Bee’s Mum…

Maple’s human has had several guinea pigs from me when I ran Reading Guinea Pig Rescue, eventually moving out of the area but still keeping touch.

The time came when Maple’s humans decided that they needed to take a break from keeping guineas but knew that Maple couldn’t continue to live on his own after his last sowfriend departed. They contacted me and told me about the situation, asking for some advice to resolve the situation.

Maple (Hamish) was very down now he was on his own and there were physical signs of illness too, blood in his urine but no stones could be found. I told Maple’s humans that if they adopted a sowfriend for him I would take her in and give her a Forever home here when Maple died, this is a promise I have made to everyone that has adopted from me, I will take any guineas adopted from me or via me back.

Maple chose a gorgeous Alpaca  as his new Sowfriend, the mother to one of my own guineas, Bee. Maple’s Human tells me that as well as perking up overnight the physical symptoms (blood in urine) just stopped when his new friend arrived.

The other wheekend Maple went to be a Star on Planet Guinea, leaving his new sowfriend all alone, I am told she gave him a lick and then looked at her Human as if to say “You need to deal with that,”!

The wheekend after Bee’s Mum came to live here on Planet Guinea, her now Forever home after doing her bit for Pigdom and keeping Maple company for his final months.

First she was introduced to her daughter Bee, some initial sniffing from both of them but no dramatics. She was introduced to the group of 6 (5 sows and one boar) but no one took too much notice at first. Then Bee’s Mum decided she needed to make her prescence known and stood up to Mr Fantastic! The sows moved over to the other side of the pen and Mr. Fantastic gently but firmly herded Bee’s Mum round the corner and into a house she had previously “adopted” as her own. He stood outside for a while so that she would have to pass him if she came out, and then ventured inside, there were some girlie squeaks but everything soon settled and every time I came to check them they were in the house together and the other sows were in a group on the other side of the pen.

The next morning Bee’s Mum was stood facing the shed door, waiting expectantly but not up at the bars or wheeking, the others were all in their usual places….

As the wheek went on Bee’s mum satrted to wheek and after 5 days here she was standing up on the grids and wheeking for food. Still not “running with the herd” yet but that is usual behaviour. There is no more chasing by certain sows (Zen and Miss Gorgeous) and Bee’s Mum happily eats alongside the others. I have seen her, on more than one occasion, lick Mr fantastic to within an inch of his life! Bee is often with her and they do seem to get along well, though Bee is a bit of a free spirit and I have yet to see her snuggle with anyone.

Bee’s mum has explored two of the three lengths of the pen and the houses in it but has yet to be seen in the third length which is the most lived in one by the others at the moment. I guess she will be fully integrated with the herd when she moves freely in all three lengths. She has previously lived in a herd so this is not a new experience for her, just new personalities 🙂

 

Falling asleep, not long after she'd arrived here...

Falling asleep, not long after she’d arrived here…

day1side

Pretty girl

dayonehead

Cute n Fluffy…

talk2bee

Meeting her daughter Bee again…

February 8, 2013   Posted in: Behaviour, Inside The Hutch, One Is Not Enough, Planet Guinea, The Pig Issue