Peter Gurney Memorial

We lit a candle yesterday, in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, to remember Peter Gurney and Igor, Yaya, Suus an Jan the Boar.

Winky team lights a candle

Our staff read his book 'The proper care of guinea pigs' to us, which is full of good advise and lovely pigtures, made by Mr Gurney himself (the girls now have crush on Free Range Fred). What we absolutely loved the most about this book, is that Mr Gurney's love and enthousiasm shines through the pages. For those of you who have not read it, some quotes:

"The most wonderful animal in the world! I usually reply, when strangers ask what the creatures are that I have cradled in my lap, in the park"

Pigs in the Park

"I wouldn't dream of going out into a public park without my shopping basket carrying a couple of guinea pigs. They are delightful company (..)"

Peter's appartment

"I live with 37 guinea pigs in a small flat, and I do not suffer from any of the following: unsightly hutches, bad odors, hay-strewn carpets (..)"

Thank you mister Gurney, for loving our kind so much and happy birthday at the rainbow bridge with so many of our friends.

Reminder: tonight 8 pm Peter Gurney Memorial

Remember to light your candle tonight (9 March), at or around 8:00 pm, in your particular time zone to remember Peter Gurney and all of our beloved piggies, pets, and friends who are now at the Rainbow Bridge. This is our annual memorial and everyone is invited to light a candle (a real one) on March 9th, at 8:00 pm. As candles are lit, the lights will travel around the world, as we remember everyone at the Rainbow Bridge. I am told that they all look forward to this very special occasion to see our lights from the Rainbow Bridge.

For those new to this event, we have done it for several years now, and afterward, I will ask you to tell me where your candle was lit, and we will post a list and a map of all the locations where candles were lit. You can see last year's map and list of locations on the GPDD Homepage, as well as some information on Peter Gurney, who the memorial was initially started for. Peter Gurney was a lay guinea pig expert, who passed away in 2006. He wrote many of the books on the care of guinea pigs that many of us use, as well as his website with a wealth of information on guinea pig care.

So, remember to light a candle on March 9th, at or around 8:00 pm, and tell others about it too.
I will be lighting my candle on March 9th, at 8:00 pm. in memory of my dear guinea pig Gordon, who was the Secretary of the Peter Gurney Memorial, and who joined the others at the Rainbow Bridge last November.

Audrey
Remembering Gordon and Reese, at the Bridge

----

Leave a message below, telling us where you lit a candle, we will make sure Audrey gets a list of participants.

We, Mieke and the guinygirlz, will try to light a candle in Groningen, the Netherlands, in memory of our late piggies Winky, Lotje, Guiny, Dunya, Chico and Toby.

Friday Video: Good Cucumber

We've found some cool music for our snackercising activities in the morning.

*and chew, and stretch, and chew and popcorn* ... this is a good cucumbuuur.. *butt wiggle*



Have a nice Wheekend!

Peter Gurney Memorial: March 9th

Message from the gpdd, all can pigticipate to remember their lost guinea pigs and other loved ones. After the memorial, you can leave a comment on our reminder post of upcoming saturday when you participated, we will make sure Audrey gets a list of all the places where we lit a candle

Everyone is invited to participate in our annual Candle Light Memorial for Peter Gurney and for all of our pets and friends who have left us and are now at the Rainbow Bridge. All you have to do is light a candle on March 9th, at or around 8:00 pm, in your particular time zone. As candles are lit in each time zone, the lights will travel around the world, and all of our beloved pets and friends at the Rainbow Bridge will know that we are all thinking of them. Afterward, just send a post to the Digest and/or to me, and we will post a list and a map showing all the locations where candles were lit.

This is our 8th Candle Light Memorial, and we want it to be better each year, so tell others about it too. You can see last year's world map and list of locations where candles were lit on the GPDD homepage, www.gpdd.org where you can also read about Peter Gurney, who the memorial was named for.

Remember to mark your calendars for March 9th, at 8:00 pm to light your special candle!!? And tell others, too!

Audrey
(Remembering Gordon and Reese, at the Rainbow Bridge)

Calendar Piggy: March 2013

This month's Calendar piggy is one of Penny's boys named Gandalf, aka Agent Wizard...

Agent Wizard's Calendar pigture

Hi everyone.

This is me, Agent Wizard, aka Gandalf Piggyfriend. I came to live here in February 2011 along with my best friend, Fuzzypeg, who was in the Calendar last year in November. He is Agent Curly.

Fuzzypeg and Gandalf looking handsome

Slave had gone to the pet shop to buy hay and, when she was waiting to pay, she saw a note pinned to the counter saying " Guinea pigs free to good home" along with a pigture of us both. She rushed home and called the number on the note and it was not long before our previous owner delivered us here to Piggyfriends. She had bought us as pets for her children but then decided that guinea pigs were not right for them as they wanted something more cuddly - maybe a kitten. Our coats were very matted and our nails long and curly as she did not know how to care for us so, once we had settled in and had a good meal, Slave whisked us off to the bath. I was surprised how much smaller Fuzzypeg appeared after our spa treatment and Slave was left with a pile of curly coat nearly as big as me. This went out to the garden for birds to use for nesting material.

Sheltie Gandalf

I am a Sheltie ( called Silkie in some countries ) and Fuzzypeg is an Alpaca so we needed more hair care than short coated piggies.

We live here in a large pen surrounded by many other piggies. Our favourite food is grass, which Slave cuts for us every day, except when it is snowing. Second favourite has to be cucumber and we enjoy the forage that Slave collects during the good weather.

enjoying grass...

We had different names when we arrived. I was called Silky, which Slave said was a breed not a name so she thought of names related to grey things. It was Mieke who suggested Gandalf for me as Slave has other pets with names of the Lord of the Rings characters. This is her favourite ever book. Fuzzypeg was called Ginger Ninja but there has been a Ginger Piggyfriend before so she called him Fuzzypeg, after a favourite children's book character (who is really a hedgehog but never mind).

Agent Curly

I was so pleased to be chosen as the Easter Pig in this year's calendar.

Friday Video: Smart dog

This smart dog has figured out how to play fetch with himself. We wish we were able to fetch veggies out of the fridge by ourselves..



Have a nice Wheekend!

Lunch

We've overheard a conversation on television where a human explained to another human that he didn't like social media because people were talking about silly things and posted photo's of their lunch. We couldn't agree more!! Guinea Pigs talking over lunch and posting pigtures is way more interesting ;-)

So, what did you have for lunch? We had a lovely selection of chicory leaves served in our hammock, and we complemented it with some real Dutch tap water straight out of the water bottle

Nomnomnom

Waitress, another leaf of chicory please

Undercover guinea pigs Maisey and Mr Kiss Kiss

Here are Maisey and Mr Kiss Kiss practicing their undercover skills on a lazy Sunday. Its a hard life being a piggy!

Mr. Kiss Kiss

Maisey

Friday Video: Kittens on the Beat

These cat agents are so cool. Who knew there were little guys stealing people socks (an for that matter, who'd want to?)? We must investigate this..


Have a nice Wheekend!

My guinea pigs!

Little Whistle (right) and Winston (left)

Apples (left) and Peaches(right)

Little Whistle

Friday Video: Parsley and Clover

Today, another love ballad ;-)



Have a nice Wheekend!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day from Agents Butterloaf, Cannonball, and a to-be-named Agent currently known Gruden von Squeakycheeks!

Valentine's Video: if I had a million dollars

Especially for Valentine's day, a song from the Bare Naked (Piggie) Ladies


Have a lovely Valentine's day

How to feed baby guinea pigs

In our last friday video you could see baby guinea pigs being fed. We've copied the comment from the Piggyfriends' caretaker (who is very wise and knowledgeable) because it deserves a wider audience. 

"I've hand reared guinea babes, born to mothers who came here pregnant and in such poor condition that they did not have milk for their little ones. Baby guineas cannot co-ordinate suckling and breathing so using a syringe is potentially fatal as they can inhale the milk into their lungs. An eye dropper gives you a little more control but as babes are capable of picking up food from day one, I have soaked some wholemeal bread with their milk and they have taken it from a flat dish. I used evaporated milk diluted 1 part to 3 with water.

You can also use a tiny spoon, angled towards the piggies' mouth, being prepared to move it up if too much is near the mouth. This is OK for one piggy, maybe a runt, but for a litter, I like the bread and milk approach as they can all get stuck in together. Mum can join in too to help with bonding process."



We also tracked down more information:
- Guinea Lynx: the medical reference site for guinea pigs. Note that they don't recommend milk for baby pigs.
- Peter Gurney (guinea pig lover extraordinaire) provides excellent advise in his online book 'the A to Z of Guinea Pigs' under the R from Runts. He also adresses the milk controversy.

As always, we are not vets and if you are worried please consult with a cavy-savy vet.

P.s. Thank you Penny ;-)

Friday video: how to feed baby guinea pigs

We found a video that shows you how to feed baby guinea pigs. We really don't know if this is the best way to do it (leave tips in the comments if you do) but those tiny little monsters are just too adorable.



As an extra, we're adding this cute video of a actual pig who gets fed milk (thank you @librarianbe for alerting us)



Have a nice Wheekend!

Calendar piggies: February 2013

This months calendar piggies are Jocelyn's Benito and Edgeworth

Benito, part of this pigture is in the wall calendar

Agent Butterloaf (aka Edgeworth) 
I was adopted in January 2009. I will turn up my pink snoot at greens that I am not in the mood for, but I'm always in the mood for a good carrot. When dining I like to puff out my coat - makes me look even bigger!

Edgeworth as shown in the wall calendar

My name comes from a video game lawyer. He is quite dapper and smart (like me.)
Loafing is my favorite thing to do and I am quite good at it. I look very plump when I do so! It's truly amazing. Sometimes I hear talk of how I come from a regal line because I am so picky and easily become quite fussy. Elizabeth I had guinea pigs carried from room to room on silk cushions, a fine way of travel. Whenever I have something done that is displeasing - late veggie service, nail clipping, etc. - I will chatter my teeth and act huffy. Because I get fussy I have my own palace, but it is right next to my friends so we can still chat.
My favorite game is draining the water bottle. I have had a variety of water bottles and they all are fun to drain!

Edgeworth enjoying hay

Agent Cannonball (Benito)
I joined my piggy friends on June 2009. I am a very shy piggy and like to follow my friends around. But I can be brave! Whenever I want to do something I bowl right through - thence my secret agent name.

Benito as shown in the calendar

I live with my piggy friend, Gruden von Squeekycheeks. We used to not get along, so we had a gate placed between us so we could still see and talk to each other. Then we had to move to a new city with new living places, and then I realized I might lose my friend forever!  I got really upset and managed to break through the wall - I am a big and strong piggy! - and made it over to my friend's side. Everyone was surprised that I did it but now we are inseparable.
I love all kinds of foods. I am a good eater!

Benito in stealth mode, can you spot him?

My friend showed me the ramp to our penthouse. Sometimes there are treats up there! He is a good friend. I don't go exploring very much but it's okay if I have a buddy to follow.
My favorite thing to do is sit on plushy cushions. A nap on a nice cushion is the best.

Benito and his friend Gruden von Squeekycheeks

Winkyteam in Black and White

Since we were getting a lot of praise on twitter for our black and white pigtures, we've decided to publish our black and white pictures here too

The Pigfather

Mademoiselle Coco

Bo

Friday Video: when Guinea Pigs meet Egg Box

We like playing this game, but it usually takes us a few hours to open an egg box. Therefore we were very impressed when we came across this little video

Have a nice Wheekend!

Agent Curly does the Fugly

This is me under all that grass, Agent Curly aka Fuzzypeg Piggyfriend.

 

Grass does not make a very good hat but it is my very favourite food and I did get to eat it afterwards so I don't care if I look silly.

Aphrodite does the Fugly

Agent Venus (Aphrodite from the Misfits) wanted to get in to the fun too! Here she is in her favorite food.... Strawberry!

Nomnonom

a Princess wearing her crown

Come on other Agents lets see you do the Fugly too!

Agent Zeppelin in a hat

This is certainly no mystery like the other agent Zeppelin blogposts. He is wearing a hat in the colors of his favorite Dutch soccer club (Roda JC). Way to go agent Zeppelin!

DIY: Guinea pig tunnel

It's winter time, and it started snowing again today, so we thought to do a topic about keeping warm! Roos is modelling the Do it yourself tunnel.

What do you need:
- small squares of fabric, preferably cotton and fleece
- sewing machine
- thread
- a sew-in piece of boning, called rigilene
1. Have your slave cut a rectangular piece of cotton or other outer fabric. We used a 30 by 50 cm size, that works fine for us. What your slave might want to do, is to make it a bit shorter (on the shorter 30 cm side), that way our butts don't fit in and we won't poop in it as much... Cut a same size of fleece for the lining, this is very soft for our paws.
2. Put the 2 pieces with the good sides on each other and sew 3 edges together, leave the side (one of the longer sides) where we get in open! Turn it inside out, now the good sides are visible.
3. Fold what you have now in two, short sides on each other, fleece side out. Stitch along the longest side, so that you end up with a tunnel. Turn the tunnel inside out again, the fleece should now be inside, cotton outside.
4. About two times the width of your boning from the edge sew the layers together on the unfinished end. Put the boning in, maybe candle/smelt the ends, and fold the edges to the inside, sew it to close.
5. Your tunnel is now finished! Put it in the cage and let the guineas enjoy it!

Btw, the great thing about the rigilene and other materials used is that you can wash it!

Do the Fugly

Here I am, Angelina Piggyfriend, doing the Fugly with my cucumber beret.

I have chosen the Agent name of Mouse, as that was the name I was given by the ladies at Palace Piggies as I was so tiny. As you can see, I have grown a bit and am now nearly as big as Agent Avatar, whom I resemble in every way apart from her wide orange stripe across her back. When we are both snuggled in the hay, Slave has trouble telling us apart and Slave's son calls me Mini Pandora ( that's Agent Avatar's real name ). 

Slave renamed me as she has several pet fancy mice and, because I was always dashing around and doing pirouettes, she named me after Angelina Ballerina, a mouse from a set of children's books.

I love all veggies but cucumbers are my favourite. I think that same could be said for most of the piggies here.

Friday Video: Morning Cuddle

We have just one thing to say.. we are sooo jealous!!!



Have a nice Wheekend!

Thank you!

On behalf of all the Piggyfriends, especially those who have benefited from their loving care, I would like to thank everyone who voted for Palace Piggies in the Calendar competition.

I am Angelina Piggyfriend. I have chosen an Agent name but am waiting to hear from the blog bosses as to whether this name has been taken yet. When I know, I have a pigture to send in for the "Do the Fugly" series.

Results are in!

Hi all,

As you have probably already seen, the results are in!!
The rescue that had the most votes will be receiving our donation, that was gathered by selling the Undercover Guinea Pigs Calendar 2013.
Here are the results:

Thanks to everyone who voted!
Our donation will be sent to the Palace Piggies rescue in England, who had a whopping 311 votes!
Second in place was t Kuufke with 180 votes, followed by the Critter Connection with 102 votes and Thistle Cavies rescue with 4 votes.

I will of course let you all know about what we are donating, but we still have one calendar order running, before we can make up our final balance! But to give you an indication we now have about 145 euros (about 193 USD or 122 GBP)  to donate!

Congratulations to the winner: Palace piggies rescue!

The Misfits do the Fugly

We are sending in two pics for the Fugly look!

The orange piggie is Agent Prince (Charles)

The patch work piggie is Agent Ada-tudy (Adaline)
She wanted to do the Fugly with her fav veggie on her head! So that is why she has broccoli

The Misfits

P.s. from the Winky team: The results of the Calendar poll will be announced when it is January 23 in all the timezones. So we just have to wait a tiny bit more..

Do the Fugly

In honor of our great leader, we decided to wear our favorite veggie on our head

Sjeuf does it with dignity

Agent Bo Peep

Posting Policy

Some of you might have noticed that sometimes your comment goes online directly, and sometimes you have to wait for a bit. So what's happening?

Knock knock

Well, if you comment within 2 days of the blogpost publication date, you get published directly. After that you need our approval. We still get loads of spam but usually not the first few days, so to make the blog a bit more user-friendly for you (and a bit less work for us) we're trying out this option.

Calendar piggies: January 2013

We have a new calendar and this month's Calendar piggies are Jimmy & Pepper from Heerlen in the south of the Netherlands. We'd like you to know a bit more about our calendar piggies, so in this post Jimmy and Pepper will introduce themselves. The pigtures in this post are also in the wall and desktop calendars.

Pepper: I am a tri-colored Sheltie sow and was born in March 2010. Almost a year later I found myself in the Guinea pig shelter, where I immediately became a well-known piggy, because I refused to be in a pigture. I have been on their website with a pigture in which you could not see my front. Despite that pigture I was matched with Jimmy and moved to Heerlen. Slave D thinks I am a wild little guinea pig. who is not easily tamed. But I also love to relax and excel in executing the Banana (crescent) shaped posture. I was named after the daughter of mister Graham Coxon (that is D's favorite guitar player) and my name suits me well apparently.

Pepper on the left

Jimmy: I am a black haired peruvian boar with a very sweet and docile character. That might be because I ended up in a shelter almost right after my birth in July 2009. There they took really good care of me, but I was even happier when I could move to Heerlen in December 2009. Since February 2011 I live together with Pepper and I sometimes still need to get used to that, she can be so wild. I am very much in love with Daisy of the Guinygirlz and luckily that is mutual. I am also named after someone from the musical world, namely Jimmy Page, the guitar player of Led Zeppelin. And that also explains my 'secret agent' name, Zeppelin. My activities as a 'secret agent' are mostly restricted to sending in pigtures, of which readers are supposed to guess where my front and back side are :-)

Jimmy on the left

Together, we mostly occupy ourselves with the important things in a Guinea pig's life like eating, having a nice nap, poop a bit, nap again, pee and eat again. You know how it is. But that is not all, we are also active on the Internet. We have our own Facebook page and a Twitter account (Search for Gekke Flappies) and in that way we keep in contact with Guinea pigs all around the world. Oh yes, D and mister B, who will move in together soon, they take very good care of us. We are really excited about that, as that will mean we will always have company!

Love from Jimmy and Pepper x

Friday Video Shelters

This week a collection of all the Friday Video's from this blog that featured the importance of having a forever home. You can still vote for shelter donations of the calendar here
 

''Mouse for sale'' - animated short film from Wouter Bongaerts on Vimeo.

Ow and we (still) love the message that these videos are sending:

"A person is the best thing to happen to a shelter pet
Be that person!"

Have a nice Wheekend!

Vote for a piggy shelter!

It is time to vote!
We have 4 nominees, 3 of them have a post about them telling us why you should vote for them.
Until the vote ends  you can still order your calendar, if you want one(!), after closing of the vote we would like to make the donation.
You can vote for a week, and you can only vote once, so think carefully who to vote for!! Voting ends on 22 January, the results will be announce on the 23rd.

These are the nominees, with a link to their post behind it:

• Palace Piggies Rescue, near crawley, south-east England, United Kingdom (link to post)
• t Kuufke, Limbricht, the Netherlands (link to post)
• The Critter Connection/Durham, CT/USA (Link to post)
• Thistle Cavies Rescue in Argyll, Scotland, United Kingdom (website)

Vote for The Critter Connection!

I would like to nominate The Critter Connection/Durham, CT/USA.


Both Joanne and I got our piggies from Cindy, who is head honcho at the rescue. Actually, I only have one piggy left now who was my friend's, as my five from The Critter Connection have passed on. Cindy does a wonderful job caring for the needs of the piggies, many of whom require veterinary attention when they come to her, and some of whom stay for their entire lives as sanctuary piggies. I believe at this point she has mainly senior/special needs piggies staying with her as sanctuary pigs. Her roof caved in two years ago when we had a winter of unusually heavy snow (I believe it was that winter), and she has not been able to take in as many piggies since.


Lately, because of a lack of funding, she has been using her site to advertise for people who are looking for a new home for their piggy/piggies, but the pigs stay with their owners until adopted. Cindy is very conscientious about placing piggies into good homes. I am including a link to their website, and from there you can visit their blog as well.

http://www.petfinder.com/shelters/critter.html

I sincerely hope that folks would consider giving The Critter Connection your vote. Cindy's rescue is small and has struggled to survive in tough economic times. She and her vice president, Whitney, remain very dedicated to the animals in their charge and their "mission," despite discouragement at times. I give them my highest recommendation.

Sincerely,
Ann Sadoian in CT
with Purdy Pig