Heart of Ohio Guinea Pig Rescue & Sanctuary

07/12/2025

I HOPE this page will stay active. I would like to turn it over after all animals and supplies are gone to our active fosters, adopters, article writers and more so you can carry on helping people and animals and keep this AMAZING community we have grown.

Admins can post animals needing homes and ISO, SAFE cages and products people wish to sell or give away and help those in need with advice, health care, ver references and more

Over the years our rescue has provided emergency health care free of charge for animals that could not get into the vet either quickly enough or due to costs. We saved almost ALL those animals providing our RX medications whether legal or not i did not/do not care as helping/saving the animals were always my priority. We provided free cages, feed, hay and supplies for those needing it in lue of surrendering or to help them till their pay checks came. I would like to see some of you take over helping people KEEP their anaimps.

If you are interested in Admining this page and (changing its name) to help people find homes for their animals, post for those ISO and in need please PM Me. I will make a list then decide who admins as they only allow so many.

Again thank you for the kind messages, calls, texts and donations.

07/12/2025

If you have fostered for us for over 6 months you can foster fail and keep your fosters and any cages/supplies we have provided at 0 charge. Please message us so we can take them off the page

07/12/2025

Hey everyone. Due to the high temps today we have rescheduled everyone till this evening or tomorrow for adoptions, shopping, and volunteering! And will be closed this morning. PM us to set up a time to visit

07/12/2025

I am well (this is normal me, I am a “bit” kooky, no one sane runs a rescue from their home) The animals here are still getting the same care. I am VERY CONTENT with my decision to close and this has been discussed and talked about many times over the years but i have never said “I am closing the rescue” until a few days ago.

The rescue has been offered many times to our fosters and admins and all have pretty much said no and/or when you stop, I stop. If any of the long timers changes their minds I am happy to pass along rescue to them 100%.

I greatly appreciate all the support and kindness you have shown the rescue and I over the years. It’s been a great learning and growing experience for me, both the goods and the bads.

In my years running this rescue i had a toddler I raised to a 10.5 year old (Ryker), was pregnant, lived in Costa Rica for 3 months and had Rayna there and have raised her to almost 9, got a divorce, met Gary:), bought a home, moved, added more animals to the list of critters we would accept, got equines (my FAVORITE animal is a horse) again after having to part with my horses over my marital issues (i should have kept my horses and got rid of the cheating husband) and I have done soooo much more!!!

WE have SAVED and HELPED THOUSANDS of animals with YOUR HELP ANNNNNDDDD I have met SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO many amazing people!!! Many of our admins, fosters, adopters, and volunteers have became friends and the rescue has touched their lives also. One night one of my fosters told me what a crap week they had and went into depth and in the end they said how much fostering meant to them and I had never realised as sometimes i am oblivious to those things unless you tell me:)

Many of those people i call my friends and we do things outside of the rescue together!!! I would not have made it this long if it was not for YOU.

Helping animals will always be a thing for me as i have rescued my entire adult life and helped as a minor but i am ready to move onto something less stressful…after a break on said break i look forward to getting back to things i have not had the time or energy to do like i use to like horse back riding, kayaking, white water rafting, traveling, snorkeling, fostering for other rescues, biking, archery, visiting waterfalls, and exploring life!!!!

Now its off to bed for me as in a few hours i need to be doing messages,then critter chores, then appointments, then family time. Photos of me in my past adventures

07/12/2025

Let me tell you the story of Rachael LaRue from the late Whoopsydaisy Rescue in Southern Ohio. Some of you may remember this “drama”. This started before Rayna even was born. She was sending tons of surrenders my way though we had never even said hi on the internet. At some point way back then she posted she was out of food for her rescue and had no money to buy any. My rescue was doing well. We had $ in the bank,
employees, we charged NO surrender fees, we did a total of two fundraisers/asking for donations in all those years.

I asked her to call me. I asked her if she could pick up an order of feed at a feed store 30 minutes from her place and she said yes. I called in and ordered and paid for 500 POUNDS of feed for her rescue. We had a nice chat for a good hour on the phone but Before she picked it up she saw one of my skinny pigs for sale and was upset i bred skinny pigs. (That was NEVER it, it always was jealousy) Instead of talking to me she posted this NASTY post on her page about me and my rescue and how she would not accept my donation. A bunch of followers started messaging me about it. It was not well received on her end by the community. 98% stood up for me and said that i had never hid i was a breeder and that if she did not want my donation she should have PM me and said no thank you instead of trashing my very kind and generous offer on FB. After a few days of this she took the post down. She then blocked ANYONE who stood up for me.

Then it began as a 7 year smear campaign of myself, MY PRIVATE LIFE and my rescue with it continuing for YEARS after her rescue closed. Every few days to weeks after that she would trash me on a post on her page or public forums. Even posting my public records for court on things with my kids and my divorce on the Ohio and Indiana groups. She dragged my kids into it and would share photos of them with nasty comments. It was completely messed up and awful and stressed me out greatly. I considered quitting but had sooooooo many amazing supporters and i am STUBBBORN!!!!!

After that I RARELY would allow myself to get close to another rescue or offer help, BUT i still did and it happened again. This time with a rescue with a VERY VERY large following that has only doubled since then. For YEARS this person was my friend in rescue and in our personal lives on our private profiles. She saw a long haired boy on our page and had to have him. I gave him to her and she drove to my house/rescue with her husband and picked him up. We helped EACH OTHERS rescues out. She took a lethal white we got in at our rescue and another while on a trip in Indiana from another rescue. She helped teach me about some rarer issues or sent it to her vet team if mine did not have answers. I donated her rescue money for her fundraisers. So much in fact she decided to name her guinea pig area after us in the new building she was putting up. (That never happened)

One day she messaged me and asked if i was selling rescue animals at a local animal auction. I said no as that was the truth, She did not believe me as i had been spotted up there with my kids looking at animals by one of my followers who then messaged her Before i could tell her why i was there (aka 5 seconds later) she blocked me, unfriended me, and trash posted me on her page which had 42k followers, who then came to harass me. She just erased many years of friendship without hearing why.

The truth was i was rescuing animals from there and had been for many months. Some of my fosters knew that but i did not advertise it as i kept it on the low due to past judgmental people and my rescue and my actions being under a microscope

The animals needed me there. It was boxes of sick and breeding out of control guinea pigs. Chinchillas matted with f***s, ill ferrets, hamsters, rats, rabbits, goats, and more. My fosters urged me to be up front and show what i was doing. So i did.

But with these kinds of people (Les Misérables) you are dammed if you do and dammed if you don’t.

So then they claimed i was FLIPPING GUINEA pigs lol. Basically the way our rescue worked is that those who could afford it were were asking for surrender fees and most of them were in good condition and came with cages and supplies.

The animals at the auction were anything but healthy. They came with nothing AND we were BUYING THEM. Every week i drove 3 hours round trip on friday and tried to buy every single guinea pig there. Some were dead before we got there, some were dead before we could get them home, many died when we were trying to save them after getting them home. Many times we paid more for them than the adoption fees would even bring. Many took weeks to months to rehabilitate and that takes wayyyy more than the $0-$50 average adoption fees we got for them.

I did something AMAZING. I never fu***ng bragged. I was taught to be HUMBLE. I chose to do something kind and beautiful and what i did was TWISTED into something ugly and i was BULLIED AND STALKED for years because people are MISERABLE.

My efforts were never in vain, with YOUR help and our AMAZING dedicated fosters and volunteers WE were able to BUY AND SAVE THOUSANDS of guinea pigs, hamsters, ferrets, chinchillas, rats, and more JUST from that auction.

In the end they got SHUT DOWN BY THE USDA and as of today they have not been given the license to start selling small animals again.

I do not have to be silent anymore about Michelle Allen from the Pipsqueakary BULLYING me or Rachael LaRue from Whoopsydaisy Rescue. Both ladies have helped and saved many lives but i did not deserve the lies, harassment and the way they treated me.

07/11/2025

I appreciate all the positive messages. I still am closing and liquidating all the rescues inventory. Running a rescue is just not something i am willing to keep putting my physical and mental health through. Financially it is causing a major strain in my personal life as i habe had to rely on others to pay MY bills while i use my money to stay afloat. I have not worked in 5 weeks now due to not feeling well. Seeing another rescue posting that i fake my illness of fibromyalgia for sympathy and $ is idiotic as i was diagnosed with it BEFORE i even started the rescue. I want my yard, porches and basement back. All are used for the rescue.
If you are wanting to shop outside of the hours posted message me to set something up.

07/11/2025

Every night Rykers hamster emerges from her depths of bedding. Just to stuff her face full of food from her dishes. She the regurgitates it on her wheel then runs on it making all kids of noise lol. I will try to do a vid of it soon

I swore I hid them all here last night! 😤

07/11/2025

We have 5 or so COMPLETE DOUBLE FERRET NATION CAGES $200 each great for chinchillas or ferrets, cat rescues and more and DOUBLE CRITTER NATION CAGES for sale $250 These nice cages are great for ferrets, chins, squirrels, rats, sugar gliders and more.

We have many up graded parts also available with very new metal trays and some older but excellent metal trays.

Come check our items, hiram ohio pick up.

07/11/2025

I am doing adoptions tomorrow aka Saturday 10-12. With 12 being when everyone should be done adopting as it will be getting very hot by then. Pre Approved is a MUST. If anyone wants to come help/volunteer tomorrow please arrive at 10am. We also will be doing cage and supply sales for adopters and ANYONE who wants to purchase.

We have 2000 sq feet of cages, supplies and fleece that must go.

Available to adopt are 4 healthy ferrets
A few dozen guinea pigs.

This lady is my favorite ferret here. She was left behind in an apartment and found by some maintenance/construction guys. They posted her and several shares later we were contacted. An amazing follower/volunteer of ours collected her and her buddy and brought them here.

She is my favorite. She has been housed with 10 other ferrets here and has gotten along with all of them. She is a perfect angel with children and adults. She really loves being held, carried around, played with and snuggled. Her adoption fee if you have a buddy is $75. With a buddy here $125.

07/11/2025

Help us bridge the gap in small animal adoption awareness!

How is it that pet stores constantly sell out of small animals—restocking weekly or monthly—while local small animal rescues sit with the same overlooked animals, day after day, waiting for homes?

A conversation with a friend this morning really hit this point home.

She’s a local pet sitter, and I told her I had recently referred one of our past adopters to her. But I don’t get to do that often. Why?

Because most of our chinchilla adoptions (and other small animal adoptions) go to families outside our immediate area—well beyond her service range. And she asked, why is that?

It’s not intentional. But here’s what we believe is happening:

1. Small animal adoption isn’t top-of-mind.
When people think of pet adoption, they think dogs and cats. Small animals like chinchillas, guinea pigs, hamsters, reptiles, and others? They’re often an afterthought—if they’re thought of at all.

2. Convenience trumps compassion.
Walk into any chain pet store, and you can walk out with a small animal, no questions asked. No screening. No education. No foster process. Just instant gratification.

3. Distance is a barrier—but maybe not how you think.
Many of our adopters do travel hours to meet and adopt the right pet. But there’s still a large portion of the population that simply won’t. And unlike cat/dog rescues, small animal rescues are few and far between.

4. People only seek out rescues... when they’re surrendering.
Most local folks who contact us aren’t looking to adopt—they’re looking to rehome. That already takes them out of the adoption pool.

5. The bystander effect is real.
You post an animal online and 100 people comment that they want it—but they’re scattered across the country. Locals scroll past because they assume someone else closer has already stepped up. But no one has.

So how do we fix this?
How can we educate more people—especially locally—that small animal rescues exist? That these animals need homes just as much as those in shelters? That adoption is an option?

We're open to ideas, because these animals deserve better than being forgotten while retail shelves get emptied over and over again.

07/11/2025

I am over being BULLIED by people who contribute NOTHING to this rescue. These people wear on us and people are killing themselves over it like Mikayla because of it.

This “person” and his wife SURRENDERED to us an entire cage of guinea pigs crammed in horrible living conditions in a TINY cage with $0 to a LOW surrender fee. There were males that were fighting and pregnant females and their offspring that were also pregnant which then made a whole lot more babies. Molly can look up what they paid as she collected both the pigs and fee and i am not wasting more time on them. What i do recall is it was last summer and around the same time we took in the over 40 breeding out of control in a barn and that we were already wayyyy overwhelmed with several other large hoarding/breeding/unhealthy guinea pigs cases, making us have OVER 100 piggies.

They were IGNORANT on PROPER housing and care based on the living conditions they arrived in and their own photo they shared of a bunch of guinea pigs in a 18x36 inch cage which is too small for even ONE guinea pig let alone ALMOST A DOZEN they had living on top of each other in it. After that he wanted to be a foster for us…..

I POLITELY declined after reviewing the past messages. I had enough reason based on their history but that location is not one we need fosters for so i used that as an excuse instead of saying my true feelings.

I feel we went ABOVE AND BEYOND politely to accommodate him and his wives animals because we wanted to help the guinea pigs in these awful conditions.

Today he made a comment on my post that i should sell my “fur coat” to pay for the rescue to stay open. The fur coat in question was purchase BEFORE i ever had the rescue for $150 at an estate sale and was my SECOND MOTHER’S DAY GIFT that i had picked for what i wanted from my now ex Husband. And it is dear to me as it is comfy, warm and a beautiful PURPLE and it is MINE. I posted a photo of myself on one of our adoption trips and i was wearing it and he used that post against me.

Remember that post that was in the last 2-3 weeks that i shared, that us rescuers are made to feel that we are NOT ALLOWED TO HAVE nice things? We are made to feel that we are never allowed to go out to eat, or buy ourselves nice things, or have a vacation or a weekend with our families with our own PERSONAL MONEY If we post this we are BULLIED that we are not dedicated enough to our cause that our entire life MUST be rescue rescue rescue till they burn us out. The lucky ones quit or have thicker skin than I do. The rest become animal hoarders/abusers or COMMIT SU***DE over how people treat us.

I give to this rescue 30-60 hours a week of my life for 9 YEARS and ZERO FU***NG PAY, a TRASHED HOUSE AND YARD, BROKEN MARRIAGE, PI**ED NEIGHBORS, DEATH AND R**E THREATS TO MYSELF AND FAMILY and MENTAL and PHYSICAL HEALTH ISSUES just to be JUDGED by someone who never contributed anything positive to our rescue and to put up with entitled as****es and bullies on a weekly basis.

I spend HOURS A DAY writing posts, answering messages, arranging adoptions, surrenders, events, vet appointments, supply purchases, deliveries and I GO PICK THESE supplies, surrenders, adoptions WITH MY PERSONAL vehicle adding tons of mileage and wear and tear as do our fosters for what? To be treated like S**T

To be told you are not fu***ng doing enough you must literally give the fu***ng clothes off your back

Well i am FU***NG DONE. If you want to adopt you have till the end of the month and anyone still here is going to another rescue.

I FU***NG QUIT

-Ashlee Gerner Kay

07/10/2025