Peanut, is why I do this.!

Shannon Cauthen has been a guinea pig hobbyist/rescuer for more than 15 years. In 1998, she founded Cavy Care Inc., a guinea pig shelter in Colorado.

Over the years I have been asked many question, urged to even write a book, but why reinvent the wheel. I am not a writer or literary expert so excuse me when I stray from the path of correct English usage. You'd think with a B.A. in Literature, Art and History  I would be much better at this.. what can I say, I was not exactly the most studious of students. More then likely I will be writing this in the wee hours of the morning so excuse the grammar, ok sometimes the spelling and punctuation.  I am simply here to tell about my experiences with guinea pigs and running a shelter.

Chapter One: The Beginning

"See a need, meet a need", what can I say. From the movie "Robots", this pretty much sums up why I started a guinea pig shelter. A guinea pig shelter I would listen to my in-laws say. A "guinea pig shelter", WHY?! Why are you wasting our sons hard earned money. Well he's not complaining.. so why should you. 

I can't explain it. I just love these little fellow so much that I felt compel to do something. Even if it was small an obscure it was what I could do. "Make a difference one guinea pig at a time." and I really believe in that. So I researched what had worked or didn't work for other shelters. I knew that receiving our 501c3 charity status was very important and that became my number one goal. That and becoming PACF licensed (Licensed with the State of Colorado as a shelter). Registering with the Secretary of State, in other words paperwork, paperwork, paperwork. I wanted to show we where here, legitimate and ready to do business. 

The mission, to be the Tiffanies of shelters, not the Taco Bell. I has never been about how many we adopt out...but the quality of homes that our guinea pigs go into. It's not about the money either. There is none. I had to laugh when a former client called me about starting his own shelter. He wanted to know how much I made. I laughed. I said well this year I didn't put in as much as I did last year of my own money. He was disappointed. But this is a volunteer organization. If we break even that's great and that's our goal, but the folks who dedicate their blood, sweat and tears here don't do it because they are being paid a cent. 

To Be Continued