Tuesday, January 28, 2014

No more piggy in the window - Lily

As some of you might know my Lily has been loosing weight lately.
Our vet was at a loss what could be causing this, only thing she found was a soft mass in Lily's tummy. She suggested an ultrasound to check it out, but wanted a good radiologist, because she wasn't sure she could tell what she was looking at...

So this morning we had an appointment at the vet in the middle of the country, this was at the university where animal medicine is taught.
However yesterday evening Lily started to show signs of distress. Her tummy was massive, seemed swollen with gas but the usual oil treatment did not make it better. She also refused to eat at some point...

I really hoped she would make it through the night so I could get her to the vet in the morning. She did make it and I told her to stay with me until we reached the vet, which was an hours drive.
She made it there and she was seen be a really nice vet and vet in training.

They felt a mass in her tummy, and suggested to do an ultrasound.
The results we're not good she had air in her belly cavity, so no longer just in her bowels... Which means more than just air could leave her bowels, like bacteria... And a big mass about 3 by 4 centimeters was visible near her liver.

There were two options either put her to sleep or try to operate with little chance of success. The latter did not sound appealing, at that point she was really in pain and if the tumor mass was bad it could have spread, depending on where the mass was exactly they might not be able to remove it, and of course there is the risk of anesthesia for even a healthy guinea pig. And lily wasn't healthy anymore.
So we chose for the option to have her put to sleep, which was a hard one...

As they are a teaching hospital the vet wanted to check what was wrong.
Turned out she had a big mass in and around her bowels, which also stuck to her belly, there was pus and poop in the cavity and internal bleedings already. She was in a much worse state as we and the vet would have expected, especially as she was still eating and active before yesterday evening. Quite amazing she kept going so long with all this... So though I will miss her a lot, especially this cute thing she would do standing in the window of the cage to beg for veggies, we made the right decision, the mass was inoperable...

Lily just after a bath


Luvya my little furry girl, say hi to Chico and all our other friends over the rainbow bridge... Lily was 3 year and 8 months old...

Mieke and the remaining guinygirlz Woopy, Daisy and Roos

Guinea Pig Music Video.

Hi my name is Tim Wigley and I am a musician in Houston TX.  I recently made a music video that stars my pig Lester.

Hope you like it.


Friday, January 24, 2014

Friday Video: Pig Beach

We stumbled across this video of pigs living on an uninhabited island (Exuma Bahamas). Legend has is that sailors left them there with the intention to pick them up later. Even though they are wild, they seem friendly enough (source).


Have a nice Wheekend!

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Smart piggie?

Hi all,

Just wanted to share this little story of Roos.
the culprit...

On New Years' day we found her eye was wet and it turned out she got a husk from her hay stuck in her eye. Of course all the vets were closed this day, but with some cautiousness my sister Janneke and my boyfriend got it out.
A vet visit followed and we got a salve to put in her eye. Luckily her eye was not really damaged.

So every morning my boyfriend E would get downstairs to give the girls their veggies. But before giving that to them he would pick up Roos from the cage. However, she quickly realized that and would hide in their wooden house every morning and afternoon when she knew E would come and pick her up. Of course she would keep an eye out to see if E was bringing veggies.
So once E would finally manage to catch her, get the salve ready to put in her eye, she had another little trick up her sleeve... uhm.. fur?
She would squeeze her left eye that needed a drop of the salve shut. She only squeezed shut her left eye, not the other one...

Luckily now everything is back to normal and she no longer hides for E..
Is she a smart piggy, or what?

Do you have stories to share of your bright pigs?


Just a few remarks:
If you find your guinea pig with something in its eye, only get it out when it comes out easily! If it is problematic I really advise you to go and see a vet.
In general even when you can get it out easily, I would always advise a vet visit because they can check if anything was damaged and maybe prescribe some salve. I think it had a vitamin in it,vitamin D I thought, which really helps in the eye's healing process.

Wednesday, January 15, 2014

The Piggyfriends review a puzzle

We do not have a book to review so we thought that we would write about Slave's jigsaw puzzle. Every Christmas, she buys a puzzle for the family to complete during the festivities. Last year, she had a HUGE four foot long puzzle with an underwater scene, which took up most of our floor space for weeks on end but this year she had a smaller one with pigtures of Guinea Pigs and veggies.

Here is a pigture of the box.
 Slave did not expect the puzzle to be as difficult as it turned out to be.
Here it is nearing completion.

Some of these piggies looked familiar to us and we were so pleased
when Slave completed the puzzle. Here it is at last.

 
This one...                                                         looks a lot like our Agent Mouse aka Angelina






Agent Big Red aka Garnet thinks he looks a lot like this piggy...      but Garnet wants to know
                                                                                             where his dandelion is.


But we think that Toffee is nearer to his colour.

Slave's family enjoyed completing this puzzle and give it 5 stars for both difficulty and the lovely pigture and we give it 5 stars too as we loved seeing the piggies being put together and love the different yummy veggies in the design. Slave is glueing it together and will hang it up for us to enjoy all year round. One more coat of glue and it should be ready. Hooray!!

Tuesday, January 14, 2014

Our guinea pig ~ Tonka RIP_2014

My name is Tonka. I died on Saturday January 11th, 2014. I had a wonderful owner named Owen that would snuggle me every minute he could. I couldn’t wait for him to come back from school as I would wait anxiously to hear him walk through the front door and I would squeak like crazy.  I loved Owen feeding me snacks especially my favorite… carrots J  I loved resting on his chest watching him play his video games. I know Owen is very sad and misses me tremendously but I would like him to know that I am over the rainbow bridge now will all of my friends warm and happy. I will always be looking down on you Owen making sure you are alright. Please keep my brother Kiki safe. I had the best life a guinea pig could ever ask for. I will see you in your dreams.


I love you Owen!

Tonka
xoxo

Friday, January 10, 2014

Friday Video: Solid Potato Salad

This video caught our attention because the girls sing 'salad'. But watch what happens after 1:00..
Humans are weird. Ow, and there's a bit with an apple in there too. Enjoy!


Have a salad Wheekend!

Tuesday, January 7, 2014

Nominate a shelter!

Hi All,

Thank you all who bought an Undercover Guinea Pigs Calendar 2014! And of course every piggy and slave who supplied gorgeous pigtures making the calendar happen again.
If you haven't gotten a calendar yet, and still want one, you can still order! Use the form on the 'Order calendar 2014'

It is time to nominate the shelter to whom we will donate the money from selling the calendars...
So let us know who you want to nominate and why!

Last year we made posts for all the nominated shelter to tell you why you should vote for them, it would be nice if we can do that again!

Hugs to all the piggies,
Mieke, Janneke and M of this blog

Friday, January 3, 2014

Friday Video: How to Make Guinea Pig Toys

We have found some new year's resolutions for your staff; make these toys!


Have a happy Wheekend!

Thursday, January 2, 2014

Silly Pigture

Agent Gemini says to Henry, the vacuum cleaner, " I don't know what you are laughing about. I can throw hay on the carpet faster than you can pick it up!"
 
The Piggyfriends say " You can tell that Slave had a new camera for Christmas. Now she keeps taking silly pigtures of us to try it out."

Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Calendar piggies : December 2013

Sorry, this is really late, but in most parts of the world it is still 2013
So here are our December calendar piggies!





December calendar pigture


Addison the is white and brown one aka Agent Sassoon.  She and Amaris, the all brownish color aka Agent Moon flower, came to be misfits on Sept 1, 2012.
We drove two hours to pick them up. We thought we were just getting one pig (Addison) but Andy just couldn't let Amaris stay there. They belonged to a lady that didn't want them anymore. She tried to start breeding pigs and found no one wanted to buy them from her. So she was getting rid of her pigs. We offered to give one a home. And since she had long hairs I was totally excited to get one. (ended up being two) The girls were very tiny as they were only a couple of months old.

Both girls loved to trim each others hair when they first got here.  They would make new hairstyles on each other:) its really cute. They do not do that anymore so maybe it was because they were so young?  They really love all  food that is placed in front of them.

Addison is the boss piggy. Amaris is really laid back and a great pig to take out for when small vistors come to visit that want to hold a pig. Amaris has a crush on our pig named Riley. Those two will sit and talk to each other for hours. It's the cutest thing to watch. Riley's cage is right next to the girls cage.  We love our little longs hairs and are very glad we were able to take them in.

A big Merry Christmas to everyone and every-pig and any other critters you may have. And a Happy New Year too!

Jean and all the Misfits








Friday, December 27, 2013

Friday Video: Chip and Dale Merry Christmas

An extra long friday video today, so snuggle up behind your computer with a carrot and some herbal tea and enjoy!


Have a Merry Wheekend and a Happy New Year!

Monday, December 23, 2013

Merry Christmas Everyone

On behalf of all of the Piggyfriends, our agent in training, baby Tyrion, would like to wish everypig and every slave a very happy Christmas, Hannukah, Yule or whatever you might celebrate at this time of year and if you do not have a celebration right now, then just have a jolly good time anyway,
 
Carrot wine all round.
 
Slainte! ( Cheers! )

Sunday, December 22, 2013

Friday Video: a Guinea Pig Nativity

We already did a review on this book. But Jean and The Misfits also sent us this lovely little video:




Happy holidays and a Jolly Wheekend!

Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Buy a piggy Calendar and support a shelter!

Dear Guinea pig lovers,

Thirteen calendars have been ordered so far, some of them have already arrived!
Do you want one too, order here!

Like the previous 2 years, we from the undercover guinea pigs blog in cooperation with you as our readers and suppliers of cute piggy pigtures, have made the undercover guinea pigs calendar again!
You can order either a wall or a desk calendar, which will have a new cute pigture every month,
and of course our inspirator Agent F on the front.
Prices are 15 euros for the wall calendar and 12,50 for the desk calendar, plus additional shipping to your country.

If you have not ordered a calendar yet, but you want one, and you want to support a guinea pig shelter, buy one (or more)!
If you still want to recieve them before the end of this year, I advise you to order soon, unless you want to go for the more expensive 7 day shipping option...

Here is a preview of the wall and the desk version. You can click on the pigtures to enlarge them..



Friday, December 13, 2013

Friday Video: Frozen

Who does not love a video featuring a ... CARROT!!! (okay, and a snowman and reindeer)



Have a Carrot this Wheekend ;-)

Thursday, December 5, 2013

Friday Video: Bath Time

We will not be able to post tomorrow, so we hope you'll forgive us for this Thursday Video.

How cute are these pigs? The song makes us almost (but not quite) want to take a bath


Have a nice Wheekend!

Friday, November 29, 2013

Friday Video: Piggie City Dwellers

We were pleasantly surprised when we found this video. We remember Pigjes from our forum days where she often shared the most creative ideas and we were happy to see that she's still doing that


Have a Creative Wheekend!

Thursday, November 28, 2013

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving from the USA piggies Agents Butterloaf, Agent Yougie, and Agent-in-training Apollo!


Sunday, November 24, 2013

Book Review Guinea Pigs Online Viking Victory

This is the last Guinea Pigs Online book that we have and we have to say it is our favourite book of the series.





The copse at the end of the garden is threatened by a smelly builder who wants to bulldoze it down and build houses so its up to Coco, Fuzzy and Eduardo to start an internet campaign and save the copse.

Getting hits on Twitter



In this book the guinea pigs make a new friend Olaf the Viking Guinea Pig (or is he?)

We are pleased to say in this book we couldn't find any bad suggestions about guinea pig care although we are not sure about black soggy bananas are they bad? We know bananas are ok and can be useful for piggies with tummy problems but we weren't sure about the black bit. Mummy says yuck she likes her bananas slightly green and with the stick to your tongue texture, we are not sure about that either wol.

Bannoffee still has 14 mini pigs but we are pleased to say they have not increased in number, they all live with her and there is no mention of pet shops hurray.

If you take the books at face value as just fun fiction involving guinea pigs then this is a fun series to read.

Friday, November 22, 2013

Friday Video: Elsie gets a Chin Rub

Beautiful Elsie gets a chin rub. Don't forget to turn on your speakers because the soundtrack is just perfect!



Have a chin-rubbery Wheekend!

Monday, November 18, 2013

Holidays for Undercover Guinea Pigs Calendar 2014

I compiled a list of holidays to be added to the undercover guinea pigs calendar 2014.
I have received my sample of the calendar this weekend and it looks good, so if you want to order let me know by filling out the form at the 'Order calendar 2014' tab at the top of this page.
After you checking this list below, and maybe adding some dates, I am ready to order the calendar!

Please let me know if I got any dates wrong, you want your country added, or if you are missing a holiday.
This year I added all public holidays of the countries we usually get orders from. These are USA, UK, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Canada and Australia.

1-1-2014New Year's Day
6-1-2014Epiphany
20-1-2014Martin Luther King Day (USA)
27-1-2014Australia Day (AU)
14-2-2014Valentine's day
17-2-2014Presidents' Day (USA)
17-3-2014St. Patrick's Day
18-4-2014Good Friday
20-4-2014Easter
21-4-2014Easter Monday
25-4-2014Anzac Day (AU)
26-4-2014King's Day (NL)
1-5-2014Labour Day (BE, GE)
5-5-2014Liberation Day (NL)
5-5-2014Early May Bank Holiday (UK)
26-5-2014Memorial Day (USA)
26-5-2014Spring Bank Holiday (UK)
29-5-2014Ascension Day
8-6-2014Pentecost
9-6-2014Pentecost Monday
9-6-2014Queen's Birthday (AU)
19-6-2014Corpus Christi (GE)
1-7-2014Canada Day (CA)
4-7-2014Independance day (USA)
11-7-2014Day of the Flemish Community (BE)
21-7-2014National Holiday (BE)
15-8-2014Assumption of Mary (BE, GE)
25-8-2014Summer Bank Holiday (UK)
1-9-2014Labor day (USA, CA)
27-9-2014Day of the French Community (BE)
3-10-2014German Unity Day (GE)
4-10-2014Animals' Day (NL)
13-10-2014Columbus Day (USA)
13-10-2014Thanksgiving (CA)
31-10-2014Halloween
31-10-2014Reformation Day (GE)
1-11-2014All Saints (BE, GE)
2-11-2014All Soul's (BE)
6-11-2014Saint Nicholas (BE)
11-11-2014Veterans Day (USA)
11-11-2014Armistice Day 1918 (BE)
15-11-2014King's Day (BE)
27-11-2014Thanksgiving Day (USA)
5-12-2014Sinterklaas (NL)
25-12-2014Christmas
26-12-2014Boxing Day
31-12-2014New Year's Eve

Please leave a comment below if anything is wrong, you want a date or your country added to this list!

Sunday, November 17, 2013

Agent Zeppelin Mystery

Agent Zeppelin has sent us another one of his infamous pigtures. Even his own human wasn't sure which side of agent Zeppelin should be offered veggies. So get guessing, which side is he facing?


Book Review Guinea Pigs Online Furry Towers

Fuzzy and Coco are back again this time their humans are going on holiday and have decided to the pigs can have a holiday to at Furry Towers the deluxe guinea pig hotel however not everything is what it seems.





What we liked;
1) Pat and her tank
2) The General taking over hotel and understanding guinea pigs
3) The recipe at the back of each book

Moral of the story?
1) Don't believe everything you read on the internet
2) Humans when you go on holiday check before you go where your pets will be staying and if you are not happy don't make a booking there

Bad Points;
1) Bad diet advice - Avocado and Cabbage!! Not Good
2) Bad Bedding advice - Straw!!

While the basic story in these books have so far been entertaining it appears the humans who wrote them really need to do some more research into the proper care of guinea pigs

A guinea pig being pampered at the hotel



Saturday, November 16, 2013

Friday Video: Mouse versus Cookie

We got this video from our favorite librarian. This Russian(?) mouse takes on a cookie. Does he win? Well.. check out the video ;-)



Have a Bold Wheekend!

Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Order the Undercover Guinea pigs calendar 2014!

Hi all,

I have ordered a sample of our new 2014 calendar, to see if all lovely pigtures we received are looking great in the calendar.  Thanks to everyone who sent in pigtures!

After seeing the samples and adding the holidays I can start ordering and sending out the calendars.
So if you already know you want a calendar, you can already let me know you want one by filling out the form on the 'Order calendar 2014' tab (at top of this page).
Like previous years there is a wall and a desk calendar, which cost 15 and 12,50 euros respectively, plus additional shipping costs.

Also like last years I am ordering through the Dutch version of vistaprint, which means the month and weekday names are in Dutch and the weeks start on Monday!

I will add the holidays in English, if you want any of your country's holidays added let me know and I will add them.

As usual you can nominate a shelter near the end of this year, and after all orders are sent we will vote for which shelter will get our donation.

I wanted to try ordering early this year as I noticed the prices going up near the end of the year.

Thanks all for pigticipating!
Mieke

Sunday, November 10, 2013

Book Review Guinea Pigs Online

While shopping for A Guinea Pig Nativity we also found a set of 3 books about Guinea Pigs online we tried to resist but just couldn't so here comes the first in the series;

Guinea Pigs Online





The main characters are 2 guinea pigs called Coco and Fuzzy, Fuzzy loves the internet while Coco is an old fashioned Princess pig.

They end up facing the guinea pig equivalent of Cruella de Ville, celebrity Chef Scarlet Cleaver.

Eduardo the wild guinea pig from Peru arrives to help



This book contains lots of scenes of Guinea Pigs in peril however we can assure you it all ends up ok in the end.

Some of our favourite bits;

The idea that piggies like to live in pairs so they can operate the jump a seesaw used to get them up to higher levels.

Fuzzy cooking up food for his humans which they fail to appreciate

Coco's addiction to classical music

Coco and Fuzzy are rescue pigs so a big thumbs up there

What we didn't like;

Banoffee the pig next is used to breed piggies for petshops that is a big thumbs down

Friday, November 8, 2013

Friday Video: The Smartest Guinea Pig in the World

This week the suggestion from Caviabende Almere. Another clever escape artist. Thank you guys!



Have a daring Wheekend!

Tuesday, November 5, 2013

Calendar Piggies November: Jaina, Fergie & Wendy

These are our November Calendar piggies
Wendy

Fergie

Jaina
















---
Hello from Agents Schilling & Peanut! 

Hello, I am Agent Schilling but my slaves call me Fergie, and Agent Peanut is my buddy, but slaves call her Jaina (pronounced jay-nuh). Whee are sad to say that Agent Kelly (aka Wendy) must say hello from across the Rainbow Bridge. She passed away in August 2013 and whee miss her greatly! Agent Peanut can give some more details below. 

As for me, I am 2.5 years old and was adopted about 18 months ago from North Star Rescue in Napa, California, USA. Let's see what do you need to know about me... My slaves always laugh and tell me what a bad "hunter" I am. When they put food in the cage or on the ground during floor time, I seem to never be able to find it! Even when they set it right in front of me - I just end up standing on it and wheeking very loudly in protest that I haven't been fed yet. It makes the slaves laugh but I don't see what's so funny! When I finally do find the food they "hid" from me, I burwaggle and loudly complain about the poor service. 

My favorite activities are cuddling, sleeping, eating, cuddling and eating. In fact if the slaves don't read scriptures with me and tuck me in at night, I get very cranky and I take it out on everyone - my poor sister Jaina (I might make a habit out of dominating her...) and the slaves (with loud rumblings and stomping around the cage making a terrible racket). I love watching TV with my daddy, and helping him work. My dad is definitely my favorite - he has facial hair I can nibble on if I get hungry, and he knows just the right way to scratch behind my ears. He also doesn't make fun of my excess chubs the way mom does, she's so mean! 


Hello, this is Agent Peanut, but as Agent Schilling said I go by Jaina in my day-to-day life when I'm not out saving the world as an Undercover Agent. My primary powers are being adorable, and being scared. My nick-name here at home is Scaredy-pig and it's quite suitable, I am sad to say! I was adopted from Cavy House guinea pig rescue in La Honda, California, USA! 


As you know by now, my best buddy in the whole world, Agent Kelly, passed away a few months ago. Whee were planning a big fancy party for our 6th birthday which was the first weekend in September, but Wendy got very sick and after being rushed to the vet, there was nothing the slaves or the vet could do for her. Mom says she got bloat - something very scary that neither us nor our slaves ever want to encounter again! Mommy and daddy cried for days, and I did my best to comfort them. Slaves were worried that I would be so sad - you see, Wendy and I were adopted together and have been friends since we were about 2 months old. We were very bonded, and I got sad if I was separated from my dear Wendy for more than 30 minutes! But slaves were very surprised to find that I was OK after only a few hours, whereas Agent Schilling had a hard time - she kept sniffing around the cage trying to find Wendy. After a few days, she felt better and we are now on the market to find a new friend. With Agent Schilling's "strong personality" (she's a bit of a brute!) it has taken us some time to find someone we can get along with, but we have several play dates in the next few weeks to find someone! Hopefully Agent Schilling will be nicer to them than she is to me...as evidenced by this picture: 


As for me, my favorite activity is eating food - especially the fresh peppers dad grows for me in the garden. YUM! I also love to sleep in very odd positions which makes the slaves laugh. I'm not big on snuggles but sometimes I give in and let the slaves hold me for a few minutes, but when it gets too scary I ask to be put back in my comfy cave. 


So we'll leave you now with a picture of Agent Kelly participating in her favorite past time - hiding out in a brown paper bag full of scrumptious hay! 

Friday, November 1, 2013

Friday Video: Time to go Home

After last weeks Friday Video, we received more video tips (so thank you Pat, for inspiring our other readers) The first one we received, was from the Guinygirlz. They referred us to a post from the blog 'Hutch a Good Life' with this lovely video.



We will post the other suggestions in the upcoming wheeks. So if you've sent us a suggestion, don't worry, we'll post it (quite happily).If you're reading this and just came up with a suggestion, feel free to share it. We love it when our readers contribute.

Have a (not too) scary Wheekend!

Thursday, October 31, 2013

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween from Agent Butterloaf, Agent Yougie, and a new agent-in-training who is an Abyssinian agouti!

Happy Halloween

On behalf of all of the Piggyfriends, I, Agent Firenze, would like to wish every reader of this blog a very Happy Halloween.
We hope that you all have lots of treats.