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/

Guinea Pigs Dont Like Heights.....

according to some humans that is.

Me and Spooky have no problems with heights.

When me was a baby I nearly gave Mummy a heart attack coz when she turned her back for a few minutes I climbed all the way to the top of the stairs (heeeheee)

Me couldnt get down again and Mummy had to come up and spoil my fun (rescue me)

In our cage we have a mezzanine floor and Spooky is forever jumping up there and then off again, me ventures up occasionally when me is not sleeping.

The problem guinea pigs have with heights is falling, if its a distance we can jump by ourselves (a single step or onto mezzanine floor) we should be ok anything higher than that and injuries can occur.

Humans should make sure we are extra secure when being carried, Mummy always wraps us straight in a blanket to carry us anywhere.

If an accident does occur and we fall/ drop from a height, the humans should watch us very closely and any sign of pain or unusual behaviour we should go straight to the vet (ohh joy)

So remember friends we are guinea pigs and not mountaineers and we should only climb/jump to a height we are happy with!!! (not all the way to the top of the stairs)

If you do get carried away wheeeek loudly until your human rescues you (but never admit to being grateful for rescue)

Me is in Trouble

Mummy has told me off.

Heres what happened.......

Spooky was asleep in the corner under the mezzanine floor, so me went over and nudged him out of bed, then me peed in the corner and went to the other side to sleep.

What me do wrong??

Mites

Now Spooky is feeling again he is helping write this post about mites.

Unlike me, Spooky has actually suffered from mites, they made him lose patches of hair and caused him to have black scabs over his ear and back.

Luckily for Spooky, Daddy spotted the problem at the petshop and then Mummy and Daddy kept pursuing the issue until Spooky got the right treatment.

If you have mites its important for humans to act quickly as mites can be fatal to guinea pigs if not treated properly.

One of the most obvious signs to look out for is excessive scratching, this is because mites bite and make us itch, we can damaged ourselves with the scratching as well. Mummy says Spooky didnt appear to be scratching much at all but he did have hair loss and black scabs.

The treatment for mites is Ivermectin drops, these are placed on the skin around the neck and down the back. (Mummy could only get Ivermectin in the form of Xeno450 which appears to be a brand name and has cured the problem) If one guinea pig has mites we will all need treating just in case.

Ivermectin will need to reapplied 2 weeks after first treatment, this is to allow time for the eggs to hatch, the second dose then kills the second generation, 2 doses is normally enough however it is always wise to be cautious and another dose may be needed.

After leaving the second dose to work, guinea pigs will need a bath to wash any dead bodies (eugh) out of our lovely hair, leaving us clean and pure again.

http://www.oginet.com/pgurney/skinp.htm

http://www.guinealynx.info/mites.html

Anypig with any more advice or observations, please feel free to comment........the more we know the better wheeeeeeeeeeeeek

New Way To Have Your Hay

When Spooky had diarrhoea Mummy wanted him to have hay but didnt want him to poop all over it and then eat it, so she stuffed toilet roll inners with hay so he could eat it out of them.

We love getting our hay this way, we can pick the inners up and hit each other with them (like gladiators)

We can both start at opposite ends of tubes and see who can eat to the middle first (like silly humans digging channel tunnel)

We can attempt to get both our heads in at one end (not very successfully)

We can drag them round the cage so the other piggy cant get it (heeeheee)

They are so much more fun than a hayrack.

Me does miss having big pile to play in but Mummy says it makes cleaning our fleece easier as well (whats that got to do with anything??)

Me Has Forgiven Mummy...........

Me knows me hasnt sulked for very long over the indignaty of being put in a box (me does have good reason to forgive)

Mummy came home yesterday with lots of treats for us from Pampered Piggies me has a new parsley bell (Oiy Spooky thats MY bell) we have Oxbow hay cakes and we have meadow herb cubes and apple cubes, and a new chube (Spooky got diarhoea in old one YUCK)

We also have samples of new food to try hmmmmmmmmmm

We is gonna be busy munching for a loooooooooong time!!

Prison Break Foiled..........

Humans grrrrrrr

Mummy must have told tales to Daddy coz when she came to clean us out last night instead of our prison circle we went into a big cardboard box that Daddy bought home (from which there was no escape)

Me is sulking now!!!