First Guinea Pig Awareness Week announced

Burgess Pet Care and partners have announced the launch of the first  Guinea Pig Awareness Week (GPAW) for March 2021.

Building on the success of 15 years of Rabbit Awareness Week (RAW), GPAW will throw the spotlight on the UK’s guinea pigs with a week-long online festival.

Expert knowledge

The inaugural GPAW (22 to 28 March) will consist of events and online content sharing designed to highlight the welfare needs of guinea pigs, 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 PDSA.

Survey findings

Burgess Pet Care recently ran online surveys with guinea pig owners and vets to help inform the campaign’s packed programme.

Results included:

• 90% of vets and vet nurses think guinea pig muesli should be removed from sale.
• 94% of vets and vet nurses think feeding muesli contributes to health issues in guinea pigs.
• the most common health issues seen in guinea pigs are dental disease, abscesses and lumps, gut stasis and bladder and urinary issues.
• 94% of vets surveyed felt that the most common mistake owners of small animals make is feeding them the wrong diet.

‘Raise profile’

Suzanne Moyes, 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 actively engage with their clients, communities and fellow practitioners online.”

Creative response

Holly Ackroyd, senior brand manager at Burgess Pet Care, added: “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.”

Online guides are 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 to get behind the campaign, and lend support by liking and sharing the campaign’s official Facebook page.