Ready to move to the next level..

[Paravati]

Well, I don't guess that I've completely discounted the possibility that 20 can turn into 20 unadoptable pigs.

I've been looking online at various houses for rent in our area. Where we live now is 'trendy' and expensive but you don't get as much house for the money. I'm hoping that when we move in April, we can get a four or five bedroom place. We need two or three bedrooms for the kids, one for us, and one for my office. Then, I'd like to have a basement or just all around more room so I can space out my rescue cages and my permanent resident cages. Right now the permanent residents are in my office, which I don't mind, but if any more become permanent, we'll need more room.

We're already talking about getting rid of our couch. We don't ever have the time to watch TV anyway. And there's a closet in the other living room that I walk past all the time and never open the door to get anything out of. I think we're going to throw all that crap in the attic and take the door off the wall and make it another pig cage. I think I can fit a 5x2.5 grid cage size in there.

So far, though, we've been pretty lucky as far as sick pigs go. Right now we have 2 on Bactrim for mild URI and 2 on Baytril (one prepping for a spay and Emily's Bear, who nobody can figure out what's wrong with him). Everybody else seems to be doing well: Blaze's broken leg is no longer troubling her, and her pneumonia has gone away (for now). We are worried she has a heart problem though, so that might come into play in the next few months. Rebecca is getting spayed next week. Tigger is finally healed up from his latest catastrophe and is playing Mr. Humpsalot in the girl's cage. He's pretty happy. Mister E who has a heart murmur is still balls-to-the-wall active with no problems yet. The only one we really have to watch constantly is Bear, who gets probiotic twice a day and breathing treatments whenever his breathing gets bad. And you have to walk by and "thump" him a few times a day.

Cleaning cages right now takes 15 minutes a day (spot vaccuuming, which Alex does) and 1 hour a week (changing out all the liners, we both do it together). The hay boxes get changed out and/or refreshed every two days which maybe takes a total of 5 minutes, and it's 'as needed'. Veggie time takes about 45 minutes every two days (We make up three huge salad bowls at a time, and that lasts us about 2.5 days). We have a constantly growing pile of white shop towels and fleece bedding in front of the laundry that gets done once a week or so. We have so many of them that it's possible to let three or four loads' worth pile up before we get motivated to do anything about it. Then there's the time we spend sitting on the couch with one pig or another in our lap, feeding them treats and loving on them. Pigs also sit in my lap while I work all night long.

So so FAR, the time isn't all that terrible yet. Certainly nothing like what you're going through right now, Chary. I can only thank the powers that be that we've been so lucky up until now, and hope that we continue to be so lucky. I don't think I would mind having to spend more time, though... Not if it saved pigs.

[Josephine]

Re: The med sheet. I'd be more than happy to post it if I can figure out how. I need to do some more digging.

I keep a large (3") binder with current animal records. Each pet has a tabbed section and tons of clear sheet protectors. I use the sheet protectors for everything. It makes it easy to save receipts, labwork, licensing, etc. Each cavy gets a med sheet, surrender form (if applicable), and "mug shots," at the least. I don't usually put down weekly weights on healthy pigs, but I note monthly changes in the hard copy. Ill pigs always go down in the hard copy and my form has separate areas for general info, vet care, weights, and ectoparasite treatment (ivermectin and Advantage). Some pigs have several sheets due to their extensive histories.

Once an animal is deceased or adopted out, I pull the entire file and transfer it to another one for such animals. That way, if the house is burning down I have all the most recent and important stuff in one book to grab and it is easy for family members or pet sitters to grab it if needed for emergency vet care. My dogs are similarly arranged (with a dog form) so that I know at a glance when their vaccines and licensing are due and could show to an animal control officer immediately should it be necessary (like they've ever come over to MY house, LOL).

[Josephine]

http://photos.yahoo.com/bc/cannelle.rm/ ... %26.view=t

Try that

[Charybdis]

Josephine, that's a great idea. Right now I'm just using a Mead notebook with a page for every pig and a whiteboard on the fridge for current meds.

Para, I'm quite sure you will do fine, especially since you work from home and have help.

Strange, after I replied to this thread I took Sam down to the vet. I was pretty tired and went back to bed when I returned. I started dreaming about the pigs. I dreamed that the males were climbing over the cubes and assaulting the females. I kept grabbing them to put them back in their cages but I got all the cavies mixed up and couldn't figure out who was who and went where. Then Meg (the white Monterrey sow) gave birth to a tiny, tiny baby smaller than my little finger. It seemed fine and active but was too small to nurse. So I was thinking that I needed to post on GL about what to do with this little baby.

Can you imagine if I walked in my sleep and posted that?

[Lynx]

It looks like a useful form. If Josephine thinks it is a good idea, maybe someone could put a general form in pdf format and I could make it available to download.

[Foster]

I like that form too. It would help me to be more organized and "official". Well Para, I'm happy to report that your new babies are here! The irresponsible owner that allowed them all to breed brought them all, including the parent pigs (which she kept), so I could look at them and asses their health. I tried to get her to leave without the intact boar but she wouldn't. She did buy a C+C cage for one of them so they will live separately now and promised to have him neutered. There wasn't anything else I could do : ( They all *look* very healthy and CUTE too! No hair loss, no sores, or scales. Noses and eyes look healthy too. THANK GOODNESS!! On the down side, the two sows from the first litter (four months old) are obviously pregnant. The 3 baby sows (8 weeks old) are very small so hopefully we got them in time. The two boars, one from each litter, are living together in their own cage now. All will get Ivermectin and nail trims today. I will keep anyone you want me to. I don't want to send you too many considering you are looking at at least two litters soon.

[Josephine]

How do you do that, Lynx? I would be O.K. if someone wanted to repost it sans my contact info at the top. If it helps any owner with managing better records, it is a bonus to me.

[Charybdis]

Josephine, I had no idea that was you in Oroville. Someone called me a few months ago from way up in the NE corner of CA and I referred her to Celeste Cavy Rescue as the closest. Didn't know that you had closed your doors.

What you say about setting limits is crucial. Paravati is lucky to have another rescue near her, and will probably not run into the problem I have--no other GP rescue within 100 miles.

Maybe Teresa could add your document to the downloadable files on Cavy Rescue--with the applications, surrender forms, contracts, etc.

[Josephine]

Good idea. I'll chat with her this weekend. I'm sure she'll be open to the idea, it's just finding time to put it up. I know she's been really busy lately.

Yup, that's me in Oroville. I've lived here for more than 20 years (almost my entire life).

I have not accepted private surrenders for several years. I closed my doors to more pigs due to work and returning to school to pursue my BS and maybe more. I'm hoping to slowly reduce my numbers so that things will be more managable when I move next year. As it is, finding housing to rent with 3 dogs and 17 guinea pigs will be a challenge. The dogs probably more than the cavies, even though the dogs are trained seniors (all over 10 years old).

[Lynx]

That would be a good place to have it too. I'm hoping to get up a "prevention" page to reiterate what it takes to keep a cavy healthy and include a weeky check list. So something similar still would be useful on this site too. I'll see what I can come up with at a later date.

Teresa (if she has time) is very good with pdf stuff and forms. I'm sure she could knock it off in no time. Someone mainly has to hand copy the text.

[Lynx]

For what it's worth, here is a quick facsimile of Josephine's sheet. It looks better if you check the print preview (then the title ends up centered on the printed page vs. the html page you see). I have no doubt it will NOT look perfect for everyone, but maybe you can figure out how to do up your own. The text is there. Use your own Word program or whatever and you should have some success.

I had a hard time reading some of the words from her pic/photo. Hope they are more or less correct.

This prints out okay for me:

https://www.guinealynx.info/record.html

[Josephine]

Obtained by: could be changed to "Obtained" alone. That is the date I take in the pig (it originally had my rescue abbreviation by it)

DMV should be DVM (the veterinarian who saw the animal--helpful for me since I see many referral vets)

Ectoparasitic should be Ectoparasite