New arrivals on Planet Guinea mean that a jobshare has been created Krystal and Gem are both excellent mothers doing a fine job at the local Kid Zone. Between them they look after 3 pups who move around the hutch in a trio and from sow to sow in a trio.

On arriving home Molly, Forest and Gale had been born along with their sister who was asleep and still in her sack, despite breaking the sack and warming her up Big sister did not survive

At this time Gem was obviously straining and had been so for nearly 30 minutes which is far too long. On picking her up it was apparent she was giving birth to a pup that was breech, a twist of the hand, and the force of gravity Bigger baby sister was out, but very dead A very definite lump that wasn’t moving meant that another pup was inside and needed to come out fast.

A call to the local Guinea Cab Service had us going over the speed bumps up to the surgery and not long before arrival the pup was born. Mum didn’t remove the sack but seemed interested in what was going on, I did it for her and handed her back the pup but further examination in the surgery showed no heartbeat and eyes that were glassy

She was put back in with Gem and Gale and came back to Planet Guinea.

The smallest pup was Gale at 99g, then Forest at 103g and Molly was 106g.

Life is for living, eating, feeding from whoever’s on duty and learning about the world around them

Karen (not making a drama out of a crisis )

When Goldie first arrived she found socialising with other guineas incredibly difficult, she progressed to spending short amounts of time in a run with an established group of guineas who were indifferent to her presence.

When she was comfortable with the run time she lived next door to Cloud’s Crew and eventually chose her own time to move in with them

Recently she has mixed with Cooper’s Girls, a group with different dynamics to cloud’s, and settled in immediately. This wheek she met the gorgeous Eclipse to see if they would be compatible enough to be life long pals. This meant meeting 3 other unfamiliar sows as well as Eclipse, for the first time, she handled it like there had never been any issues with meeting new pig

Unfortunately it wasn’t Goldie’s time to find a Forever Home, but she is moving on uptowards finding it now

Karen, (Pleased that Goldie not only has some friends now, but she has the tools to carry on with her little life )

11 July: Goldie met Digger and Roza to see if she could join them in Piggy Paradise, how could she refuse! Nose went straight in the bowl and then she went over to the Block Bottom Bag of Fun (all be it a tight squeeze), Goldie has put in an order for a Boar and Sow pack of Bags of Fun from Planet Guinea, they allow for the chunkier pig and those who prefer to relax in a certain way

We wish Goldie the best of luck in her new home and can’t believe how quickly she has gone from the frightened little sow that didn’t want to live with anyone to a laid back lady who will stand her ground but doesn’t retaliate, previously any fear was shown by aggression towards others.

Karen

On 2 July an aggressive form of cancer decided that Aura should be a Star on Planet Guinea. Aura is the smoky grey star with soft edges and some lighter patches.

Aura was diagnosed with the cancer some wheeks agowhen it started to take over her body, some veterinary medicines and complimentary therapies as recommended by our vet kept it at bay for a little longer than would normally be expected. For a couple of wheeks the lumps and hardness that could be felt in her body went away and a very different Aura was revealed, Iam sure this was due to the complimentary therapy ahe was receiving, myonly wish it that I could have used it sooner, but Aura was a very happy little guinea in her last wheeks

Aura only arrived here last year but has done a Piggy PM and took part in the syringe feeding demos and ‘how to give a guinea a tablet’ demo   She has also been part of something new and exciting that we have been trialling

Karen (Who has sooo many long haired stars on Planet Guinea )

Pandora has suddenly left us to be a star on Planet Guinea; she is the dark star with shiny patches of gold that lingers in the background, but does occasionaly and unexpectedly move out to the foreground.

Pandora came to Planet Guinea as part of the Satin Study, we had plenty of purebred Satins donated by breeders but no pet Satins to  compare and contrast with. Some very thoughtful Humans brought Hope and Pandora from their local pet shop and donated them so we could monitor them for signs of Osteodystrophy (OD) throughout their lives.

Pandora was not only the heaviest Satin on Planet Guinea she was the heaviest resident! For a while Pandora was a little unsure of her position in her group and viewed newcomers as a threat, but as time went on she became as accepting as her friends, she was part of the group that helped Goldie and Little Miss Lucky overcome their problems.

Pandora didn’t show any signs of OD when she went to be a star on Planet Guinea, neither had she had any weightloss problems. She showed that OD isn’t a certainty in pet guineas, it is perfectly possible to have a healthy pet Satin

Karen (Counting the shiny stars on Planet Guinea).

In the early hours of this morning an Angel visited Planet Guinea, our very own Angel that has been with us for just over 6 years. Angel became a bit slower at everything this past wheek, but remained content and the others washed her eyes for her, particularly Cloud who is quite well practised when it comes to eye baths

Angel is the dark star on Planet Guinea who moves silently and effortlessly around to see everyone but never makes a nuisance of herself She’ll be no trouble, not once did she visit the vet while she was with me, well only to do open days!

Angel was born on Planet Guinea in April 2003, her Mum was Buffy and she had 4 siblings that came very fast! So fast that I needed to move Angel out of the way so that Mum could clean up the next baby.  Angel and Buffy were rehomed when Angel was 6 wheeks old, but it wasn’t long before Angel was back after Buffy had died.

Angel was the nursey pig on Planet Guinea and was always made the newcomers welcome, the latest ones being Goldie and Little Miss Lucky. She was ‘just’ another easy going cog in the machine that is Cloud’s welcoming crew

Karen, missing the blackness that was Angel….

RGPR have recently taken in an extremely distressed guinea pig with multiple problems. She had been ‘rescued’ from a ‘free to good home’ advert along with a large group of guinea pigs. However her behaviour led her new owner to enquire about the gender of his new pig. When put in with the other pigs she became very controlling and displayed boar like behaviour.

There was no aggression from her but her behaviour led to friction amongst other members of the group. Along with rumblestrutting she was mounting the sows, walking around making ‘boar noises’, yet would squirt urine (sow like behaviour) at the castrated boar in the group.   The sow was confirmed as a sow despite this behaviour but her Human was unable to keep her as she was causing upset in the group.

As she was in poor condition and suffering from mites (a sign of stress perhaps?) and probable hormonal problems she came into rescue. Her new home was a Cavy Cage on her own next to a large group of well socialised guineas who took no notice of her.  The next day she visited our vet. She was described as being in ‘poor condition’ and having mites.

• A Gorgeous Guineas Melt and shampoo was advised as the first step in her treatment (Cost: approximately £25 for a full course, including Manuka and Neem shampoo, CocoNeem Melt, and Lavender and Myrrh Lotion),
• Xeno 450 Spot On treatment for mites (£29.92 for one pack of 6, Little Miss Lucky will need two of those- approximate cost £10),

Consultation fee £22.24, total cost so far: £57.24.

She will be returning to the vet who suspects there may be a hormonal problem too. Gorgeous Guineas have offered to fund her treatment for any skin problems.   Money can be thrown at those problems, but there is a lot of distress going on with this little sow, she is not finding socialising easy at all.

However, she is going to remain here until she can be part of a herd and then move on to finding a friend that she can be rehomed with. There is no question of her being rehomed to live on her own or ‘within sight’ of other guinea pigs. That would be ignoring the obvious issues that she has and is against the RGPR policy of ‘quality not quantity’.   Chrissie, of Gorgeous Guineas, who has met her, has named her Little Miss Lucky.

Karen (wondering how many more Little Miss Lucky’s are being pushed from pillar to post with no real regard for their wellbeing )

On Sunday Goldie managed to spend a couple of hours out in the run with the group she has been visiting for small amounts of time during the wheek.

However outside and indoors in a pen are 2 different places so when they were brought in Goldie went back into a C+C divide that was next to the group’s pen. Goldie insisted on trying to break in to be with them so when she had given up and moved over to her hay I cut the cable ties and left the rest to Goldie. In no time Goldie had ‘broken’ into the group’s pen and was busy eating their food.

No one was suprised to see her and she didn’t have that need to harass them that had been obvious before. After ‘hanging around’ in the shed for a while to make sure everything was OK I left them to it with just a final late night check.

Currently Goldie is living with the group and learning to socialise again, there is no mutual grooming going on yet and that’s an important step forward, but she is mixing with them.

The next step will be to socialise her with rescue pigs and get her ready for rehoming but she needs to spend a while in this set up first before that can happen.

Karen

Goldie says ‘hello’ to a member of the group helping her to move forward.

This month a well cared for  sow came into our care. However, when she was introduced to others she became very defensive and acted out of character. After speaking to her previous owners about the how they handled the death of their other guinea pig it became apparent that this sow wasn’t aware of what had happened and hadn’t acknowledged her sister’s death which would allow her to move forward. Her sister was taken to the vets and and put to sleep. Ideally the surviving sister would have gone with her and the body returned to her, this would have lessened any anxiety.

Goldie says ‘hello’ to her new friends that will help her to move forward and find new friends and a new home.

As of the 7 March Planet Gorgeous have raised £43 towards their target figure of £50! That is just in a wheek people, how generous are you all! £1.50 from each Party Pack of Fun sold goes to Comic Relief.

This will be added to our Planet Gorgeous fundraising page here: Planet Gorgeous for Comic Relief where you can give more towards our target too!

Time to let you in on our fundraising idea! Planet Guinea and Gorgeous Guineas (also known as The Planet Gorgeous!) have put together the Planet Gorgeous Red Nose Day Party Pack to raise money for Red Nose Day and bring foraging fun into the lives of guineas!

The pack contains 5 large Red Stripe Bags of Fun and one 45ml bottle of the limited edition Happy Souls shampoo.

To get Guinea in the mood for fun start with a pampurring session in this stimulating shampoo containing Lemon which is said to dispel the lack of a sense of humour! A vital ingredient for Red Nose Day

Put the hay racks to one side and go fill a Bag of Fun with some of your finest hay and let guinea do the rest. Shy guineas may need some persuasion to participate- simply hide Dill/Parsley/Coriander or freshly picked grass in the hay and let their noses suss the rest out!

Packs can be purchased from Planet Guinea and Gorgeous Guineas. Lets all Popcorn for Comic Relief (and get down to some serious soul cleansing with Happy Souls), see our fundraising page at The Planet Gorgeous if you’d prefer to just donate (but why miss out on the fun?!) or maybe you’re a really generous person and want to donate as well

For more fun go to www.rednoseday.com and join in the party

Whatever you do just remember: ‘don’t be glum, have Bags of Fun!’.

Karen (quite a Happy Soul really).