PiggieDating: Our visit to t Kuufke

When we arrived we were put in this big cage and
a black, brown and white boar came in...

The first attempt at matching us was succesful: So this is our new friend Bérke,
which means 'little bear' in southern dutch dialect

Alright mom, stop taking pigtures... (Of course she took loads more)

One of the volunteers at t Kuufke had a soft spot for rexes and US teddies, so she also took pigtures of our girls with Bérke... They are now on t Kuufke's facebookpage! The text above the photo says 2 boars were rehomed (our Bérke and a new friend for our cousins Bo and Coco ;), a bit about what was done that day in the shelter and about the calender and thanking everyone who voted for them and the people who made the calendar possible.

So as you probably remember t Kuufke was the shelter who won our donation for this years' Undercover guinea pigs Calendar proceeds. We donated a total of 150 euros to them, they were really happy with it, and let us know that 6 boars can be neutered with our donation (Sorry guys!). This will help those guys find a new home with one or more nice sows.
Thanks everyone for making the calendar possible again by sending in lovely pigture, and buying the calendar. I want to send a special thank you to the people who donated extra, you know who you are ;) Of course we couldn't not show you a bit of the shelter, so here is a short impression

Some of the cages at t Kuufke....

The big pen with elderly piggies and other piggies that will not be rehomed

Spencer, he reminded us very much of our late Chico

Farouk, Piaras in the back

One of the piggies in the elderly group

The shelter also takes care of gerbils, hamsters, mice, rabbits...
And these two Chinchilla's...

and Degus, this is the ladies group: a big pile of degus...

Friday Video: the Cutest Animals

Even though we disagree with the title (guinea pigs are the cutest!). We must admit, they are pretty cute


Have a cute Wheekend!

RIP Sjeuf

We get writer's block when one of our herd goes to the rainbow bridge. We absolutely hate it when it happens and prefer to sulk quietly in a corner and blink away a few tears. Then we move on, every now and then enjoying the memories we have. We are not good at writing long memorials, even though every pig who lived with us fully deserves one.

This is why we are so late in telling you guys that our Sjeuf passed away on Christmas morning. J found him face down in the cage. We are still not sure what happened.

Sjeuf, we love you and miss you. Happy popcorning at the bridge and say hi to our friends from us.

Shy boy

Rest in peace, sweetie

Coco, Bo and Janneke

Piggie Dating: The time is almost here... (updated again!)

So upcoming saturday we will travel to t Kuufke to find us a new friend! Our Auntie J's girls Coco and Bo will also come along to find a new friend for themselves.

This means the piggies that are now in the shelter are actually likely candidates to come home with us!
The Boars
Currently there are 11 boars that are not reserved already, and who have been helped so they can join us without adding more piggies to our herd...

Mom still really likes Farouk, he was born in November 2013.

Farouk has been reserved for a new home...

Dad likes Rob, he's from February 2013

And then there is Berke, he's from Oktober 2011, so he is one month older then our Roos

A big favorite of both our slaves is Spencer, but he has not been neutered....

If you want to see all neutered boars, have a look here, the ones with text below it in red are already reserved (like Connal).

The Sows

There are 4 sows at the moment that are not reserved already. We have no real preference for them and will see how they are in real life this saturday...

Gaella has been rehomed last wednesday!

This last lady Tilde is already reserved, and still pregnant at the moment, but Mom loves her looks...

Tilde gave birth to 4 piglets thurday night, 3 boars, 1 sow

You can see her kids on Kuufke's facebook page:
See their Pigtures
Wish us good luck this Saturday, we will report once we have news...

Wheekz,
the Guinygirlz

Friday Video: Amazing Rat Tricks

Amazing rat tricks, need we say more?



Have a nice Wheekend!

Piggies of the month March

Rocky and Barney are my two mischievous 3lb.+ boars, and they are quite a handful, but I wouldn't trade them for anything.

Rocky is the black and white Peruvian, and I adopted him when he was almost 1 year old about 8 months ago. I have no idea how old Barney is, but if I had to guess I'd say he's at least 3, maybe 4; I've had him for about 2 years.
Rocky and Barney are special because they are the first two pigs I have rescued. Rocky came from a home where little kids were tired of him (I am his third home); at his first home he was separated from the other boar he lived with (Ugh). Barney came free from a horrible petstore employee whom he was living with (Barney had been brought back because he got 'too big').

Barney lived a peaceful and happy existence staring longingly at the sows until the arrival of Rocky. I had hoped to bond them considering Rocky had a friend before, but they hate each other with a passion. That is how Rocky got his name, because he 'rocked' Barney's world. Side by side in pictures is as close as they should get  :) Although the boars can't get along with one another, individually they are big lovers. Rocky loves to snuggle and he is so pretty, he could have been a show pig.

Barney is Mr. Personality, he is the most intelligent pig I have ever had, and he likes just hanging out with me. He is also fearless for a rodent, I always say he should have been a dog. Sometimes I put Rocky and Barney together during floor time with plenty of space and watch them like a hawk. One time I ran at Barney to stop him from going after Rocky and he didn't even scatter or flinch, he just looked at me like "mom, I was just protecting you from that horrible boar". He does the same thing when the actual dog rushes him in the outside cage (it's dog proof). I was also told by the cable guy last week that Barney "barked at him." I love both my boars, and those of you that have boars know how fun they can be!

Anneli with pigs Rocky, Barney, Nutmeg, and Clover.

We would like to enrol as Agents

Hello everyone. We are Lotte and Lola Piggyfriend and we were left at our new Slave's local animal shelter.

 

As you can see, we look exactly alike and some of the Piggyfriend Agents suggested that we might be able to join the illustrious ranks of Undercover Piggies as our powers of deception might come in handy. Which one of us is which? We don't know and Slave certainly doesn't either so she calls us by the collective name of Lottelola or else the Lima Ladies as we look just like Lima Piggyfriend from long ago.

 

We currently live together but when we have finished our quarantine ( not long to go now ) we will both move in with one of the piggy groups in the next room. We eat everything that Slave has offered but she is surprised that we do not immediately rush for the cucumber slices as, apparently, the other residents snap those up first.

 

Susie and Sally have already taken the joint name of Agents Gemini, which would have suited us well so Slave suggested we call ourselves collectively Agents 88. She says that that number is called "Two fat ladies" in a human game called Bingo and we think that is a perfect decription of our piggy shapes. Slave says that most of the Piggyfriends arrive here in need of a good meal or six but we must have been well fed in our previous home.

 

So, if we might be permitted to join, we will promise to use our sneakiness at pretending to be only one piggy whilst the other is off Agenting.

Friday Video: Why Guinea Pigs Need Hay

A good video on hay. Not to mention cute pigs. We ourselves get big bales of hay from a farmer as we don't have all the brands that skinnypigs mentions in the Netherlands. The bales of hay are actually meant for horses and since our intestinal tracts are very similar it works for us too (not to mention that it smells really good. Not an uncessary luxury when you live in a tiny appartment)

Have a nice Wheekend!

Pre-dating: More boars to choose from...

The Human was doing a little Whoop last weekend, as she read on the Kuufke website that more boars are planned to be neutered on 26th of March. so that is today the poor guys... This means that when we visit t Kuufke in a little over 3 weeks, we have more choice... But really was a Whoop necessary? The poor boars...
Daddy slave was not so excited as mommy, he feels their pain probably.

Boars
You can see on their website who will be helped today, intact boars now have a red text with 26-3-2014 behind their names (intact boars), or once all is done and the website is updated they will just have today's date (neutered boars) behind their names. Willem is now on the list, but as we said before he has already been reserved :( though this is of course very good news for him!

The boys who will visit the vet today are Coyle, Cullen, Cassidy, Connolly, Connal, Callaghan, Berke, Valentijn and Ferdinard. We think all the C boys have the Irish names Penny mentioned before! Turns out Coyle was not neutered today but Farouk was, he seems extremely handsome..

Mom likes Connal, he seems quite young in the picture but was already born in September last year. He came from a shelter in Belgium and is staying at t Kuufke since 21 December 2013.

Do you see any boars you like? 

Mom also likes Mika, he is still under the intact boars so he won't be coming home with us...

Sows
Gemma, Gaia's little girl, is still at 't Kuufke shelter, so she is still an option. But the shelter posted a really cute pigture of her on their facebook page, showing us her curious nature.

Me? Curious? What makes you think that?

Only two and a half weeks until we get to visit the shelter and hopefully find a new friend...


Wheeks, The Guinygirlz: Woopy, Daisy and Roos

Friday Video: Guinea Pigs Popcorning

The sun is shining here in the Netherlands, so let the popcorning commence!



Have a Sunny Wheekend!

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Happy Saint Patrick's Day from Agent Yougie and Apollo! Edgeworth is feeling a wee bit under the weather, so he abstained from this photo shoot but he got into the green spirit!

Top of the Morning everyone!

On behalf of the Piggyfriends, Agent Minty ( aka Polo ) would like to wish everyone a very happy St. Patrick's Day.

 

Carrot wine all round. Slainte! ( Cheers! ).

Friday Video: James Bond Squirrel

Has anyone recruited this little guy yet?



Have an Adventurous Wheekend!

Piggie dating: Did we start too early?

Hi all,

We have another update about our potential new cage mate.
Maybe we started this 'looking-at-possible-candidates' a bit too early...

The Boars
Arjen, the cute boar, is gone, so that is good news for him as he has found a new forever home.
Willem, the CH(swiss) Teddy, has been reserved so he will leave soon to his new forever home.
Chip, the nice silver one, has also gone to his new forever home!
So that were our male candidates... they all found a new home, so they will not be coming home with us...

Our female slave really has a weak spot for Piaras, but he is still intact so chances of him coming home with us are quite small...
Piaras, born 11 February at the shelter

Mom loves his little face... unfortunately (for us) he is still intact

The Sows
As said Gaia has been reserved to go to her new home as soon as her babies are ready for her to leave. Her little daughter Gemma is still at the shelter, so she is still an option.

Mom and dad however were ooh-ing and aah-ing over this little girl named Chloe
Chloë, born 18 February at the new home of her mom Cathleen (Cathleen was rehomed without knowing she was pregnant)

our slaves: AAAAaaaaaawww, what a cutie! *melt*

There are more little ones who look cute, and we heard from our good friends the GekkeFlappies (Agent zeppelin and Pepper) that some new piggies arrived from Brussels, 2 of them are sows...

To be continued...
the Guinygirlz: Woopy, Daisy & Roos

Friday Video: Peter Gurney

Light a candle this wheekend..

Peter Gurney Memorial: this Sunday 9 March

From the GPDD:

"Everyone is invited to participate in our Annual Candle-Lighting Memorial, on March 9th, at 8:00 pm, in your particular time zone.  This is our annual candle-light memorial to officially remember Peter Gurney and all of our dear friends, both 2 and 4 legged, who are no longer with us, but are together at the Rainbow Bridge.  This has been our annual tradition for the past 8 years, and all you have to do is light a candle on March 9th, at around 8:00 pm, in memory of the piggies, and others that we want to remember.

For those who want to read more about this wonderful tradition of the GPDD, see the GPDD homepage, (www.gpdd.org), and the wonderful map and list of all the places where candles were lit last year.

Please mark your calendars for March 9th, 8:00 pm, and be a part of this wonderful memorial.  After March 9th, I'll ask you to post on the GPDD and let me know where you lit your candle - city, state, and country.

As candles are lit in each time zone, the light will move around the world, and all those at the Rainbow Bridge will see our lights, and know that we are thinking of them.

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

Piggie dating: Guinygirlz update

So here is a small update, as could partly be read in the comments of our previous post.

We are pretty sure that the people that came to see Chip liked him, as he is no longer on the kuufke website. We are glad he found a new home but a bit sad we did not get to date this pretty silver boy.  Our mom's colleague already named him shadow.

There is now a picture of Gaia's daughter Gemma and her 2 sons on the website. See the boys Gijs and Goofy here

Isn't she the cutest?

In other good news (for us) Arjen and Willem are still there, though unfortunately (for us again) Willem is still intact so he cannot join us...

And the winner is....

Dutch shelter: 't Kuufke!!!

We would like to thank everyone who voted for them, and the other shelters.
We will have to do the precise maths, but we think 150 euros were raised by selling calendars, plus some extra donations.  You know who you are, thanks!

As the Guinygirlz wrote in their post, we will visit the shelter in April, hopefully we can them let you know what they did with our donation.

A very big thank you again to everyone who contributed pigtures, bought calendars, nominated shelters, voted for them and told others to vote!!

The blogging trinity
Mieke, M and Janneke

Friday Video: Shopping Penguin

Guinea Pig! Pig Pig Pig, Guinea Pig!
*picture happy dancing pigs in the Winky team cage*
Hat tip for the Guinygirls ;-)


Have a Piggy Wheekend!

Piggy dating: Guinygirlz pre-dating

Hi all,

As you probably all read our lovely friend and even niece Lily (Daisy was Lily's aunt eventhough Daisy was a day younger: Daisy's dad was Lily's grandpa ;)) left us for the bridge due to an inoperable mass in her tummy.
Eventhough we are all very sad about this, this also offers us the opportunity to find a new friend. And thus help another piggy in need of a forever home.
The plan is to go to the nominated shelter t Kuufke on April 12th.

To prepare ourselves we had a look at their website and their available piggies at the moment.

Our slaves said they liked (click on their pigtures to enlarge):

The Candidates

• sow Gaia, born november 2013 (still pregnant in the pigtures, gave birth to 3 babies on 16 February)

 

But unfortunately for our slaves she is already reserved. Slaves are hoping a bit that (one of) her babies will be old enough to date us.

• boar Arjen, born January 2012(?)

The texts say: "what does it smell like?" and "I think... like... sows!"

• boar Chip, born May 2013

Some days ago both Chip and Arjen got neutered, so they can join us in April if we like them!!

More up to date pigture of Arjen

• boar Willem, born 23 November 2012

Willem is still intact, so we are afraid we cannot date him. Our cousins Bo and Coco (or at least their slave) also like Willem, but it seems like we will not be fighting over him soon..

We will keep you up to date, as there can be added new favorites to our (slaves) list, and they could be reserved to go and live with other people and their guinea pigs...

The Guinygirlz: Woopy (almost 6!), Daisy and Roos
.

Friday Video: Catmom

Even though this video leaves us slightly icky (if you've ever tried to sleep in a room with kittens you'll know why) but it is an interesting video.


Have a Caring Wheekend!

Vote for the shelter who will recieve the 2014 Calendar proceeds

You nominated the following shelters:

•  Excellent adventure sanctuary, Northampton, UK
  Read about them here!
• 't Kuufke, Limbricht, South Netherlands
  Why vote for t Kuufke?
• CT Guinea Pig Rescue, USA (or check out http://guineapigconnection.typepad.com/pig_notes/)
  Does the CT rescue get your vote?

You can vote on your favorite shelter until the end of the month!

Calendar piggies of February

Agent Butterloaf is an elderly pig, now going on 8 years! He was adopted when he was a year old. His agent name comes from him being a stout lad and his enjoyment of loafing around. He is quite the good napper and smooshes out wherever he pleases. While eating, Agent Butterloaf likes to sit down and rest his chin on the food bowl. He has fallen asleep quite a few times this way.

Being an elderly pig, he has had to go in to the vet for his teeth quite a few times. I believe Agent Butterloaf has come from a royal line of pigs, as he has an air of "How dare you handle me this way?!" when being checked out by the vet. During one of the visits, after being checked out and put back in his carrier, Agent Butterloaf began throwing his carrot treat around, making quite the ruckus. He is a pig that lets his thoughts known! All the ladies at the vet love him, he is quite the charmer.

Agent Yougie was adopted when he was under a year old. I saw his handsome face when I was walking around the humane society and was instantly charmed. It must have showed on my face as one of the volunteers offered to let me hold him. I knew this would be a bad idea as we didn't have room so I politely declined, but she took him out and I held him anyway. He is quite the squeaker! He looked up at me while chatting away, and I was a goner. We picked up him from the humane society that day.

His agent name comes from the love of the yogurt treat. He doesn't get very many, but will try his best to get as many as he can. He stands on his hind legs, runs up and down the ramp, and will wheek wheek wheek until a yogurt treat descends from the heavens! Besides yogurt treats, his favorite food is cucumber peels.

Jocelyn

Vote for 't Kuufke shelter

We are reusing last years 'why you should vote for the dutch guinea pig shelter 't Kuufke?', since everything in this post is still current and true.
Both Mieke and Janneke lost one of their piggies recently (Lily and Sjeuf) and they are planning to visit 't Kuufke to look at a new friend for their remaining pigs.
't Kuufke has been the second runner up for 2 years now and we hope they win this year! Would you please consider voting for them?

----

On behalf of the Dutchies we would like to nominate 't Kuufke for the proceedings of the calendar. Guinea pig shelter 't Kuufke in Limbricht is the only guinea pig shelter in the south of the Netherlands. Kuufke totally depends on donations and the hard work of it's lovely volunteers. Over the last few years Kuufke has suffered a lot of bad luck. All of their computer equipment was stolen and the roof was blown off the shelter. We really think they deserve to have a bit of good luck.

They have a lovely website. They really do a good job showing us pigs at our best to help us find our forever home. Even if you don't speak Dutch, check out their sows, boars and neutered boars. They also have a blog where they post mail from the pigs that have found their forever home and a Facebook page with lots of pigtures.

There are 3 other reasons why you should vote for Kuufke.

1. Igor

Need we say more?

2. Sjeuf

Just like Igor, Sjeuf also found us through Kuufke. Even though we moved to the other side of the country, we still wanted a pig in our herd from Kuufke, just like uncle Igor. We like their southern swagger and we enjoy going to Kuufke. So with the help from Pepper and Jimmy, we went to Kuufke and asked for the sweetest beaux they had and they sent us on a speed date with Sjeuf. He came home with us and has been a gentlepig ever since. Unfortunately he left us quite unexpectedly on Christmas morning...

3. Jimmy

Jimmy is maybe better known as agent Zeppelin, from the agent Zeppelin Mysteries. Jimmy has a very sweet and docile character. That might be because he ended up in t Kuufke almost right after his birth in July 2009 and they took really good care of him. Jimmy is currently very happy, living with (a rather lively) Pepper, who also happens to come from Kuufke.


We know Kuufke is not very well known amoung our readers since most of you are not from the Netherlands. But without Kuufke, our Igor, Sjeuf and Jimmy wouldn't have found their forever homes and their voice on this blog. So from the bottom of their big hearts, these boars ask you to give Kuufke your vote.

Friday Video: You're the One That I Want

Especially for Valentine's day, a lovely version of 'You're the one that I want'. So sing along with your loved one(s)


Have a Lovely Wheekend

Vote for the Critter connection (CT) shelter(s)

http://guineapigconnection.typepad.com/pig_notes/2014/01/new-year-same-fight-new-focus.html

http://www.ctguineapigrescue.org/

Above are the CT Guinea Pig Rescue's new year mission statement followed by a link to their website. I would strongly encourage any so inclined to at least read Whitney Potsus' mission statement, and better yet visit the main website as well. I don't think I can improve upon Whitney's mission statement in my own words.

I would like to highly recommend once again the CT Guinea Pig Rescue in Durham, CT, a non-profit group dedicated to the rescue and rehabilitation of abandoned and neglected guinea pigs. Both Joanne and I have adopted many piggies from Cindy in years past. Since its founding in 2004 by Cindy Kuester, they have placed more than 1000 guinea pigs in good homes, not to mention provided the best of veterinary care for all the piggies in need who have come into the rescue. Some special needs and senior pigs stay on for their entire lives as sanctuary piggies.

I sincerely hope that folks would consider giving the CT Guinea Pig Rescue your vote. They have survived through a roof collapse, tough economic times, and their president's health issues. As Whitney details in her new year mission statement, because of Cindy's health issues this past year, they have reorganized, with a renewed dedication to their mission. They are smaller than they were at the beginning, but they are truly passionate about helping piggies in need despite discouragement at times.

I sent the text of this nomination to Whitney to review before I submitted it. Here are some of her words: "We are grateful for whatever help we can get. Financially, things just aren't getting better." Would you consider helping this rescue with your vote?

Sincerely,

Ann & Purdy Piggy in CT, USA

Happy Valentine's Day everyone

On behalf of the all Piggyfriends, our Agent in Training, Tyrion, would like to wish everyone a Happy Valentine's Day. He's a little Peruvian and has just had his first haircut so that he can look out for lovely sows.

 

We are sending our post a day early as we are expecting another huge storm tomorrow, which will probably knock out our power yet again.

 

We hope that everyone gets lots of flowers, cards and chocs ( Slave says particularly chocs ). We'd rather have a chicory leaf.

Friday Video: If it Fits, I Sits

There ought to be a guinea pig version of this video ;-)



Have a nice Wheekend!

An Agent Zeppelin Mystery Underneath the Hay ball

Hurray, we've got another agent Zeppelin mystery from our friends the Gekke Flappies! So, which way is he facing?

Get guessing..

Team Cheer!

Agents Peanut and Schilling here - we are cheering on our favorite football team, the Denver Broncos, in tomorrow's Super Bowl!  We also have our new sidekick Astrid, she still needs a secret agent name but The Piggy Slaves have been so busy just trying to contain all of her youthful excitement and get to know her that they haven't picked one yet.  

Friday Video: SPCA of Wake County Lip Dub Video

You know what is more fun than a lip dub video? A pet shelter lip dub video!

Have a nice Wheekend!

Calendar Piggies of January: Puff and Hershey

Baby Puff

Puff came at a very difficult time. Hershey was dying of misdiagnosed E cuniculi, and my husband, Gary, knew I'd be needing another piggie to bring me cheer. So, at work, he shopped around by phone all day until he found just the right piggie. I was coming out of a doctor's appointment in Sacramento, and the pet shop was on the way home. It was love at first sight, and you can see why when you look at her pigture!  

Hershey

Three days later, Hershey passed over the Bridge, and there was this cute little soul in an adjacent cage to ease my pain with her cute antics and sweet face. A few days later, my sister, Annie, a prize-winning photographer, dropped by with a camera for Puff's first photo shoot. It was then that we discovered she is (Puff, not Annie) a jumper--not a good candidate as a lap piggie, as she'll deliberately hurl herself off of every surface, not for fear, but just to find out what's down there. I even have to block her cage door when it's open during feeding time! You'd think she'd outgrow it.

 Oh well, my son does sky diving, and I guess this is her version of it. Anyway, I was holding little Puff to my chest for a close up of us together, and up she went, over my shoulder, to the floor, and she scrambled for a spot under my dresser. We caught her, unharmed, in the nick of time.

 She's a sweet little girl, very cooperative with her grooming sessions, as long as there's yummies involved. Even fully trimmed, you can't see her short little leggies, so it looks like she's floating as she bounces along. She's also a chirper and has done more of it than any piggie I've ever known. Of course, she won't reveal the meaning of those birdlike chirps, which remain a mystery to us all.