A Day in the Life...

WICharlie

Post   » Tue Oct 17, 2006 9:55 pm


A Day in the Life continued...

Angel and Precious will be housed in the C&C cage that is propped on two endtables (purchased at Goodwill for $5 each...what can I say. I'm cheap!).

To get to the cage with the box of guinea pigs, I have to wade through a pile of dirty clothes, pokemon cards, rocks from the front yard (his rock "collection"), and various stickers, acorn tops, legos, K'nex, parts to the castle, little metal cars, plastic rings off milk jug caps and a little flashlight that's been broken for years but that he won't allow to be thrown away because it's red and that used to be his favorite color.

I sure wished my son wouldn't mess up my guinea pig room...er, his bedroom so much. Kids have so many more possessions nowdays than we did as a kid. I mean when I was a child I had a cardboard box as a bedroom and a sock with a string around it as a doll and I kept it all as neat as a pin. Oh wait! No! Never mind, that wasn't me.

Now, I'm immediately suspicious of two guinea pigs that are named "Precious" and "Angel" because they probably aren't. People often bestow on a poor critter a name that is completely the opposite of the animal's personality.

Case in point, is my husband who has teased more than once about his secret desire to adopt a 3 pound chihuahua and name the poor thing, Rexor the Destroyer. Of course, he also insists that the word "chihuahua" means "fits nicely on a taco."

So, as I am opening this last box, I glance around the mess that is in my son's room for something I could use to defend myself, if the need arises. But inside the box are two smallish guinea pigs huddled together and they only look helpless, scared and vulnerable.

I capture the first one without too much trouble. It is an American that is white and brown but the white and brown are not the same on both sides, so if you take one picture from each side it looks like you have two different pigs. I like those kind of pigs because if you are easily bored you can train the pig to face it's left side to you on even days, and its right side to you on odd days. For variety.

"Well, aren't you a little Angel!" I tell the pig (later, I do find the pig's mugshots on The Other Nice Lady's website and discover this one is Precious). She hangs there unmoving, so I send my son for the fingernail clippers and take the opportunity to trim her nails. I think I could get to liking this pig best.

"And aren't you the most precious thing!" I say to the last pig as I hoist it out of the box (uh huh...Angel). This sow has a prominent crest on her head and is the color of muddy dishwater. She also has a thin strip of tan around her middle and her fur is longer than an American's. She has a nice rounded nose like my Izabo and she also hangs very relaxed in my hands so I trim her nails too. She seems...very sweet. I think I could get to liking this pig the best.

The next few hours are spent filling hay racks and water bottles and food dishes, running to Mounds for pig food and cat food and another water bottle and sweeping up pig poop. And any minute I get, I just sit there and stare at the new arrivals.

That night I go to bed with a nagging feeling that I have forgotten something. I suddenly realize it must be that I never gave Pig Fun Skipper her nightly cuddle.

"Sorry, Pig Fun!" I call out softly in the darkness. Sacrifices. We all have to make sacrifices. And I fall soundly to sleep.

Prologue: The following morning I discover that Angel and Precious have no pellet dish in their cage (any wonder the hay is all gone?). Poor precious angels. Unless I DID give them one and they ate it...

The End

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rshevin

Post   » Tue Oct 17, 2006 10:09 pm


My cat is STARING me down right now because I am cracking up to the point of tears. You tell such a great story!

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dgarriques
Got Pigs?

Post   » Tue Oct 17, 2006 11:37 pm


No No not The End. Please tell us there will be more installments. This is a great story, now we need pictures and updates.

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Fossil Barb

Post   » Wed Oct 18, 2006 12:36 am


WI this was only the arrival. Now we will expect updates as often as bean cleaning will allow complete with pictures, etc. I won't survive without more!

Tracis
Let Sleeping Pigs Lie

Post   » Wed Oct 18, 2006 2:36 pm


This simply cannot be "The End" until we have reviewed the photographic evidence.

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Fossil Barb

Post   » Wed Oct 18, 2006 2:39 pm


I know you're still alive Charlie because you've posted. We'll send the piggy police out and you'll get water torture until we get the next installment!

WICharlie

Post   » Fri Oct 20, 2006 2:23 pm


Hehe...hold off on the water torture! I have found that there is a slightly bigger workload with 6 added pigs. Just slightly.

Here is an update:

Whiskey tops the scales at 2 lbs, 11 ounces and is just an all around laid back, chubby, friendly boy. Although he eats the hay, he believes its main purpose is to lay in. He lays about like an expert.

The three sows (Mocha, Truffles and Guinea) are now all together in the 2 by 4 grid C&C in the play room. Guinea herself tops the scale at 2 lbs, 5 oz. I put a hay box in the cage with aspen on the bottom and Guinea likes to lounge in there. She does move around more with the other three as company.

Truffles continues to be a riot. If you are in the room, she wants to know what you are up to and will stand on her hind legs to try and see. She makes it hard to sweep poops because she follows your hand around with her nose right on you and it tickles. She will also try and stand on the dustpan. I have learned that it is not too hard to pick her up anymore if I move fast and snatch her in the first try. I'm becoming much better at this "swoop-n-snatch" technique. Truffles is on pregnancy watch.

Mocha never came out of her hidey when she was in a cage by herself, but now that she is with the others she has gotten braver. I actually saw her using her front feet to test out the fleece ("Hmmmm, soft!") when I first put her in.

Precious and Angel are still freaking out when we come into the room. I've removed the hidey houses and will start working with them more once the other pigs go on Sunday. I learned that Angel is actually Precious' daughter.

I seem to spend my day sweeping poops and replenishing hay. Today, I cleaned Whiskey's cage and Precious and Angel's cage, weighed all the pigs and treated them with ivermectin (I noticed a lot of scratching going on with the three girls last night). Needless to say, lunch was a little late. No way am I going to be able keep my story going in the vein it was started. But that's why it's called "A day..." and not several days, lol.

Oh, I've taken pictures but I just can't figure out how to get them on photobucket. I'll bug my friend on Saturday to show me how to do it again.

cutemomomi
Obey My Authority

Post   » Fri Oct 20, 2006 4:08 pm


Oh yes, I can't wait for the pictures to come!

Tracis
Let Sleeping Pigs Lie

Post   » Fri Oct 20, 2006 6:47 pm


All the piggies sound so cute! I'm glad they are settling in nicely.

You're absolutely right about the workload increasing, so I'll have to be content with the periodic updates.

I hope you get a chance to post the photos this weekend!

I'm also a little curious about the fostering process. Do you get the background/history of each piggy when you take them in? (if it's known, that is!)

WICharlie

Post   » Fri Oct 20, 2006 8:43 pm


These pigs came from one rescue to another because our rescue had some room and the other one didn't. Almost all of them were first released to a shelter first. Yes, we are told as much as is known.

Sometimes when they are pulled from a shelter, very little is known of the pigs background. When I pulled Izabo and Pig Fun Skipper (the two I adopted) I was told what dates they came into the shelter. The person who released Pig Fun said she was 3 months old and that she was the only female in an "accidental" litter of 5. They claimed that she had been in with her 4 male siblings until she was two months old (needless to say, she was on pregnancy watch initially).

Izabo was released by a lady that also had a ferret and cat. She was supposedly 3 years old. Neither the former owner nor the shelter workers apparently knew how to sex the pigs because they had her listed as a boy and had her named "Diamond." Oh, and the owner apparently claimed that Izabo used a litterbox.

That last thing is rather funny because guess who uses the litterbox in the cage? Yes, it's Pig Fun Skipper! Izabo doesn't go anywhere near it.

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luvmypigs2

Post   » Mon Oct 23, 2006 2:16 pm


Oh, I've taken pictures but I just can't figure out how to get them on photobucket. I'll bug my friend on Saturday to show me how to do it again.

It's Monday! Where's the pic's? I'm dying to see these cuties!

WICharlie

Post   » Tue Oct 24, 2006 1:46 pm


Pigs are still here for now. I will give this a try. Forgive the delay as my 8 year old has been sick with the flu since Sunday night.

Here is Truffles:

http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i77/W ... MG0825.jpg
Last edited by WICharlie on Tue Oct 24, 2006 1:55 pm, edited 2 times in total.

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