Showing posts with label Agents Reports. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Agents Reports. Show all posts

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Jimmy is a LAPS pig!

1383 grams!
Our friend Jimmy from the Gekke Flappies recently became a LAPS pig. Hurray! Go Jimmy, well done.

Thursday, January 5, 2012

Piggyfriends' First Aid Kit

After my last blogpost, I jumped into the cavycopter to interview the Piggyfriends about their first aid kit. After a generous meal (I now have a secret crush on miss Penny, their slave) the Piggyfriends nominated Pandora aka Agent Avatar, to answer my questions as she is spokespig for the herd when they send messages to the GPDD.
Pandora aka Agent Avatar
(Sjeuf) Before we jump into the Piggyfriends' first aid kit, Pandora, can you tell me a bit more about the Piggyfriends?

(Pandora) Well, I need Slave's help with this one. She says that she had the very first Piggyfriends when she was a little girl ( a VERY long time ago ). The first one came from a litter born to the pet shop lady's Peruvian sow, Lima and the second was passed on to her from her spoilt brat cousin's dad, when the girl would not look after him. There were no piggy rescues in those far off days so I guess that he was the first rescued one. When Slave and her family moved here in 1987, she had six of her own plus the Little Visitors that came to live here during the times when her friend was overseas and also her sons' school piggies that boarded every weekend and holidays. There was plenty of room here to rescue more so she did.

Slave never counts us as she says that it reminds her of lost Piggyfriends. I can't count very high but there are between 20 and 30 of us. Slave says that once she had 35. There is always room for one more.

(Sjeuf) what are the most common piggy ailments?

(Pandora) The worst piggy ailments must be skin problems, particularly mites but we are all protected by regular doses of Ivermectin and Panacur to kill mites and other parasites (tip: worming protocol). Sometimes piggies come in with mite infestations and they are very poorly. Fungal issues are also problem in cold, damp climates like ours in England as piggies originally came from the dry climate of South America.

(Sjeuf) What kind of medicine really really ought to be in the case?

(Pandora) Our Slave has a huge amount of piggy medicine in two overflowing boxes. I think that Ivermectin and Panacur are the most important drugs plus an antifungal and antiparasite shampoo. Slave has Vet Sect Repel. She has painkillers and human cold remedies, which suit piggies too. There are decongestants for bunged up noses plus a bottle of Septrin antibiotic - the best one for piggies. There is a bottle of tonic for when we need a pick me up and a human ladies' remedy for cystitis. There are meds for upset tummies and diarrhoea and Daktarin oral gel for sore mouths after dental work. She has eye drops and a cream to help wounds heal faster. She has Osteocare and a cream for mouth sores ( just in case ).

(Sjeuf) Lets talk tools! What do you really need, next to the drugs?

(Pandora) Tools? A good, sharp pair of nail clippers. Slave has a pair for human nails and she also uses these for overgrown incisors. Not for the faint hearted. Also a lot of 1ml. syringes with no needles for giving meds. With the ends cut off, these are for syringe feeding sick piggies too. Plus good sharp scissors for haircuts for our long haired friends. I don't need these. If she did not have the services of our wonderful Rodentologists, she would have a set of dental equipment too. Also there is a box of cotton buds for swabbing the Daktarin around little mouths.

(Sjeuf) Are there other essential items we've not mentioned yet and ought to be in the first aid kit?

(Pandora) Slave considers all of the contents to be essential but she says that you need to know what you are doing before giving meds.

(Sjeuf) So let's say I'm making a deluxe first aid kit, what else would you put into my kit?

(Pandora) Slave wouldn't be without a diuretic for heart conditions. She also recommends that every first aid kit should contain a copy of Peter Gurney's Piggy Potions. She is very keen on herbal remedies.

(Sjeuf) Wow, Pandora, that was really helpfull, thank you so much for having me here!

Dear readers, I hope you have enjoyed this as much as I did and got some ideas out of this. If you have any questions, post them below, I'm sure the Piggyfriends will be reading this and are willing to answer them.


Lots of wheeks!
Sjeuf

p.s. I added all the hyperlinks to the websites for extra information. Do correct me if I got it wrong or pasted a dead link into this post.
p.p.s. as stated in the sidebar, we are not vets and no rights can be claimed from this blogpost. If your guinea pig seems to be unwell, please seek out medical advise from a cavy-savy vet. Pigs can go downhill very fast.

Monday, January 2, 2012

New Years Resolutions

Tell your slaves not to worry about their weight (big butts are the best anyway) and replace their New Years resolutions with these resolutions for my health:

1. Weigh me frequently and keep track of my weight. We are very good at hiding our illnesses and a drop in weight usually is the first sign something is wrong

2. Check my fur every now and then. Are there bald patches? Creepy crawlies? Wet chin?

3. Trim my nails! I know I don't like it, but if you wait too long I'll get corkscrew nails, which can be very painfull.

So, this is our top 3. Which resolutions would you like to add?

Dr. Sjeuff

Saturday, December 24, 2011

Merry Pigmas from the Cali Collective








Hello,


Agents Pirate, Magician, Godiva, Acorn and Mango want to wish everybody a very merry Pigmas! Wishing that everypiggy gets heaps of vegetables and cuddles this holiday season.

Merry Pigmas from the (uncooperative) Guinygirlz

I tried to get some nice Xmas pigtures of my little herd together but they weren't very cooperative...

I did get some nice shots from individual pigs so I'll post those

lil'Woop next to the christmas stable
(I like it because you can burn a candle in it, and it is nice an small)

Daisy in her cutest pose next to the christmas tree

Agent Wheeker

Agent Valentino

lil'Woop peeking out
Lily'explorer peeking over the christmas ornaments...

In the rest of the pigtures they were mostly wrecking the props...
Btw, this is the base of their new cage (will be a 1,22 by 1,22 meter cage :)

Life's hard sometimes for slaves with uncooperative pigs, but I hope you like these single shots!

Slave Mieke

Saturday, December 17, 2011

Igor's PLAY - FoodBall



....in the forward line we see Igor.. front right is Suus doing a give and go with midfield player Yaya and skillfully passes the ball to Igor the terrible.. Igor accepts the ball perfectly .. oooh.. he makes an overhead kick and.. WHEEEEEEEK!!!! IGOR SCORES A CARROTPELLET!!

What is it?

Concept:Playing Foodball is playing with a special ball with yummies inside.
Material: You need a foodball. This is a ball made of plastic with a little sliding window in it. With this little window you can determine the size of the hole. You also need something Yummie that will fit inside. We prefer to use pellets from a different brand than our daily pellets. They are tasty and healthy. There is also special candy for guinea pigs for sale that you can use. Allthough this is a possiblity, these snacks tend to be too salty and unhealthy. Usually you are allowed to have two of them (a day), but this is not very practical when you are foodballing with a whole team. Unfortunately veggies are also not suitable; they stick and can leave bits behind in the foodball that go bad.

Application: Your slave should put something tasty in the ball and then lay it on the floor. Then the game is on!! You push the ball with your nose which will make it start rolling. If you do this right, the pellets ought to fall out of the ball every now and then. I have to say, this is not easy! If there's no pig around to show you how, it can take a while before you understand how to play this game. Luckily, I learned from Suus and Yaya, who in their turn, learned from Auntie Guiny (who else ;-) ).

Do-it-yourself-factor?: Not that high; the ball has to be bought in a pet shop. But it is possible to make one yourself. Your slave has to buy a little plastic bottle in the supermarket and empty it. Then she can cut some holes in it with scissors. Add pellets and there you go! (your slave does have to make sure that we cannot hurt ourselves)
Variations: You can do this as a team or solo. Your slave can also put boxes on the floor so you can manoeuver the ball through.

Target audience?

This is certainly something for the intellectuel cavy. Auntie Guiny was always very good at getting the ball out of small corners when it got stuck. Because there are yummies inside, it is also very suitable for the food oriented guinea pigs. And because you also get some excerise it is also a challenge for the sporty cavies among you.

Dangerous?

No, not really. Although I must insist that supervision of your slave is neccesary, you'll never know what we'll come up with. And besides, it is also very entertaining to watch, especially for daddy slaves.

 
User experiences?

Suus: Really cool game! Although it helps if slaves make sure we do not run out of pellets. It is very challenging to get the pellets out of the ball before your team mates. By the way, I always play for the Netherlands.. I'm already wearing orange socks..
Yaya: When slave introduced the ball again I was the only one who could remember how to play Foodball! Hahhah.. Good huh? ;-)

(Igor): Well guinea pigs that's it for this wheek. I will go grab a carrot beer for the third half. *snigger*.. *stagger*.. Laaalala Blaaaaack pants, Ooorange shirt, thaaaaat is the Winky herd. Holahee dee holala...hooolahee dee hoo laalaalaa...*


Professor Igor


*This is actually the song (in adapted form) that the fans of a soccer club from a small dutch village sing to encourage their team. Our slaves were born in this village and accidentely, Igors furcolors match their gear





Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Merry Pigmas from Agents Firenze and Mystery

"Who is going to sit nicely for some Pigmas pigtures" said Slave." Not Agent Curly or Halloween because you two were in the last set of holiday pigtures".

Then she saw us two. Agent Firenze was having a nap but that did not prevent her from being picked up and surrounded by festive ornaments and having ribbons stuck in her hair. I don't think that she really minded. Well, it is a girly thing isn't it but then it was my turn.





Now, wearing a Santa hat is one thing but having poinsettias in my hair!! Doesn't Slave realise that under all of this coat I am a BOAR!! And then I got the ribbons too. Pigmas. Bah Humbug!

Don't worry - the poinsettias are artificial. Slave knows that real ones are poisonous.







Happy Pigmas everyone from all of the Piggyfriends, including me, Agent Mystery.

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Sinterklaas with the Guinygirlz and Agent Valentino

Agent Valentino and the girl agreed to pose with the playmobil Sinterklaas. He's sort of the Dutch Santa, who has his birthday in the 6th of December and brings presents to all kids here in the Netherlands.

lily'Explorer: What's this staff thingy, can I eat that?

Valentino: mmm, is this any good?

All of them Hi Sinterklaas, can we have the spare carrots your horse gets from all the kids?
It is custom for kids to put their shoes somewhere for Sinterklaas and his helpers Zwarte pieten (Black Pete's) and to leave a carrot or something for Sint's horse and maybe a drawing for the Sint.
The zwarte pieten will come during the night, and exchange the gifts for pepernoten (cruchy candies/cookies, and maybe a chocolate character or a small gift.

Well we hope you enjoyed our pigtures. We were not really feeling up to being photographed, cause we were way to excited to be in our new cage to try it out, it HUGE!!

Agents Valentino, lily'Explorer, Wheeker and lil'Woop

Sunday, December 4, 2011

Sunday, November 27, 2011

Vote for your favorite Thanksgiving pigture


Thursday, November 24, 2011

Happy Thanksgiving Day

On behalf of all the Piggyfriends and their Slave, Agent Curly ( and friend ) would like to wish all of our friends across the ocean a Very Happy Thanksgiving Day.

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Happy Thanksgiving From Newest Misfit Ava and Special Guest AR

Meet the newest Misfit her name is Ava, and AR was here to welcome her. She was brought to the IA humane society by her family. They told the Humane society that she was 4 years old and they were moving and couldn't take her with. She is a very scared girl. She is also pregnant! When we were there to pick out some cat toys for my daughters new cat, we just had to look in the small animal room and there she was scared to death. Andy picked her up and said she is pregnant! we just cant leave her here in this place to have her babies. We do not know anything else about her. Thus she is a mystery to us.. We do not know is she has had babies before or anything. We don't know what kind of food she has eaten before as she wont touch the pellets. (at humane she only had hay!) We have no idea how far along she is. You can feel her sides protrude. And its a mystery how many piggies are in her.



Well done Misfits you must love having minipigs around lol. We love Ava's go faster stripe.

We are going to have a side game like we did for Agent Momma and guess how many minipigs Ava has in her tummy we are going 3, 2 girls and a boy.

Now get sending in your Thanksgiving pigtures we are waiting.

Monday, November 21, 2011

Hay Solutions: Vertical hay rack

This time a special guest post from our fellow agents of the Cali Cavy Collective:

(see the original post here)

Hay is an essential staple of every guinea pig's diet, and should be available for your piggy to munch on freely at all times. One of the things an owner has to decide is how to give hay to their guinea pig. Whee here at the Cali Cavy Collective have experimented with many different methods of hay dispensing and would like to share our experiences with each method.

Revy munching hay from her vertical hay rack

A vertical hay rack is our humans most recent solution to dispensing hay. Ours is a simple DIY version made from bent C&C grids, coroplast and zip ties. It is secured onto the side of the cage with a large binder clip for easy removal.

Whee rather like using vertical hay racks. The one our humans made for us has a coroplast backing and bottom to catch small hay flecks and keep our fleece bedding cleaner. They came up with this idea after seeing the angled hay racks sold at pet stores which they disliked because bits of hay would fall in our piggy eyes. With a vertical hay rack, hay is shoved in through the top so this doesn't happen. Since it is reasonably good sized it can hold a lot of hay at once for your piggy to eat. We can choose to eat from the bottom, or put our paws on the sides of the rack and climb it to reach choice strands. An extra bonus is that this encourages more exercise. Best of all, it keeps us from going potty in the hay so there is no icky odor.

Of course, the vertical hay rack may not be ideally suited for all piggies - lazier guinea pigs might not be motivated to climb or eat from it, we assume this is also true for sickly pigs. It is possible that elderly pigs might not appreciate the extra effort involved to reach the hay. Also, some adventurous pigs could decide to knock down their hay rack - Belka loves to shove it aside and hide behind it, while Revy enjoys tipping it on its side!

So far, we have found that vertical hay racks are the solution that works best for us. Whether you decide this method is best for your piggy though is entirely up to you!

Filled with hay

Front of the vertical hay rack

Coroplast backing of the vertical hay rack

Filled with hay

Revy climbs to reach a tasty strand up top

...and yanks it out!

Piggies aren't supposed to go in the hay rack!


Vertical Hay Rack - Pros
- no odor
- encourages more exercise, can climb it
- vertical design so hay doesn't get in our eyes
- catches hay flecks, keeping the fleece bedding cleaner
- can hold a lot of hay at once

Vertical Hay Rack - Cons
- elderly, ill, or lazy piggies might not be motivated to eat from it
- adventurous pigs can knock it down

Thursday, November 17, 2011

Igor's PLAY - Guinea pigs


This time THE indispensable guinea pig accessory! This is suitable for every event; whether you give a wheeking concert, go for dinner, are lounging or running laps around your cage, everything is more fun with two of you (or more).

What is it?

        Concept: an other cavy, just like you.
        Material: Yes, what kind of silly question is this? Hair, teeth, nails, ears and lots of poos.
        Do-it-Yourself-factor?: Ow help, another one...*swallow*...well, if a guinea pig dad and a guinea pig mommy like each other.. *coughcough*
I think I will explain this differently. As future guinea pig owner (slave) you have several options. For all options this applies: take a close look at the guinea pigs condition(s). Is the cage clean? Are food bowls, hay and water clean and at hand? No males and females together? Because if that is the case, there is a big chance the females are pregnant, guinea pigs are fertile from their 4th wheek. There should also be no rabbits together with the guinea pigs. That is not good, we speak a different language. We need different feed and guinea pigs can accidentally be kicked by rabbits. Also watch the guinea pigs themselves, are they active? Are their eyes and coat shining? If that is not the case it’s your choice. Saving the guinea pigs is not a bad thing to do. Do realise you stimulate the owner to continue his practices. I will shortly discuss the options.
        The shelter: the number one of options! There are many sweet guinea pigs in shelters waiting for a loving care taker. Some shelter pigs are a bit more scared because they have experienced some things, but most of us have been cuddled a lot by the sweet volunteers and we all deserve a chance. The volunteers usually have a lot of experience in pairing up and medical problems. My slave is very satisfied with the aftercare she has received from my shelter.
        Pet shop: I think most guinea pigs come from pet shops. When they are taken care of in a proper manner, i don’t think that is a problem. Not all pet shops are very informed about what guinea pigs need. And guinea pigs from a pet shop are not stronger or better then pigs from a shelter.
        Breeder: Breeders usually have very pretty cavies of a certain kind. Good breeders have a lot of love for their guinea pigs and lots of knowledge about them. At these breeders guinea pigs have 1 or 2 litters a year and only when they are more then a certain weight. When you want this pay attention that the breeder really has a heart for his or her animals and doesn't just breed them.
        Home-bred litters: Sometimes guinea pigs are born at home. That can be possible when the pet shop hasn’t sold you two sows or two boars or if the owner chooses for that. If you are one of these people, make sure you will find potential new owners in advance and keep in mind that if you cannot find anyone that you will have to take care of them anyway. There is also a certain risk involved. Sometimes the mommies do not survive. And the vet bills can run up high.

Variations:

        Two or more sows: Sows are relatively easy to be paired up. Herds of sows are quite common (make sure you have enough space). Sometimes there is some bitching among them, but usually this will not get out of control.
        One adult guinea pig with a little one of the same sex: this way of pairing up has a pretty good chance of success. When Yaya and Suus where little ones and joined the Winky gang, Lotje’s maternal instincts were awoken and she has lovingly raised them. Do keep in mind that when the little one reaches adulthood, there can still be a struggle for power.
        Two boars: Two boars together can sometimes be harder. When they fight they are often a little bit more aggressive then sows. But to speak in Jan the Boar’s words there are so many sweet boars in shelters, give them a chance. More boars is even harder and is not advised (but not impossible). When you have a pair of boars, it is unwise to expose them to sows. Then they can still start to fight at the scent of sows. But boars can be put together, see: barmy boars My slave has a weakness for boars. According to her they are just a little bit sweeter and more human oriented. I do not have any scientific proof for that… but I secretly think so too ;)
        One boar with one or more sows: Boars are extremely convenient to put in with a group of sows, in order to keep the peace among them. Of course only castrated boars (helped-boars).
        Cage neighbours: When you do not succeed in pairing them up, this is always an option. See it this way: maybe you are not waiting for a cage mate who eats your veggies, but having a nice chat through the cage bars makes your day just a little bit less boring.

Target audience?

Apart from the occasional hermit guinea pig, this is fun for every guinea pig. Eating together, sleeping, wheeking, fight about veggies, exploring the room together..

Dangerous?:

The most dangerous are the introductions. That is not always easy (I know everything about that, right Suus? Make sure you do this gradually. When someone puts an utter stranger in your living room, you would not like that either. My slave has used the instructions on this website when Suus and me were hard to match: Introductions. We had a bath together, brrr.

User experiences?

        Suus: I love doing racing matches with my cage mates. Of course they should listen to me because I am the alpha pig. Yaya is like my sister. We do bicker sometimes, but I can’t do without her. Igor is cool. Those curls are very comfy to sleep on..
        Yaya: I like all guinea pigs! I have never met one that I did not like. I loved auntie Lotje. When we were introduce I liked her so much I started washing her ears straight away.
        Igor: In the beginning Suus and I did not get on so well. That wasn’t my fault! Because with a boar like Hercules (?), which is presumably harder, it went perfect. Well it just tells us that matching characters are also important when pairing up, not just age and sex. But Suus and I have put our differences aside and now I follow her around everywhere. Suus is such a daredevil, she dares to do anything. I think that is cool.

Monday, November 14, 2011

Mystery Agent Star




Real Name? Guess it! It's a star sort of name...
Secret Agent Name? Agent Cheeky
Why did you chose your Secret Agent Name? Mum said I was a cute but cheeky boy...
Where do you live? In my hutch
Who do you live with? Mika...
Favourite Food? hmm... hard desition, I love my food mix, carrots, cerlary, broccoli, capsicum (bell pepper) and Oaten hay but I'll have to say... PARSLEY!!!
Favourite Hobby? either hogging the cuddle sack, playing tag with Mika around owners room or chewing up the bits I'm not supposed to chew/bite on my cage...
Favourite Toy? celary chew things

Friday, November 4, 2011

Mystery Agent Ted

Meet Agent Ted. He looks suspiciously like Agent Curly but is not! This
enables them to pull off some secret missions together. In addition to being
a secret agent, Agent Ted's hobbies include eating his favorite food,
parsley, keeping in shape by running stairs, and pining after the 4
beautiful sows next door.







Agent Ted's real name is the same as one of the boys from the Narnia stories with an extra T added in somewhere........get guessing