Are there lemon laws for buying pets?

Question

My girlfriend got to chatting with a girl on craigslist who was very nice and we could tell takes very good care of her pets. She apparently saved this guinea pig from another woman who wasn't taking good care of it. She claimed that she brought this guinea pig to the vet. So we took him. His name is Rocco he s really cute. Anyway our other guinea pig (Popple) LOVES carrots so I tried feeding Rocco carrots too to not make him jealous. Well we realized he couldn't even take a bite off of it. We looked in his mouth and his bottom incisors are gone. We realized that it must be vitamin c deficiency because he was only fed grass by the woman before the girl we adopted him from. We are pretty sure that the girl lied to us about bringing him to the vet because how is it a vet would miss the fact he's missing his bottom teeth? What do you think about this? Would a vet miss something like that? Anyway we are now stuck with a guinea pig who will most likely need expensive vet care. Are there any laws that protect people like us? Could we get this girl to pay for the vet fees or make her prove she brought him to the vet? If not then what can we do in the future to prevent this kind of thing? Any kind of forms or documents that could help us when buying or selling pets in the future would be helpful thank you!

L · Answer

Sorry, you should have asked her to sign a contract stating that she would cover any vet bills needed in the first week/two weeks, which were a result of her care (or lack of). This is really unfortunate, the best thing I could suggest is going to a local rescue, they may be able to offer support with the costs and give advice on treatments.

As for what caused it, there is a small amount of vit C in grass and if deficiency had caused this, all of the teeth would be affected not just the bottom 2. Is it possible that they have broken off? there have been cases of this where g-pigs have gnawed too hard on cage bars. Is your new guinea pig all white? it could have Microphthlamia/lethal gene, for which you might have a case for against the original breeder for irresponsible breeding (the lethal gene is hereditary) but obviously you'd have to trace the breeder.

For treatment, you definitely need to go to the vets (sorry, I know you wouldn't have planned for this). All of his other teeth will need to be checked too, and as he wont be able to eat properly, you should be supplementing with hand-feed and a vit C solution. Weigh him daily whilst they grow back to check he isn't losing too much.

Good luck, I hope it works out

Anonymous · Answer

sorry but no, and it's your responsibility to inspect anything you buy from a PP, and most sales are as is........you should have gotten ALL paperwork from the person you bought the guinea from !!

Are there lemon laws for buying pets?

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