Piggy PM 2010

Yesterday saw our fifth Piggy PM to mark Reading Guinea Pig Rescue’s ninth “birthday”. It is nine years to the month that we have been rehoming guinea pigs now 🙂

All went well up until Friday evening, then we had a call from a key player to say that they couldn’t make it followed by another on Saturday; both had hoped to recover enough to be able to take part but unfortunately it was not to be. So, at 1.00pm on Saturday a quick discussion with others and a bit of rearranging and it all fell into place! We don’t think anyone noticed the plasters 😉 !

Becky, who is doing a study on guinea pig castration, gave out the goody bags which were gone in what seemed like no time, at 2.00pm there was, apparently, a queue of about 20 people outside one of the doors! The press arrived and did pigtures early on which although was a pain because it was busy did at least get it out of the way. The lovely Lily had her pigture taken and I believe a few others of the day were taken as well- I was too busy talking!

Lily, Sienna, Zen and Caprice were in the “Vet Room” where people were able to go along and ask Jenny questions, I believe that bladder stone issues were high on the “asking list”.

Genie, Emi, Zola, Rainbow and Gloria were available for cuddles, this was a first Zola who was a little wriggly and only given to confident adults. Rainbow and Gloria were favourites- Gloria even went to sleep on someones lap 🙂 . Together they raised £70 in donations towards RGPR.

A dental demonstration in the vet room was popular and a vet who had come along to see what the day was all about took some dental notes with her and is seriously considering doing dentals without anaesthetic at the surgery where she works. However dental work does not suit every vet and this must always be respected, we hope she finds it is for her. Lily was “the guinea pig” and now has her lovely filed molars back and straight Incisors that meet. Lily made sure people looked at her and demonstrated blind and deaf does not mean not heard and not seen, she is very feisty and will stand up for herself whether she needs to or not. Several people asked if she was “Special Needs”, the answer, of course, was “no”, she has some different needs, but no need for a label 🙂

The total money raised was £530 including donations from the public, and Gorgeous Guineas and The Hay Experts, all will go towards our “shed project”, thank you. We are also going to add The Hay Experts to our Guinea Pig Welfare business card as many people were very taken with their hays yesterday- it just makes sense.

Thanks for your support, Karen (thinking ahead to the next Piggy PM, or is it all a crazy dream!)

The Hay Experts mid way through the afternoon, almost sold out!

Lily after her dental.

Gorgeous Guineas’ Stand.

Mr. Fantastic

Although I have made the conscious decision to cut back on the number of residents on Planet Guinea there was never an intention to be boarless. After Cloud and Cooper suddenly went to be stars on Planet Guinea it has always been the intention to let the girls choose a new boarfriend that could also be a representative for the guineas here and do open days.

Yesterday Mr. Fantastic arrived here, bold, striking and very in your face. Having come from a good and balanced home this morning he was ready to be introduced to the girls (under supervision of course). All went well and top girl Genie was able to put him in his place which he accepted- no animosity, just a bit of hurt pride, maybe, but hey, there’s more girls than Genie 😉

Mr. Fantastic will be going in for his castration next wheek so he can permanently be the girl’s new boarfriend. Currently he is living with Mr. Shiny, a cream Satin, who is also waiting to go in for his op.

It has been good to be able to find Mr. Shiny a temporary boarfriend who can accompany him to the vets and saves him living on his own; after an hours chasing round the cage they decided that food was more important and settled down to eat.

Today just disspelled the myths that say boars who have met sows will never settle with another boar, these two are in a cage overlooking a sow pen and Mr. Fantastic spent some time getting to know the sows this morning before meeting Mr. Shiny!

Karen (loving the Fantastic 🙂 )

Sunshine on Planet Guinea…

Tonight there is a new shiny star on Planet Guinea. Sunshine is the golden shiny star hovering in the background, occasionaly moving out to the front with the others for a while before returning to her background spot. Sunshine is the golden brown star with slight speckles of black that ‘just fits in’ with everything around her.

Sunshine had been having minor dental work since September, her Incisors were often slanted but there was no sign of any Molar problems. On Saturday she had her usual ‘check up’ and I found some brown marks on her top molars, but not like those I have seen on Satins with Osteodystrophy (which were blackand pitted), this was a definitely brown but unusual (or at least not something I’ve seen before), brown marks. Apparently this is evidence of either something ‘happening’ in the gums or due to Antibiotic use, Sunshine was not on antibiotics. I was expecting her to have a tooth root abscess or similar given the ‘symptoms’.

On Sunday Sunshine wasn’t herself, not eating as much as normal and refusing to take water from a syringe or bottle when offered- Sunshine was a big drinker.  Luckily I had some Rimadyl left over from when Aura was ill and I gave Sunshine some in case she was in any pain.

However, this morning Sunshine had chosen her own time to go which although unexpected was not a complete shock.

Sunshine was part of a large RSPCA rescue of a lot of Satin guinea pigs that had been allowed to breed freely (not a breeder in the Cavy Fancy) and were living in very cramped condition, the group was split (it was sooo big,100’s of them) and went to different parts of the country. When Sunshine arrived she was fit and well though needed to put on some weight. Summer on the grass saw to that and she joined Cloud’s girls (as the cages were full) with a view to being rehomed. However as satin it would be to a home that had been made aware of the possible issues with osteodystrophy.

That home never turned up and Sunshine became part of the group immediately, just getting on with her little life, no special friends or enemies but fitting in perfectly 🙂 . Last year Sunshine did her one and only Piggy PM, she went along to show the difference between a matt coat guinea and the sheen on a Satin.

Karen (there will always be Sunshine on Planet Guinea 🙂 )

The Noughties Guineas Book of Records…

Our awards for the Noughties are:

• Oldest rescue guinea rehomed: Mr Happy @ 5 and a half years old.
• Oldest rescue guinea pig taken in: Satin, age 7 years.
• Oldest foster pigs here well enough to be rehomed: Keenan and Kel @ 6 years old stayed with their fosterer until they left us to be Stars on Planet Guinea.
• Youngest guinea pig rehomed: Molly (2009) @ 6 wheeks.
• Youngest guinea to arrive at the rescue (not including the ones in Mum’s tums 🙂 ): 4 day old Pixie and Dixie (2002).
• First boar @ Reading Guinea Pig Rescue (RGPR) (rescue), Eddie, a lone boar who was later paired with an existing boar, 2001.
• First sow on RGPR (rescue): Sugar and Spice, 2001.
• First litter born  @RGPR: The Buffy Kids, 2003, 5 pups born, 1 dead on arrival.
• Biggest litters born @ RGPR: Summer had a litter of 8 pups, 5 survived, Posy had 8 as well in 2008.
• Smallest litter born: One little girl, Ariel, to the lovely Scrumptious.
• Largest pup born: Solo an only pup weighed in at 150g.
• Smallest surviving pup: was Marsh who lived here for 8 wheeks before going to be a start= on Planet guinea, followed by his brother Maple @ 44g and still looking for that Forever home, and Mr.Big also 44g.
• Most guineas rehomed to one person over the years: 18 to Chrissie of Gorgeous Guineas, starting in 2002 till 2009. Chrissie makes a rule of rehoming only those that are over 2 years, the oldest being Mr Happy at 5 years.
• Biggest number of guineas taken in at one go: 18, in 2002. I was told to expect 6, which was ‘pushing it’, spacewise. Luckily, Chrissie, who had just adopted Florence from us and was building RGPR’s first website, offered hutch space for two sows and two boars. The rest is history- Gorgeous Guineas‘ history! Clover and daisy went from being scruffy short haired guineas to stunning Coronets! The girls were adopted, the boys stayed as Gorgeous Guineas 🙂 .
• Most common colour to come into RGPR: Chocolate, our first chocolates were Charlie and his Chocolate Factory, Miss Piggy and her 5 pups born here.
• Most common breed ‘type’ to come into RGPR: The Himalayan is by far the most popular type to come in, they are never well smutted like the true purebreed, but have the choc nose/feet/ears. All but one of the Himmy sows that have arrived here have been in pig (except for the pups born here of course). At the time of writing I have a Himmy boar, Acorn, looking for a Forever home and two boars born to Himmy mums that have been here over a year looking for homes.
• Most common ‘problem’ that guineas have on arrival @ RGPR: For the most part skin problems, but more recently behavioural issues have been rising.
• Most common reason for ‘handing over’ guineas to RGPR: ‘Change of Circumstances’.
• Most guineas rehomed @ RGPR: 46 in 2008 to Animal Welfare Act compliant homes and above.
• Least amount of guineas rehomed by RGPR: 8 in 2001, this was without any internet advertising neither did we have a website.
• Biggest challenge: This has to be Lily’s arrival, Lily is blind and deaf, although she can probably see light and dark and shapes/outlines; I had Marsh who was without eyes but a deaf blind is so different. Whilst I could talk to Mrsh and get a reaction from him, Lily can’t acknowledge my prescence simply by hearing me. For the first few days I had to ‘get her up’ in the mornings to come and get her food, now she runs with the others and wheeks for her food 🙂 She taught me she is just like the others and needs no ‘special care’, funnily enough the other guins have never treated her as a ‘special case’ either.

I’m sure there are many other Noughtie things that have happened, these are just the ones that stand out for me. Next year I will look back on a decade of rescue, rehoming and the changes I’ve seen, but lets all enjoy 2010 first! Have a good one everybody 🙂

A Cloud on Planet Guinea

Tonight Planet Guinea has a new star. The surface is some what roughly textured and white and grey/black in patchy colour. It is easy to spot though often very still and will be near one of the other stars- usually just the two of them together, as opposed to being in a group. The star moves at a sedate pace, no need to hurry 🙂 .

Cloud left us this morning to become another Star on Planet Guinea and to move on to other things, his job on the Planet is done, time to influence from a different position now. Cloud arrived aged 6 weeks, in 2005, making him 5 in January 2010. He was rescued from someone who had a large group of boars and sows living together and breeding ‘freely’.

The little Human on Planet Guinea spotted Cloud and chose him above the long haired Sheltie and Coronet types, we brought him home on the understanding that he would be rehomed if he fell out with Henry in the next 6 months. Henry and Cloud were the best of pals for the rest of Henry’s time, when Henry left us to become a star on the Planet Cloud (who had already been castrated in readiness for this happening) was introduced to his new herd of girls.

For the most part Cloud let the girls ‘get on with life’, but would interfere when needed, Miss C and Miss Lucky were two girls in particular that needed some guidance on group behaviour 🙂 .

One of the most notable things about Cloud was his colour change. He arrived a little white ball of Rexoid fluffness, but it wasn’t long before he darkened, the end result was a black back, and black cheeksthat ‘gave’ him a white blaze- almost Dutchlike!
Cloud’s favourite food was tomatoes, this Christmas, courtesy of Waitrose, he had baby plum organic tomatoes which he enjoyed immensely. For a passive guy he could get quite worked up about his tomatoes 🙂

Cloud has visited Piggy PMs and the local school who sponsored him and the rescue, but lately he has been the anchor for some some sows with issues, his calm, chilled self reflected onto the others making his group the best for guineas who had lost their way and needed to learn how to be guinea pigs again 🙂 .

Having had him from a youngster makes it seem like he’s been here always. At some stage the girls will get a new boarfriend, but not yet, and it must be the right boar 🙂

Karen, (Missing the Cloud that always had a silver lining 😦 )

A chillaxed and somewhat darker adult Cloud.

Cloud during his first spring on The Planet.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone 🙂

A Tiny Shiny Star on Planet Guinea

Today Planet Guinea has gained another shiny star, a tiny shiny star that is is bright with a shadowy patch. Whilst it is difficult to spot it often stays in one place for a long time and is easy to follow, except for the odd occasion when it has a ‘mad five minutes’ and starts to zoom. It can frequently be seen on its own in the night sky hovering around the same place.

Babe was a Satin sow that came to Planet Guinea as part of the Satin Study. One of her ancestors (great great grandfather), had what was thought to be OD, several of his line came to live on Planet Guinea and were confirmed as having it. Babe was not x-rayed and has never shown any signs of having OD- or anything serious. After a fight with fungal skin just before she arrived here she has been ‘problem free’.

Babe preferred to muddle along with her little life and wasn’t big on being ‘cuddled’ and was therefore never used for open days etc. She was, however, a key part of Cloud’s group, often being the one to make friends with the newbies, most recently Miss Lucky (with whom she was very firm but fair) and Lily, she would often be snuggled with one or both of them.

Babe was 5 years old on 8 December this year, though was small enough to hold safely in one hand, only this morning she had her usual check including her Incisors, one of the signs of OD is slanting Incisors meaning that the Molars probably have issues going on. Everything seemed fine, Babe had just started to look a little older this year but given her age I think she was allowed that 🙂

Cleaning out time will probably be the time I miss her most, she would often climb onto my feet etc while I was knelt down…

Karen (hoping that nine new stars on the Planet will be the final total for 2009 😦 )

Planet Guinea 2009 Round Up

Rehoming in 2009

This year Reading Guinea Pig Rescue has seen a big drop in the number of guineas that have been rehomed. Currently 25 guinea pigs have been rehomed, whereas last year 46 guineas went to Animal Welfare Act compliant (or above), homes.

Twenty guinea pigs were surrendered to us this year, with a further twenty starting 2009 with us. Obviously we have been able to take in fewer because fewer have been rehomed- it’s not that there are not any guinea pigs needing new homes, we have just had to refer them to other rescues and hope that they had the space.

We end the year with fourteen guineas still with us, most ready to go to their new home.

The aim for this year was to take in less than we rehomed which we have achieved, by doing this we can ensure, to a certain degree, that we are meeting the demands of the community and will not burden the rescue with more than we can reasonably cope with.

Twelve of the guinea pigs rehomed this year went to Humans that have adopted from RGPR before, with one of them adopting her eighteenth guinea pig from us since 2002! Chrissie prefers to adopt boars where possible and will only adopt guinea pigs over the age of two years, with Mr. Happy being the eldest at 5 years when he was adopted, he was castrated and lived happily with his sowfriend who also came from RGPR originally.

Only six of the Humans that adopted from us this year were new to us. It is noticeable that the majority of people that adopt our guinea pigs are already keeping them and often have a lone guinea that needs pairing.

Many thanks to everyone who has helped with boar pairing, I do not have the room to keep enough ‘entire’ boars here for boar pairing, but am happy to refer people to other sources (these are not included in RGPR’s rehoming data).

Piggy PM

Our Piggy PM this year raised £224.98 and we have now bought our blocks of hutches with the funds from the 2008 Piggy PM. Left over funds are being spent on an extension to the big shed (the small one has been taken down), although this will be an ongoing fundraiser so far we have managed to have a signicant amount of work done and lighting has been put in for ease of use!

This will only be used as a much needed storage space for hay etc and will give more space to allow us to grow Cereal grasses; all in all meaning fewer deliveries of dry food and hay will be needed, the guineas get Cereal Grass more frequently (which should cut the fresh food bill costs) and cleaning out becomes much easier in the winter because of the extra light. The whole shed is much more secure now and has a triple door entry- two half wire and one full. We look forward to the spring when the inside can be fitted out and the finishing touches done. Thanks to everyone who has helped raise money for this and those who have listened to my ever so specific building instructions!

Looking Forward
Looking forward to 2010 we will be celebrating our ninth year in rescue and rehoming in February with a Piggy PM (20/2,). In our very first year we rehomed less than 10 guinea pigs, how ever this was without a website or internet advertising, all our rehoming was done through RSPCA contacts or the local newspaper. Our relationship with Active Vetcare was still in the early days and we never had any of the boars castrated. Since then our average rehoming figures have been around the forty mark for the Reading and Oxon area, all homes are now Animal Welfare Act compliant, usually above. Previously we had own specifications and the only thing we have needed to change is the width/depth of the cage, we now insist on cages that are four foot by two foot (120cm by 60cm) and can point adopters in the direction of suppliers.

Once again we hope to keep to ‘sensible numbers’ of rescue guinea pigs and take in less than we rehome. Based on this year’s figures RGPR should only take in twelve guinea pigs next year- that is based on rehoming twenty five… According to pet shops and breeders in this area it has been a ‘bad year’ for rehoming/selling all round, which is interesting given the release of the G Force film which was predicted to ‘boost sales’ of guinea pigs. As well as this I have not had the predicted ‘fall out’ from the film of people wishing to rehome impulse bought pets, not a bad thing of course, that is providing they are not being ignored at the bottom of the garden.

Thanks…
… to everyone who has adopted a guinea pig or two from RGPR this year, without your support we cannot continue to do this, and so many rescues are ‘folding’.

To Pet Fayre a local small pet shop who also support the local RSPCA Branch by putting up rehoming posters and referring people to them. This year they have sent several people our way for advice, one which probably saved the lives of several guinea pigs and certainly saved them a lot of discomfort.

Thank you to my home checkers, one of whom has won an RSPCA award for her meritous service to the branch- well done.

Everyone who helps and supports at the Piggy PMs, these are incredibly difficult to plan and execute and would not happen without everyone’s input. We work as a team we work well to promote the basic care information that people need as well as having a good time ourselves. Yet again we will have more new faces on board at our next Piggy PM, some of whom have already done lots of behind the scenes work.

Jenny and the team at Active Vetcare, who were especially accomodating one afternoon when we rushed in with Gem who had just given birth to a breech pup and had another in the car on the way there. Thanks also to Spike’s Human who had to wait while we had our little emergency- how bizarre that an ex resident should be there and we ‘take’ his appointment!

My complimentary therapists (as I like to call them), with Jenny’s help we are tackling things we’d never have done before.

Chrissie at Gorgeous Guineas for her wonderful skincare products, I still haven’t used anything else.

To the Reading and Oxon Branch of the RSPCA for your financial help with veterinary bills and for being generally supportive.
Merry Christmas everyone and see you in the New Year.

Making News…

The following article was composed by some year 6 pupils at a local school for their school newspaper. Although interviews are something I have learnt to ‘shy away from’ as they often portray what is said differently to how it is originally intended (and has resulted in some unwanted conflict in the past!), I decided to go ahead with this one, maybe children are more persuasive?!

The most suprising thing, for me, that came from this was how shocked they were that I don’t induldge in buying Christmas presents for my guinea pigs. I think I was expected to have bought them a fleece basket/blankets or something else that is highly impractical when you have a large number of guineas. I’m sure they are all now aware that a bag of hay is a much better idea as whatever you get guineas for Christmas they will inevitaby want to eat it at some stage! 🙂 It’s Christmas every day on Planet Guinea 🙂 .

Enjoy:

Are you thinking of getting a guinea pig for Christmas? Well did you know that Mrs Le Cras is a guinea pig re-homing coordinator for Reading with Oxon borders RSPCA? Lots of guinea pigs end up as unwanted pets every year. In 2008 Reading Guinea Pig Rescue took in 60 guinea pigs, this year they have been able to take in a lot less because not as many have been re-homed. In 2008 43 guinea pigs went to Animal Welfare Act Compliant Homes, but only 25 got rehomed in 2009.

I caught up with Mrs Le Cras and asked her some questions:

1. Why did you choose to save guinea pigs and not cats or dogs?

Reading does not have an RSPCA centre; all animals are fostered in private homes so it would not be practical to “save” cats or dogs as I work full time.

2. Do you enjoy looking after guinea pigs? If so, why?

Yes, guinea pigs are my favourite small animal. I think they have a great attitude to life: “Let’s make it as easy as we can for ourselves”. I love the behavioural aspect of rescuing guinea pigs, many have behavioural issues when they arrive and have been labelled as ‘lone guinea pigs’, for example; with a little time and patience they soon get back to being sociable guinea pigs again and lose their label. Nutrition is another aspect of their care I am particularly interested in and I have formulated a diet that is given out by my vet to local guinea pig owners.

3. Do you buy your guinea pigs Christmas presents?

No, Christmas is for Humans, many of the stores that supply Christmas presents for pets also supply guinea pigs without adequate information resulting in them ending up with me, I have no wish to support that. A local small pet shop does donate some quality hay to the guinea pigs every year at Christmas which is thoughtful.

4. What is the point of “saving” guinea pigs?

Looking at the bigger picture we are not only “saving” guinea pigs, we are educating their owners by supplying them with all the information they need. In 2009 nearly all the guinea pigs we rehomed went to people that have had guinea pigs from us before- one person has had a total of 18 guinea pigs from me since 2002. By “saving” guinea pigs we have established better veterinary care for guinea pigs at Tilehurst Active Vetcare, and guinea pigs from all over the South of England now visit them. Rescue is about more than finding new homes for guinea pigs, in my opinion.

5. How many guinea pigs have you got all together?

At the time of writing I have 14 guinea pigs that are or will be (when they are well) looking for homes. I also have some of my own that I take to open days (at Tilehurst Active Vetcare centre) for the public to hold and to be used in, for example, syringe feeding demonstrations given by a vet. They’ve also been used at vet lectures.

Further information: http://www.readingguineapigrescue.co.uk Email:Karen@readingguineapigrescue.co.uk

Sandy is typical of the guinea pigs that arrive here; she had a parasitic problem (evident by hairloss on her face) and the hairloss on her sides was symptomatic of a hormonal issue. Both problems have been cured and Sandy will be looking for a new home in 2010.

The Last Temptation

Cooper has left us to be a star on Planet Guinea. He’s the shiny but patchy one that makes very definite movements around the other stars up there.

Cooper was a black and white patched Satin guinea pig who arrived from another rescue. The start of his little life is unknown, he came to a guinea pig rescue from a predominantley cat and dog rescue. At that time he had a post castrate abscess (which had gone unnoticed) and it hadn’t been recognised that he was a Satin guinea pig, neither were the issues with Satins known by this rescue. He spent a good year with the guinea pig rescue before arriving here with Rosa and Jasmine. Because of his matt and satin coat there was never any intention to rehome him, instead he had his own group of girls who he kept in line should anyone fall out 🙂 Cooper went to Piggy Pms where he was a good example of a Satin ‘pet’. It was easy to tell he was a sdatin because of his white nose but from his mostly black side, towards the back, he could be a matt guinea pig.

Cooper didn’t enjoy being cuddled so was never put in the ‘cuddling room’ at Piggy PMs, instead he went in the Vet Room. Overall Cooper was a very independent guinea who knew what he wanted for himself and from the other guineas around him, unlike others that let life pass them by Cooper was always ‘up there’ and wheeking for it 🙂

Because of the nature of the group there weren’t many new People introduced, but Miss Lucky met Cooper earlier this year and her reaction to Cooper’s ‘ways’ were remarkably different to how she responded to Cloud, if Cooper’s girls had been more accomodating of her issues Cooper would have accepted her into the group after making his position clear.

The same couldn’t be said of the lovely Lily, Cooper was not having Lily in the group and cornered her, standing guard in case she should try and pass, his ducking and diving demonstrated that she was not welcome as a part of his group.

Despite being a detached, as opposed to a ‘cuddle’ guinea pig I feel a great sense of loss, though Cooper ‘just’ had his check overs, baths etc- probably just me that needed to cuddle him more, but I know he wouldn’t have been happy with that- and that’s the important thing 🙂

Karen (missing that demanding black and white face with a black and white attitude to match.)

Cooper, on the day he arrived.