We used to have piggies with names starting with a D, so for our Piggy A-Z we got Dunya and Daisy!
Dunya was a lovely himalayan, and Daisy was a gorgeous round silver agouti US teddy.
We never had them together, but they were (more or less coincidentally) named after the main characters of a Dutch TV show named Dunya and Daisy. Only we liked the spelling for Daisy better, in the tv series it is Desi, read a bit more about the series here
As with many popular youth series they also had their own movie. Dunya and Desi is about two friends, Dunya is from Moroccan decent and Desi is a very dutch girl, the series shows differences in how they were raised and how that influences their friendship.
Here are some videos of Dunya and Daisy from a few years ago...
This a video of Dunya and her old cage mates Lotje and Guiny (my first group of piggies).
Look closely to see why Lotje seems so mean to Dunya...
And Daisy sleeping... Daisy is sleeping in the middle (see her ears flap?) other silver agouti is Lily. Woopy is lounging under the hay rack...
And Roos disturbs Daisy's slumber...
Have a great wheekend,
The guinygirlz Peaches, Tijger, Raani and boar Berke
Friday, August 12, 2016
Friday, July 29, 2016
Friday video: Grooming
We found this supercute video of our friends the Cali Cavy Collective doing some post bath grooming... Humans get ready the ooh and ahh at all the cuteness ;)
Have great wheekend! The Guinygirlz and boar Berke
Have great wheekend! The Guinygirlz and boar Berke
Friday, July 22, 2016
Piggy A-Z: D for donation made to the Excellent Adventure Sanctuary in Northampton!
As mom was a bit to early with the friday video yesterday (Maybe it was friday already in Australia?), we have some other news to share with you today!
A donation of 46.66 USD was made today to the excellent adventure sanctuary in Northampton, UK!
A donation of 46.66 USD was made today to the excellent adventure sanctuary in Northampton, UK!
Thank you to everyone who bought a game and/or supplied a pigture, for making another donation possible!
Thursday, July 21, 2016
Friday video: Pig stampede (Snapple commercial)
We had never seen this ' Pigs of Pamploma' video before @happycavy shared this on twitter...
Have great Wheekend! The Guinygirlz: Peaches, Tijger, Raani and boar Berke
I don't care if it's 13 or 100 years old, @Snapple's "Pigs of Pamploma" video will always be a favorite: https://t.co/2KgTYO5YfF #guineapigs— Happy Cavy (@happycavy) July 20, 2016
Have great Wheekend! The Guinygirlz: Peaches, Tijger, Raani and boar Berke
Monday, July 18, 2016
It is very HOT here today
Agent Mystery reporting.
It is very hot here today at Piggyfriends. The weatherman called it a mini heatwave. The minier the better as far as us piggies are concerned. He said that this weather had come up from Spain. We are glad that we don't live there.
Slave has lots of fans going to keep us all cool and she decided that all of the Peruvians should have a haircut.
First of all she gave us a shampoo. Here I am looking very bedraggled.
Slave cut a lot of my hair whilst I was in the bath and then, when I was nearly dry, she cut off my fringe. I don't look much like a Peruvian any more but I will be cooler without my long coat.
We do not have air conditioning as it is rarely hot in England and Slave has moved those of us who normally live in the conservatory into the dining room, where my home is and which is easier to keep cool. We are getting extra cucumbers as they are nice and juicy so the heatwave is not all bad.
It is very hot here today at Piggyfriends. The weatherman called it a mini heatwave. The minier the better as far as us piggies are concerned. He said that this weather had come up from Spain. We are glad that we don't live there.
Slave has lots of fans going to keep us all cool and she decided that all of the Peruvians should have a haircut.
First of all she gave us a shampoo. Here I am looking very bedraggled.
We do not have air conditioning as it is rarely hot in England and Slave has moved those of us who normally live in the conservatory into the dining room, where my home is and which is easier to keep cool. We are getting extra cucumbers as they are nice and juicy so the heatwave is not all bad.
Monday, July 11, 2016
More Agents in Training
Tyrion Piggyfriend here again. I thought that you might like to see some pigtures of our other Agents in Training, Mimi and Lulu. They have grown a lot since you last saw them and, although they are certainly big enough to go out on missions now, I hesitate to send them as they are extremely NOISY and would be useless at any work involving stealth. I call them my Diva Agents. They shout at anyone passing their home in the expectation of yet more food.
Mimi must have a little bit of Peruvian in her as her coat grows forward just like mine and she has this ridiculous rooster tail. Take a look at this.....
Lulu is good at reaching out for food without actually getting up. I cannot think where this might come in useful unless they are infiltrating a carrot farm. Here she is.......
My little cadets, Magnus and Ivan are quiet in comparison. They just make little squeaky noises as they bounce around our home.
Mimi must have a little bit of Peruvian in her as her coat grows forward just like mine and she has this ridiculous rooster tail. Take a look at this.....
Thursday, July 7, 2016
A Piggy A-Z. D for Daktarin
After the excitement of voting for our favourite shelter, it is back to the Piggy A-Z.
Today it is D for Daktarin. When piggies have had dental work, sometimes their mouths are sore and this is where Daktarin comes in.
I am Louis Piggyfriend and I came here with overgrown molars so I need occasional trips to the Rodentologist who trims them.
I have put on weight since my arrival now that I can eat properly. Here is a tube of Daktarin. Slave squeezes a blob onto a cotton bud ( shown here ) and swabs it around my mouth. It stops my mouth feeling sore and it tastes good too.
I don't know if it available in other countries ( we live in England ) but I do hope so. Slave buys it at the pharmacy as it is made for humans.
Today it is D for Daktarin. When piggies have had dental work, sometimes their mouths are sore and this is where Daktarin comes in.
I am Louis Piggyfriend and I came here with overgrown molars so I need occasional trips to the Rodentologist who trims them.
I don't know if it available in other countries ( we live in England ) but I do hope so. Slave buys it at the pharmacy as it is made for humans.
Wednesday, July 6, 2016
Update on the Agents in Training
Hello readers. Tyrion Piggyfriend here. I thought that you might like to see how my students are getting on.
From the next pigture you can see how much they have grown. They actually look bigger than they really are in the pigture as their coats stand straight out whereas mine lies flat.
They are not as brave as they think they are as, when they saw Slave with her camera, they ran and hid! Ivan disappeared into a pile of hay so missed out on having his pigture in the blog but Magnus ran into the hay tube and he thinks that we can't see him.
Whilst I am here, I want to tell you that Slave recently went to the Summer Fair at our local rescue. I came from there, not as a rescue but from the gardener, who breeds a few piggies and enjoys showing them. Otto and Rafferty also came here from her as they were the wrong colour for showing and I was a little runt in need of a good home. At the rescue, she saw these giant guinea pigs and took a pigture.
They sat still for their photo unlike my little rascals.
From the next pigture you can see how much they have grown. They actually look bigger than they really are in the pigture as their coats stand straight out whereas mine lies flat.
Monday, June 20, 2016
And the winner is...
The Excellent Adventure Sanctuary (TEAS) in the UK!!
Soon we will let you know what the amount of donation is, we just received 2 more orders for the card game (at time of writing this there are only 1-2 games left!)
Here are some more statistics of the vote:
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| Where did your votes come from (Geographical responses) |
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| The vote results in a Pie chart |
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| Votes on a timeline, as you can see at first Sharna's cavy sanctuary was in the lead, but eventually TEAS took over..! |
Sunday, June 12, 2016
Voting Closed - Vote for a shelter!
These are the nominees, click on their names to read a bit more about them:
TEAS, UK
Sharna's cavy sanctuary, AUS
Het Knaaghof, NL
Eastpeckham guinea pig rescue, UK
By selling our undercover guinea pig card games (btw there are still a few available) we made a little profit which we want to donate to a shelter somewhere in the world.
Please cast your vote for one of the shelters. The voting will be open for a week, you should be able to vote once a day, on monday 20 June I will count the votes.... So start voting!
TEAS, UK
Sharna's cavy sanctuary, AUS
Het Knaaghof, NL
Eastpeckham guinea pig rescue, UK
By selling our undercover guinea pig card games (btw there are still a few available) we made a little profit which we want to donate to a shelter somewhere in the world.
Please cast your vote for one of the shelters. The voting will be open for a week, you should be able to vote once a day, on monday 20 June I will count the votes.... So start voting!
Vote for you favorite shelter
Friday, June 10, 2016
Friday video: Another shelter to vote for: Knaaghof, Rijswijk, The Netherlands
Our Peaches came from de Knaaghof, in Rijswijk, the Netherlands, which is not very far from our home. We would like to give the keyboard to Peaches as the spokespig who lived there.
(Peaches) Hi all, Peaches here. I was found in a patch of nature with some of my friends. We were living in the wild there and I can tell you this can be tough with all the rain, wind, cold and other animals. Luckily we were captured and taken to the Knaaghof before the winter really kicked in (Note from slave, I was adopted from the Knaaghof in November 2014). There they took good care of us and healed us if needed.
The Knaaghof, in dutch it translates to something like the 'gnaw court', is mostly populated with bunnies. Unfortunately there are way more bunnies needing a home, then guinea pigs are other rodents... But when our Roos had to leave us (my cuddle buddy), slaves contacted the Knaaghof to find us a new friend, but they only had 4 guinea pigs and all boars at that time. As we already have Berke slave looked further and eventually found Raani. So I guess the point I am trying to make is that this place has mostly rabbits and if this cause wins, the money will probably be going to rabbits mostly (which is not perse a bad thing, just want you to know this)!
We were taken good care of, the place is clean and seems organised, volunteers that work there are nice and seem knowledgeable. The bunnies have a great setup you can see that below in the video. There is a big play area in between the cages at the edges of the area. Every so much time one or more of the bunnies hatches are opened to let the bunnies in the big play area. It looked great. Us guinea pigs have sort of a big cabinet which can be divided in smaller areas. When there are not to many piggies in the shelter they will get as big a set up as possible. I had a rather big patch to myself with a house that I loved... I still love houses I have to say.
The Knaaghof is part of the Dutch Animal protection, I guess it is like the RSPCA, so they do loads of good work for animals, not just for bunnies and rodents.
The Knaaghof itself is located near a school where kids can learn about animal care, and part of their activities can involve helping out at the Knaaghof.
I hope I have given you a bit of insight into the Knaaghof, unfortunately their website is all in Dutch, so probably not very understandable for most of our readers, that I why I choose to add the video below to give you an idea of the shelter. The video has the purpose of getting more sponsors for the animals there, so it has a bit of a sad music, but it gives a rather good impression of the place!
(Peaches) Hi all, Peaches here. I was found in a patch of nature with some of my friends. We were living in the wild there and I can tell you this can be tough with all the rain, wind, cold and other animals. Luckily we were captured and taken to the Knaaghof before the winter really kicked in (Note from slave, I was adopted from the Knaaghof in November 2014). There they took good care of us and healed us if needed.
The Knaaghof, in dutch it translates to something like the 'gnaw court', is mostly populated with bunnies. Unfortunately there are way more bunnies needing a home, then guinea pigs are other rodents... But when our Roos had to leave us (my cuddle buddy), slaves contacted the Knaaghof to find us a new friend, but they only had 4 guinea pigs and all boars at that time. As we already have Berke slave looked further and eventually found Raani. So I guess the point I am trying to make is that this place has mostly rabbits and if this cause wins, the money will probably be going to rabbits mostly (which is not perse a bad thing, just want you to know this)!
We were taken good care of, the place is clean and seems organised, volunteers that work there are nice and seem knowledgeable. The bunnies have a great setup you can see that below in the video. There is a big play area in between the cages at the edges of the area. Every so much time one or more of the bunnies hatches are opened to let the bunnies in the big play area. It looked great. Us guinea pigs have sort of a big cabinet which can be divided in smaller areas. When there are not to many piggies in the shelter they will get as big a set up as possible. I had a rather big patch to myself with a house that I loved... I still love houses I have to say.
The Knaaghof is part of the Dutch Animal protection, I guess it is like the RSPCA, so they do loads of good work for animals, not just for bunnies and rodents.
The Knaaghof itself is located near a school where kids can learn about animal care, and part of their activities can involve helping out at the Knaaghof.
I hope I have given you a bit of insight into the Knaaghof, unfortunately their website is all in Dutch, so probably not very understandable for most of our readers, that I why I choose to add the video below to give you an idea of the shelter. The video has the purpose of getting more sponsors for the animals there, so it has a bit of a sad music, but it gives a rather good impression of the place!
Monday, June 6, 2016
Another shelter to consider for your vote.
Tyrion Piggyfriend here again. When I was at Palace Piggies collecting my new friends, Slave asked the girls if they knew of another worthy shelter for whom you could vote. They told us about East Peckham Guinea Pig Rescue, who helped them in a recent rescue of over 300 piggies. They told us about a lady who had dementia and insisted on putting all her piggies together regardless of sex and the resulting explosion of piggies needed all the help that they could get. They were all collected and distributed amongst any rescue that could help.
Palace Piggies and East Peckham have many pregnant piggies because of this.
East Peckham have a Facebook page, which you can look at.
https://www.facebook.com/eastpeckhamguineapigrescuepage/
And here is their web page.
http://eastpeckhamguineapigrescue.weebly.com/
They have a news page and here is a link to one page that tells a bit about this huge rescue from Bracknell. The poor piggies were just packed into various crates and boxes for collection and you can see a few pigtures of the victims here.
http://eastpeckhamguineapigrescue.weebly.com/10042016-bracknell-part2.html
I think that my new friends might have been part of this rescue but there were piggies everywhere. The rescues were overwhelmed by this piggy disaster and whomever you decide to vote for, anywhere in the world, will welcome the profit from our card game sale.
Palace Piggies and East Peckham have many pregnant piggies because of this.
East Peckham have a Facebook page, which you can look at.
https://www.facebook.com/eastpeckhamguineapigrescuepage/
And here is their web page.
http://eastpeckhamguineapigrescue.weebly.com/
They have a news page and here is a link to one page that tells a bit about this huge rescue from Bracknell. The poor piggies were just packed into various crates and boxes for collection and you can see a few pigtures of the victims here.
http://eastpeckhamguineapigrescue.weebly.com/10042016-bracknell-part2.html
I think that my new friends might have been part of this rescue but there were piggies everywhere. The rescues were overwhelmed by this piggy disaster and whomever you decide to vote for, anywhere in the world, will welcome the profit from our card game sale.
Sunday, June 5, 2016
Kindergarten Agents. New agents in training
Tyrion Piggyfriend here. Readers of the GPDD will know that my dear friend, Gandalf aka Agent Wizard, passed away recently. I am not an Agent but was Gandalf's right paw pig and helped write up his reports as well as taking care of the other Piggyfriends when all the Agents are away on missions.
Gandalf looked after me when I arrived here as a tiny piglet so I was very lonely without him and our Slave decided to find me a new friend.
GPDDers can skip to the pigtures here as they know the story.
Slave took me to Palace Piggies as they had recently rescued over 300 piggies from a very sad situation and Slave felt sure that there would be a friend waiting for me there.
She found a little black and tan fuzzy babe whom she thought that I might like and we were introduced in the Palace Piggies playpen. This tiny babe ran around the pen and then settled down for a nap under my coat so we were ready to come home with him. Then Lynn and Liz, who run Palace Piggies, suggested that this babe might need a tiny friend to play with. Now our Slave has never wanted to have a trio of boars as it is rare for them to get on - we often have groups of sows but not boars - but against her better judgment, she went back to the adoption shed and came back with another babe - a tiny red ball of fuzz, who also ran around the playpen and settled down next to me. So, Slave agreed to take both the babes. Lynn and Liz said that she could always bring one back if a trio did not work out but anyone who knows our Slave will also know that she could never do that.
Now to the pigtures.....
Here we are in the carrier waiting to come home. The babes were named at Palace Piggies.You can just see Ivan, the black and tan one at the back and Magnus, the red one, is nearer the front. They both sat nicely beside me in the car coming back and we nibbled veggies.
When we got home, Slave put the babes into a tub to take this pigture. I think that Slave was persuaded to take the extra piggy as he looks very much like her Rolo from years ago - before there were any piggy Agents. She loves a red pig.
Here we are in what was Gandalf's and my pen just after we got home.
Here you can see how tiny Ivan is!
And here I am with Magnus, who is just a little bit bigger.
This is the last pigure - all of us together enjoying some grass.
Neither of the little boars shows any sign of dominance. We are all getting on well together at the moment but Slave is keeping a watchful eye out for when they grow. I miss Gandalf ( so does our Slave ) but these little fellows are keeping me company whilst I teach them how to be Agents when they get bigger. They have a lot of growing to do.
When we were at Palace Piggies, Slave asked Lynn and Liz if they knew of a worthy piggy rescue that I could nominate for the proceeds of the sale of our card game. We cannot nominate Palace Piggies as they were the winners a couple of years ago. I'll tell you who they suggested in my next post.
Gandalf looked after me when I arrived here as a tiny piglet so I was very lonely without him and our Slave decided to find me a new friend.
GPDDers can skip to the pigtures here as they know the story.
Slave took me to Palace Piggies as they had recently rescued over 300 piggies from a very sad situation and Slave felt sure that there would be a friend waiting for me there.
She found a little black and tan fuzzy babe whom she thought that I might like and we were introduced in the Palace Piggies playpen. This tiny babe ran around the pen and then settled down for a nap under my coat so we were ready to come home with him. Then Lynn and Liz, who run Palace Piggies, suggested that this babe might need a tiny friend to play with. Now our Slave has never wanted to have a trio of boars as it is rare for them to get on - we often have groups of sows but not boars - but against her better judgment, she went back to the adoption shed and came back with another babe - a tiny red ball of fuzz, who also ran around the playpen and settled down next to me. So, Slave agreed to take both the babes. Lynn and Liz said that she could always bring one back if a trio did not work out but anyone who knows our Slave will also know that she could never do that.
Now to the pigtures.....
Neither of the little boars shows any sign of dominance. We are all getting on well together at the moment but Slave is keeping a watchful eye out for when they grow. I miss Gandalf ( so does our Slave ) but these little fellows are keeping me company whilst I teach them how to be Agents when they get bigger. They have a lot of growing to do.
When we were at Palace Piggies, Slave asked Lynn and Liz if they knew of a worthy piggy rescue that I could nominate for the proceeds of the sale of our card game. We cannot nominate Palace Piggies as they were the winners a couple of years ago. I'll tell you who they suggested in my next post.
Friday, June 3, 2016
Friday video: Vote for Sharna's cavy sanctuary
Hi there,
Some time ago we asked for your nominations, and one of my nominations was Sharna's Cavy Sanctuary. The sanctuary is in Australia (Brisbane, I believe), and I do not know her in person. But she has been very active on social media like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, making me feel like I have an idea what she does for guinea pigs. She seems a nice lady who cares a lot about her rescues, but sometimes other people will not be so nice about what she is doing... I am not sure why though, as I have seen her try to get piggies back that went to someone who then did not want it anymore because they were not babies... I hope we can donate to her as she (as all shelters) can need a little help in feeding all those piggy mouths.
From their website:
Here's video of (part of) her setup
I enjoyed this video of a piggy jumping:
Happy friday!
Mikey and the Guinygirlz Peaches, Tijger and Raani and boar Berke.
p.s. If you still wish to nominate a shelter.... be fast in doing so by commenting here or in the original nomination post who you nominate and why.
Some time ago we asked for your nominations, and one of my nominations was Sharna's Cavy Sanctuary. The sanctuary is in Australia (Brisbane, I believe), and I do not know her in person. But she has been very active on social media like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, making me feel like I have an idea what she does for guinea pigs. She seems a nice lady who cares a lot about her rescues, but sometimes other people will not be so nice about what she is doing... I am not sure why though, as I have seen her try to get piggies back that went to someone who then did not want it anymore because they were not babies... I hope we can donate to her as she (as all shelters) can need a little help in feeding all those piggy mouths.
From their website:
"We are a small family run, home based, guinea pig sanctuary .
We believe education is the key to changing the future for guinea pigs everywhere.
Our aim is to educate people wherever we can, whilst rescuing, rehabilitating and re homing happy, healthy and bonded guinea pigs.
We offer a sanctuary to guinea pigs that are not able to be rehomed, whether due to old age or re occurring illnesses.
We offer boarding and grooming services as well as food, hay and other piggy products including cages .
We want to support you and your piggies .
We are self funded and every single cent goes straight back into the sanctuary and the daily running costs for the guinea pigs in our care including vet bills."
"We have been helping guinea pigs for 2 years now and have learnt so much in the process and continue to learn more and more .
I kind of just fell into it, you could say i was a little lost at the time with the recent passing of my mum.
Once i saw the huge need for help in the area of re homing and rescuing guinea pigs, i couldn't turn my back .
Once my eyes were opened to the huge problem Australia wide (worldwide too), i couldn't be blissfully ignorant anymore.
Now i just have a burning passion inside for the little fluff balls.
They're amazing pets if you can get off on the right foot with them.
With lots of contradicting products and information floating around, we like to make ourselves available to anyone with questions or help regarding their guinea pigs."
Here's video of (part of) her setup
I enjoyed this video of a piggy jumping:
Happy friday!
Mikey and the Guinygirlz Peaches, Tijger and Raani and boar Berke.
p.s. If you still wish to nominate a shelter.... be fast in doing so by commenting here or in the original nomination post who you nominate and why.
Tuesday, May 24, 2016
New Agent-in-Training
Introducing Raani... our newest cage mate. She joined us after we had to say goodbye to Roos.
Why Raani? You might wonder. Those of you who speak Hindi, or any of the other languages where Raani actually means something, know Raani means Queen.
Our slaves have quite a long history of being owned by Rex and US teddy cavies, and with the loss of Roos (a US Teddy) they no longer had a curly fuzzy guinea pig to own them. We think this was one of the first times in their guinea pigs owning time that they were without a US teddy or Rex. So of course they had to change that, which explains how Raani came to be with us. Raani is a Rex, and in Latin (and probably some other languages) this is the word for 'King', as this did not seem that fitting for a sow we went for a translation of 'Queen'.
Raani was 6 weeks old and weighed 290 grammes when she joined us, now she is almost 14 weeks old and about half a kilo (500 grammes) in weight! She just keep munching and eating and thus putting on weight. Even when most of us had a pneumonia, or the snuffles at the least, she was fine (as checked by the vet. So far she seems to be a healthy piggy!
The other Guinygirlz: Peaches and Tijger and boar Bérke
Why Raani? You might wonder. Those of you who speak Hindi, or any of the other languages where Raani actually means something, know Raani means Queen.
Our slaves have quite a long history of being owned by Rex and US teddy cavies, and with the loss of Roos (a US Teddy) they no longer had a curly fuzzy guinea pig to own them. We think this was one of the first times in their guinea pigs owning time that they were without a US teddy or Rex. So of course they had to change that, which explains how Raani came to be with us. Raani is a Rex, and in Latin (and probably some other languages) this is the word for 'King', as this did not seem that fitting for a sow we went for a translation of 'Queen'.
Raani was 6 weeks old and weighed 290 grammes when she joined us, now she is almost 14 weeks old and about half a kilo (500 grammes) in weight! She just keep munching and eating and thus putting on weight. Even when most of us had a pneumonia, or the snuffles at the least, she was fine (as checked by the vet. So far she seems to be a healthy piggy!
The other Guinygirlz: Peaches and Tijger and boar Bérke
Monday, May 23, 2016
Piggy A-Z C is for Charity: Vote for TEAS
What is TEAS?
The Excellent Adventure Sanctuary (TEAS) was established in 2011, to provide permanent care for guinea pigs with additional needs, chiefly dental. We are lucky to have two exceptional vets nearby, who are both knowledgeable and skilled in guinea pig dentistry, with many success stories to their names. It is for this reason that we exist, as the only dental sanctuary in the country.
We are currently HMRC registered, in the process of applying for registered charity status. It has always been important to us to be registered as we wanted everything we do to be official and transparent, rather than just be a ‘back yard’ operation.
Where are we located?
Contrary to popular belief, TEAS is not a large, multi-staffed centre.
The charity is run predominantly by Debbie from her modest, semi detached house in East Hunsbury, Northampton, which is where all the hard work happens. Additional permanent places and supportive care are provided from another modest, semi detached house in West Hunsbury, Northampton.
Who runs TEAS?
There are currently four individuals who form the board and are involved in the decision making at TEAS, two of whom work directly with the pigs. The day to day running of the charity and care is carried out primarily by Debbie Postles, who
accommodates the majority of the residents at her home. Emma and Andrew Hartley currently have nine permanent residents at their home. Steve Turner is the TEAS Sanctuary Treasurer.
What do we do?
As well as providing care for poorly piggies, the board members of TEAS also have to make time for full time, paid employment
No mention of TEAS would be complete without mentioning the Lethals.
A Lethal is usually the product of breeding where both parents have the Roan gene. The result in 25% of offspring is a Lethal which usually suffers blindness, deafness and often has dental issues. There can also be other physicsl issues.
TEAS was founded on looking after Lethals and currenly has 10 Lethals as permanent Residents.
With loving care they can enjoy as long as any normal Guinea Pig.
Stanley came to the Sanctuary from The Littlest Rescue in Bristol, who had rescued several
lethal pigs. Stanley was sent to TEAS because of the specialist veterinary treatment he is likely to need.
Stanley lives with Albert and Basil.
SOME SANCTUARY SUCCESS STORIES
Permanent Residents
Archie - Archie came to the Sanctuary from Cavy Corner. The vet in Doncaster had said he had lost the swallow reflex and he was booked in to be pts. He was brought to see Simon as a last ditch attempt to get help for him, and he began to make progress. Archie lived a wonderful life, but needed ongoing dental care. He survived two abscesses, but his health began to fail over Easter and he was pts. This was almost two years to the day he had been booked in for euthanasia in Doncaster.
Kevin - Kevin was brought to the Sanctuary after being found with his brother Perry in a back garden and taken to BARC. He was in a dreadful state and weighed just 365g. After just three dental treatments from Simon he was fully recovered and is now a strong, healthy piggie, weighing 1.1 kg.
Temporary Residents
Skye - Skye travelled from Wrexham to the Sanctuary to enable her to receive treatment from Simon and the supportive care the Sanctuary offers. She made steady progress and returned home within three weeks.
Cornflake - Cornflake travelled from Exeter. He was a very poorly boy when he arrived but after the first dental treatment he began to eat for himself, and after two more treatments he was ready to return home.
Rose - Rose travelled from Cardiff. She had just started to develop a head tilt in addition to her dental issues and by the time she arrived at the Sanctuary her eye was also starting to bulge. She was immediately seen by Simon who diagnosed a retrobulbar abscess and he feared she may lose her eye. He added lubrication and stitched the affected eye closed and treated her dental issues. Rose needed three further dental treatments and the swift action to close the eye meant her eye was saved. She returned home after spending 6 weeks at the Sanctuary.
The Excellent Adventure Sanctuary (TEAS) was established in 2011, to provide permanent care for guinea pigs with additional needs, chiefly dental. We are lucky to have two exceptional vets nearby, who are both knowledgeable and skilled in guinea pig dentistry, with many success stories to their names. It is for this reason that we exist, as the only dental sanctuary in the country.
We are currently HMRC registered, in the process of applying for registered charity status. It has always been important to us to be registered as we wanted everything we do to be official and transparent, rather than just be a ‘back yard’ operation.
Where are we located?
Contrary to popular belief, TEAS is not a large, multi-staffed centre.
The charity is run predominantly by Debbie from her modest, semi detached house in East Hunsbury, Northampton, which is where all the hard work happens. Additional permanent places and supportive care are provided from another modest, semi detached house in West Hunsbury, Northampton.
Who runs TEAS?
There are currently four individuals who form the board and are involved in the decision making at TEAS, two of whom work directly with the pigs. The day to day running of the charity and care is carried out primarily by Debbie Postles, who
accommodates the majority of the residents at her home. Emma and Andrew Hartley currently have nine permanent residents at their home. Steve Turner is the TEAS Sanctuary Treasurer.
What do we do?
As well as providing care for poorly piggies, the board members of TEAS also have to make time for full time, paid employment
No mention of TEAS would be complete without mentioning the Lethals.
A Lethal is usually the product of breeding where both parents have the Roan gene. The result in 25% of offspring is a Lethal which usually suffers blindness, deafness and often has dental issues. There can also be other physicsl issues.
TEAS was founded on looking after Lethals and currenly has 10 Lethals as permanent Residents.
With loving care they can enjoy as long as any normal Guinea Pig.
Stanley came to the Sanctuary from The Littlest Rescue in Bristol, who had rescued several
lethal pigs. Stanley was sent to TEAS because of the specialist veterinary treatment he is likely to need.
Stanley lives with Albert and Basil.
SOME SANCTUARY SUCCESS STORIES
Permanent Residents
Archie - Archie came to the Sanctuary from Cavy Corner. The vet in Doncaster had said he had lost the swallow reflex and he was booked in to be pts. He was brought to see Simon as a last ditch attempt to get help for him, and he began to make progress. Archie lived a wonderful life, but needed ongoing dental care. He survived two abscesses, but his health began to fail over Easter and he was pts. This was almost two years to the day he had been booked in for euthanasia in Doncaster.
Kevin - Kevin was brought to the Sanctuary after being found with his brother Perry in a back garden and taken to BARC. He was in a dreadful state and weighed just 365g. After just three dental treatments from Simon he was fully recovered and is now a strong, healthy piggie, weighing 1.1 kg.
Temporary Residents
Skye - Skye travelled from Wrexham to the Sanctuary to enable her to receive treatment from Simon and the supportive care the Sanctuary offers. She made steady progress and returned home within three weeks.
Cornflake - Cornflake travelled from Exeter. He was a very poorly boy when he arrived but after the first dental treatment he began to eat for himself, and after two more treatments he was ready to return home.
Rose - Rose travelled from Cardiff. She had just started to develop a head tilt in addition to her dental issues and by the time she arrived at the Sanctuary her eye was also starting to bulge. She was immediately seen by Simon who diagnosed a retrobulbar abscess and he feared she may lose her eye. He added lubrication and stitched the affected eye closed and treated her dental issues. Rose needed three further dental treatments and the swift action to close the eye meant her eye was saved. She returned home after spending 6 weeks at the Sanctuary.
Friday, May 20, 2016
Henry Piggyfriend finds his namesake
I have not been desginated as an Agent but I thought that I would share this pigture.
This big, noisy machine comes along every morning to clear up the hay that our Slave drops on the carpet when she cleans out our pens and look it has the same name as me! It seems very happy with its job so maybe we should throw more hay about to keep it busy. It eats hay just like we do.
Saturday, May 14, 2016
A Piggy A - Z. D is for Dandelion.
We expect that you are all familiar with dandelions. Our Slave grows them for us in her garden. Here is a photo of some growing in her herb garden.
Most gardeners would consider them weeds but our Slave scatters the seed heads around to ensure that there are always plenty for us to eat. She also brings them home from clients' gardens.
Here is a bunch that she has picked.
They wilt very quickly but when there are guinea pigs around, this is not a problem.
Here is Roisin Piggyfriend enjoying a flower.
And then a leaf.
Gandalf ( Agent Wizard ) loves dandelions.
And so does his best friend, Tyrion.
Our dandelions are very safe to eat as our Slave never uses any chemicals in her garden but if your Slave picks them make sure that they have not been sprayed with anything nasty.
We wish that we could have them all year round but, in England, they are only available from Spring to Autumn so we make the most of them whilst we can.
Do you like Dandelions? Do you have a piggy whose name begins with D for our A - Z? If so, we'd love to see a pigture and a story. Click on Contribute at the top of our page and follow the very easy instructions.
Here is a bunch that she has picked.
Here is Roisin Piggyfriend enjoying a flower.
We wish that we could have them all year round but, in England, they are only available from Spring to Autumn so we make the most of them whilst we can.
Do you like Dandelions? Do you have a piggy whose name begins with D for our A - Z? If so, we'd love to see a pigture and a story. Click on Contribute at the top of our page and follow the very easy instructions.
Monday, May 9, 2016
Happy Mother's Day!
Mother's Day is May 8th in the US. Here is a photoshoot from Dmitri, Agent Popcorn, and Dante Wigglebottom!
Friday, May 6, 2016
Roos in pigtures (with some (friday) videos)
This message has been long overdue. Maybe a week before Easter, our gorgeous Roos was squeaking in pain. We gave her some pain meds, and she seemed to approve a bit, same thing the next day, as it was almost weekend (and vets would be closed) we took her to the vet. She had diarrhea so we got some Cisaral to keep the gut moving and some painkiller (Carprofen) - Both fall in the Piggy a-z for C? but I am not too sure how dutch these names are..
She seemed to be okay and the diarrhea cleared up, but something seemed not right to me. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention she kept getting very bloated, but it did not sound like gas, and felt more spongy. I got a message from my boyfriend who was home earlier then I was, that she was bloated again. This was just before the long Easter weekend. I called the vet hoping to get an appointment that evening. They had a spot, so Erwin (boyfriend) took her to the vet and I traveled to the vet as well... News was not good, she had a bladder stone and it was lodged in her urethra.
Diagnosis was not so good, and the vet was hesitant to operate, as this would very likely damage the nerves there and make her unable to hold up her pee... So we were left with the choice to either find a vet willing to operate (it was almost eight in the evening then) or have her put to sleep. It was a hard decision to make as up until recently she did not seem ill at all... But mostly because of the small chance of her healing up well (if surviving surgery at all, piggies are just so fragile), we decided to have her put to sleep. She went to sleep very fast, and we were sad, but also hoping we made the right choice in stopping her suffering.
Roos was a gift from me to Erwin for his birthday 4 years ago. We had her for exactly 4 years, she was 4,5 years old, as she was put down the evening before Erwin's birthday. She was one of the sweetest piggies we have ever had. I remember the lady we got her from telling us, she was very tame. I wondered why she said that, because she seemed very afraid of us at first, not tame at all. However when she got used to us she was really a sweet thing. We could pet her in the cage, and she did the cutest thing. If you stopped petting her, usually she had lain down already enjoying the massage, she would lift up her head as if to say 'Don't stop!'. Towards the other piggies she could be quite strict, after Woopy left us, she was the new ruler, with a bit of an iron paw. But she could also be really sweet snuggling with Peaches (a lot!). This surprised me as well, because when we just got Peaches, Roos would chase her around endlessly...
Here's some more pigtures and video's of Roos... we miss ya!
She seemed to be okay and the diarrhea cleared up, but something seemed not right to me. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention she kept getting very bloated, but it did not sound like gas, and felt more spongy. I got a message from my boyfriend who was home earlier then I was, that she was bloated again. This was just before the long Easter weekend. I called the vet hoping to get an appointment that evening. They had a spot, so Erwin (boyfriend) took her to the vet and I traveled to the vet as well... News was not good, she had a bladder stone and it was lodged in her urethra.
Diagnosis was not so good, and the vet was hesitant to operate, as this would very likely damage the nerves there and make her unable to hold up her pee... So we were left with the choice to either find a vet willing to operate (it was almost eight in the evening then) or have her put to sleep. It was a hard decision to make as up until recently she did not seem ill at all... But mostly because of the small chance of her healing up well (if surviving surgery at all, piggies are just so fragile), we decided to have her put to sleep. She went to sleep very fast, and we were sad, but also hoping we made the right choice in stopping her suffering.
Roos was a gift from me to Erwin for his birthday 4 years ago. We had her for exactly 4 years, she was 4,5 years old, as she was put down the evening before Erwin's birthday. She was one of the sweetest piggies we have ever had. I remember the lady we got her from telling us, she was very tame. I wondered why she said that, because she seemed very afraid of us at first, not tame at all. However when she got used to us she was really a sweet thing. We could pet her in the cage, and she did the cutest thing. If you stopped petting her, usually she had lain down already enjoying the massage, she would lift up her head as if to say 'Don't stop!'. Towards the other piggies she could be quite strict, after Woopy left us, she was the new ruler, with a bit of an iron paw. But she could also be really sweet snuggling with Peaches (a lot!). This surprised me as well, because when we just got Peaches, Roos would chase her around endlessly...
Here's some more pigtures and video's of Roos... we miss ya!
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| An old line up: Lily, Roos (a few months old there), Daisy and Woopy |
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