The organisers
and partners of the inaugural Guinea Pig Awareness Week (GPAW) are excited
to announce that a dedicated GPAW website has gone live. They are urging veterinary professionals to get behind the
new campaign by accessing a wealth of
free online resources to help them organise and promote their
own digital events in support of this year’s GPAW
campaign, taking place from 22-28 March 2021.
GPAW
has been created by Burgess Pet Care alongside campaign Partners the
RSPCA, Wood Green The Animals Charity, Blue Cross and the PDSA. As the
organisers of Rabbit Awareness Week (RAW), the UK’s largest and most
successful welfare campaign for rabbits, Burgess and the GPAW
Partners are aiming to replicate RAW’s success, with the support
of veterinary professionals, by educating and
informing more guinea pig owners about their pets’ five welfare
needs than ever before.
This
year’s GPAW campaign will take place digitally as a virtual
festival and will include educational videos, live streams, and
Q and As from experts and veterinary professionals. The campaign
content will be shared digitally across the
official GPAW and GPAW partners’ social media channels to help
educate guinea pig owners and improve standards of guinea
pig care in the UK.
Holly
Ackroyd, Senior Brand Manager for Burgess Pet Care, said “It
continues to be a challenging time, but we want to support veterinary
professionals as much as possible, as vets and vet
nurses continue to provide essential care and support the wellbeing of the
nation’s guinea pigs.
“The
veterinary community has always been hugely supportive of RAW and we’re
confident that we’ll see the same fantastic response for the first GPAW
campaign. The information within our digital GPAW vet packs,
which are available on our dedicated GPAW website, will provide practices
with lots of ideas and advice on how to host their own digital
events and engage with guinea pig owners in their region. It’s
a fantastic opportunity for vets to get involved, raise the profile of
their practices, showcase their guinea pig expertise and to actively engage
with their clients, communities and fellow practitioners online.
“We are
really looking forward to celebrating the efforts of
vet practices across the UK for the first ever GPAW
campaign,” Holly added.
Dr
Suzanne Moyes MVB MRCVS, Veterinary Director at Burgess Pet Care said “Like
rabbits, guinea pigs have very specific welfare needs and dietary
requirements: their diet should be rich in hay.
“To
help us understand how best we can support these wonderful little
creatures, and to inform our campaign programme, we
recently ran our own online surveys with guinea pig owners and
vets. We found that 94% of vets and vet nurses felt that
the most common mistake owners of small animals make is feeding them the wrong
diet. 90 percent of vets and vet nurses also believe that guinea pig muesli
should be removed from sale, whilst 28 percent of owners who include muesli in
their guinea pigs’ diet believe it to be the healthiest option.
“We
would urge vet practices to get involved in GPAW so
that together we can engage, inform and
educate guinea pig owners about their pets’ specific welfare needs and
improve the lives of these gorgeous pets,” Suzanne added.
