Guinea Pig Connection

Chuckles From A Poetry Book

My friend Diana sent me a book she'd found at a book sale at her son's school, titled "Oh, Theodore!" by Susan Katz. This illustrated collection of verse promises that readers will "discover the work involved in caring for a pet...But it hardly seems like work once your pet becomes your best friend." The book was published in 2007 but this is the first I've heard of it. The illustrator perfectly captured some classic guinea-pig mannerisms. The author based Theodore on her son's guinea pig, who "liked to join in family conversations, especially if they contained the word lettuce." (Yep, she's got the species pegged. Definitely enslaved by a guinea pig.)

As I leafed through the pages filled with cute illustrations of the brown-haired guinea pig named Theodore, I had to chuckle over some of the entries. How many of us can relate to this verse:

THEO-DOOR

Open

the kitchen door.

Theodore sits.

Open

the cupboard door.

Theodore sits.

But open

the refrigerator door.

Here comes Theodore!

Later in the book came a verse that will resonate, in particular, with folks who have older guinea pigs:

SPRING STROLL

Out to the yard

we go.

But I don't

take Theodore

for a walk.

I take him

for a sit.

The verse is accompanied by an illustration of Theodore and his young owner sitting outside on the grass, facing each other as if to say, "Okay, now what?" It's followed by another funny (and familiar) verse, titled "Lucky":

I'm the one

who found 

a four-leaf clover.

But Theodore's

the one

who ate it.

The book is suitable for beginning readers, and can be found online through e-tailers like Amazon and through your local bookstore. As with most books, we found a couple of things portrayed in the illustrations that we don't agree with -- but we'll get into that in another post at another time. For now, we'll look at it for what it is: a good concept with cute illustrations that will (hopefully) encourage beginning readers to read it on their own, and younger kids to ask Mom and Dad to read it to them (again and again).

An Alternative To Sticky Roller Sheets

After zipping through yet another lint roller, I decided it was time to look for an alternative. 

My dog- and cat-owning friends have turned me onto the Fabric Sweeper for Pet Hair from Pledge. Originally made for cleaning pet hair off furniture and other home decor, my friends tell me they use this sweeper to get pet hair off of clothes as well. Pledge claims that one of their sweepers does the same work as 145 of those sticky sheets from a lint roller.

Certainly worth a try...it definitely puts less stuff in the landfills.

If you decide to try it, too, let us know about your experience with it.

When Do You Introduce A New Roommate?

When a guinea pig dies, when do you bring home a new roommate for the one left behind to grieve? In the last three weeks or so, we've had e-mails from owners who were facing the inevitability of having to put gravely ill guinea pigs to sleep.My short answer is "Your pig will tell you."

Until you've had a guinea pig or two (or more) you don't realize how deeply these critters can grieve, or how quickly they can sink into a depression and how long they can stay in that psychological state until you pull them out of it. There's a fine line between letting a guinea pig mourn the loss of a friend and adjust to life without him/her and letting the guinea pig slide into a full-blown depression. Depression isn't to be trifled with, to be treated with a wait-and-see approach for too long. Loss of appetite, decreased water drinking, lethargy, zero interest in things that used to draw a reaction, little to no socializing with human companions -- all are signs of depression, and all can lead to more serious illness if they're not stopped.

Cari's Story

Cari wrote to us about her pair of female guinea pigs, one of whom is very sick and does not have a lot of time left in her life. She wrote to us, "I am worried about her companion. I fear she will be so lonely, and I know they do better in pairs and I want to get another female for her....I also wonder when another should be introduced, before or after?" I give her a lot of credit for thinking ahead like this, and for proceeding with caution instead of acting too soon. For a lot of folks, balancing compassion and restraint is not easy.

My advice to Cari is that she wait until after her guinea pig dies. The sick one is dealing with enough stress from her illness, and the healthy one is dealing with the stress of seeing her friend fade away. (Yes, I am fully convinced that these animals know before us humans when they are preparing to cross over.) Introducing another pig at this time is more stress -- and avoidable stress at that. Let the girls close out their lives together, and when the sick one crosses over, Cari and her remaining guinea pig need to grieve together and comfort each other.

Observation will tell Cari when her guinea pig is getting depressed -- she may see it within a few days, or it might be longer. But it will come, and it's best to act when the symptoms first start to appear. It's rare for a guinea pig who's used to having a roommate to function well as a lone pig for any length of time. They get used to constant companionship -- and not having it for an extended period of time turns their world upside down with unhealthy consequences.

Stacey's Story

Stacey started talking to us when she was trying to make the difficult decision between euthanizing her middle-aged guinea pig or putting her through inordinately expensive and risky surgery that offered disproportionately little in the way of guarantees of post-operative longevity. The prospect of needing to get a new roommate (someday) for her remaining guinea pig was never brought up. Honestly, as rattled by the experience as Stacey understandably was, adoption of another pig was not something I expected her to consider for a while.

After putting Cupcake to sleep, Stacey -- grieving and worried about her remaining guinea pig -- bought two 5-month-old females on the same day as Cupcake's death. Warned by the pet store clerk that her guinea pig might fight with the new ones in order to establish herself as "alpha female," Stacey did some online research to find out how to introduce them all. Introductions on neutral ground went well -- sharing space in the cage did not. After breaking up the fighting, Stacey did more online research. Her next steps were a) cleaning everything in the cage with vinegar, and b) giving everyone a bath together. After another rough beginning, the younger girls got the hint that there was only one queen bee -- and it wasn't either of them. When last I heard from Stacey, there seemed to be some kind of continuing peace in the cage.

In her last e-mail, Stacey wrote, "I thought it would be easy to bring new pigs home." I thought to myself, "You don't know what a lucky break you had. The fight could have been worse, blood could have been drawn by a bad bite, those three pigs might never have called a truce -- and then you really would have been stuck."

I can't say I blame Stacey's pig for her initial reaction. She was not happy about losing her friend and acquiring two strange roommates in her cage on the same day. It's a lot of adjustment to ask her to make. (Stacey was acting from a broken heart and concern for her guinea pig, so you can understand her impulse.) I'm just relieved it seems to have worked out as quickly as it did.

Again, how long you wait before bringing someone new home really does depend on the individual pig, but I firmly believe that the grieving process needs to be given space and time. We humans would demand and expect that for ourselves, and, knowing what emotions animals are capable of, I think they expect it as well.

Newspaper As Cage Bedding

When I read the e-mail from Joanne, one of our supporters, my first reaction was stupefied silence:

A piggy friend of mine posted that there was a piggy who suddenly stopped eating. It turns out after a vet visit, that a staple was stuck to the roof of his mouth! Naturally, if he tried to bite down it would hurt.  Apparently this person had lined his cage with a publication that contained staples.

My second reaction was, "Really, people? Does this have to be explained? Staples in a cage with critters who chew and gnaw and shred?" (I know...I know...it could have been said more gently.)

My third reaction was, "Oh ick, wet newspaper!" Every time I think of newspaper in cages, I think of the cages in shelters, lined with newspaper that so easily gets wet, then shreds into soggy bits the wetter it gets and the more the critters scramble over it. I think of the guinea pigs and rabbits I've pulled out of those cages, with inky feet and soaking wet bellies and rumps. I always think, "This is no way to live, no matter how temporarily."

I know there's folks who put layers of newspaper under layers of fleece, instead of using store-bought cage bedding. The fleece part I can understand -- it's washable, it's not going into landfills in plastic bags, it may be cheaper than conventional cage bedding (I've never done the math to figure the annual cost of store-bought bedding vs. annual costs for detergent, hot water, and gas or electricity). I also can see using just layers of fleece to line the bottom of the cage.

But handling all that wet newspaper? Ick. Double ick.

So for the folks who use newspaper for cage bedding along with fleece, share with us (please) why you went that route. How wet does the paper get? How much fleece do you layer on top? Doesn't the fleece get inky and hard to clean? What does the newspaper/fleece combination give that just using fleece doesn't? And if you use only newspaper, please share your experiences.

When Lap Time With Piggy Gets All Wet

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a post about reasons why a guinea pig might bite or nibble your hand. The post stemmed from a question e-mailed to me by a young girl. A follow-up question from her yielded another dilemma. She wrote, "She has started peeing on me all the time, it's really very annoying. I don't know what to do. I know that they have signals, but she's always biting me or nibbling so I don't know."

Most of the time, guinea pigs are actually quite polite, giving us signals when they need a bathroom break. These signals can include:

• constant fidgeting accompanied by repeated checking of their back ends
• circling around and around on your chest or lap
• constantly repositioning themselves, dropping their rumps on you with an adamant thump
• backing their rumps up to the edge of your lap, shoulder, chest, arms, etc. (in an attempt to pee away from you and them)
• biting or nibbling your hand or fingers (usually when you've missed, or ignored, all other signals)

While wet laps don't occur every time you hold your guinea pigs, they do happen. You can minimize your chances with simple observation and careful timing. Notice when guinea pigs drink a fair amount of water (though guinea pigs who habitually drink a lot of water can be a particular challenge), and give their bodies time to process it before holding them -- or plan on a short session of cuddling. Same goes for pigs who have just eaten juicy fruits or vegetables, like melon, cucumber, and so forth.

Learn, too, each pig's unique clock. I've had pigs who could sit on my lap for an hour or more before the urge hit, and others that get the urge after 20 minutes or so. I've also encountered pigs who had a habit of peeing when they were half-asleep, presumably because they got so relaxed that their bladders let loose but their internal alarms didn't go off. Age can also be a factor; very young guinea pigs haven't learned to "be polite" yet, and the bladders of older guinea pigs are not as resilient as they once were.

In rare cases, with guinea pigs that don't (by nature) like to be held much, the "I gotta pee" alarm seemed like a measure of self-defense, of protecting their boundaries. They didn't want to be held, tolerated it for a handful of minutes, and then triggered the panic button...presumably because they'd learned through experience that the threat of getting peed on was the one thing that would get their human to put them back in their cage or play area.

All that said, no matter how watchful you are, the odds are that you'll get peed on at least once, and probably more. Rather than get soaked, learn to have some cozy sacks or old clean towels handy for lap time. As a general practice, I always have a towel folded up under my pigs. If you want a little extra protection, puppy pee pads are a great investment.

If you've noticed that your pigs have some signals that I didn't list here, please share them. Every pig is different and, thus, so are the warning signals.

Who Says We Can't All Get Along?

When you live with a couple of guinea pigs (or more), you inevitably learn a lot of things about communal living, sharing, sticking together in good times and bad, and so much more. The photos on the Web of happy guinea pigs cuddled together are so commonplace that they risk being perceived as cliche if people miss the fact that each photo is like a nudge from The Universe to remember what's truly important: love and peace.

So, to drive the point home that things like harmony, tolerance, and acceptance are possible if we can get past labels and appearances and learn to see the spirit that lies within, we guinea pig folks have to look to other species with legendary "animosities." Author and artist Cecelia Soprano recently sent me a video link of a pet cat and pet rats that begs the question, "Well, if they can get along, what's everyone else's problem?"

I love cats. I have a hard time warming up to pet rats (but wish them no harm). Even if the cat is really just tolerating the rats, these furry teachers should be able to persuade at least a few humans to re-evaluate their perspective on their own "sworn enemies."

6 Reasons Why Your Guinea Pig Might Be Biting

A young girl contacted us to ask why her guinea pig is always nibbling or biting the hands of whoever holds her. It's very unusual for guinea pigs to bite, especially so persistently, but it does happen. It's even more unusual for them to bite so hard that it draws blood.

Beyond the #1 reason ("Put me down...I gotta pee!"), the most common reasons for nibbling or biting (in no particular order) are listed below.

Mistaken Identity
Your hands smell like their food pellets, hay, veggies, fruit, fresh grass, or something else that just smells yummy. A guinea pig will quickly stop nibbling when s/he realizes it's your finger s/he is chewing on.

Noise Pollution
Noise or other commotion in the immediate area is frightening them. This commotion could be anything -- a thunderstorm, a vacuum cleaner, a loud TV or stereo, folks getting rambunctious with the family Wii. If something is frightening a guinea pig and it doesn't feel secure in your arms, it will...ahem...persuade you to put it back in its cage so it can burrow into a hideout house (where it does feel safe).

Reckless Handling
The guinea pig feels like it's being mishandled. Guinea pigs want to feel secure and well-supported. If a guinea pig feels like its feet are hanging in mid-air, or like your shoulder is too high of a perch, or that it's being jostled too much, it will let you know. Some guinea pigs don't like to be carried while you walk around the house or go up and down stairs, and will demonstrate their objections by biting you. No guinea pig likes to get caught in a "tug of war" between two people who want to hold him/her. And they have no tolerance for getting passed from person to person to person in a short stretch of time.

Fear
They're afraid of the person holding them. Guinea pigs will become permanently fearful of a person who has been angry or abusive toward them, or a person who has consistently mishandled them. If a pig's history is unknown to you (e.g., you got them from a shelter or found them abandoned outdoors), you may have to deal with the consequences wrought by whatever human(s) preceded you. A guinea pig that was abused by, say, little boys may always have a generalized fear of little boys. Love and patience from you may help lessen the fear, but may never fully overcome it.

Pain & Discomfort
A guinea pig that's feeling sore in one spot, or in pain all over, won't want to be held. Sources of pain or discomfort can include: bruising, strains, or sprains caused by rambunctious play; getting nipped by a cage mate; skin irritation that's painful to the touch; and arthritis. It should also be noted that sick pigs don't want to be handled much either.

Moodiness
As social and cuddly as they are, sometimes guinea pigs just want to be left alone. Maybe it's feeding time and they want to focus on the lettuce leaf you just gave them. Maybe it's their usual nap time. Maybe their cage mate has been crowding them with too much attention and they just want some space from everyone. Maybe they were in the middle of a good game with a cage mate. And maybe they just don't feel like being social, for no particular reason. Humans have days like that...so do guinea pigs (though a lot less often).

Bottom line: listen to and respect what your guinea pig is telling you. He's hoping you'll hear him sooner rather than later.

Hope, Love & Second Chances

In animal rescue work, you hear a lot of stories. Stories that restore your faith in mankind. Stories that make you think the world is going to hell in a handbasket. Stories that fall somewhere in between. The tales of how people find their pets bring you tears of joy. The tales of how people spent the final hours and days with their pets bring tears of sadness and commiseration.

While inviting us to join Dog Days of Oxford in September, Marlies Sullivan shared the story of Henshew and Alexandra. It's a story of how one human saw hope where others didn't, of how one animal found a second chance as a result of an impulsive -- nay, an intuitive -- act of compassion, and of how a young girl found her first love.

Guinea pigs are near and dear to my family's heart. I never thought I would be a guinea pig mom since I mostly adopted homeless dogs and cats over the last 21 years, but 5 years ago I was at the local pet supply store and it all started there.

As I was led to the back room to pick up some donated dog food for our local shelter, I heard something move amongst the many bags of food and supplies. To my horror, in a very small cage, was a very large hairless guinea pig. He had NO HAIR on his entire bottom except for a bit on his head. He also had an open sore all over his body. Apparently he had been dropped off and, according to the young kid helping me, he was to be picked up to be euthanized. I guess he was thought to be beyond help for the store.

Knowing nothing about guinea pigs, but seeing that this little fellow was SCARED TO DEATH and in desperate need of help, I grabbed him and bought the largest cage they sold as well as the most organic bedding they sold. Next was a trip to my vet who determined that the little guy was sooo stressed, had probably been beaten up by another pig, and was suffering from a skin condition.

Medicine, a good quality guinea pig food, and lots of fresh organic veggies and 3 weeks later he had HAIR. He became my 11-year-old daughter's best friend. He spent so much time outside of his cage on her bed. He even got along quite well with our cats (we have photos of him sleeping with our cat).

Sadly, 6 months ago, we had to put him down. It broke our hearts. He had developed a tumor and was suffering. Our vet had a lot of experience with small animals and said there was nothing we could do. My daughter, now 16, held him as he was put down. We had him cremated in a personal cremation and his ashes are on my daughter's desk.

Henshew was such a special guy. We used to joke that he was spoiled because he only wanted organic veggies, but ohhhh, we loved him so.

Marlies' words tell us a beautiful story. But if I'd never heard the story, the photo she sent me of Henshew and Alexandra would have told me everything that needed to be said about their bond, in a way that words could never make tangible.

Henshew's proud stance makes clear he is right where he wanted to be. He seems to be saying, "I am hers, she is mine. All is right in my world." The joy that radiates from Alexandra's smile makes clear that she's right where she wanted to be.

Those of us who have loved and lost pets know all too well the pain she feels now, the pain we all wish we could avoid but know is part of the deal when you love anyone and then lose them. But we also rejoice in her good fortune to have had such a strong loving bond with him, for we know how much she was transformed by it. That she'll carry it with her always. We know this because we, too, have been transformed by our relationships with our own pets.

I've been told that Alexandra is still struggling with Henshew's loss. I wish I could tell her the pain and grief go away, but they don't. They lessen, or seem to, because our coping skills get better, because we learn to compartmentalize our emotions. The tears are there, ever ready to catch you off guard when you find a photo or meet another human who just lost their own furry friend.

Believe what you will, but I believe that our furry friends never leave us. They just trade the frustrating limitations of aging or sick bodies for angel wings, and walk with us as loyal protectors until we meet again.

Guinea Pigs On TV Tonight

If you missed the news earlier this week, we were one of several rescues interviewed by the Associated Press wire service regarding the impact that we fear that "G-Force" is going to have on guinea pigs and guinea pig rescues everywhere.

NBC Connecticut 30 contacted us on Wednesday when the story hit the wire, and came out to interview Cindy this evening. Ben got lots of good information from Cindy, while Sedona, Bud, Minerva, Pogo, and Gracie hammed it up for Dan the cameraman. As it turned out, "camera fright" is not an issue for Sedona or Bud.

The interview will be airing on tonight's 11 p.m. newscast, and is getting a fair bit of promotion. If you miss the story tonight, or live in another state, the video will likely be loaded to their Web site this weekend.

It will be interesting to see how Ben and Dan seamed everything together. Bud, in moving in for his close-up (instead of waiting for Dan to do it), smudged up the camera lens. Sedona was in Cindy's arms during the interview and she kept looking straight into Dan's camera as if to say, "Does she really think anyone is going to notice her with me sitting here??"

We think a diva and a matinee idol were born today...

Our Interview With The Associated Press Hits The Wire

We were recently interviewed by Sue Manning of the Los Angeles bureau of the Associated Press about the likely impact the upcoming Disney movie "G-Force" will have on guinea pig ownership (by purchase or adoption). She'd found us by way of our blog posting last month on G-Force, when this paragraph of mine caught her eye:

We can only hope that if there's a surge in kids asking their parents for guinea pigs as a result of this movie, the parents will all do their research before bringing any critters home. Otherwise, when the novelty wears off (which, sadly, it too often does), rescues everywhere are going to have their hands full with surrenders.

Sue's article hit the wire earlier today (July 22), and the Seattle newspaper has already picked it up. It's titled 'G-Force' likely to put guinea pigs atop pet list.

NBC 30 Connecticut contacted us late today about doing a story from the rescue's location in Durham this coming Friday, after seeing the AP story. Cindy, our rescue's founder/owner, will be doing that interview.

We'll post here and on Twitter when we know when the story is airing, and when the video clip hits their Web site.