For the love of guinea pigs

Alina Davis has turned her garage into a refuge hospital for 120 of her furry friends.

Queensland Times/Sarah Keayes

ALINA Davis doesn't believe she is playing God by keeping badly brain-damaged guinea pigs alive.

She has been criticised by some who believe her intervention is unnecessary and self-righteous.

One week old Bunty is her saddest case at the moment; he has microphthalmia - a genetic disorder more commonly known as the lethal gene - yet Mrs Davis keeps him alive through syringe feeding and around-the-clock care.

“Most people ask why I don't just kill the really sick ones but they don't see what I see,” Mrs Davis said.

“I see Bunty's milestones and what he can now do for himself.”

As a branch manager of the Australian Cavy Sanctuary, Mrs Davis receives, assesses, treats and rehabilitates the tiny defenceless animals until they are ready to be re-homed to approved families.

Mrs Davis said parents often felt pressured to get their child a pet and thought guinea pigs were a cheaper, easier alternative to dogs or cats.

“People buy a couple of pigs from a pet shop, often wrongly sexed, already pregnant or ill, and it all begins from there,” she said.

“Most of our shelter pigs come in when they are four to six-months-old, usually when the novelty has worn off.”

Positioned on a small farm of 4000sq m, the Camira-based mother of two has turned her garage into a refuge for 120 abandoned and neglected guinea pigs.

“The approval process for adoption is exhaustive. Applicants must meet very strict requirements” she said.

“Most of the problems we see have arisen from an explosion in backyard breeders who are just out to make a couple of dollars by selling them to pet shops, where one sick pig can spread disease through a whole tank-full.

“Then poorly-educated first-time owners take them home and think they can just be left to their own devices in a run on the back lawn.

“I have seen cases of neglect that would make you sick.

“Sometimes we can get in a hit of 70 mistreated pigs from one backyarder. All I want to do is give them another chance.”

Mrs Davis said when she started the branch the RSPCA came out to make sure she wasn't a rogue carer acting as an RSPCA officer.