Sassy Satins

Hi AgentF,

It's me, Piggy Galore. Sigh.. slave let me finally have the computer to write you a blogpost. Feel free to cut it up in bits if it's too long. I'm also adding a pigture of me that you can place in your blog. It is not easy to see that i'm a satin on a photo because of my dark hair; but i cannot help that.. so.. here it goes;

Hi All! Agent F asked me to provide you all with some intelligence concerning my condition. My spyname is Piggy Galore and I'm a little diva and am very gorgeous, thank you very much (not that photogenic though; you should see me in real life).

[caption id="attachment_308" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Piggy Galore a Sassy Satin"][/caption]

I have Osteodystrophy (OD) which is a metabolic disease that affects my bones. (You can read more about the disease here: http://www.oginet.com/Cavies/satin.htm) The calcium from my bones is slowly drawn from them and this has painfull side effects, I'll tell you more about them later. The only guinea pigs with OD thus far, are satin pigs. I am a satin pig and I feel that it is important that AgentF's readers should know what they are and look like, so that they know about the risks that are involved with this breed.

So what does it mean when a pig has satin hair? First of all, satin is not the same as a silkie. When you're a silky, you have a certain hairstyle (long hair) When you're a satin, you have a certain type of hair (extra shiny) regardless of style. It can be short, long, messy or with curls. The hair is so shiny and soft, because the hairs are hollow on the inside.

So when you're a satin pig owner; what are the signs you should be looking for? Not all satins get OD, but is good to educate yourself so that you can help your pig if he or she is in pain.
- Weight loss; as a owner, weigh your satin regularly. Our jaws become instable and weak and this makes it harder to eat, which in turn affects our teeth because they keep growing.
- the bunny hop; although we are very similar to rabbits; we don't hop unless we're in pain.

So what to do when you suspect your satin has OD? You can go to a vet. I was diagnosed by an OD expert at 1,5 yrs old. She could feel it in my jaws. Later on we also made an ex-ray photo. My vet also taught my slave to check my lympf nodes in my paw pits; because when my OD is bothering me nowadays it is usually because my joints are inflammated and they get bigger. When this happens, my slave feeds me Carprofen (0.5ml, twice a day) for a few days until I feel better. My slave also removed obstacles out of the cage and hung the water bottle at a height where I can reach it easily. She also has a rubbery disc (snuggle safe) that she can put in the microwave to keep me warm and comfortable all day (like a hot water bottle)

Btw I am 4 years old and a strapping 3 lbs *looks really proud*. There are rumours that only satin pigs in bad conditions develop OD. But I was spoilt rotten (like any guinea pig diva ought to be) and well bred (you can ask for my pedigree if you dont believe me..) and still I got OD... just so you know, thank you very much.

Piggy Galore

Me also found this link to research into OD in Satin piggies (AgentF)

http://www.guineapigwelfare.org.uk/satin-guinea-pigs/

Can You Guess Who It Is

The next post will be bought to you care of another secret agent piggy here are a few clues to her identity.

She has chosen the secret agent name Piggy Galore as she is a Diva pig.

She lives in the Nederlands with her brother and sister pig (they get on most of the time) and a human mad scientist.

Thats your clues

Extra points if you can guess which little piggy put on another 40g in the last week and now weighs 851g and has been out for some grass with no tummy problems

Is he Really a Guinea Pig??

Me and Daddy suspect their is something very un-guinea like about Spooky.

We have a few clues

Clue 1 Spooky loves digging most other piggies will tell you this is weird.

Clue 2 Daddy caught Spooky climbing the cage bars must un-piggy like, Daddy said if me tried that the bars would break hmmmppphhh

We Love This Blog

Its Caplin the Capybara's blog, he calls himself a giant hamster but he is really A giant guinea pig (well he must be) he is definetely a LAPS piggy!!

Thank you to the human who shared the link, we are trying to view all the archives (a long task for 2 guinea pigs)

http://gianthamster.com/

What Was the Point of That Then

Mummy gave us a dried corn on the cob, so me and Spooky pulled all the yellow corns out and scattered them all over the cage floor.

What we supposed to do with it now???

We Have Been Watching......

Walk on the Wild Side on BBC1 its very funny.

They have real wildlife footage which has been voiced over.

We love the sleeping seal and the mouse flower delivery service.

Agent A for Agouti

Here are some clues to guess who Agent A is thats if you cant tell from the beautiful pigture.

Agent A lives in the USA, she has a whole photobucket album dedicated to her and like me she is famous on the guineapigjamboree.

Agent A has dark eyes and ticked hair which makes her an agouti, unlike Spooky whose ruby eyes make him an argente. Eye colour is the only difference between Agouti and Argente.

Agent A has dark brown hair with black undercoat and tan ticking she also has a tan tummy, we think she looks like a cinnamon agouti.

As you can see from the pigture she is a gorgeous girl.

[caption id="attachment_288" align="aligncenter" width="160" caption="Agent A for Agouti "][/caption]

And in case you missed her on the jamboree here is the link again

http://www.gpjamboree.com/rest-and-weelaxation/page/2/

She is second piggy on the page.

Thank you for your contribution Agent A.

Humans are Strange

Mummy told us that there will be a funeral for our friend a week Friday, so Spooky said he would help dig the hole in the garden (he loves digging strange piggy) and me was going to help chose the pot and the plant to mark the hole.

Mummy says humans dont get buried in the garden (this must be because they are not as important as guinea pigs)

Mummy says our friend will be cremated and then the ashes scattered in a garden of remembrance (so they do go in the garden Mummy lied)
where they will help lots of beautiful plants to grow.

That way our friend has never really gone. We are glad about that.

Goodbye My Friend

My friend crossed the rainbow bridge at 11:45 this morning.

Mummy says that now she is free of pain and reunited with her beloved cats Big Boy and Chloe and the hammie who went everywhere with her, even for road trips in her MG.

While we may miss her she is in a happier place now, its just us left behind who are sad.

Agent I you are right humans are very leaky when sad.

Munchees when me is less sad and mummy has stopped leaking me will be blogging again.

In fact me has a special blog which another under cover guinea pig has helped with. Agent I for your information she is a she.

Thank you for all your kind words and thoughts.

Me will be back with you soon

Me is Very Sad

Mummy told me last night that one of our special human friends has the big C, sadly is has spread throughout her body and she is in hospital waiting to cross the rainbow bridge.

My friend is very good to me whenever she goes abroad she goes straight to the pet section of the hyper market to find guinea pig treats for me.

She banned her neighbour from using weedkiller on his overgrown garden so she could pick fresh dandelions for me.

She would share her beans and lettuces freshly grown with me and she would never throw a kitchen towel roll tube away she gave them to me to play with.

Mummy says the doctors are making sure she has no pain but that is all they can do for her.

I hope you understand I will taking a little break from blogging to devote my energy to my friend.

Dont worry I will be back and with a special post from a guinea pig secret agent friend.

We Went in the Garden

Sunday was sunny enough for us to be allowed out into the garden (woooooooohoooooooooo)

Spooky was only allowed out for 15 minutes in case it upset his tummy again, me was allowed out muuuuch longer.

It has been 3 days since we went out and there has been no problem with Spooky, so next time we have a sunny day he can come out for 30 minutes.

Mind you that could be next year with the Great British weather being what it is (big sigh)

Compromise

Following the advice of the ever knowledgeable Piggyfriends me has decided to let Spooky start as a spy NOT a special agent just a spy for now.

His first mission was to get down the side of the cage and report back.

Well he got his head down there but his butt was too big (heeeheee) he tells me all that is down there is more carpet and the legendary dust that my humans collect.

Must find more small corners for him to investigate, there must be something good somewhere.................

Passing the Message on

Me dont know if any of your humans can help Cavy Madness but please click the link to see if there is anything you can do.

We must use our global piggy power to help all the guinea pigs we can!!!

http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=244434920710&ref=mf

Me has Decided.............

that when Spooky weighs 1kg he can become a proper undercover guinea pig

Today he weights 694g and is complaining about having to wait so long.

I think I am being fair.......

Me Broke Free....................

actually Daddy moved the bars out of the way so I could visit him in his half of the prison.

Spooky stayed in bed.

Me and Daddy laid on the floor for cuddles.

Mummy if there are any wet patches it WASNT ME

Wrongly Accused.........

me and Spooky came out for floor time and when we went to bed Mummy found wet patch on carpet.

She gave us this evil look like what one of you peed on my carpet.

Then she put her finger in it (humans are weird) and then smelled her finger (very weird)

Turns out Daddy was to blame, the wet patch smelt of cider

We got bored.............

of staying in, so we are back out running around attacking the piggy prison bars.

We will escape (evil laugh)

Reverse Psychology........

For the last few days me and Spooky have been lulling the humans into a false sense of security.

When Mummy opens the cage and sets up our ramp for floor time we have refused to come, instead we chase each other round the cage.

We plan to do this until Mummy starts to relax and not watch us as closely and then we will attack (me means escape heehee)

Its always good to have a back up plan!!

Diet???

Daddy says you now need 2 hands and to bend at the knees to pick me up.

He says me needs to diet............. NO WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK

Stupid Human

Me Glad Me Got Clear Nails..............

Mummy cut me and Spookys nails yesterday, me went first and me was bribed with romaine Mummy cut my nails fine although she did say they are getting thicker and tougher to cut.

Spooky was bribed with carrot and Mummy only managed to cut his back claws and she cut 2 too short and they bled... she was too scared then to do the front.

Me can report Mummy was more upset than Spooky

Thistle Cavies

Hey guys just thought I would tell you about a guinea pig rescue here in the UK (they are actually in Scotland)

They are called Thistle Cavies (who would have guessed) and through their website humans can get piggy treats and human treats (what more could a human want)

Humans in the UK can also help by recycling their old mobile phones (hands off my phone humans) and printer cartridges.

All they need to do is visit the website and ask for some special posting bags to be sent and start recycling.

Mummy even recycles the cartridges from work to get even more and of course she pesters her work colleagues, friends and family to give her their old cartridges.

So any piggies in the UK whose humans are not already recycling for charity, get your humans helping those piggies.

http://thistlecavies.tripod.com/