The organisers and partners of Rabbit Awareness Week (RAW), the UK’s largest welfare campaign for rabbits, are excited to announce that the inaugural Guinea Pig Awareness Week (GPAW) will take place online from 22 to the 28 March this year. This week-long festival of events and online content sharing will highlight the welfare needs of these very special pets and will give vets an opportunity to share their expert knowledge and insight with owners across the UK.
GPAW has been created by Burgess Pet Care alongside other GPAW partners – the RSPCA, Wood Green The Animals Charity, Blue Cross and the PDSA. The campaign aims to reach, educate and inform guinea pig owners on a bigger scale than ever before and will encourage them to join in the conversation online.
Survey findings
In comparison to other UK pets, there is a lack of robust research into guinea pigs, despite the fact that they have very specific welfare needs and dietary requirements. To address this lack of data, Burgess Pet Care recently ran online surveys with guinea pig owners and vets to help inform the campaign’s packed programme. Key highlights of the survey include:
- 90 percent of vets and vet nurses think guinea pig muesli should be removed from sale
- 94 percent of vets and vet nurses think feeding muesli contributes to health issues in guinea pigs
- Vets reported that the most common health issues seen in guinea pigs are dental disease, abscesses and lumps, gut stasis and bladder and urinary issues
Most notably, 94 percent of vets surveyed felt that the most common mistake owners of small animals make is feeding them the wrong diet. As with rabbits, guinea pigs’ diet should be rich in hay, as they may selectively feed when fed muesli as part of their main diet, which may have an effect on their health. The owner survey revealed that of the owners that include muesli in their guinea pigs’ diet, 28% still believe it’s the healthiest option – just one issue that GPAW seeks to address.
Dr Suzanne Moyes MVB MRCVS, Operations and Technical Director at Burgess Pet Care, said:
“Guinea pigs are always a popular choice of pet, particularly for families, but the survey results show a clear lack of understanding around their particular welfare needs. GPAW is a fantastic opportunity for vets to get involved, raise the profile of their practices, showcase their guinea pig expertise and to actively engage with their clients, communities and fellow practitioners online.”
Holly Ackroyd, Senior Brand Manager at Burgess Pet Care, organisers of GPAW, said:
“Our aim is to ensure that the first ever GPAW campaign delivers online content to both entertain and educate UK owners, and ‘would-be’ owners of guinea pigs. The owners we currently engage with are so passionate about their piggies, so we’re delighted to throw the spotlight on these adorable pets with a national campaign to support their welfare.
“Vets have always played an active, and absolutely vital, part of RAW campaigns so we’re confident that we’ll see the same creative, passionate and enthusiastic response as we announce the first ever GPAW. In the coming weeks vet and retailer packs will be available to download and we’ll be making more announcements about the campaign programme nearer the time.” Holly added.
Online guides are currently being created by the GPAW team to support vets, rescue centres and pet retailers, and a new website will be launched soon. For now, the GPAW team is urging vets, retailers and rescues to get behind the campaign and lend their support by liking and sharing the campaign’s official Facebook page.
