Just about every day, we receive e-mails from people who, for one reason or another, are no longer willing or able to care for their guinea pigs.  Unfortunately, we cannot just supply an address of where to drop them off, as we are already caring for large numbers of guinea pigs which other people decided they could no longer look after, and we are severely over-stretched.  We like to have space available for those occasions when shelters ask us to take piggies which would otherwise be killed because the shelter is too full or their time has run out.  For this reason, we very rarely accept any owner surrenders, other than in emergency circumstances. 

We have had people beg us to take their piggie(s), and say, “Can’t you take just one more?”  The answer, of course, is yes, we could, but where does it end?  There’s a very thin line between rescue and hoarding, and the “just one more” mentality is the slippery slope to disaster.  Overcrowding our facilities places the animals already in our care in jeopardy, and we are not willing to do that. 

There are other ways of rehoming guinea pigs, and there are tips here on this website on how to do this safely and responsibly.  Check under Free To a Good Home.

If you have what you believe to be an emergency situation, please contact us at info@pigglesrescue.com and we may be able to place them on a wait list, depending on the circumstances.  However, should we eventually take them into the rescue, you should be aware that we charge a surrender fee, as follows -

We have had to introduce these fees in order to offset our considerable costs in running the rescue – currently around $300 a month, not including vet fees, which totalled in excess of $4,000 last year (2012).  The various fees reflect the likely level of difficulty we shall have in rehoming them, or the known additional expenses we shall incur.

Whilst some guinea pigs get adopted very quickly, some remain here for a year or more, or need to be permanently sanctuaried because of factors such as age, health or psychological issues relating to abuse or neglect.  We never euthanize for any reason other than under veterinary advice in order to end incurable suffering (and we have only done that three times, out of the 400+ piggies we have dealt with), so any piggie we accept either gets adopted out to a good home or remains with us for the rest of its life.  Additionally, all guinea pigs are adopted out with an unconditional guarantee that we will accept them back at any time, so they are protected for life.