Follow Up Friday – There Can Be Successes
As you probably know whee have been talking about rabbits and guinea pigs being kept together and why you shouldn’t. Our first post dealt with Banham Zoo keeping them together. Despite our best efforts, they have not changed anything and the local papers are not interested in helping us. Our next was a follow up with a comment from the RSPCA on why this was not a good idea.
My nose knows and can sniff out animal welfare issues efurrywhere!
Whee are making moves in the right direction and places are starting to listen. One success had by a lovely lady called Caroline was at her local Just for Pets Store.
She sent an email to the store voicing her concerns about them keeping rabbits and guinea pigs together. Pointing out why this is not good practice and a link to the RSPCA website on the dangers.
The store manager sent her a reply, which whee have below:
Thank you for your email, which has been brought to my attention by my Regional Manager. I am sorry that you felt the need to contact us regarding the rabbits and Guinea pigs welfare.
I realise that keeping Guinea pigs and Rabbits together is not ideal and shouldn’t be done when the Rabbit starts maturing. The rabbits we have are very young, 7-8 weeks of age and are not even close to getting to sexual maturity so there’s minimal risk of the rabbit mounting the guinea pig and hurting or stressing the guinea pig out.
Baby rabbits very rarely kick out and we monitor all our animals daily usually checking up on them every couple of hours. If we see any kind of stress then we always investigate and isolate the stressed animal. In my four, nearly 5 years of being the store manager i have never had any injured rabbits or guinea pigs. If for any reason we have a rabbit instore for a long period and he/she starts getting older/bigger then we usually put them on there own.
The food we have in the pens is guinea pig food and they get fresh greens also. We are aware that guinea pigs need a special diet and there are caves in the pens incase the guinea pig feels the need to hide.
Obviously we would never sell rabbits and guinea pigs to be housed together due to the points above.
Cavies are gregarious by nature and benefit from being kept in pairs or groups, especially if they are without human contact during the day and we do inform customers of this if they want to only purchase 1 guinea pig. Also its not always ideal for someone to purchase 2 or more guinea pigs due to size and cost of feeding and housing so we always stress in these situations that they need to be handled daily and recommend having a indoor hutch.
At this present time our shops are having new animal units fitted which will be more appropriate to housing guinea pigs and rabbits separately. At this moment in time i have separated the rabbits and guinea pigs to help every ones peace of mind.
I hope I have addressed any concerns you may have had regarding the welfare of our guinea pigs or rabbits.
Once again please accept my apologies for your dissatisfied visit to our store. If you would like to talk to me further about this matter, please do not hesitate to contact me directly.
As Caroline said, this is an achievement and a real step in the right direction for animal welfare. It can be done!
Some of you mentioned in comments on the last post that you know of places keeping rabbits and guinea pigs together. Would you name and shame shops, zoos and farms with their locations so whee can get the hoomans to contact them and do their best to improve the lives and way those animals are being kept?
Together, whee can all make a difference. One little popcorning step at a time and whee will get there!
Have a fab Friday efurryone
Buddy
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Posted on September 27, 2013, in Piggy Blogs and tagged cavies, cavy, dangers of keeping rabbits with guinea pigs, good practice for pet stores, guinea pig blog, guinea pig blogger, guinea pigs in pet shops, just for pets, just for pets guinea pigs, just for pets stores, pet, pets, rabbits and guinea pigs, should i keep a rabbit with a guinea pig. Bookmark the permalink. 39 Comments.
Hutch A Good Life 
PETS AT HOME.. DRUSILLA’S ZOO, EAST SUSSEX. Go for it girl and don’t give up 🙂 Have a super weekend xx00xx
Mollie and Alfie
Whee have contacted Drusilla’s as Mummy went there when she was little so knew it. Unfortunately they weren’t too helpful over the phone so Mummy has sent an email, hopefully something will come of that.
Buddy
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You are a sweet piggy with a kind heart, Buddy! xxx
Thank you. I try! ^_^
Buddy
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You are so right Buddy – every little helps and small successes can add up to big achievements in the end 🙂
That’s what whee are hoping ^_^
Buddy
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You’re right and I love that you try to help your piggie-friends. You’re a small hero with a great heart! btw: thanks that you not chewed the name of the stoer what was written on your box, mom found a pair of cool walking boots for my dad at hotter’s !
Hehehe I chew that box a lot! Mummy gets her furfriends to give her old shoe boxes for us all the time. It’s fun and keeps us busy!
Buddy
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Every little helps. Well done you. Have a fabulous Friday.
Best wishes Molly
Every little does help! Whee hope that small differences will add up to big ones soon.
Buddy
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Buddy that’s great ..one piggie or person can make a difference,if we all as one person made a difference then think of the changes we could achieve..have a great weekend big hugs Fozziemum xx
Whee should all just work together. Whee will get there in the end.
Buddy
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I agree Buddy 🙂 Hugs Fozziemum xxx
Good job! Awesome! Don’t give up and keeping forging ahead!
I’m determined, it just getting people to listen and take me seriously now!
Buddy
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Good for you guys & your family. Every steps help other animals. Keep working!
Thank you. Whee sure hope so.
Buddy
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Next to the fish tanks where they put sharks and guppies together.
Mummy loves fishies but knows nothing about them so she cannot comment. It makes us sad when animals that should be swimming free in the ocean are in tiny tanks though.
Buddy
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Buddy you are a kindhearted and adorable guinea pig, keep working! Best wishes from Lily, Piglet and Cookiebear. 🙂
Thank you, whee will keep on, keeping on! ^_^
Buddy
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Well done keep up the good work!xx Speedy and Rachel
Whee will try to
Buddy
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Wow guys! that’s pawesome! Concatulations on a job well done! =^.^=
Thank you, whee are happy there has been such a good response from some hoomans
Buddy
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Excellent-well done and some day all will be treated well and have loving homes.
That’s the plan!
Buddy
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Totally Pawsome of you to work on making people realize what’s okay and what’s not when it comes to piggy health! You can be sure that if I see any piggies being kept with rabbits, I’ll be bringing your blog up to the management!
Hehehe thank you. Whee just want all animals to get fair treatment and the correct care. Unfortunately zoos are currently inclined to disagree with the beliefs of efurryone else.
Buddy
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Heeey, that much effort into an answer, that’s a nice change from the usual. I love how you’re actively busy with changing what people know about animals ^_^ go go piggy family, go go!
Thank you. Whee are trying our best. Some places are very resistant, even rude at times but then these good answers more than make up for it.
Whee just have to keep on keeping on!
Buddy
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Well done guys.
Thank you ^_^
Buddy
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Rabbits can also carry bacterias that are harmless to them but can be deadly to guinea pigs (and vice versa). It is mostly a respiratory infection that is the problem. So its not just about aggression.
I always say that it’s like expecting a human to live locked up in a room with a gorilla. Its frustrating when you get the response “its never happened in all my years,” as if that makes the risk worth while 😦 Avalon Guinea Pig rescue had 2 piggies come in this week that had been attacked by their companion bunny, the owner said they’d never had problems before. The piggies are covered in bite mark scars and tattered ears etc 😦 Poor piggies.
My bunnies often get annoyed when all my piggies start wheeking, they don’t like the noise, so stomp their foot…I’d hate to think what might happen if they lived together. Also a bunny should binky…IF it’s HAPPY…it can cause a lot of damage to a piggy. If the rabbit isn’t binkying, it’s probably not as happy as these people think or are making out!
Very true. Thanks for taking the time to reply. It does shock and frustrate me that people persist in this dangerous way and even more so when zoos and farms which are in the perfect position to educate do it.
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Thanks good that you received a letter from the pet shop and have made a difference. To be honest, when I was young, my mum acquired a guineapig and rabbit that had been living together for years and we kept them together and they were fine. To separate those two would not have been good because they were used to being with each other. Two out of my 3 local pet shops keep rabbits and guineapigs together and I didn’t know there was a problem with this. The only time I have ever been concerned with a rabbit and guineapig being in a pet shop together was years ago, when I saw a rabbit being boisterous with a guineapig, not because it was trying to mate with it but because it was much bigger and was trying to be dominant.
It was believed to be alright for a very long time and the advances in animal welfare with regards to guinea pigs and rabbits are relatively new. It does cause welfare issues to separate those already bonded so whee wouldn’t recommend that but it is frustrating that people are still introducing more today despite knowing the risks of accidental kicks, bacteria carried by bunnies which causes URI’s and the fact they can live happily with their own species. Whee really hope these farms, zoos and wildlife parks decide to change their practice so they educate the public correctly and responsibly on how they should keep their own pets
Buddy
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Thanks Buddy for your wise words. I noticed one of my local pet shops that housed them together had a sign stating that the rabbits aren’t vaccinated. In the other pet shop, they had separated a 12 week old rabbit from the guineapigs.
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