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Post by Bexi87 on Apr 20, 2011 9:02:42 GMT
Well I have just found out that my local store has a 6 month old male up for adoption, he is friendly with people just not so keen on other goos. Now the thought of him being on his own is making me feel really down but I don't know if it would be fair to adopt him. I already have 5 girls who live happily together (2 sets of sisters) but I'm not sure if his dislike of goo's is just against boys or against all goos. I think that boys need to be over a year old before they can be nuetured (can't spell!) - is this right? Any advice/opinions would really be appreciated as I feel awful
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Post by Bexi87 on Apr 20, 2011 11:23:04 GMT
Well I have decided to go down on Friday and see the little guy. I feel like I'm having a war of words with myself, trying to persuade/disuade from going to get him. My boyfriend is not happy at all, he thinks I'm insane for wanting another
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Post by poandcc on Apr 20, 2011 13:32:58 GMT
hi there, i know how you feel. when i got my degu's from p@h there was a lonely degu in the adoption bit who looked very sad and lonely. i asked the staff there why he as on his own and they said it was because he couldnt get on with the goo's he lived with and he kept fighting with them! All i kept thinking was whether i should buy a cage for him and then try and slowly introduce him to my other degu's. i spoke to my boyfriends sister as she is mad about animals and she said that i should wait a bit longer and see what happens. e.g wait to see if someone else feels sorry for him and adopts him as he will need alot of attention especially as he is by himself! I listened to what she had said and 2 weeks later the lonely little degu had been adopted! I think you should take the advice that i got and wait a bit longer! someone else is bound to see him and feel sorry for him just like you! Especially as your not sure wether he gets on with female goo's. If you was to get him and then he didnt get on with current goo's then would you be able to give him the attention that he is gonna need aswell as give your current ones attention? as for the neutering thing (im no good at spelling either) i havent got a clue.. sorry! hope i have helped a little bit x
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Post by sweety22 on Apr 20, 2011 13:58:21 GMT
I can't even go into the pet stores no more, my parents alway's avoid it when i go visit them cause i want to take every animal in sight. If it was up to me i'd take every animal i could find .XD
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Post by deguconvert on Apr 20, 2011 15:02:02 GMT
Dingle87, you're right, they need to be at least a year of age before being neutered. I feel for you . . . that is a tough decision to make. One reality that I am sure you are weighing with things is . . . if you did take him on, and he introduced well to your girlies . . . he is now sexually mature and you could find yourself with a boat load of pups on your hands. On the other hand . . . if you felt that you must take him home and could be content having him in a cage right next to the girls until he reached a year of age, at which time you would have him neutered . . . I feel quite certain that he would introduce to them fairly well. If not even excellently well. Being next to the girls would at least give him some semblance of companionship with degus, and then you yourself. Only you can answer the questions of space in your home, finances, time, your energy for the task, and what you can live with once you have made your decision. I wish that decisions were always easy! This is a hard one, I can tell he has captured your heart. Let us know what you do, K?
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Post by Bexi87 on Apr 20, 2011 17:38:30 GMT
I’ve been torturing myself all day...would it be fair on him if I brought him home because he would have to live separately from the girls until he was neutered which potentially would be 6 months? Would it be fair on the girls to have a new goo in the house? I feel guilty about the girls at the best of times because, as I’ve said before, I’ve had them since August & November last year and they still don’t trust me. Part of me wants to take the boy because as he is alone he might like the human attention and would spend time with me, rather than using me as an escape and then running away if the escape plan fails. The other side is how many people would want to adopt a 6 month old goo who apparently fights with other goos? I don’t know of any other degu owners in my area so I don’t have high hopes for someone else taking him. My boyfriend is fuming, the fact that I have even contemplated it has p’eed him right off so he is being no help. I honestly have no idea what to do for the best, in hindsight I should have started with 2/3 babies and stuck with that but I love my girls to bits...I just don’t know if they would be better off with someone who is at home all day every day
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Post by Bexi87 on Apr 20, 2011 20:32:08 GMT
After A LOT of thought and discussion I have decided it wouldn't be fair to adopt the little boy to then keep him on his own for 6 months or so.
What I would be willing to do though is if anyone here is after a boy is foster him and meet someone halfway to give him a loving home? A long shot I know but I really want to do everything I can for the poor little guy.
If anyone is interested let me know, please please please think about it!
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Post by Jaiye on Apr 20, 2011 20:59:50 GMT
You have to make the decision that is best for you and your surroundings.... I know the feeling of having a "fuming boyfriend" when all you are trying to do is share some love, hope he calms down soon!
Sounds like your choice is probably the best one. Someone will adopt the little guy sooner or later though, and well done you for offering to adopt him and take him to another new home! I'm sure he'll find a nice home sooner rather than later with owners who have the time and energy and stubbornness needed to do an introduction to some other goos =)
d**n those pet shops with their "tugging on heartstrings" philosophies towards selling pets by keeping them on their own and making us want to make their lives better!!! >.< Barstewards.....
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Post by buzz on Apr 20, 2011 21:16:31 GMT
My post doesn't help your request but if you find you have no response and he's there time after time you visit the store you could always adopt him and see how things go with a view to rehome if he's not happy... you seem quite concerned about him and at least that way you know what is going to happen to him.
If you did do this I would speculate the only company he will tolerate is female but I personally wouldn't have him housed next to them permanently as it might put him in a sexual frenzy.
I'm awful, I'd home them all if I could!
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Post by Bexi87 on Apr 22, 2011 14:30:11 GMT
Oh dear, I have just been to see him and he is gorgeous. He came out to say hello and had a cuddle! He is v friendly, looks healthy apart from a toe that points backwards but he was born with that. I'm torn now..i want him!
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Post by Jaiye on Apr 22, 2011 17:26:19 GMT
But would it be fair on him being in a house of females and going through the risk of neutering so he can have unsupervised time with other goos? =S
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Post by Bexi87 on Apr 22, 2011 18:16:25 GMT
Probably not but as he won't accept males will he have another choice?
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Post by Jaiye on Apr 22, 2011 19:51:29 GMT
Very true =( I hope you work something out buddy.
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Post by Bexi87 on Apr 22, 2011 20:57:39 GMT
If I had my own house I'd have him without doubt but..I just feel so guilty, although from going into store he is very well looked after. All the staff love him and give him a lot of attention which is nice to know.
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Post by Jaiye on Apr 23, 2011 9:15:59 GMT
Sounds like he has it good there if he is getting attention most of the day =) Lucky little fella!
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Post by Bexi87 on Jun 21, 2011 17:46:33 GMT
Well, Hugo is still up for adoption. I've been to see him twice in the last few weeks and both times he has come out for a cuddle & to sit on my shoulder. I'm really torn, especially as he is still there and nobody wants one goo, they want pairs. Also, I found out on Saturday that another store local to me has a female with 6 babies in the back, and 2 of the babies are blues so I am really tempted to take one or a couple of girls so I can have a blue (if any of the blues are girls of course). I've been thinking of contacting a few local vets to see if any of them have experience of neutering degus but I just feel torn about adopting him. Help
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Post by lisa9tails on Jun 21, 2011 18:35:36 GMT
I know how you feel, I had a similar experience at P@H. My boyfriend and I bought 2 lovely boys from there and we had no plans to get anymore.....BUT THEN... we went back to the same P@H to get some more supplies and I can never help myself having a wee look at any degus they have. They had one wee lone baby degu that squeaked whenever I went up to the cage and ran away and hid, then would poke its head round and try come and see me. I couldn't pull myself away. I called my boyfriend over and made him look. After about half an hour we bought our stuff and walked out the shop...I burst out crying and couldn't bear the thought of leaving the poor we thing. Long story cut slightly shorter, I guilted him into it and we went back into the shop to get "him". They told us he was definetly a boy and told us how sad he was (the guy also dropped "him" which made me rather annoyed). Our idea was to gently introduce him to the boys but we had a look for ourselves and realised he was in fact a she. There was no way i was taking her back, but i didn't want her to be lonely. As she was still a baby we thought we should get her a friend as soon as. Eventually we found somewhere that had 2 girls and so decided that it would be better to have more degus and her not to be lonely than to just leave her on her own. Unfortunately one of them really didn't take to her no matter how hard we tried. But I wasn't taking the new girls back just because they didn't get on because they were part of the family by now and didn't want to see them go. We again eventually found someone whose degu had had babies so he was willing to give me one as long as it wasn't going to be alone. Fortunately since they were both really young they instantly got along. We now have 8 degus, 2 we later adopted from the SSPCA despite the original plan of only having 2. I really feel for you, it must be breaking your heart. Can I ask what kind of cage you have for your girls? I ask because we have 2 thickets house cages, one above the other for space reasons. Obviously only you know how much you're willing to spend on cages etc, but have found this good for space and also it stops the 2 girls from getting annoyed with the other 2. I'm no expert, especially on the neutering side of things, I've only read what some people have said about getting their degus neutered. So far the ones I have read seem to be all successful, but obviously there is still great risk and its a big decision. Also finding someone who is willing and experience to do it. Is your boyfriend not happy as in "I'm not happy about this but i could learn to live with it but will put up a protest anyway" not happy or not happy as in "I ain't having none of this, you, me, Jeremy Kyle NOW" not happy? I don't mean to be pushing you either way on this, but i have an idea of how you feel and if you deep down have your heart set on it and could give him a happy life and lots of attention and deal with the possibility of him being alone then I don't want to put a damper on it. From what you've been saying you seem to be really caring, so as long as you could do all the above and give him a forever home, i'd say go for it. Sorry i know this is long, but please bear with me.... I hope you make the decision that is right for you and i hope you can get your boyfriend to understand. If I was in your position I'd be the same way. I know it sounds daft but actually write out a list of pros and cons about adopting him, see which side has most then go through the cons with possible solutions or compromises you could figure out and at least that way you can see in front of you how big the problems are then judge whether you would be willling to do it anyway. I wish you the biggest bestest-est-est of luck. Please let me know how everything is going? And again apologies from the length of this xxx
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Post by Bexi87 on Jun 21, 2011 20:08:42 GMT
My girls are currently in a home built cage that is 150cm tall, 90cm wide and 60cm deep. I'm in the very early stages of designing a new cage for them as I've got the bug again.
I have a spare cage that my original 2 girls were in that I could put him in, it's just if it's fair on him or my girls, but the flip side is nobody has taken him after 2 months, and he was in there for like 6 weeks at least before I saw him!
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Post by deguconvert on Jun 22, 2011 4:01:03 GMT
I'm just going to be flat honest. In my point of view, I see nothing unfair in bringing him home, having him neutered, and then introducing him to your girls. I think they will all be very happy together. You can be sure that he will be VERY happy to be with other degus again, after what is clearly a long time alone. If this is something you feel you can do, want to do, and will do if your boyfriend is on board and no one else thinks your nuts . . . well then go for it, love!
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Post by nickymills30 on Jun 22, 2011 5:43:15 GMT
oh hun, this is why i ended up with so many, and thats why i;ve got another 2, after saying dave and dec where enough. All i;ll say is, i felt the same way as you did, about neutering a chin, and he was absolutely fine. you just need a good vet. Wish i was closer to you, because i;d be tempted to have him regardless, as he sounds such a sweet little fellow xx
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