PA-Have-A-Heart Guinea Pig Rescue

NOTE: DUE TO TIME CONSTRAINTS AND THE LARGE NUMBER OF HAVE A HEART GUINEA PIGS, HAH ENTRIES WILL NO LONGER BE RETROACTIVELY UPDATED. MY APOLOGIES FOR ANY INCONVENIENCE THIS CAUSES. THE HAH WEBSITE WILL OFFER THE MOST UP TO DATE INFORMATION.

Pennsylvania is a state known for Quakers, Conestoga wagons, and sweet Have-A-Heart guinea pigs in need of a home. There are more than I can feature in one post, so you'll find mere links to all of them at the bottom of this entry. In the meantime, here are some of my favorites:


Weekend at Bernie's: Look at this pose! What a great lookin' pig. He's been in the rescue since August. Bernie is a young boar of medium build. He's used to dogs and cats. Bernie was turned in to the shelter because his former owners didn't want him anymore. Can you help him learn to trust people again?



ADOPTED! Vienna is a beautiful three year old sow. She's very friendly and active. To quote from the person who wrote her profile: "I've never had a guinea pig be so friendly right off the bat!" Her owner gave her up for an apartment that didn't allow pets. Again, to quote from I assume her foster folk: "Personally I'd choose Vienna over the apartment, hands down!" And also a tip--try talking to your landlord; many of them don't consider caged animals in the same category as dogs and cats.


ADOPTED! I love Smores, partly because I think he's my guinea Sophie's brother, partly because he is so cute and lovable and huggable. Look at that cute little pink nose! He's two and a half years old, crested, and very friendly. He's used to cats, dogs, and kids. He was given up because of his owners' allergies. I would have gotten a Claratin patch and nose plugs to try and keep this boy.

ADOPTED!-->Wunbi and Wags ~ Oliver and Simon ~ Chip ~ ADOPTED!--> Pepper ~ Pops and Corn ~ Buster and Benji ~ Charlie and Johnnie ~ TwoBit and Clover ~ LISTING REMOVED--> Cupid and Smores ~ Hatch ~ Rascal ~ Turbo ~ ADOPTED!--> Owen ~ John and Kamil ~ LISTING REMOVED--> Patches and Petunia ~ Jalopy and Lamore ~ PC and Reebox ~ ADOPTED!--> Smores ~ ADOPTED!--> Hoss ~ Bernie ~ Humphrey ~ Sammy and Mickey Mouse ~ LISTING REMOVED--> Buddy ~ ADOPTED!-->Iggy ~ DJ ~ Minnie Mouse and Rachael Ray ~ Cookie, Sugar Pie, Sieka, Princess and Sundae ~ ADOPTED!--> Vienna.

helpful links: Quality Hay and Pellets in bulk & Pampering your Pig & Cheaper, Larger Cages & Bedding & Essential Guinea Supplies & Proper Diet & Cavy Savvy Vets & "What's Normal? What's Not?" & "What is Rescuing and Adopting?"

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PA-Women's Humane Society-Update

This is an update to this post. The Women's Humane Society presently has two guinea pigs in its care--they just posted pictures, so I'll share. Please read the the original post for background information.


ADOPTED! Furball is a one year old tri-color sow. She is friendly, good with kids, and "slightly active." She is medium sized.




ADOPTED! Chopper is a one year old boar with brown and black hair. He is of medium size, "slightly active," friendly, and good with kids.

helpful links: Quality Hay and Pellets in bulk & Pampering your Pig & Cheaper, Larger Cages & Bedding & Essential Guinea Supplies & Proper Diet & Cavy Savvy Vets & "What's Normal? What's Not?" & "What is Rescuing and Adopting?"

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NY-Craigslist-Sow

* If responding to a Craigslist ad meet in a public place, or go with a friend. Google the phone number of the poster to ensure it matches the name he or she gives *

POST EXPIRED. Disaster post from Prospect Heights, Brooklyn. Guinea pig being dumped for fr33 because poster assumes she would be happier with other guinea pigs. The guinea will probably be with other pigs in a lab if she's really given away for fr33. Read this page for information about what happens to Craigslist animals given away for fr33. It's very saddening. This girl is orange, brown and white, and two years old. She was a classroom pet for two years, and now that the poster has quit teaching, she's dumping the guinea pig.

helpful links: Quality Hay and Pellets in bulk & Pampering your Pig & Cheaper, Larger Cages & Bedding & Essential Guinea Supplies & Proper Diet & Cavy Savvy Vets & "What's Normal? What's Not?" & "What is Rescuing and Adopting?"

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PA-Craigslist-two sows

* If responding to a Craigslist ad meet in a public place, or go with a friend. Google the phone number of the poster to ensure it matches the name he or she gives *

LISTING REMOVED. Somerset, PA-Two female guinea pigs being dumped. Daughter lost interest in them. That's why parents should get kids inanimate toys--not living, breathing animals dependent on an eight year old's attention span to stay alive. One is an orange and white abby, the other is a black and white short hair. These poor guinea pigs. Small adoption fee includes too-small cage. Pick these girls up and get them in one of these.

helpful links: Quality Hay and Pellets in bulk & Pampering your Pig & Cheaper, Larger Cages & Bedding & Essential Guinea Supplies & Proper Diet & Cavy Savvy Vets & "What's Normal? What's Not?" & "What is Rescuing and Adopting?"

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NY-Animal Protective Foundation-sow

The Animal Protective Foundation is a shelter in Schenectady County that offers a lot of services to the community, including a mobile spay/neuter clinic. The shelter is presently full and can not taken in any more animals. What better way to help out homeless animals than adopting a guinea pig from their shelter?

LISTING REMOVED. And what a guinea pig! They have an adorable sow named Oreo who is a small one year old cavy. That's all her profile says, but it does feature multiple photos of the cutie:

helpful links: Quality Hay and Pellets in bulk & Pampering your Pig & Cheaper, Larger Cages & Bedding & Essential Guinea Supplies & Proper Diet & Cavy Savvy Vets & "What's Normal? What's Not?" & "What is Rescuing and Adopting?"

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NY-Craigslist-two sows

* If responding to a Craigslist ad meet in a public place, or go with a friend. Google the phone number of the poster to ensure it matches the name he or she gives *

LISTING DELETED. Queens, NY-two six-month-old bonded sisters being rehomed for adoption fee. They come with a "huge" cage (trust me, these pet store cages are about actual size to this picture. Do the right thing-get your guinea pig a C&C cage). Two pigloos, 20 pounds of bedding (if it's cedar or pine, don't let it be thine!), food, food bowl, hay, water dish (get them two bottles, they might pee in the dish or knock it over), etc.

The girls were almost eaten by the poster's dogs. Why she's rehoming them. Maybe having dogs is a reason not to get guinea pigs in the first place.

She bought the from a br33der so they're happier and healthier than pet store pigs. That's some crap, but don't let delusions keep you from saving two pigs, innocent of their owners' poor planning.

helpful links: Quality Hay and Pellets in bulk & Pampering your Pig & Cheaper, Larger Cages & Bedding & Essential Guinea Supplies & Proper Diet & Cavy Savvy Vets & "What's Normal? What's Not?"

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NY-Lollypop Farm in Fairport

Some faceless members of the Lollypop Guild now have photos!

LISTING REMOVED. Horatio is a pigloo loving cutie. If you have a lonely boar who sees the ghost of his father, Horatio is the mate for him. He's three years old and some change, which means he's going to have a harder time getting adopted. Three years old is ideally just middle-aged for a guinea-Horatio is another guinea baby boomer.


POST REMOVED. Snow White (renamed Prince Charming) and LISTING REMOVED. Ricky Bobby are two amazingly, ridiculously handsome guinea pigs. They're bonded--two gorgeous pigs in one adoption. Snow White is one year old and one month, and Ricky Bobby is six months old. If you adopt these two pigs and don't have experience with long haired pigs, give them a quick. They require gently brushing to keep their hair tangle fr33.

S i n c e I started writing this post, a new guinea pig has been posted, but she doesn't have a photo yet. Knowing the Lollipop Guild she'll be a cutie. LISTING REMOVED. Echo is a white sow, one year and one month old.

helpful links: Quality Hay and Pellets in bulk & Pampering your Pig & Cheaper, Larger Cages & Bedding & Essential Guinea Supplies & Proper Diet & Cavy Savvy Vets & "What's Normal? What's Not?"

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Did your guinea pig come from a pet store?

I t d o e s n 't o c c u r to a lot of people that guinea pigs are out there homeless and in danger of being put to sleep, like dogs and cats. Wonderful animal loving people who want a guinea pig buy them from pet stores, because it's not common knowledge there are whole rescues devoted to these sweet animals. And once they have the pig they love it, of course. Pet store pigs aren't bad or inferior (though they are often malnourished, suffering from scurvy and mites, pregnant and/or missexed). Still, it's a difficult and sad problem--if someone buys a pig from a petstore or br33der they are making a new space for a guinea pig to be mistreated. And an animal in the shelter dies because that guinea pig loving lap has been taken up.

But so you bought a petstore pig, not knowing, and you can't adopt another pig. For whatever reason you can't volunteer at the local shelter or rescue. If you're feeling guilty about the homeless animal population, there is something you can do.

If you sponsor a guinea pig at your local shelter or rescue, you will be saving a life. Petfinder has these buttons on the profiles of animals within participating organizations: Click on this button to learn more information about their Sponsor-a-Pet program, or go to: http://www.petfinder.com/foundation/sponsorapet.html .

A n o t h e r s u g g e s t i o n is to donate the amount of the adoption fee to a rescue directly. An average adoption fee of $40 covers such a small portion of the care for an animal, so feel fr33 to pledge more! Whatever you can donate will be of great help and use. There is a link to area shelters on the sidebar.

This is not to say that it's okay to buy petstore animals so long as you make a donation--rather, it's just a practical way to reduce any guilt or worries about the high euthanasia rates of homeless animals across the country.