Chunky Chocolate

Agent Thornton is a Self Chocolate, his mummy says he looks like a chocolate cake with cherries for eyes, better not let Mummy see him she might eat him. (just kidding)

The breed standard for a Self Chocolate says the colour should be like a good dark chocolate bar and the eyes should be dark ruby.

Show faults include the appearance of lighter creamy hairs especially around the face.

Here he is

[caption id="attachment_460" align="aligncenter" width="509" caption="Agent Thortons Looking Yummy"][/caption]

Guest Number 7

Agent Thorntons is a boy from a mixed herd in the UK

His agent name is a famous chain of shops in the UK (one of mummies favourites)

His mummy says he is a bit porky but would be good at flattening enemy agents by rolling on them. (we wont tell you what he said about her)

Agent Thorntons came from a local shelter and has never told his Mummy about his past (a truly dedicated agent)

His real name is also a variety of confectionary that mummy is very fond of especially the giant version, it is also something humans use to keep their clothes from falling off.

Hope me has confused you enough get guessing

Bizarre Animal ER

Check out the brave little piggy in this show he appears about 5 minutes in to episode 8.

Strangely his name is Bubbles just like Mummy's first piggy, but he looks just like me without the crown.

Me didnt think much of his Daddy grrrrrrrrrrrrr

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00ntg52/Bizarre_Animal_ER_Episode_8/

Remember Remember the 5th of November

Why?? Does it have anything to do with guinea pigs?? No!! so forget it.

OK seriously...........

For those of you who might not know here in the UK the humans celebrate something known as Guy Fawkes Night or Bonfire Night on the 5th of November.

Many, many years ago a human called Guy Fawkes plotted to blow up the houses of parliment, the plot was foiled and so every 5th November the humans celebrate.

They light great big bonfires and burn scarecrow like things called Guys, they also let of lots of fireworks.

Fireworks are noisy and make bright lights.

Me is a big brave indoor piggy so fireworks dont scare me, but some of you guys may be scared by fireworks (me knows lots of dogs are and they are way bigger than piggies)

If you are scared make sure your human lets you stay in a place where you feel safe (indoors being cuddled gets my vote) and also where you are sheltered from the worst of the noises and bursts of light.

If you are big and brave like me enjoy the show.

Me Didnt Know

Last night Daddy held something out to me, it looked like a finger but it smelt really nice so me licked it and it tasted nice.

Daddy took it away and then bought it back again for me.

Me got worried Ghost might want it so me grabbed it hard in my teeth and tried to pull it away with me.

Daddy screamed like a girl. (He does that ALOT)

It was his finger!! he had been dipping it in apple juice for me.

Stupid Daddy grrrrrr

Ready Teddy Go!!

Agent Cannonball is a Teddy type of piggy (ahh sounds so cute)

Teddies are considered a rare breed and as such they only have a guide show standard not a full standard.

Teddies are similar to Rexes although their hair is straight, shorter and plusher than a Rex.

There are 2 types of Teddies the US teddy and the Swiss or Ch Teddy, can anyone tell me the difference as me dont know.

Over to Agent Cannonball............

Me is Agent Cannonball and me is a black Teddy piggy! We Teddies look Rex piggies so you have look carefully to tell between a Rex piggy agent and a Teddy piggy agent. We both have short, dense coats that make us look very fuzzy and very handsome. Rex agents have crinkly whiskers while we Teddies have longer and straighter whiskers. Teddies have longer tummy fur and have soft fur all over, like a teddy bear!

Me was the last piggy at a pet shop. Me was trying to make myself look small in a corner when The Big Hand picked me up and put me with two strange piggies for a little bit. They sniffed me and that was okay but then the fat golden one tried to sit on me! A few months later I am bigger and I shake my big rump at golden piggy. There is another piggy with crazy hair that is my best friend forever. He has black and white whorls all over and likes to move the pigloo bases around for our stealth operations. If I am taken away from my piggy friend I squeak so loud my ears flap and The Big Hand brings me my friend!

Me is very good at hiding in my carrot cube. When I hear something happen - door shut, fridge opens - I burst out of my cube squeaking at full speed into a pigloo base! Then me remains perfectly silent so nobody knows where me is. Me lets the humans know I am on full alert and watching them at all times!

[caption id="attachment_446" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Agent Cannonball Undercover"][/caption]

Guest Number 6

Is a mere youngster at 6 months old (even younger than Ghost)

He has chosen the name Agent Cannonball me thinks this is because if he curled up that is what he would look like.

Agent Cannonball lives with his 2 older brothers in Michigan in the USA

His favourite food is Loftys

Despite claiming not to be famous, he has recently appeared on You Tube and in a photo shoot for Halloween as a Pirate Piggy

Your final clue is that his real name means Blessed in Latin

Can you guess who he is??

Butt Bath

Me is sure there are other boys who can relate to this sad tale.

Us boys have a spot at the base of our spines where a tail would start that is called a grease gland.

This spot can get mucky and cause your butt hair to matt, also when it is mucky it makes a good environment for parasites such as mites (yuck)

To stop this happening us boys need regular butt baths.

Sunday was butt bath day...........

Ghost is a wuss and panics when he gets wet so Mummy and Daddy literally put him in a bowl of water on the floor and just bathed his butt.

Me is a big brave boy who enjoys a bath so me went in the kitchen sink.

Daddy lathered me up nicely with shampoo and then set about cleaning my butt.

Sadly he got carried away removing the matted hair and me now has a little bald patch on my butt!!!!

Stupid things these humans

Radiant Red

Or should that be radioactive.........he sure is bright

The breed standard for Self Reds says they should be a mahogany red with dark red/brown ears and dark feet and eyes.

Lets meet Agent Big Red

Hello Agent F.

I am very honoured to be included in this privileged group of secret agents.

I have thought long and hard about a secret name and I decided that Agent Orange was good but our Slave tells me that it is the name of something not very nice so I would like to be called Agent Big Red instead.

I am a Self Red piggy and came from a breeder of self reds, so, unlike most of the Piggyfriends I am not a dolly mixture. I should have been either a stud or show pig but I have an eye condition called entropion, which causes me no trouble but meant that I was unsuitable for either vocation so my breeder had me neutered and asked her Rodentologist if she could find me a new home.

Our Slave goes to the same Rodentologist so I came to live here at Piggyfriends.

Our Slave does not approve of neutering and I wasn't very keen on it myself, but it does mean that I can live with a group of lady Piggyfriends called Hope, Peony and Petunia, which is very nice, even though they try to grab all the veggies first. That hasn't stopped me growing to a sizeable three and a half pounds.

Agent Big Red ( aka Garnet ).

[caption id="attachment_422" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Agent Big Red"][/caption]

Guest Number 5

Guest number 5 has chosen the name Agent Big Red

Big Red is a boy from a mixed herd in the UK

He is the first of our super selfs, can you guess what colour he is?

His real name is a precious stone that also relates to his colour.

Big Red weighs in at 3.5 pounds (that would explain the big part of his name)

Unlike most of my friends Big Red is not a dolly mixture he is the real thing!!! WOW

So start guessing

Super Self's

In the guinea pig world what a self means is that the piggy's hair is all one colour only.

There are only breed standards in place for a limited number of colours as well as hair colour the standards specify what colour ears and pads should be for the hair colour.

Me has friends in a variety of single colours, and you will meet them soon.

Where standards exist me will provide them, otherwise sit back and enjoy the guinea pig rainbow.

Coming soon...........

Me Has A New Favourite Word

FUGACIOUS it means elusive, ephemeral and fleeting.

Me thinks it brill coz it starts the same way as my real name.

It will make me sound mysterious, and we all know the girls love a mystery man.

Rumble Rumble

Me Can See You

Me was having my afternoon nap, me curled up on left side of cage and Ghost was curled up on the right.

Me sleep with eye half open and me saw Ghost yawn, that was ok but he also shuffled slightly towards me.

A few minutes later he stretched, again he shuffled towards me.

Well me let this go on until his nose was about 2 inches from my nose, then me gave him a glare and backed all the way away from him into the corner.

Dont try and fool a sleeping agent!!

Terrific Tricolour

[caption id="attachment_390" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Agent Patchwork "][/caption]

Agent Patchwork is a tricolour of very unusual colours.

Tricolour literally means that a piggy has 3 colours of hair, we cant find a breed standard for tricolours apart from the tort and white.

Patchwork is lilac, white and tan (ginger) she has red eyes and we and her human Mummy have never seen anything like her before.

Patchwork is definetely one of a kind.

Guest Number 4

Agent Patchwork (you will know why when you see the photos)

Patchwork is a girl piggy in an all girl herd in the UK.

She joined the herd when her previous owner could no longer give her the time she deserved.

Her real name is an alcoholic drink usually served with salt and lime/lemon.

Not many clues to work with this time.............

Treatment of E Cuniculi

E Cuniculi is at present incurable, me hopes sometime in the future some clever person will find a cure but for the moment it can only be treated and managed as an on going problem. There is still lots of development ongoing.

Regular treatment with Ivermectin and Ivomec or Panacur appear to prevent an infestation taking hold. Ivermectin is for treating external parasites like mites while Ivomec and Panacur are worming treatments for internal parasites.

Make sure you get enough Vitamin C and water in your diet as these are essential for overall good health and its believed they can prevent infection taking hold.

When an infestation has taken hold this should be treated with antiparasitic drugs from the Benzimidazole range.Most commonly used are Albendazole, Oxibendazole and Fenbendazole (Panacur)

They antibiotic Baytril should be given in addition to the antiparsitic drug this helps fights any other infection that may be present and improves the general immune system.

To treat pain and inflammation Metacam can be given.

This is only a basic outline and me wishes to thank all the humans out there who have provided links to relevant websites, and most importantly of all, thanks to those who have taken the time to include the information on their websites.

As with any illness make sure your human seeks advise from a qualified vet as soon as possible and make sure your human goes armed with their own suggestions of what to look at.

Me doesnt know if it was E Cuniculi that made Hershey ill but me does know that her Mummy and Daddy did everything they could for her and that they will miss her terribly.

Me also knows there will always be a little piece of my heart which says Hershey in memory of my sweet shy sword wielding friend.

Goodbye Hershey may your story help others.

[caption id="attachment_402" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Hershey Mothers Day 2008-September 2009"][/caption]

Symptons of E Cuniculi

My tribute to Hershey continues with what symptons should give you a warning that E Cuniculi may be a problem, especially if you as a guinea pig live near a rabbit.

Kidney problems such as frequent urination and increased thirst

Paralysis, a weakness in the limbs and inability to move

Head tilt or wry neck

Eye inflammation, cataracts, weeping eyes and eye rolling

Loss of appetite followed by weight loss, which in turn can cause problems in the gut such as stasis

Neurological damage leading to convulsions and loss of balance.

Behavioural changes such as wanting to be completely alone, probably hiding in a corner.

While these are all symptoms of E Cuniculi infection they can also be caused by other problems, so do not immediately assume that the problem is E Cuniculi although keep it is mind for a vet to check as its rare in guinea pigs and could be over looked.

A blood test known as a titer will be needed for an accurate diagnosis.

[caption id="attachment_403" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Hershey Mothers Day 2008- September 2009"][/caption]

What is E Cuniculi

A Tribute to Hershey

Me had never heard of E Cuniculi until it was suggested as a possible cause of what was making my friend Hershey ill and eventually lead to her crossing the rainbow bridge.

With her human family at first Hershey was shy earning her the nickname Hershey the Meek, with her guinea pig friends on our virtual pirate adventure she was a CHEEKY MISS instigating the great bum pinching scandal.

When she got ill Hershey showed her Mummy and Daddy she loved in the best way she could by over coming her shyness and accepting and demanding attention even play fighting with Daddy over the syringe, the best gift of memorys she could have left with them.

[caption id="attachment_404" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Hershey Mothers Day 2008-September 2009"][/caption]

So what is E Cuniculi?

E Cuniculi is a protozoan parasite largely found in rabbits.

It is a Zoonose which means it can pass between different species eg from rabbbit to guinea pig.

The spores are eaten from infected hay where they can survive for months.

Once inside they travel round the body before leaving in the urine which in turn leaves spores on whatever is peed on to be eaten again.

Like mites in guinea pigs in rabbits it is believed to lie dormant until other factors such as stress, dehydration or a different infection allow it to take hold.

Even though a rabbit may have no symptoms they can be a carrier.

He Made It

Me knew me should have made the target higher but a promise is a promise.

Spooky is now 1kg and me must allow him to become a secret agent.

Me had trouble with him choosing a name, first he wanted to be called Spooks like the TV program, me said thats not very secret is it.

Then he wanted to be called Phantom, til me told him there was a cartoon with a human man in a skin tight purple jump suit called Phantom and that was not a good look.

We have finally agreed on Ghost so from now on Spooky is secret agent Ghost.

Me thinks me may regret this...........

Blonde Moment

Spooky had been annoying me so me backed him into a corner and humped him to show him who was boss.

What me didnt notice was that Spooky had run out of the corner and me was really humping a roll of hay (blush).

For some reason Mummy found this highly amusing.