https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Thu, 23 Apr 2026 17:15:33 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/saying-goodbye-to-a-pet#post-2914957 Mon, 04 May 2020 20:53:39 +0000 Lahela017 2914957@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We have guinea pigs and I had then growing up. They are definitely more work then a young child could handle. I would re-home them for sure, if you can find a good family for them. Just be sure you keep them together.</p> <p>Growing up, my sister took in a guinea pig that one of my friends no longer wanted, we were happy to provide a home for it, and we certainly never judged my friend or her family who gave us the guinea pig. We were just happy to give it a home where it was wanted. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/saying-goodbye-to-a-pet#post-2914951 Mon, 04 May 2020 17:52:14 +0000 Becky 2914951@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Thank you all for the feedback/insight. We still aren’t 100% sure and need to talk more about it but it’s helpful to hear first hand accounts and also the term re-homing. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/saying-goodbye-to-a-pet#post-2914948 Mon, 04 May 2020 16:27:16 +0000 Chuckles 2914948@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I totally understand how you feel. We adopted two dogs at the same time. One was super crazy and instinctively chased our cat, who was terrorized. We tried to make it work for a few weeks, but we just couldn't deal with trying to keep them apart and give everyone, including DS, enough attention. Plus I was just overwhelmed with this dog jumping and running around nonstop. I *never* thought I would be someone who would do this, but we took the crazy dog back to the shelter we adopted her from. I still am sad about it and wonder how she's doing, but, like @jennypenny: said, once we were on the other side of making a really hard decision, it was definitely what was best for us. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/saying-goodbye-to-a-pet#post-2914947 Mon, 04 May 2020 14:34:07 +0000 lindseykaye 2914947@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Our situation was a bit different because it was a decision not to keep a longer-term foster vs. rehoming a pet we'd officially adopted, but it still sucked.</p> <p>We had found and started fostering a younger dog, working with the agency who we had adopted our first dog from. The idea was that we would be the eventual adopters, depending on how he fit our family. In the mean-time we would care for him and financially sponsor him, all that good stuff.<br /> DH in particular was in love with this dog - he was the goodest boy. He and the two pups would walk for like an hour every night together after DDs bedtime. But our older dog turned out to be very much an only-dog household kind of girl. It was hard on all of us to make the final decision but we committed to her first, and her quality of life was not as good with a second dog in the house. So, when a young couple whose family had owned large dogs fell for him at an adoption event we knew it was right. We're still FB friends and see his pictures all the time which is pretty great. It was so hard on all of us after over a year with him, but it was the right thing to do.</p> <p>I'm sorry you have to make this decision, but if you've already gotten here you know it's the right choice for you too. You're being a responsible pet owner to consider rehoming and I think framing it as doing the right thing for the animal vs. doing what the people (aka children) want helped in our case. DD was sad he was going to live somewhere else but she latched onto how happy he would be in his new home and that helped. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/saying-goodbye-to-a-pet#post-2914944 Mon, 04 May 2020 12:52:52 +0000 muffinsmuffins 2914944@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We had to rehome our cat when DW was pregnant with our first son. We had moved A few years prior from an area where he could be outdoors sometimes to an area that we found out afterwards wasn’t safe for him to be outdoors and he became a mostly indoor cat. He seemed fine for a couple years but then began acting out behaviours quite a while before DW got pregnant. We had him evaluated at the vet, put on meds, everything but he seemed so so so unhappy. Granted, I never liked cats, but when DW came to me and said she was thinking of finding him a better home, I knew it was bad. She was pregnant and distraught so I had to do it all.</p> <p>I found a lovely older woman who lived on a farm and was looking for a cat. I packed up all his stuff and took him there one morning and never heard anything else afterwards. She was very kind and I know it was the right choice for all involved. I still wonder how it went even 5+ years later.</p> <p>That being said, I felt absolutely awful about it for quite a while afterwards, even though I really didn’t like the cat at all. I vowed to never get another pet unless we could commit to them for life. Our dog passed away one year ago today actually and we haven’t gotten another for this reason and will wait for our kids to be older. My kids and DW would absolutely love a cat but I’m adamant I never want to do that again unless we can have it for 15 yrs+ no matter what. Unfortunately, in our area there aren’t a lot of options when needing to rehome so I found that to be very difficult. We just lucked into finding this random stranger or else I don’t know what we would have done.</p> <p>I absolutely don’t judge anyone for having to do this with a pet so I’m sorry you have to go through it. I learned a lot from it, which I’m sure you will too as you said. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/saying-goodbye-to-a-pet#post-2914942 Mon, 04 May 2020 11:59:57 +0000 JennyPenny 2914942@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We gave our dog to my BIL shortly after DS2 was born for reasons similar to what you mention: we weren't able to care for him properly and we found it increasingly overwhelming. I had been debating it for a long while before we finally pulled the trigger. Mostly I worried that it was a selfish choice and would be judged as such. But all I can say at the other side it was 100% the best decision for everyone and I wish I hadn't let me fear keep me from doing it sooner. I don't know much about guinea pigs but if you can find a family that would enjoy having them and be able to take care of them, and it would improve your family's quality of life, it seems like the right choice. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/saying-goodbye-to-a-pet#post-2914940 Mon, 04 May 2020 11:42:13 +0000 Becky 2914940@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>So this is understandably a sensitive topic for many people out there I assume so my apologies to anyone who is appalled!</p> <p>We adopted two guinea pigs for my daughter’s birthday 1.5 years ago. It’s become very clear in that time that she can’t actually take care of them which we should have known ahead of time. She can’t clean the cage because it’s so messy, and it makes a big mess when she feeds them their pellets and straw. It makes a massive mess when they play with them—shavings everywhere etc. So it is up to me to care for them—whilst working full time and now being 32 weeks pregnant. </p> <p>Again, we should have had the foresight to realize guinea pigs were going to be messy pets that a child under 8 can’t take care of on their own. I always had cats growing up so didn’t realize the investment that goes into taking care of an indoor caged animal (I swear chickens are easier). </p> <p>My husband has been begging me to get rid of the guinea pigs for months. With another baby on the way I am considering it for the first time. Again I know this must sound horrible to some, but I am also sure there must be a family out there who could take much better care of them. We have talked to our girls multiple times about the need to take more responsibility and better care of them so while they would be sad it wouldn’t come as a complete shock. They go through phases of playing with them a lot and then basically not at all. My parents are also likely getting another dog soon so that would overshadow it all. </p> <p>I would love to hear thoughts, opinions, and insights. Has anyone had to say goodbye to a pet because they couldn’t care for them the way they should be cared for, or because it was too overwhelming? We would be sure to go through the proper channels to make sure the guinea pigs found a safe home. </p>