I totally agree with you. I posted way upthread. I actually do not think they are good pets. But, I had to be honest, I have become very attached to mine. But it is a TON of work and I would never actually ever recommend them unless you are the kind of person that loves to clean all the time.
Like you, while I don't enjoy all the work, I will never give him up because that is just cruel. EDITED TO ADD: I definitely feel differently if allergies are involved. Don't mean to offend.
I'm with you and CanBeGrumpy. A pet is a pet until they are gone. And again unless allergies are involved. That is why I have posted all aspects of caring for the guinea pigs I had. So many people get them from pet stores because they are cute little babies and then after a few months to a year are totally sick of all the work and or don't do it and as a result the animal suffers.
I've heard the comments about them being disposable. When they die it's cheaper to just get a new one. That is so sad to me.
As I said I did have 5 and I would have kept the last one to the end (not saying this as guilt just fact) but because I knew they are better in a "herd" because they are social animals and I can't give that attention (allergy and just not my thing) the two people that took her are friends I met from the shelter and actually they are the ones that told me about her and gave them to me as a baby.
They were thrilled knowing how well I cared for her. We had just had an ice storm knocking out power, so she could not stay in the house as it got below 60 and we didn't know when power would come back. Fast forward in the few days they had her, and knowing my allergies, they opted to keep her.
As I said in a previous post, a friend had a male gp and they were not willing to bring him to the vet and take on the expense. They were oblivious to the needs he had. It was hard for me to ask them to surrender him, but they did and he was able to live a better painfree life for about a year longer. Otherwise he would have died shortly.
And yet another friend, same deal. Cage was the store bought cage. He was a big GP and had no room to move around. Cage had 3 inches of billed up poop and hay and shavings. Who knows when it was last cleaned. I convinced them to bring him to the shelter since again they didn't want to do a vet care. He was already so sick, my friends from the shelter took him home with them and he only lived a very short time.
Honestly, you do get a more "relationship" reaction from a dog than a guinea pig. If I was willing to spend my money on vet bills instead of Disney vacations, I would get a dog before a guinea pig.
Again glad I had the experience, but glad I'm done also.
if you have a huge heart for caregiving, go to a rescue shelter and adopt.
