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Below are examples and stories of guinea pigs in pet shops around Australia.

Above - This pet shop has been reported many times over the years for its ongoing mistreatment of small animals yet they are still operating. CLICK HERE to read more...

A not so uncommon story of an unwell pet shop guinea pig offered for sale to the public. Sadly Cricket passed away after being rescued. CLICK HERE to read his story...

Backyard Breeding. This is an example of how some guinea pigs are kept and breed behind the scenes before they reach the pet shop. CLICK HERE to read more...

Volunteer rescues guinea pig almost dead, being denied medical care and offered for sale to the public in a very popular well known pet shop. CLICK HERE to read more...

Under aged unweaned babies with or without their mother being offered for sale to the public at a popular pet produce store.

These guinea pigs were originally purchased healthy from a pet shop by a family. This is the risk anyone takes when they pet shop their guinea pigs...they can fall into the hands of anyone when they are bought...CLICK HERE to read an eye-opening story. Do you want to take this risk with your guinea pigs lives and welfare when you take them to the pet shop?

Guinea Pigs in Pet Shops

ACS generally does not support the selling of live animals in pet shops although in saying this we are always willing to work constructively with any pet shop with advice and to help out with any unwell guinea pigs they may receive. The reason we don't support the selling of live animals in pet shops may not be for the reasons many would think so in order to give a better explanation we have placed our reasoning in point form below. We are not here to create conflict with any pet shop and only encourage those that work or run a pet shop to consider the below.

Screening of buyers

The majority of pet shops do not screen those that purchase their guinea pigs. Guinea pigs are sold just as non live products are sold they are sold for sales and profit the welfare of the guinea pigs sold is not taken into consideration. If you purchase or adopt a guinea pig through a shelter or an organization that specializes in the welfare of the animal you will usually have a screening process that assures the guinea pig will be adopted out to a good responsible home. The guinea pigs long-term welfare and care comes first and foremost. Those that choose to surrender/sell their guinea pig to a pet shop are never assured that the guinea pig will be given proper care in the long-term even though the pet shop may keep their guinea pigs in appropriate conditions where they are sold to is out of your hands.

Where do the guinea pigs in pet shops come from?

Many pet shops are supplied by regular breeders of guinea pigs. When a breeder has excess ' stock ' they have an easy option of pet shopping the animals. This is an easy way to ' get rid of ' guinea pigs the breeder does not want to keep and in turn is not a responsible way of controlling a breeding program and is not a responsible way of selling guinea pigs...it's an easy way out for breeders to lose the excess. If the guinea pigs in a pet shop are supplied by a breeder their is also no guarantee on how well the animals are being kept behind the scenes a the breeders home. We have seen countless examples of backyard breeding where the guinea pigs are kept in poor conditions and over bred and are suffering all for the sake of stocking up a pet shop or making a bit of cash from the babies. Do you want to support excess breeding and keeping of guinea pigs in these conditions? Pet shops do not actively go out and visit the homes of their suppliers they have no idea how the animals are being kept before they arrive at the pet shop.

The history and health of the guinea pig you purchase

When a guinea pig is sold to a pet shop the pet shop is not usually supplied with the history of the guinea pig e.g. age, health status. Some pet shops as standard procedure will health check and mite check and treat the guinea pigs they receive but many still do not. Many guinea pigs arrive in pet shops with underlying mange mite or external mite infestation that is left untreated. Many guinea pigs arrive in pet shops PREGNANT and then are sold onto their new homes pregnant....the buyer of a pregnant guinea pig then sadly has to cater for the resulting litter of babies and has to care for the pregnant sow as well and hope that nothing goes wrong with the pregnancy. A date of birth is not often given when a guinea pig is sold to a pet shop so the purchaser is unaware of the animals age. ACS have seen a large number of sick and unwell guinea pigs for sale in pet shops around the country. These guinea pigs are not given appropriate medical attention and they are either sold on sick with the purchaser not realizing and then having to deal with the underlying condition themselves or having to deal with their guinea pig dying as a result of not realizing they are unwell, or they may even die at the pet shop or be kept in a back room if sick.

Males mixed with females

It is not uncommon to find male guinea pigs housed with female guinea pigs in a pet shop. This in turn results in some of the females becoming pregnant which in turn leaves the purchaser of the guinea pig not knowing the sow is pregnant which in turn results in the guinea pigs new owner having unwanted litters and having to cater for and rehome that litter. Many people do not know how to care for resulting offspring or how to care for a pregnant guinea pig. A pregnant guinea pig needs extra dietary nutrition, a low stress appropriate environment or she could have pregnancy complications. When baby guinea pigs are born they need to be sexed and the males separated from their at an appropriate age...if the new family does not know how to sex a guinea pig or does not know when to separate the males from the mother they could then in turn have even more unwanted litters born. If a pet shop is responsible and does keep their males separate from their females we applaud this although sadly in some cases the animals can still end up in mixed sex groups due to not being sexed properly by staff and pregnant sows can still be sold due to coming into the pet shop already pregnant.

Knowledge of staff

The majority of staff hired for a pet shop go through the same process as those wanting to work in any retail store. They are not screened for their knowledge with animals they do not have to have studied animals and their care. Many staff can be young and in their teenage years and may not have any experience working with animals. Due to the above staff therefore may not be able to give out advice to purchasers of their animals, they may not know how to sex the animals or may misex them, they may not be able to recognize and unwell animal from a healthy animal. Those that choose to work with animals we feel to have studied animals and their care to some degree for obvious reasons.

How guinea pigs in pet shops are fed and kept

We applaud the pet shops that keep their animals in clean, appropriate conditions and that feed correct diet to the animals they receive. ACS have seen a large number of pet shops that still do not keep their small animals in appropriate conditions. We have seen many guinea pigs housed in small ' fish tanks ' which is in itself a bad example of housing for small animals. Guinea pigs should never be kept in a fish tank. Fish tanks have very poor air circulation and were made for fish not guinea pigs. This in turn can result in ammonia build up and lack of oxygen in the tank resulting in the guinea pigs suffering from respiratory problems. How a pet shop presents their guinea pigs needs to be a GOOD EXAMPLE presented to the public so the public can see how guinea pigs should be kept. If a pet shop presents its guinea pigs in overcrowded housing, tiny cages, filthy cages ( which is not uncommonly seen ) then the public is not getting a clear example on how a guinea pig should be kept and also the animals health suffers as a result. Guinea pigs in pet shops are given a standard grain mix although many do not receive adequate vitamin c from veggies and hay that they should be receiving. If a member from the public walks into the pet shop and sees the guinea pigs with a plain grain mix they are not getting a clear picture on the diet a guinea pig should be receiving. Sometimes instead of vet and hay a pet shop may recommend and use Small animal supplement in the guinea pigs water. Supplements should only be used as just that....a supplement....they should not be put in place of a natural diet. Many people purchase their guinea pig at a pet shop and are told to purchase/use a small animal supplement in the guinea pigs water and diet and in they are not supplied proper dietary information.

Staff selling their product

Staff are their to sell their products and this is what it comes down to. They will try to sell you any product on the market that is available for your chosen pet whether it's worthwhile purchasing or not. Pet shops usually sell things such as salt licks, wood chews and small animal vitamin and mineral supplement, small cages etc... These particular products are products that the staff and the pet shop will try to sell to guinea pig owners although that are of little to no use to guinea pigs. Guinea pigs do not require or use a salt lick it will simply end up being a piece of decor, small animal supplements should not be used in replacement of a guinea pigs natural diet and we don't recommend using this product at all as the only supplement a guinea pig should receive if need be should be vitamin C supplement. Pet shops can sell a range of guinea pig enclosures some of which are appropriate in size although usually these are the cages that will cost around $200-$300. Pet shops also usually have very small cages less than 1metre in size for sale...these cages are sold for guinea pigs as well and may still cost up to $150. These cages are generally far to small to house a guinea pig in yet the public do not realize this and in turn can end up spending and wasting their money on these cages.

Only taking the babies and young ones

The majority of pet shops do not accept adult guinea pigs into their care. Most only accept guinea pigs between the age of 4-12 weeks old. This can create a long-term problem. Pet shops won't accept adult guinea pigs and won't accept adult guinea pig returns even if the guinea pig was bought from the store as a young one. Young guinea pigs sell quick they turn in the profits a lot easier than trying to sell an adult this in turn can encourage impulse buying as naturally guinea pigs as with any animal are very cute as babies yet once they grow up interest in them can be lost for various reasons and in turn the guinea pig ends up in a shelter or having to be privately re homed, dumped or given away. We believe if animals are going to be sold in pet shops that the long-term care and wellbeing for those animals be considered and by selling only young bubs it can attract the wrong interest, children purchasing them with their pocket money and general impulse buying especially since guinea pigs are not expensive to purchase. Shelters around the country receive many adult guinea pigs and pregnant adult guinea pigs into our care...the interest can be lost once a baby guinea pig grows up and as a shelter we would like to see pet shops encouraging long-term care for the animals they sell this could be introduced by selling all ages of guinea pigs and also handing out information on why one purchases a pet and the long-term responsibility involved once the pet has become a member of the family.