Whats Worse??

I doubt the guinea pigs are emotionally bonded to you and the kids. Find them a new home if you wish. As long as guinea pigs have another pig to hang out with, I never noticed them craving human interaction all that much.

I told my daughter that if she wants a dog in the spring that she has to put on her coat and shoes every night at 8 and walk down the driveway (long one) to the mailbox and come in. Every night, without fail. Cause there is no way I'm doing it. Well, she hasn't done it once yet. So no dog this spring. We'll try again next year.

find a good home.
no blame, no shame.
khairete
S.

I think it's ok for your children not to want them. I don't want pets. I just really have no interest in animals. I don't think that's a bad thing, and I certainly wouldn't want someone to try and force my to love a pet. I would take care of their basic needs and would never be cruel, but I would probably never love them.

It sounds like the girls don't want the guinea pigs, so I see no harm in finding them a new home.

If children are not caring sufficiently for them and are not enjoying them enough to do the work it's best to give them to someone else.

Guinea pigs need to be played with more often than not for them to remain socialable. I learned this the hard way. My daughter's guinea pigs became wild before I gave them to a cousins and their children. They were unable to socialize them and had to euthanize them. The pigs bit and scratched while growling. My cousin wrote a humorous piece about their experiences which was published in the Reader's Digest. Fortunately, my cousin did not mention my name. Chuckle

So I advise you to rehome them before they become wild if the children are not playing with them most days.

Later: if your children are very young they are probably not mature enough to understand the pigs needs or be able to care them consistently until they are older.

Sorry...you need to tell your children they need to step up or the animals will be given away - it's that simple.

As you know, Guinea Pigs still need attention. They aren't getting it. I wonder, would your kids notice if the cage was gone when they came home from school one day? If not - then you know it's time to get rid of them and give them to a home that will enjoy them and treat them correctly.

Find them a good home, the guinea pigs, not the kids. lol And NO MORE pets for them. Good luck.

We had to re-home our 2 adorable chinchillas. I found a lovely gal on Kijiji (Craigslist) and she still sends me pic updates. Just do a little homework on their intention and if they have done any homework on the animals.

How is this a question? You gave no reason to keep them.

Yep, they need a new home together, where they will get attention and love. Choose carefully or they may end up in the same situation of being ignored in a few months. The new mom needs to not only be on board, but be an animal lover, too. Kudos to you for doing this!!

Please find them another home. Either that or you need to hold and handle these little piggies. If you don't, they become fearful and partly feral. That is such a sad situation. A new home to people who will love them, pet them, and hold them often would be SO MUCH BETTER than the piggies being ignored.

Have them find a Good home for them if they cannot take care and attend to them. Or let them out of their cages in a room while the girls do their homework, or watch tv, etc.

IF they don't want to give them attention, they need to find someone who will. Guinea pigs are playful, affectionate, and social animals. If they don't get enough , they often withdrawal.

My son had one for a few years. His favorite thing was letting him swim around in the bath tub. That and letting him out to run around the hallway of our home. Ours sadly passed in April.

I don't know much about them, so perhaps Rosebud is correct. If they aren't emotionally attaching types of pets, then rehome them, together.

If, like cats and dogs, they bond with their people, then you will have to suck it up and do it yourself.

The way I see things like this is that even though your kids wanted and got these animals, as the parent, you allowed it. So the reality is, like anything else with a child, YOU are the one who is really taking on the responsibility. Just like with a puppy--you adopt them for life. If you choose to get one b/c the kids beg, but then lose interest, too bad. You, as the parent, committed to taking the animal in as a part of your family and it would be wrong to abandon them. The burden of the "work" falls on you.

That's why I never encourage anyone to get a pet when they ask, unless THEY are willing to put in the work themselves. Inevitably, when mom is the one giving the final "ok" to a pet, mom ends up having to take care of it in the end. So if you don't want it, don't want to do it, don't get it and don't allow them to get it.
Just my opinion.

Again, though, I don't know if guinea pigs attach/bond like other pets do. If not, fine. But if they do... step up.

Pets are not just another toy to toss out when you get bored with it. Pets are living creatures. When you get a pet it falls to the family, not just the kids, to care for those animals. Your children got living creatures they said they would help care for. You let them get a living creatures that you knew needed care. First and foremost you need to use this as a teaching moment for your children that a pet is for the life of the pet, not until they get bored with it or don't have enough time for it.
If no one can be bothered to give the care needed then, yes the humane thing would be to rehome them to someone that can give them the proper care they deserve.
http://www.humanesociety.org/animals/guinea_pigs/tips/gui...

Growing up my mother was big on pets my sister and I never wanted. LOL. So we had birds, two parakeets, one green and one blue. I managed to convince my mother to let us keep a kitten. That cat was always trying to get those birds. I hated the birds because they were so loud at the first rising of the sun. They were also hard to clean up after and weren't friendly at all. We ended up giving the birds to my maternal grandmother and she loved them until the day the died. The cat was sad to see her playmates go. LOL.

Pets are responsibility. I love guinea pigs my grandmother had one and she loved that pig with all her heart and the feeling was mutual. When she died that guinea pig almost mourned himself to death but my aunt loved on that pig until it was better and lived a long a beautiful life.

Give your unwanted pets a second chance at a good home. You didn't mention how old your children are but sometimes the responsibility of a pet is better served by a more responsible child. As others have said, NO more pets for a long time. Pets are work and when children get pets the responsibility falls on the parents much of the time. I hope this helps and encourages.

I often fix dinner then when the kids come to eat I won't serve them. I ask them if they are hungry, I ask them if they want their drink, I ask them how it feels for me to eat in front of them when they're hungry. they don't like it.

I remind them that's how their animals feel when they don't take care of them. Then they go and do their animal chores and then go wash up.

It's up to you to make them do their chores. If they just refuse then the animals are truly not wanted. If they want them then they need to care for them at least in the basic way.

I don't know how much interaction guinea pigs needs, but if it's essential to them, then you either make the kids do it (no treats/privileges until they do) or you re-home the animals. These smaller animals don't bond with their owners the way cats and dogs do. I think there's a lesson for kids in saying, "I don't really care if you resent the animals and the obligation they entail." But I think you can probably give them to someone who would enjoy them - check with the vet on this.

I think it's absolutely horrible when people just get rid of dogs and cats for no reason other than poor planning or lack of responsibility. So if you do re-home the guinea pigs, you let the kids know that they are absolutely DONE as far as pets are concerned. No more. If they cannot manage GPs, then you aren't going to the expense of any new animals and their equipment, and they are absolutely never getting anything that actually becomes a family member. I have a rescue dog that was given up by TWO different families who couldn't be bothered to train her (and at least one abused her), and it took a very long time to get her to trust and connect, and even so, she has a form of PTSD (says the vet) and she cannot ever be boarded in a kennel or otherwise left. It's a huge commitment and she's worth it, but it just lets me know that a lot of people don't understand that commitment. So getting rid of the animals to a good home will teach your kids something that will be a life lesson.

There are two schools of thought on this one. You have the 2 guinea pigs, the kids should take care of them and put in the effort regardless of other commitments because they made a commitment to the guinea pigs. Then the other school of thought is that the guinea pigs should have a good life and be well-socialized, even if that means by someone else.
Now, I do think that it's important to get kids to stick to a commitment, but if the animals are being neglected because you aren't enforcing that, it would be kinder to rehome them. The only thing is... are you going to be able to find someone who spend time with the guinea pigs and take care of them the way they should be taken care of? I would think it would be hard because it's not like a dog that can last 15 years. I wouldn't buy/adopt an adult guinea pig for fear of it dying a year later because they don't live that long. Also, you want to try to keep them together because they were raised together... so not only do you have to find a good home, but one where they will be kept together. I would try and convince the kids that this is a responsibility they wanted and agreed to.