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.

Happy Mother's Day!

Mother's Day is May 8th in the US. Here is a photoshoot from Dmitri, Agent Popcorn, and Dante Wigglebottom!

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.. 

Roos can do it too (you hear me say well done Roos!) And will find the cucumber when pointed out to her #guineapigs #treats #TeachnTreat

A video posted by Mieke (@pandameisje) on May 30, 2014 at 1:42pm PDT

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.

Roos' Xray you can see the stone lodged between the hip bones. :'(

A photo posted by Mieke (@pandameisje) on Mar 25, 2016 at 5:00am PDT

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 with her daddy @lordthunder666 in this pigture you can almost see how pretty her colour is in real life ;)

A photo posted by Mieke (@pandameisje) on Jun 8, 2014 at 12:16pm PDT

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...

Roos and peaches have a new hobby: #cuddle time #guineapigs Taken 14 November

A photo posted by Mieke (@pandameisje) on Nov 19, 2015 at 2:14am PST

Here's some more pigtures and video's of Roos... we miss ya!

More #sleeping Roos #guineapig

A photo posted by Mieke (@pandameisje) on Aug 6, 2014 at 10:57am PDT

#Roos having second breakfast, or third, fourth, fifth... Who knows? #guineapig #eating

A photo posted by Mieke (@pandameisje) on Aug 15, 2014 at 4:48am PDT

Piggies got to play outside! #guineapigs #grass #yum #tryingoutrun

A video posted by Mieke (@pandameisje) on Aug 9, 2015 at 3:52am PDT

An old line up: Lily, Roos (a few months old there), Daisy and Woopy

Piggy A-Z: C for Charity

Some time ago we sold guinea pig card games, featuring our agents on this blog. By selling these games we made a little profit that we would like to donate to a guinea pig shelter somewhere in the world, like we did before with the money we made from selling our guinea pig calendars.

We do still have 5 games left in stock, so if you are interested order you game by filling out the form here. The is based on the dutch 'Kwartet'(quartets) game, similar to the Go Fish! game. The goal is to collect as many sets of 4 card as you can. A set of 4 cards, a kwartet/quartet, always has a theme. In our guinea pig game it can be the type of breed (smoothhaired), the color (white piggies) or something else (like piggies with Flower names). See our previous posts (with some pigtures and a video explaining the rules) about the game here.

So you can still order a game, but we want to start the nominations for possible guinea pig shelters (anywhere in the world)! So please send in your nomination! If you can, send in a little accompanying text about the shelter and why you think they deserve a nomination, that would help in getting votes.

Next step would be to all vote on your favorite shelter. The shelter with the most votes will recieve our donation.

So please, add your nominations to the comments below, or make a post with your nomination. Read how to add a post to the blog yourself, on the 'Contribute' tab below Agent F's pigture.

Friday video: Guinea pig bridge!

Happy Birthday Nugget!

Hello, I am Nugget. My parents adopted me about two and a half months
ago, and I will be one tomorrow. I am showing off a cozy that some
friends sent to me and to Eddie (Agent Confetti), although I am going to
pretend that it is my birthday present. I hope you like it as much as I do!

Piggy A-Z: C for Cucumber

Mom found us some cute little cucumbers at work...

Cucumber tug of war!

Tijger enjoying a snack cucumber

Berke

Berke and Peaches reaching for the cucumber

Success!

Yummy!

Do you like cucumbers?

Grtz,

The guinygirlz Peaches and Tijger, Boar Berke... and the new girl...

New Agent sign up form

This is  Agent King.  I will  soon be  turning  four years old.  I  enjoy cucumbers and  my  real name is Comet.

I  prefer King because my  middle name is King, also because i am the king of sleeping. My  favorite hobby is sleeping.

My favorite toy is a  tunnel and I  love floor time. 

Introducing Dante Wigglebottom

Please welcome a new piggy to our small herd, Dante Wigglebottom! We chose him because Dmitri and Apollo do not get along together, and Apollo needed a piggy friend after Gruden von Squeakcheeks' passing.

We picked Dante because he had bites on his ears, so he was being picked on and we thought he could use a good home. He is a very shy piggy, but loves following Apollo around! He and Apollo are getting along very well. Dante tries to copy what big piggy Apollo is doing. Apollo will be standing on his hind legs watching Dmitri, and Dante will try the same thing.

Please welcome Dante Wigglebottom!

New Piggyfriends

All the Piggyfriend Agents thought that we should introduce some new piggies that have been rehomed here at Piggyfriends.

Louis and Henri came here last month. They are older piggies, thought to be around four and a half years old and were left at Palace Piggies Rescue in West Sussex by their owner, who could not take her pets to her new home.

Here they are in their new pen. Louis is at the front.

Here is another pigture of the brothers. Slave nearly always calls them Henry and Lewis but they don't care as long as the veggies arrive on time.  Louis is on the right. He has more white in his coat.

Louis was having trouble eating so our Slave took him back to Palace Piggies to see Lyn, who is a rodentologist so can do dental work without an anaesthetic. She clipped a little piece from his molars and now he is eating up really well and making up for lost time.

When Slave was there, she looked at the piggies for rehoming and brought home two more, Mimi and Lulu. They are little girls about 6 months old and are part Abyssinian part who knows what! They were taken to the rescue because they belonged to a girl who left home and her mother did not want to care for them.

This is Mimi.

And here she is again. She has a black and brown face.

We can tell them apart because, Lulu, in the next pigture has a black face. They are sisters.

They are not used to posing for photos yet and Lulu was more interested in climbing up the back of the sofa. They will soon learn as Slave is always after us with her camera.

Welcome home Henri, Louis, Mimi and Lulu. We love you all.

A Piggy A -Z. C is for Chicory

Do your piggies like chicory? Most of the Piggyfriends do but, for some reason, Roisin and Niamh refuse to eat it leaving more for the others.

Here is Agent Wizard aka Gandalf enjoying a leaf or two.

 " I don't think that I can eat a whole chicon," says Gandalf. " I'll share it with the other Piggyfriends."

" Thank you, Gandalf. " says Cosmo Dangermouse. " I am rather partial to a bit of chicory. "

Happy Easter everyone!

"What's all this about?" says Tyrion Piggyfriend. " C is for chocolate? I guess that these are all for our Slave as we don't eat chocolate. Why not C is for chicory instead?"

"No," says Slave. " Look round, sweetie, and read the sign."

" Oh! Happy Easter," reads Tyrion. " That's all right then. We may yet get chicory. Happy Easter to all of our readers from me and the Piggyfriends."

Piggy A-Z: C for Carrot tops

We love green spaghetti, aka carrot tops!!!

 

Wheeks,

 The Guinygirlz (Tijger & Peaches in the pigtures)

Friday video: Guinygirlz morning feeding ritual

Mom filmed us getting our morning piece of veggie today...



We were pretty well behaved, sometimes we fall over each other, and lean on the others back to be higher up and run against the window to get to the veggies first. Tijger will start doing spins when she gets impatient.. but today we behaved for the video.

How does your morning ritual look? We would love to see little videos of it.

Have great Wheekend,
the Guinygirlz and boar Berke

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

Happy Saint Patrick's Day from Agent Popcorn and Dmitri (who should be figuring out his agent name soon)! 

Happy St. Patrick's Day

On behalf of all the Piggyfriends, Angelina ( aka Agent Mouse ) would like to send St. Patrick's Day greetings to all of our readers.

She thinks that the hood of Slave's fleece makes an excellent cavy cosy. Slave hopes that she does not leave any calling cards behind after the photoshoot. Angelina likes everything being green today as that means more lettuce, kale, cucumber, celery and parsley and she hopes that Slave can find some fresh grass, which has been in short supply of late.

Have a lovely day everyone!

Candle lit in the Netherlands

We also lit a candle on 9 March at 20:15 (Mum had to do Pilates till 20:00) and remembered friends lost...

Candle lit for Peter Gurney memorial and my late piggies: Woopy, Daisy, Lily, Chico, Toby, Dunya, Lotje and Guiny, Winky and my childhood piggy Vlekje #guineapigs #memorial #peterGurney

A photo posted by Mieke (@pandameisje) on Mar 9, 2016 at 11:20am PST

Did you light a candle as well? Let us know and we will send your location to Audrey!
 The guinygirlz: Roos, Peaches, Tijger and boar Berke

Peter Gurney memorial candle lighting

We have lots of candles burning here at Piggyfriends. Last year our oldest piggy, Gandalf, did the honours so this year we picked our second oldest, Otto, to help out. Here he is.

"I think that I deserve a reward for lighting all of those candles," says Otto.

We think so too so here he is with a yummy chicory leaf.

Well done Otto!

Did you light a candle this evening? If so, we'd love to see your pigtures. Look for our Contribute button at the top of the page and follow the very easy instructions.

Peter Gurney Memorial: Light a real candle at 9 March at 8 pm (in your timezone)

For those of you that haven't seen the message elsewhere:
"REMINDER: Invitation to light a candle in honor of Peter Gurney and all of the piggies and pets with him at the Rainbow Bridge on March 9th, at or around 8:00 pm, in your particular time zone. This is our 11th candle light memorial in honor of Peter Gurney, who passed away in 2006 in England. He was a tireless advocate for guinea pigs who left the world with a wealth of guinea pig knowledge that we would not have had without him. His books and knowledge has helped all of us. We can share the moment with or without piggies, and all you need to do is light a candle at 8:00 pm. As candles are lit in each time zone, the light will travel around the world for all at the Rainbow Bridge to see and know that we are remembering them on this special day. Afterwards, please tell us where you lit your candle by posting your location to the GPDD, and we will compile a listing of all the places where a candle was lit. This is in memory of any pet you wish to remember, so tell others to light a candle too, and get their location for the list.
Audrey Remembering Gordon, Reese, and Petito"

You can comment on our post to let us know when you lit a candle on the 9th, and we will forward it to Audrey. Please let us know where you lit a candle!

Friday video: A shed full of guinea pigs....

A Piggy A-Z. Casper and Cosmo with Carrots

Here are the Dangermice, Cosmo and Casper again. They both love Carrots.

The above pigture is of Casper, who is the Alpha pig - at least he is the one who rushes out and shouts for food when anyone passes their pen. He is not a cuddle pig and made a lot of fuss about posing for his pigture but, luckily, our pigsitter was on hand to keep him still for a moment.

And this is little Casper, who is shy and reserved but co-operated nicely for his pigture so he was rewarded with the carrot.


Do you have a piggy whose name begins with a C? If so, we'd love to see him/her. Find the Contribute button at the top of our page and follow the instructions. It is very easy.

Friday video: New hutch tour: the hayloft (pt2)

Part 2 of the hutch tour of our friend @Bertieguineapig, showing their hayloft. This is the sequel to the video we had last friday.

Another video (that cannot wait till Friday) Happy Valentine's day!

Happy Valentine's Day

Lola Piggyfriend has a secret admirer and he has sent her a Valentine's Day gift box of veggies. " I am a lucky piggy," says Lola, " as our Slave only got a box of chocolates!"

Happy Valentine's Day to all of our readers. Choccies for the Slaves and veggies for the piggies.

Friday video: New hutch tour (pt1)

One of the piggies we are following on twitter (@bertieguineapig) has a new hutch. So to open the wheekend (at least here in the Netherlands it's almost wheekend) here's a cage tour of their new hutch



Have a great wheekend, and give some kisses to your slaves on valentine's day this sunday!
The guinygirlz: Roos, Peaches, Berke and Tijger

A Piggy A-Z C is for Card Game.

Look what our Slave has made using the Card Game.

She hobbled around the local Hobbycraft shop and bought a frame, some backing paper and two packs of stickers with stars and hearts. Then she assembled all the cards in their sets with Spooky in the middle, glued them to the green paper and fastened the acrylic sheet over the top to hold everything in place. This will keep all the cards nice and clean for us to admire forever. For those of you who have not yet bought a pack, Spooky is on the back of each card.

Our pigture is hanging above Cosmo and Casper's pen. The pegs in the pigture attach cards to the top of the pen.

Here is the centre showing Spooky's pigture.

The camera flash kept reflecting on the acrylic sheet so here is a sideways pigture without no reflection so that you can see it better.

Maybe one of our readers would like to make one of these. What do you think of Slave's pigture?

Friday video & Piggy A-Z: C for card game

Hi,

My name is Peaches, also known as Agent Boo.

I want to tell you something about what my slave, with a lot of help from our readers here, has made.
Our readers have send in pigtures of all kinds of lovely and handsome piggies, which slave bundled in one card game.

You(r slave) can order this card game! If they want to order it right now, have a look here.

The dutch game 'Kwartet', also know as 'Quartets', was used as a basis. The goal of the game is to collect as many kwartetten / quartets as you can. Every player starts of with 7 cards in their hards. On the table the rest of the cards are kept on a stack with the pictures facing down, so no one can see what the next card on the stack is.
The game has 11 different categories, most categories are piggy breeds, like smooth-haired piggies, US teddies and Rexes and so on. Other categories include some members of one herds, like the Piggyfriends, Indiana piggies or my herd, the Guinygirlz. There are also other themes like piggies with Flower names and white piggies.

Mom still has 7 games in stock, and hopes to sell those too. So please buy one (or more)! Once those are sold we can make another donation to a guinea pig shelter somewhere in the world. Everyone can suggest shelters and then vote for their favorite shelter. So next to getting a cool game you also get to support a shelter!
Read a bit about the price and order here, send us an email for shipping, but Mikey will contact you with the pric for the game plus shipping before sending the game to you. If you have doubt after ordering and hearing the total price just let her know. Great thing about the card games is though, that they are quite small and fit in an envelope quite easily making them less expensive to send by mail.

Slave was looking for a nice video about playing the 'Kwartet' game, but apparently this is a really dutch game, it is similar to Go Fish! But mum thinks it is slightly different from what she understood from the videos explaining how to play Go Fish!!
But she did find this rather nice very stereo typical dutch/english video for the dutch airline KLM. This game has dutch historical houses, but the idea is the same with our guinea pig game...

Hope we get to sell the last 7 games, and possibly even more...

Agent Boo aka Peaches

P.s. all buyers of the game so far, maybe you can comment below what you think of your game? Hope you are all enjoying it.

Friday video: Agents and the CTU - Cavia Training Unit

We found this video of unknown agents to us, going through the Cavia Training Unit...
We got our own version with a shoebox and chopsticks... not impressed so far.. why go in between the sticks when you can throw it up to go underneath the sticks?