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MildredM
The-Fairy-in-my-Heart

Post   » Tue Dec 11, 2012 1:38 pm


Oh Albert! Look at your little face! How exciting to get your first Christmas card . . . Happy Christmas to you and all your little friends from all of us xxx

Crazy4me

Post   » Tue Dec 11, 2012 1:43 pm


Oh my Albert are you so adorable..Merry Christmas to you and the rest of your furry friends *smooch*.

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GP_mum
Supporter in '13

Post   » Tue Dec 11, 2012 8:54 pm


Lovely picture and Christmas wishes to Albert and all his furry friends.

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pigjes
Cavy Comic

Post   » Wed Jan 02, 2013 8:19 am


Lovely closeups!

Lunatic Pandora

Post   » Mon Feb 04, 2013 5:58 am


It was August 2004. I had graduated from university a couple of months ago and was living at home again. My mum, younger sister and I went to Pets at Home for some food for our budgie and zebra finch. Suddenly, I was struck by a brilliant idea.

“Let’s get a guinea pig,” I said.

Now, I know that was The Wrong Thing To Do for a multitude of reasons, but at the time I had no idea that you could adopt guinea pigs. I thought that was only for cats and dogs. After some persuading from me and my sister, my mother relented. It didn’t take much persuading, however, as my mum loves animals as much as I do and had posed the idea of getting guinea pigs in the past.

There were lots of baby guinea pigs running about in the enclosures in the middle of the shop. I wanted a black pig, but my sister spotted a pale beige and white coloured guinea pig with pinky red eyes. Later, we would find out that this pale beige colour was in fact referred to as “lilac”.

When the shop assistant went to pick the guinea pig up so we could take a look at him, the rabbits surrounded him, as though they were trying to protect him. As this pig had red eyes, and as I had seen The Omen only nights before, there was really only one name in the running.

Damien.

So, we took Damien home along with a crappy wooden hutch. I really am ashamed at how little I knew then, and I really hope Damien didn’t suffer as a result. As my mum set up the hutch, my sister took Damien out of his cardboard carry box and sat him on her knee, where he promptly peed.

Judging by his size, he was about three months old when we bought him, and I didn’t think he would get any bigger. Boy, how wrong I was. He wasn’t known as “Big D” for nothing. By the time he was an adult, he was long enough that three people could stroke him at once; one working his head, one massaging his shoulders, and another stroking his back. He would often stretch out specifically so we could do this.

Like most guinea pigs, he was very timid at first. This didn’t last long, and he soon lived up to his name.

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Now, I know what you're thinking. How could a pig with such a sweet face possibly get up to any wrongdoing?

Don't let that face fool you. Damien was a very smart and very brave pig, but was also very mischievous. He loved to be naughty for the sake of it, possibly because he was so smart and so brave, and knew he could get away with it.

During floor time, he would often chew at the tassels on the bottom of the sofa, or nibble at the wooden futon chair. I would try and tell him off, by saying “Damien, no!” in a stern voice, but he would just look up at me as if to say “what are you going to do about it?” and carry on with his mischief. Often, the only way to stop him nibbling was to put my hand in between his teeth and whatever it was he was trying to get at. Even then, he would try and push my hand aside.

The best example of how smart and naughty he was came one day when he was out in the living room. My mum and I were sat on the floor keeping an eye on him, because we knew he loved to sit under the futon, where he would pee and poop ‘til his heart’s content. It was one of the many “boar dens” he had round the living room. My mum had blocked what she believed to be every entrance to the futon, but she had missed one tiny gap, and Damien was determined.

He started off by sitting in the middle of the floor, washing. Later we would realize this was to throw us off our guard. Then, without warning, he bolted towards the tiny gap and before we could react, had wriggled his way under the futon. There he sat, flab spread out with his dewlap resting on his front paws, with a smug expression on his face. And there was nothing we could do about it. After a minute or two, he emerged from the futon, and trotted back into his hutch, as if to say “see, I can do what I like”.

Damien was a bachelor pig for just over two years. And then, he met Pippin.

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AldenM1
Supporter in '21

Post   » Mon Feb 04, 2013 6:21 am


Aww look at the little folded paws!

Lunatic Pandora

Post   » Mon Feb 04, 2013 7:08 am


I know! He looks like such a dapper little sir in that picture!

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Brainerror

Post   » Mon Feb 04, 2013 7:51 am


Damien's shredded ear reminds me of a boar we had in the rescue once. He was so cute, similar colours too, but because he was rescued from a backyard where he roamed with 200 (!!) other pigs his got in some fights and lost most of his ear.

All your pigs are cute as hell, especially gingernut.

Lunatic Pandora

Post   » Mon Feb 04, 2013 8:40 am


Thank you! Gingernut was a little sweetie.

Pippin is the one with the shredded ear. In fact, both of his ears were shredded. He had been bullied by other pigs :( Luckily, his ears never seemed to bother him, he even let me gently rub them from time to time :)

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pigjes
Cavy Comic

Post   » Wed Apr 17, 2013 3:02 pm


Awww how cute! Floopy used to fold her paws too.

Lunatic Pandora

Post   » Thu May 09, 2013 4:45 am


On 6th May it was exactly one year since I adopted my little Albert. I drove 2 and a half hours to South Wales to pick him up so he could be friends with my lone boar, Wilbur. I'm not saying they hit it off immediately, but one year on they're (almost) the best of pals, as long as there's a divide between them!

Recently, the RSPCA sent me a newsletter, and on the front of the envelope was Albert's adoption photograph. It must have been taken shortly after they rescued him, because he looks really thin and his haunches and spine look quite pronounced under his fur.

Luckily, when I went to pick him up he'd put on a lot more weight, and is now quite a chubster! I think that was why I was so surprised when they brought out this huge pig, because I'd only seen his photo on the internet and was expecting something a lot smaller.

Here are some photos I took of him this morning, looking very handsome, if I do say so myself (although in need of a nail trim)!

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Happy Adoption Anniversary, little man!

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AldenM1
Supporter in '21

Post   » Thu May 09, 2013 9:02 am


What a beautiful fuzzy pig!

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