Emergency Guinea Pig rescue, need advice.
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Hiya everyone.
Our day has taken an unexpected turn of events today. Let me explain - I will try to keep it simple -
My mum works as a cleaner in a Nursery (She along with the security guard are the last people to leave, the children and staff leave by 5:30, my mum is there until about 7, cleaning) the Nursery keeps two Guinea Pigs.
As my mum was about to leave this evening, she noticed that the Guinea Pigs have been left there - they had half a bowl of dry food, and 2 half eaten corn on the cobs, and two medium sized water bottles. They were not clean, the sawdust at the bottom was wet and dirty. It is a bank holiday weekend so these little dudes were about to be left over the entire bank holiday weekend. My mum rang her boss, who then rang the Nursery manager who confirmed that nobody would be going in to care for these guys for the entire bank holiday weekend.
My mum rang me because she wasn't prepared to shut the Nursery up and leave these little animals alone for 4 nights (quite rightly so) so I walked down there and we have carried them back, they are now sitting in their hutch on our kitchen side. We have cleaned them out, changed their water and given them fresh food. So now they are in a clean safe enviroment with good food (We've given them dandelion, grass and carrots) tomorrow we will buy some more veggies and more Guinea pig food.
We know the basics of Guinea Pig care, how much food per day do they need? I'm thinking a constant supply of dry food, and selection of fruit and vegetables every day? Things like Brocolli, cauliflower, apples? Do they need anything in particular? Of course we will change their water several times a day and keep them clean with fresh bedding
Also, we are going to be seriously reluctant to give these beautiful little animals back to that enviroment - they quite honestly do not deserve these little guys. We are quite prepared to keep them now, we can give them good home and they will be wanted and taken care of properly - does anyone know where we stand legally on this?
The hutch they have is very big, it's taking up our Kitchen side, probably about 4ft long, but what worries me is that they have no 'house' in there, do guinea pigs not like to have a little secret home to go into? They have two large tubes, but no little hut? That doesn't seem right either.
So we need food ideas, toy ideas and any advice if anyone knows on where we stand on keeping them legally?
I find it shocking and shameful that these people at the Nursery were going to leave them alone with not enough food, and unclean >:(, it actually makes me quite angry thinking about it >:(
They are quite happy at moment, munching their way through carrots and dandelion. I have a pooch too and she barked a moment ago, the pigs were not bothered by her barking (phew) I was worried that they might be scared, but they are quite brave little fellows.
Anyway, thank you for reading, any advice would be great. Thank you
Our day has taken an unexpected turn of events today. Let me explain - I will try to keep it simple -
My mum works as a cleaner in a Nursery (She along with the security guard are the last people to leave, the children and staff leave by 5:30, my mum is there until about 7, cleaning) the Nursery keeps two Guinea Pigs.
As my mum was about to leave this evening, she noticed that the Guinea Pigs have been left there - they had half a bowl of dry food, and 2 half eaten corn on the cobs, and two medium sized water bottles. They were not clean, the sawdust at the bottom was wet and dirty. It is a bank holiday weekend so these little dudes were about to be left over the entire bank holiday weekend. My mum rang her boss, who then rang the Nursery manager who confirmed that nobody would be going in to care for these guys for the entire bank holiday weekend.
My mum rang me because she wasn't prepared to shut the Nursery up and leave these little animals alone for 4 nights (quite rightly so) so I walked down there and we have carried them back, they are now sitting in their hutch on our kitchen side. We have cleaned them out, changed their water and given them fresh food. So now they are in a clean safe enviroment with good food (We've given them dandelion, grass and carrots) tomorrow we will buy some more veggies and more Guinea pig food.
We know the basics of Guinea Pig care, how much food per day do they need? I'm thinking a constant supply of dry food, and selection of fruit and vegetables every day? Things like Brocolli, cauliflower, apples? Do they need anything in particular? Of course we will change their water several times a day and keep them clean with fresh bedding
Also, we are going to be seriously reluctant to give these beautiful little animals back to that enviroment - they quite honestly do not deserve these little guys. We are quite prepared to keep them now, we can give them good home and they will be wanted and taken care of properly - does anyone know where we stand legally on this?
The hutch they have is very big, it's taking up our Kitchen side, probably about 4ft long, but what worries me is that they have no 'house' in there, do guinea pigs not like to have a little secret home to go into? They have two large tubes, but no little hut? That doesn't seem right either.
So we need food ideas, toy ideas and any advice if anyone knows on where we stand on keeping them legally?
I find it shocking and shameful that these people at the Nursery were going to leave them alone with not enough food, and unclean >:(, it actually makes me quite angry thinking about it >:(
They are quite happy at moment, munching their way through carrots and dandelion. I have a pooch too and she barked a moment ago, the pigs were not bothered by her barking (phew) I was worried that they might be scared, but they are quite brave little fellows.
Anyway, thank you for reading, any advice would be great. Thank you
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I know nothing about hamsters only guinea pigs, found this website for you http://www.wikihow.com/Care-for-Guinea-Pigs
Hope that helps. I also hope you get to keep them. It seems the novelty has worn off for the guinea pigs...:(
Thank you mollie. I will do this (although I have had bad experiences with the RSPCA in the past) I am planning on emailing them along with perhaps Blue Cross to see if they have any advice on what to do next. All we know at this moment is that we are not going to be handing these guys back to that Nursery - no way. What they have done is cruelty and something needs to be done about what they have done.
Thank you
Thank you for the link, it is very helpful
Take care with changing their diet too quickly - all animals need to adjust to a new diet even if the one they are currently on is poor.
Well done to you and your mum for noticing and doing something. The world needs more people like you.
Just read back, that should have read (I must have been tired!), I know about hamsters NOT guinea pigs.
I didn't think schools, nursery's kept pets anymore.
Thanks for all the advice
They have fresh guinea pig food, they've had apple, milk thistle, more carrots, tomatoes. I've been reading up and apparently they like courgette amongst many other things so tomorrow I will get some more veggies for them. Also they are eating hay
If they had been left, they would have stale water, next to no food, and it would have been very dirty by now - it's so awful that there is no way are we handing these animals back to them. I have no idea what will happen next to be honest but I am very angry at these people.
My sister is off to pets at home tomorrow to get in more toys and things for them.
I think offering to give them a good home is a good idea, we will put this in an email to the manager (we can get this from my mums boss) and highlight exactly how disturbing it is that they were going to be left. So hopefully we will manage to talk them into letting us keep them, if not then we will think of a plan B.
Thanks again everyone I will keep you posted.
GP's are adorable I love the noise they make
Well done on the care you've given them. However, I would take the cotton bedding out and stuff the box with hay instead.
Just an update -
My mum has spoken to the RSPCA and have been told that legally, this is viewed as theft :mad: They have said that because we techinically 'removed the evidence' because we cleaned them out, gave them a bedbox and fresh food, they can't do anything as now all they would see is well cared for animals.
We have emailed the nursery manager ourselves now, highlighting just how awful it was and we have offered to keep them and give them a good home. I researched and found that they have actually broken the law (animal act 2006) and that too was mentioned in the email.
Very anxious about tomorrow now, I am not sure what is going to happen, we are expecting a visit from the police as we really really do not want to give these guys back.
The pigs are happy, munching on fresh grass ATM.
(p.s don't worry burton, cotton bedding now gone, bedbox full of hay
like /\
Good luck to you and the guineas
My mum had a heated discussion with the manager this morning.
She claimed that the sure start people go in on Saturday mornings, and that she was going to go in with them to check on the pigs/ clean them out and feed them (not what was said on Friday). She then changed this to saying that she was going to take them home with her on Saturday morning (Perhaps she realised that sure start people don't go in on Sundays and bank holidays, meaning thats still 2 days alone)
She accused my mum of theft, and accepted zero responsibility (As she claimed that she was going to be caring for them, if we hadn't taken them) . Back at Easter mum had the same concerns about the pigs being left alone (would have been 5 days, because of easter friday) so she raised this at the time and was told that the pigs 'would be fine' left alone. She had to kick up a fuss about it until a staff member agreed the take them home. This was mentioned this morning and the excuse was 'that was an oversight'.
Hopefully this has been a wake up call to take care of these little souls properly. I miss the little guys already.
What about the fact that they were dirty and needed care even before you took them home?
Utterly disgraceful. Your mother still did the right thing and I will always applaud folk who take as much action as possible when it comes to small animals getting a raw deal. Living in a hutch etc doesn't mean that they don't need attended to. The thought of them going back must be completely heartbreaking. I used to work in animal rescue but we had no power to remove pets, but I had also reported the rabbits we used to have next door who were kept in a tiny hutch with no food, no bedding and hardly any water to the RSPCA.
The students who owned them went away over the Christmas break and left them. We noticed and changed their water, gave them hay etc - the hutch was only 2ft long, the rabbits were of opposite sexes and were ripping lumps out of each other (the water was freezing really quickly as well and the hutch had no insulation) and there were no footprints in the snow, so noone had come by to check on them. Their only bedding was a tea towel and they had no sunlight at all.
You know what the RSPCA said (even though there was photo evidence we had taken and documented)? That we couldn't prove anything. Because we had changed their water the night before and given them hay, there was nothing they could do except leave a calling card with the owner to say they had visited. Even though the owners had been gone for days, we "couldn't prove it".
The worst part is, when the owner came back after the break, she had the cheek to come round and start complaining that I had called them in the first place. Well excuse me! If it wasn't for us, your rabbits would be bloody DEAD. They disappeared soon after, and I have no idea what happened to them. I had rescue rabbits and would frequently leave leftover hay/toys etc at the door as a gift and none of it was EVER given to those poor wee souls
Sigh.
That's appalling>:(:(. Poor rabbits what a crap life. If it was me, I'd have taken them out of that 2ft hellhole (2ft for a rabbit is a joke, a hamster cage is meant to be bigger than that!), took them back to mine safely, then set about making the hutch look like foxes had got into it. Serves the 'owners' right if they think they were eaten by a fox whilst they went off without a second thought to their pets:kitty:.
We honestly did think about doing that but they swiftly disappeared before we had the space. My house these days is full of rescues (the only one that isn't a rescue is my dog, but we're about to adopt a wee rescue dog)
Stories like this completely boil my blood. It's so saddening
The RSPCA is toothless in situations like this. They'll happily spend £300,000 on a hunting-related court case that they have no chance of winning but the law does not let them act in situations like this. Spending £300,000 lobbying to get the law amended for the benefit of thousands of small animals kept in appalling conditions all their sad little lives... or educating pets owners in what their animals really need... would be better.
But that's a personal beef of mine - the RSPCA is a political entity nowadays and the local setups often aren't even funded by the RSPCA - they operate under the RSPCA 'brand' but receive no funding at all; they have to raise their own funds. I detest the RSPCA central organisation.
Rant over, I would advise the RSPCA locally that the Gpigs have gone back and that you are concerned for their long-term well-being. And then I'd put in writing to the manager that you (or your mother) have done so. That might focus the nursery manager's mind a little though, of course, even if she took them home it doesn't means she'd look after them. A week being ignored in her garage wouldn't benefit them. I certainly wouldn't want a child of mine absorbing the attitudes and values of that nursery manager... though it's a moot point as I don't have any.
And please, if anyone ever thinks of donating to the RSPCA because you want to help your local branch help local animals, give the money to the branch direct - never donate or send it to the main organisation.
ps: Upsetting though this is, you and your mum still did the right thing, it's just a shame that there wasn't a better outcome for the piggies. But you may well have made a difference and improved their lives.
I'd speak to the manager and try to be reasonable about their care, or offer to buy them.
Mum works there every evening, so she is keeping an extra eye on them - taking in plenty of fresh grass every night for them. They have been bought a brand new bedbox (by the nursery) if they are in need of a clean, my mum will do that before she leaves.
We are currently trying to get what happens with them over the weekends changed (Not convinced that she is going in on Saturday mornings, and also this doesn't account for Sundays at all) I have been reading up on Gastric Statis in Guinea Pigs and that is very scary!!!! An email has been sent to the lady in charge of the entire centre (The nursery is one part of the centre) to explain the entire sitution, so we will see what happens now.....
Kiviraat - those poor poor rabbits, that is heartbreaking and angering. They have no voice so we have to do that for them. The thought of them just having a tea towel for bedding