Guinea Pig update.

[Catherine]

Guinea pigs look like their heads rest right on their shoulders. They have pretty short legs too. They are kind of shaped like a large baked potato, but with fur.

[Cibach]

We did try a few things for Choccy, but nothing worked.
We tried a hair scrunchie around what neck he does have, but that lasted about 5 seconds.
We tried one of those donut things that you can use to put a bun in your hair, but that was equally ineffective.
The one that lasted the longest was the harness from a lead to walk ferrets. It had two straps and velcro and whilst it didn't cover his wounds it did prevent him from curling around to get to them.
Initially it looked as though it would work, but he disappeared into his house, there was a lot of scuffling and then the harness flew out the front of the house, still all done up!! He really didn't like it.
Fortunately the second wound closure did the trick and he healed up beautifully.
He will have a lovely life now.

[Catherine]

I have the same harness(or one just like it) and I use it to walk lizards.  How did he get it off without undoing it.
Barrie walks around for an hour and it doesn't come off.  Choccy is very talented indeed.

I am wondering how you got a hair scrunchie around his neck in the first place.  Guinea pigs are so funny about stuff like that.


I suppose you could have kept a steady supply of veggies in front of him so he was too distracted to go after his stitches.

I am glad Choccy healed in spite of his efforts.

Does he have a forever home yet?

What about your new fosterling. Is she with you already?

[Cibach]

The lovely chocolate coloured sow that Choccy bonded with was a dater. She came to the rescue just to meet a friend. So Choccy went home very soon after they bonded. In fact when we returned to the rescue the Tuesday after he returned, we had missed him by 10 mins!

The new little girl we have named Wilma and she is in the foster cage right beside me. She's very shy but is starting to find her feet. Whilst she runs away, she does sit quietly in a cuddle pocket on a lap and is getting used to a hand on her whilst in the pocket.
I think she will take a while, but the aim is for her to be relaxed enough to meet and bond with other piggies. Just now she is just far too stressed.

[Catherine]

I am very happy for Choccy. I didn't realize it was an "arranged" marriage situation. I am sure they will both be very happy together. Guinea pigs do love company. Too bad you missed him though.

Poor little Wilma. She sounds very stressed. I am sure you can make a big difference in her life. It is a good sign that she can at least sit on your lap.  It is sad that a little animal can be so distressed that it can't enjoy being loved and cared for.

What does she look like?

Keep us posted on her progress.

[Cibach]

Well Wilma is coming along slowly, but nicely. She no longer runs and tries to burrow away when I approach her cage, but will sit at the front of her house or cuddle pocket and let me stroke her. She still doesn't like being handled, but I don't think she was handled much, if at all, before she came to Glynneath.
To help her along, and to help reduce the numbers at the rescue, we have also taken as a foster one of the group of 11 baby girls. This little one was not thriving in the large group. These are girls from the hoarder rescue. Piggies were caught and boxed up by the hoarders daughter as she was unwilling to let anyone onto the property. So we ended up with babies with no Mums and Mums with no babies!!
The babies have all banded together in a little herd, but this little one was not happy in the group and was slowly fading away.
She came to stay on Tuesday and I popped her in with Wilma. Every other piggy Wilma met was attacked on sight, but they were all bigger than her and she was very scared. When I popped the baby in Wilma sat next to her and washed her all over. She became a bit protective of the house, but soon realised the baby was no threat and they are now inseparable.
When the Baby arrived with us she weighed 172g. I weighed her on Saturday and she was 197g.
That's more weight than she had gained in the two weeks or so she was at the rescue. Clearly she needs an Auntie all to herself. This has helped Wilma too as she is now more adventurous and a lot more cage confident.

[img]Wilma by Gillian Clancy, on Flickr[/img]

This is Wilma. It's not a very good photo of her as she has a lovely chequerboard back and her face is much prettier face on.

[img]Lilibet by Gillian Clancy, on Flickr[/img]

And this is the baby. We have called her Lilibet.

They will stay with us until Lilibet is big enough to go up for adoption and they will be rehomed as a pair.

[Catherine]

Wilma is lovely. The baby is a little sweetie. She is very young isn't she. I am glad she is gaining weight.

 It looks like you have found a solution that works for both of them. Wilma may be scared, but the baby is more scared and that might be all it takes to give Wilma some confidence.

It would be great if they could rehome together.


That is not good that moms and babies were separated like that.  They must have been so stressed. The daughter should have let guinea pig people help. I am sure you could have kept families together.  At least guinea pig people would have known how to handle the guinea pigs to cause the least amount of upset.

[Cibach]

Wilma and Lilibet are doing very well indeed. Both are really cage confident now and will stand to be stroked. They are both fans of laptime and snuggle down for a nap.
Wilma is a good weight at more than 1 Kg and little Lilibet has more than doubled her weight and is now more than 350g. Although she looks bigger, this is due to her "Floof" of hair!!

Here is a photo of them cwtched up together during laptime.


[img]Wilma and Lilibet by Gillian Clancy, on Flickr[/img]

They will be returning to the rescue on Saturday as there is an adopter visiting on Sunday and they are good candidates for them. So please keep your fingers, and all other digits, crossed for them.

[Catherine]

They look perfect together. It is a bonding that has been good for both of them. Lilibet needed a mom piggie to help her thrive and Wilma needed a baby to give her confidence.

Wilma really looks like my Murray who died last year. They have the same kind of face.
I hope they are adopted this weekend. If I was looking for piggies I would take them right away.

I was reading previous posts before reading your last one so I would lead into your last post. When I got to the part about you taking one of eleven babies my brain read that you took eleven babies. I was trying to picture you with eleven babies and then my brain woke up and said read it again.
Eleven babies at once would have been a crazy fostering.

Wilma and Lilibet really are sweet together. 

[Cibach]

Wilma and Lilbet have gone to their forever home. The family that met them the day after they returned to the rescue, fell for them straight away and reserved them. They went home last Wednesday (22/6). I'm sure they will have the life they deserve, filled with love and treats.

The foster cage is occupied again. There is a young boar who came into the rescue at the same time as Choccy, and is equally rude and overbearing with other boars, so he has come to stay prior to being neutered. His behaviour with other boars led to Suzy calling him a prat, and the name has stuck, so now he is known as Chris Pratt!! But we are calling him Christopher!
He is a very busy boy and is very cage confident already. He is getting used to handling on a daily basis so his aftercare shouldn't be traumatic for him. We love him, he's such a character and really sweet, with people, he's just too rude for other boars. Hopefully he'll find a wife who will tolerate his attentions!!

Our herd has settled back into a normal routine, but since they all took advantage of the extra food put in for Ruby, they are all on a diet. Plenty of hay, but veggies and dry mix weighed out and scattered around the pen. So far they have lost very little so I may need to look for another dry mix for them, but we'll see how it goes!