My adventures in fostering

Post Reply
User avatar
Ibepatience
Supporter in '13

Post   » Sat Oct 19, 2013 5:55 pm


On September 3 my brother Messaged me that his roommate had a guinea pig he needed to find a home for. The rescue doesn't usually take private surrenders but he was going to take her to the shelter and we'd end up pulling her anyway so we saved a step. He brought her to me that day and she had such a personality! She was brown and white with a ridgeback, about 9 months old. Rita slept on top of her wooden house all the time and she loved to popcorn! She was adopted on September 22 as a friend for a baby named Butterscotch. They renamed her Ginger and send me updates often.

Image

User avatar
Ibepatience
Supporter in '13

Post   » Sat Oct 19, 2013 6:03 pm


On September 22 I brought home Winky as a friend for Leo. Winky was born in a shelter and was pulled the day he was born. His momma is a big 3 lb girl who had two tiny babies, Winky and his teeny sister
Pigsqueak. The babies struggled and didn't gain any weight for the first two weeks so their foster supplemented with critical care. He was three weeks old the day I brought him home. He was born with no left eye and we discovered the day I got him he was going blind in his right eye due to a cataract. Because of his eye issues he will remain a sanctuary pig so being paired with Leo was perfect.
Leo loves Winky! He takes his nanny boar role very seriously! Winky is growing everyday and has provably tripled in size. I am completely in love with him and Leo and hope to remain their permanent foster mom.

Image

User avatar
Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Sat Oct 19, 2013 8:38 pm


Such personality these pigs have! If I lived in your area and wanted to adopt a guinea pig, I'd be contacting you in a heartbeat!

User avatar
Ibepatience
Supporter in '13

Post   » Sun Oct 20, 2013 9:44 am


On September 25 I pulled a male and female from the hellish shelter where Gonzo and his ladies came from. They were turned in by people who claimed they found them so they were held for 5 days. Unfortunately they were brought in together in a box so the shelter decided to keep them caged together even though they knew they were male and female.
I named them Bonnie and Clyde. They look almost identical, in fact I'm not sure which is which in this picture. I know Bonnie has a greyish snout so the middle one is her. I think. They're young, I'd guess under a year. Bonnie is very scared but relaxes quickly when held. Clyde is a goofball and popcorns uncontrollably about 20 hours a day. They seem in good health except both have red back feet, nothing serious yet, just a little irritated. Nothing Gorgeous Guineas can't fix I'm sure.

Bonnie is on pregnancy watch but so far so good. I haven't noticed any signs of pregnancy. Clyde is already looking for his forever home and I'm sure will make a great BFF for a lonely boar.

Image

Oh and that's me holding them. Not my most flattering photo. I'm not angry, I'm squinting cause I was trying to see myself on my camera phone screen - this was pre-wear your glasses all the time as I was instructed by my eye dr last week. My rescue boss said its good - makes it look like rescuing piggies is serious stuff :-)

User avatar
Breadfan4

Post   » Sun Oct 20, 2013 11:14 am


I love reading about all the rescued pigs! :)

Brambles

Post   » Sun Oct 20, 2013 1:41 pm


That's a great picture Ibepatience!

User avatar
Ibepatience
Supporter in '13

Post   » Sun Oct 20, 2013 2:04 pm


The night of October 13 I received an email from our rescue crew that there was another girl at the hell we call SB City shelter. This is where Gonzo and his ladies and Bonnie and Clyde came from. I emailed right back that I would go check on her and was given permission to pull her if she was healthy. We have been bombarded this year with pigs we've pulled ending up with serious medical issues and financially the rescue can't pull any right now. We would be doing a disservice to those already in our care if we take on more than we can handle.

The shelter is closed Mondays so first thing Tuesday morning I called and they said Molly was an owner surrender, in good health and about 2 years old. They told me she was on hold until the 19th which I thought was strange since she was an owner surrender but shelters have weird rules sometimes so I didn't question it. I was hoping to go by that day and check on her and take them supplies but things got crazy at work and I didn't get out in time to make it out there.

Wednesday afternoon I left work early to go check her out and hopefully talk them into letting me take her early. When I checked in at the front desk I was told since she was an owner surrender she was available now. Excitedly I went around back and asked to see her. I could see her cage from the door and watched the worker lift the pigloo to pick her up and she turned t me and said "she doesn't look very good" I started to walk towards her and she stopped me, employees only. She said she was going to take her to the vet tech real quick.

When she returned with Molly and handed her to me I knew instantly she was in very bad shape. Instead of fur her lower half of her body was stubble and what fur she did have was coarse and wirey. She was cold and limp and I could feel her labored breathing. I immediately laid her across my arm and gently held her close. I sat down on a bench trying to stop my mind from spinning. Scurvy? Mites? Pneumonia? All of the above? I called my boss but got her voice mail. I called another rescue volunteer, she was as unsure what to do as I was. The a-hole worker I have dealt with a few times came up to me and for the first time appeared sympathetic. He said the vet tech thinks she is just old. I told him she wasn't, she just looked old because of the hair loss. He said people bring their sick animals here thinking we can take care of them but we can't. We don't have the funding or the resources for that, especially with a guinea pig and no knowledgeable vets in the area.

I called my husband and he agreed, we couldn't leave her there to die scared and alone surrounded by barking dogs. We would take financial responsibility for her and bring her home. I didn't even give her back to them, there was no way I was letting her out of my arms. I went to the front desk and told them I thought she was dying, I was in their system and here is my $2.00 to pull her.

I laid some fleece across my lap and drove home with her there - hoping some syringe feedings, water, metacam and antibiotics might save her. If nothing else she wouldn't be alone when she died. The closest guinea pig vets to me are about 70-80 miles away and at 4pm in Southern California traffic that could be 2-3 hours. I called the vet and left a message hoping for some advice. I called my boss again and she said go ahead with what I was planning - food, water and meds and keep her posted.

When I got home I tried to syringe her some water but I couldn't even get her to swallow. It seemed uncomfortable for me to pet her but gently stroking her nose seemed to calm her. Her breathing got worse and she started to seize a little and I realized she wasn't going to peacefully fall asleep and pass away like I had envisioned. I had to take her and have her pts because she was suffering. I called the vet up the street and explained the situation to them and they said they would "gas her down" so she would relax and go comfortably (as possible I guess).

My daughter went with me, crying but insisting she needed to be with her too. The vets office was great and gave her back to us in a box so we could bury her. My daughter kept saying "i hate people" so I told her that we need to take that anger and sadness and use it to try to change things, to make a difference for future piggies. Later that night she came to me and said "you know, we rescue pigs to help them and I think we helped Molly too. At least we held her and helped her to die in a better way."

I was very angry at the shelter and was planning on filing a complaint but decided that would do nothing for future pigs, I would just turn the shelter away from our rescue. I am instead going to go in and meet with them. Our rescue won a grant for a shelter outreach project so we are putting together supply boxes with hay, pellets, pieces of fleece and laminated care instructions, contact info for the volunteers and proper sexing. I am going to befriend them and try to become their ally. I am going to ask them to call e as soon as they get a guinea pig in and I will come in, check them out for illness, determine their gender and get their cage set up properly. I really think they will embrace this because they don't have the knowledge or time to do it theirselves. I will be relieving them of some of that burden and will be working on getting the pigs pulled either by our rescue or another in the area.

Anyway, here is Molly. I will never, ever forget her.
Image

Here is a video, its tough to watch but I wanted something in case I did file a complaint.

http://s152.photobucket.com/albums/s182 ... 0ab351.mp4

User avatar
mmeadow
Supporter 2004-2022

Post   » Sun Oct 20, 2013 3:39 pm


Poor Molly. At least you were there for her at the end.

User avatar
Lovemypigs
Supporter in '17

Post   » Sun Oct 20, 2013 5:12 pm


What you are doing is amazing and this is going to be a great thread to keep reading!! Winky is one of my favorites...

I would love to have the space and means to do something similar and maybe one day, way in the future it will happen. For now, it will be good enough to read about your rescued piggies.

Thank you for what you are doing!!!!!

User avatar
Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Sun Oct 20, 2013 8:12 pm


I am so sorry about Molly. I hope your proactive plan works and the next pig in the same shape is given a real chance and not just left untreated.

User avatar
GuineaPiggin

Post   » Mon Oct 21, 2013 7:53 am


Poor Molly. Thank you for showing her love in her last few hours.

User avatar
AldenM1
Supporter in '21

Post   » Mon Oct 21, 2013 10:19 am


Rest in peace, Molly. I'm glad you were warm and nose-rubbed for a little while.

Post Reply