Woman embarrassed after two guinea pigs became 100

A woman called the RSPCA and asked for help after her home became overrun with guinea pigs. Officers arrived at the Sittingbourne, Kent property, where they found 100 of the animals, all of which were well looked after and in good condition. Some were living loose inside the house while others were in large, clean, outside hutches.

It’s understood the owner had started off with two of them but the numbers had multiplied over the years as the animals hadn’t been neutered or the sexes separated. The creatures were aged between four years old and six months old. Sheppey RSPCA chairman Angela Walder said: “You couldn’t fault the care or anything, some of them were living in very nice cages; it was just a case of there was too many and she knew it had got out of hand.



“She was very embarrassed by it. People don’t seem to take on board the fact they breed at the rate of knots. However, it’s not always the owner’s fault - sometimes the pet shops don’t sex them properly.” The RSPCA is slowly removing the furry critters from the home and moving them to a centre in Brighton for re-homing. Angela added: “We’re taking them off her in batches and will eventually leave her with three or four. We can only take the amount she is willing to part with.

“It’s good that we got in there while they were still being well looked after though - she certainly called at the right time. I would like to urge people to be mindful when buying a pet and that if you’re buying two animals to make sure they are sexed by a vet. You’ll be surprised by the number of people who call the RSPCA saying ‘I don’t want all these rabbits any more’ and it turns out they thought they’d brought two girls but one ended up being a boy and they had babies.”