year. He was only 2 1/2. I had been given 2 other piggies which were a lot older. One of them died, so I slowly introduced the remaining 2 to each other. Surprisingly they got on really well, and have been together since then.

(Unfortunately a fox managed to pull the back boards of the hutch/run, so I am now piggiless - our garden is very quiet w/o them).

I personally would not buy another gp from P@H.

I would never buy an animal of any species from PaH or any other pet shop.

Animals in pet shops don't come from decent, caring breeders who are trying to breed healthy pets of good temperament.

I've worked in a large, nation-wide pet shop. I only lasted a few months before leaving, it was the most soul destroying job I've ever done.

I think with P@H there are some staff who do care about the animals and some who don't. But no matter how much they do look after them in-store, there animals there are transient. They have no idea that they are in those pens while they're little and sellable and as soon as X number of weeks has gone by, the next batch arrive and the 'dregs' are bundled off to the we got too big to sell cages.
The next batch will be waiting, do the breeders take back the un sold ones?
I remember looking at some really nice pigs, the member of staff said "Oh, we have some tiny ones in the back, they are so cute".
How old would they be, I wonder.

I would dearly love for them not to sell small animals.
My DD and I will tell people looking just what they are letting themselves in for if they buy them.
(There's a sign up about A Cage that will hold 2 baby pigs. But what about when they;re adult? What about when those two little boars get bigger? Will people go and buy a bigger cage? Or say "No, they're fighting. The kids don't want them. They're a bit smelly "

I don't know where my two sows came from. Chances are they could've been a couple of Pet Shop rejects that someone said "Oh, let's breed them" Or they might have been put in with a mixed batch of sows/boars.

The P@H pigs (in most stores anyway) seem lively and chirpy, but how many get homed. And this is repeated in every store across the land.
It is desperately

Well sorry but spoke to rescue centres and breeders and no suitable boars for at least 3 weeks. So we gave in.
I have to say I was v impressed with the staff at p@h. We were there a good hour trying different piggies with our one in a neutral cage. Eventually made a choice.
We've got a health check with their vets in I the next month, but our vets is also going to see him.
Took vets advice re pairing them. They've been in a cage together in the day but are separated this evening. Seem like 2 happy animals phew!

Well sorry but spoke to rescue centres and breeders and no suitable boars for at least 3 weeks. So we gave in.
I have to say I was v impressed with the staff at p@h. We were there a good hour trying different piggies with our one in a neutral cage. Eventually made a choice.
We've got a health check with their vets in I the next month, but our vets is also going to see him.
Took vets advice re pairing them. They've been in a cage together in the day but are separated this evening. Seem like 2 happy animals phew!

millimat the main thing is your Resident Boar and your new piglet are happy.

It sounds like your particular branch of P@H was good and thorough.
Cherish your new boy and you've stopped him ending up in the 'cycle' of rehoming / adoption cages. You've made a difference to that piggie (it's not his fault that he's a P@H piggie) but YY to a vet check for him.

Happy to report that little new gp has settled brilliantly. Our vet says he seems great and were v impressed with p@h when I said what they did.
Our older gp is delighted to have a buddy and the noise when they were separated was deafening! So they're together all the time now.
New gp is very very cute but my phone doesn't like mn. All my posts get doubled and it won't upload photos.

Happy to report that little new gp has settled brilliantly. Our vet says he seems great and were v impressed with p@h when I said what they did.
Our older gp is delighted to have a buddy and the noise when they were separated was deafening! So they're together all the time now.
New gp is very very cute but my phone doesn't like mn. All my posts get doubled and it won't upload photos.

Glad your new piglet has settled in okay and got a clean bill of health. Can't wait for photos when you can.

I got 2 last week from there as couldn't find any sows anywhere and like you needed piggies in a hurry for a bereaved piggy.

The first one dd chose they weren't sure if they'd sell it to me or not as when they picked it up the assistant thought her eye was a bit funny. The manager came and had a good look and said that she just thought one eye was smaller than the other and it had a droopy eyelid. It did look smaller.

But the manager didnt think it was an infection. I said we'd take it and if it got worse I'd take it to a vet. The manager said they'd pay any vet bills which I thought was good. They've been to the vet for a check up and I said to the vet I was worried the eyes were different but now they look the same. Vet thought I was bonkers!

My last piggies were from PAH. One still going at 7yo and the other just died.

Tbh we bought our piggie boys from pets at home because I didn't know that you could get rescue ones (I am quite new to mn otherwise I would have got rescue ones). Having said that our boys are very healthy and happy

millimat we need updates y'know.
'Tis Super Furry Animal Law.

You get new pigs/pig...................................... we need Pigtures

Sorry sorry, still can't get phone to put photos on here. The double up of posts appears to have stopped though!
He seems v happy. Already had our vet do a little once over with him, but off to p@ h tomorrow as they offer a free health check and I'm not one to turn down a freebie
He does make very strange sounds though? Almost like he's grinding his teeth?

Good to hear little boy has settled in
Is it a ChuChuChu noise like his jaws going side to side?

My little Himalayan does this , not at the other pigs (mainly when I'm cuddling her) I think it's her "Yes, I am cuddling you, SheDevil but I can escape whenever I like"

Umm, not sure. Hoping we'll find out tomorrow. It's def not aimed at older gp and he's happy being cuddled ( once we've caught him!). The sound is alongside his happy squeaky purrs ( not a gp expert and I've no idea how different they all sound).
No idea what type of gp he is. There's a big tuft on his head that other gp doesn't have.

Just googled and decided gp1 is an American or English cavy, and little gp2 is a crested gp.

My Himalayan is a crested - all smooth except the little forehead rossette.
I think it makes her look like a Unicorn, all mystical and ethereal.

Rodent With Attitude Guinea Pig Breeds have some gorgeous photos. I defy anyone not to fall in love with the Rex guineas