The Pigs In The Pigture are…
I have chosen Big Dave and Maggie as the Guinea Pig Welfare Cupigs because, putting gorgeousness aside, they were given the choice when it came to a new friend and chose each other. Compatible companionship is as important as the correct bedding, both are related to guinea pigs’ behavioural needs and natural needs, companionship for mutual grooming and sharing their little lives with someone that highlights different aspects of their character depnding on their own characteristics, and bedding for foraging safely in as they would do naturally in the wild. A BIG thank you to their human, Amanda, for sending in their story and pigtures. The complete story to follow…
February 13, 2013
Posted in: Behaviour, FaceBook/You Tube, Inside The Hutch, Planet Guinea, Rescue 
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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…
Pretty girl
Cute n Fluffy…
Meeting her daughter Bee again…
February 8, 2013
Posted in: Behaviour, Inside The Hutch, One Is Not Enough, Planet Guinea, The Pig Issue No Comments
The Magnificent Seven…
This story was first posted in October 2008…
… made their way onto Planet Guinea this afternoon at around 3.30 and finished arriving at around 4.30. Not totally sure on times but it took about an hour for them all to arrive. The eighth, Wonder has already gone to be a Star on Planet Guinea.
I found 4 little bodies all clean and correct linerd up nose to tail as per usual and quite fluffy, but was suprised to see Posy still had bright red blood on her nose, guineas are normally so quick at cleaning up inbetween and after birthing. Seconds after this thought I noticed a ‘lump’ under Posy and lo and behold there were 5, this was number 6 actually, number 5 was Wonder, now a star on Planet Guinea. Number 6 was cleaned up and ‘got moving’, then Posy went back to see Wonder and had another vigourous groom etc, it was not to be though. In quite a short time the last two were born and I moved Little Black round to Posy to clean up as she’d started eating and grooming herself.
My guess is (though thats all it is and it could be quite different!) that Posy had 4 quite easily, then Wonder the little dead one. Because the first 4 were so dry and fluffy I tend to think that it took quite a time for Wonder to be born, at one stage they looked like 2 different litters but they’re all dry now and snuggled together.
On closer examination one of them appears not to have any eyes or is having trouble opening them. It does happen that pups have eye trouble when they’re born and eyes get sticky but at the moment it doesn’t look like there’s any sign of eyes. He’s done a lap round the hutch though and is one of the bigger ones so I don’t think it’ll be a problem. I’m more concerned about the smaller baby who is noticably smaller than everyone else, he’s got a tough time ahead with all those siblings, so heres hoping they all take to hard food soon 
Which one is Hamish (Maple)
February 3, 2013
Posted in: FaceBook/You Tube, Inside The Hutch, Miscellaneous, One Is Not Enough, Planet Guinea, Rescue, The Pig Issue No Comments
Hamish…
Hamish and Tara
“Hamish was adorable and clearly wanted to be loved too. Tara chose him as her new friend when she was already five. She was pretty set in her ways by then and it took a few days of rearing heads and chattering teeth for her to accept that he was now in charge but she did (most of the time!). Hamish wasn’t a piggy to assert his authority, but he wasn’t going to be pushed around. Once Tara said goodbye, we thought about returning Hamish to you, (Karen @ Reading Guinea Pig Rescue), but after a few days we decided that we couldn’t let him go.
He was due to go off on his holidays (to Bramble Bunnies in Somerset) for a few days and while he was there he got chatting to two girls in the next run who it turned out were looking fora new home. I decided to let him meet them to see if they got on well and he took to them straight away. Jessie was quiet (not the brightest!) and Florence was lively and fun (and very pretty). Hamish and Florence were like mum and dad to Jessie. While he had been on his own he had been more sociable with us but we were aware that he was spending a lot of time in his run on his own. When he brought the girls home it was as if he wanted to show them off to us – he seemed quite proud, running over to us in his run and chirping away. We noticed that when we picked one of them up to start towel and sofa time, he would always start squeaking loudly as if he was worried we were taking them away from him. He would immediately settle back down when they were back together. Jessie left us about 18 months later and Florence followed on about a year later. Hamish and Florence had clearly adored each other. They were always grooming each other and snuggled up.
After she died he went off his food straight away. We had to syringe feed him Oxbow critical care for a few days. We agonised over whether he was becoming too ill for a new friend or whether he was just feeling lonely and needed a companion. After a couple of weeks when he seemed much better (but still wasnt eating with much enthusiasm) we contacted you and then Julie and we took him to meet Violet. They hit it off immediately – both placid, friendly pigs. The difference in Hamish even the next day was amazing. He would run over to the front of the run in the morning, wheeking away, his appetite had returned (maybe because he was now competing for his share of the greens) and each time we picked one of them up he would be wheeking again wanting to make sure they wouldn’t be apart for too long. We knew we had made the right decision.”
A big thank you to Steph, Hamish’s Human, for this story. Hamish has seen a lot of guineas come and go and Steph commented on how he handled each death differently.
With Tara
With Florence and Jessie
Best Friends
Snuggle Pigs
February 2, 2013
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Cakey’s Story, so far…
Nosey…
Cakey joined our family 6 and a half years ago. At the rescue centre my step-daughter was torn between him and his brother or another pair of pigs. I loved the look of this brown “wild-looking” animal and persuaded her that they were the pair for us. In the car on the way home she named them “Mr Cash” and “The Cake”.
It soon became apparent that The Cake was a pretty special pig. From the start he was super friendly and full of character. He’s always made it very clear what he likes and dislikes and will nibble my arm to tell me when he’s had enough of being held. It wasn’t until I met other guinea pig owners that I learnt that he is a “crested Golden Agouti” – a name that sounds suitably grand.
Cakey’s life took a turn for the worse when Mr Cash died at the age of one. Cakey was heart-broken and cried all night. It was a very humbling experience to see an animal mourn. I then had to make a choice between getting him neutered and pairing him with another boar. I couldn’t find anyone to help me with the pairing process and so arranged for him to see the vet for what should have been a simple operation.
As soon as I saw him post-op I realised something was wrong. It turned out that the vet had used cat gut suture to sew him up and he was seriously allergic to it. The original vet shirked all responsibility and in tears I ended up driving him long distances to see a guinea pig proficient vet. This vet showed me how to syringe feed him and introduced me to Chrissie at Gorgeous Guineas who helped me nurse him back to health. It took about a month of constant care and I had to take Cakey to work with me so I could feed him throughout the day!
Luckily he survived this trauma and found a new friend in Lemony Skips, a cream and white smooth-haired sow. Seeing him rumblestrut his way round a lady pig was hilarious as he’d only lived with a boar until now. He spent a happy three years with her until she sadly had to be put down due to breast cancer. He didn’t seem too upset when she died and gave her a cursory lick goodbye.
Within a week though his health had taken a nose dive. He suffered from gastric stasis and bloat, which the vet suspected was triggered by the death of his mate. For the second time in his life I had to give him round-the-clock care. I was determined to get him through this illness and did not want him to die with Critical Care on his golden mane! After ten days of medicines, fibergel and Critical Care he recovered.
Once again Cakey was in need of a companion. I didn’t really want to adopt another pig and be caught in a cycle of pig adoption in order to keep them in pairs. By now he was five years old and going a bit grey. I seriously considered handing him over to a guinea pig retirement home but none of them looked good enough for me to give up my beloved friend. I explained my plight to some guinea friends and one of them offered me the option of “borrowing” a sow from her with the knowledge that I could return her if Cakey died before she did. This seemed like the perfect solution as I knew she would be going back to a great home, making the handover easy.
And so Cakey came to meet his third housemate, Mabel. She is a fantastic crested tri-coloured pig who is full of beans and very cheeky. Cakey is completely besotted with her and follows her around as much as she will let him. They sleep head to head and he’s always trying to nibble her ears. She is without a doubt his favourite friend and I’m really pleased that he will be living out his final days in the company of someone he adores.
When his time does finally come I will be pretty devastated. I’ve had lots of animals in my life but only a couple have shone out as being really special. Cakey is one of them and I will remember him always.
Cakey and Mr. Cash
After his op when cat gut caused an adverse reaction but was the catalyst for discovering a good vet
Cakey and Lemony Skips
After Lemony died Cakey went downhill and needed syringe feeding
The love of Cakey’s life, Mabel
January 29, 2013
Posted in: Health, Inside The Hutch, Miscellaneous, One Is Not Enough, Planet Guinea, The Pig Issue No Comments
Having her Cakey and eating it…
Cakey and Chantilly…
The lovely Chantilly who had such a tragic start to her little life has finally found love and friendship in Cakey who has also had a rough time of things lately. Chantilly was discovered by a German Shepherd Dog on some wasteland, running with a group of guinea pigs.
On arrival she was obviously pregnant and obviously still only a couple of months old. Guinea pigs are able to give birth at an early age and much of the time it goes without complication, however being present when Chantilly gave birth to Mr Big and two pups that were dead on arrival was not something that I found enjoyable. Chantilly had the most stressful time giving birth that I’ve seen.
She was a good Mum though and soon back to her old self, thank goodness no one’s told guinea pigs about post natal depression…
The time came for Cakey to choose his sowfriend and Chantilly and Miss Tickle went over to his holiday home to meet him. Both girls did well in the match making stakes and cakey would have been happy with either of them, though Chantilly did seem to have the edge- or maybe she was just more flirty…
Cakey’s little Human chose Chantilly to be Cakey’s next friend and first sowfriend. Both are now living in brand new accomodation after the honey moon period at the holiday home. We hear that this is a very well matched and playful couple. Chantilly’s new name is Lemony Chase.
Cakey and Chantilly getting to know each other…
We are friends 🙂
January 25, 2013
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Still Solo, but not solitary…
The time came this wheek for Mr Big to move out of the family home. He has already reached the grand age of four wheeks and as cute as baby Mr Bigs would be we certainly don’t need any! There were two options, to move in with his cousins or to pair him up with Solo. As Solo was living alone it seemed only fair to give him first refusal.
They met in a ‘bare run’ (bare as in no houses,). Solo was most excited to have company after months of living alone and making do with living next to other guineas. He rumbled and strutted at Mr Big, who took it all in his stride, for about 5 minutes before settling down. Mr Big was happy to trot away if Solo got too enthusiastic and when Solo’s curiosity had waned he gave Mr Big a head wash (Chantilly hasn’t been seen grooming Mr Big for a while now 🙂 ). The two boys had went about their business (eating mostly) and took it in turns to trot behind one another.
After a successful afternoon in the run next to Cloud and his girls they came inside to their new hutch. By now hay and anything else that was edible was far more interesting than paying attention to the other one and they have settled happily for the night 🙂
Whether or not this pairing lasts remains to be seen, Mr Big is a very laid back boar- at the moment, but teenage hormones can change all that and will be taken into consideration when he is rehomed. He probably won’t leave here until he is at least 12 wheeks old. Maybe with the delightful Solo, maybe not 🙂
Solo, Mr. Big’s new friend…
Karen (pleased that the boys haven’t complicated life for me 🙂 )
January 20, 2013
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Mr. Big-ger
Mr Big, 4 wheeks old
First Posted June 20, 2008
Despite that shaky start to life Mr Big has been taking advantage of what he has got- a Mum all to himself, some yummy solids that he can, at last manage and friends to play with His weight on the 17 June was 203g and he certainly looks more guinea pig shape now, previously he had a kind of hunched kangaroo appearance about him, but he has a nice long back now and legs that fit
After mastering the art of eating hays it was only a matter of time before he started to attack the veggies and is now into anything and everything, including Cavy Cuisine which is a good size for his little smiley mouth.
He has a sort of hairstyle going on that looks like it could possibly be Sheltie type though not ‘full grown’ I suspect. Baby Shelties are a bit more obvious than he is, but who knows Mr Big is quite an immature little boy. He still hasn’t discovered his rumble, I can confirm he is definitely a ‘Mr’ but will need to come away from Mum shortly, just in case. It has been a wheek now since I last saw him suckle from Mum, I don’t expect he does anymore. He’s happy grazing and eating solids and his weight increase shows it suits him.
He finds Miss Tickle’s twins a constant source of fun and they zoom round their cage and play in the hay, often Mr Big can be found snuggled with one of them. The little Rex boar will make a good hutchmate for him when the time for seperation comes…
Mr. Big, 4 wheeks old and 203g
January 16, 2013
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