Guinea Pig Connection

A Trophy Won't Win You Points With A Guinea Pig

Roxy Sorkin must have one particularly brassy guinea pig.

In his acceptance speech at last night's Academy Awards ceremony, Aaron Sorkin (who won the Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar^TM for "The Social Network") called out the little devil on the international broadcast. He finished his pithy, eloquent, and refreshingly humble speech with the comment: "Roxy Sorkin, your father just won the Academy Award. I’m going to have to insist on some respect from your guinea pig." The comment -- an admission of being stymied (if not bested) by a 2-1/2 pound furball -- only added to Sorkin's likability as he walked off stage.

Anyone who has lived with guinea pigs for any length of time can chuckle at the comment and make a few guesses about what Roxy's guinea pig must be doing to "disrespect" her father. Run away when he comes to the cage. Chews on his fingers. Chews on his shirt. Fidgets incessantly while he tries to sit with it. Poops on him. Pees on him. Sasses at him for a snack. A myriad of possible behaviors.

The misconception about guinea pigs is that they're simple creatures, that all you have to do is feed them and you're in like Flynn. But guinea pigs are not won over by superficial gestures. They cannot be schmoozed. Because they are prey animals, which makes them anxious and fearful by default, they're slow to trust. It takes time, calm effort, and gentleness to form a bond with them. It's a process that cannot be rushed.

Guinea pigs are actually a lot like horses in this regard. In her book "Inner Peace for Busy People," Joan Borysenko relates a story about an equine experience program she participated in. During the program, she learned that "...horses were like mirrors that showed you who you really were....[they] respond to our energy, mirroring our emotions and intentions." They pick up on frustration, impatience, anxiety, irritation, aloofness -- emotional turmoil of any kind -- and respond accordingly. "Horses are very sensitive to energy," Borysenko writes. "They respond to peaceful clarity of intention."

If you're trying to connect with a guinea pig, and it's not progressing to your expected timetable, frustration inevitably rises. Frustration begets more frustration. And, if you don't do a course correction and try something new, frustration begets irritation -- and the guinea pig will respond to neither favorably. It matters not to a guinea pig that you're formidable in the board room, hypnotically persuasive in a sales presentation, or capable of successfully pitching a screenplay in a town drowning in screenplay pitches. Success with human beings does not necessarily beget success with guinea pigs (though I contend that the reverse is true).

The beauty of guinea pigs (all animals, really) is that quality time with them forces you to get out of your head, snap out of your mood, slow down, and be fully present with them. And when you think about it, these are all things you need to do in any relationship in order for it to be successful. For Sorkin, who makes his living in a fast-paced and uber-connected industry, his daughter's guinea pig may well be The Universe's way of planting a reminder in his life to stay grounded and stay present in spite of the insanity and busy-ness swirling around him.

It's been said that daughters keep their fathers humble (maybe even moreso than their wives). Sorkin's comment at last night's ceremony suggests that there's a guinea pig in his life doing the same thing. And that, I think, is a good thing. 

Moving Pets To Higher Ground

Well, a storm is nothing new in Connecticut this winter, but this time Mother Nature is throwing rain at us instead of snow. Ordinarily, folks would say, "Hey, great! Precipitation we don't have to shovel!"

Except that this time we're having heavy rain (1.5 inches in one day is considered a lot) + temperatures near 50 degrees + snowmelt (many of us still have a couple of feet of snow on the ground).

All of this is adding up to flooding concerns for tomorrow (Friday). The newscasts tonight were full of interviews with fire departments and public works officials warning folks of basement flooding. (The first floor of a home that sits at the bottom of even a small slope, never mind a hill, could have a dicey day if there's too much rain and snowmelt and not enough drainage routes outside the home.)

And if that's not enough, NBC Connecticut is saying that "another soaking rain, with even higher flooding concerns, arrives on Monday." One interviewee, as well as the meteorologists, have said that the flood risk is so high (because of the snowmelt) that even folks who have never had problems with flooding could have problems over the next few days.

Great...just great...

So why am I writing about this here? Because there's some folks who (regrettably) keep their pets in the basement, everything from hamsters to turtles to guinea pigs and rabbits to dogs who are kept in crates so they don't tear the house apart while no one is home. If there's flooding, the animals are going to be in a very bad spot -- or possibly worse. (Of lesser concern: all their supplies that you keep downstairs would be ruined by flood water.)

So, do your critters a favor, and move them and their cages, tanks, or crates upstairs to "higher ground." Even if your space doesn't get flooded, your peace of mind -- and your pets' safety -- is well worth the effort of a temporary relocation.

And, who knows? You may even so enjoy having your critters in the center of all your family's action that you decide to make the relocation permanent.

Tips For Taking Better Photos Of Your Guinea Pigs

Let's face it, our beloved piggies can be tricky, ornery little devils to photograph. They wander off. They chew on a friend's ear or decide to clean their face just as you're framing a shot. Their varied coat colors make them blend into some backgrounds, and clash with others. But when you do pull off a good photo, boy, is it worth all the effort!

While trawling on the Web site for The Nate Berkus Show for an old episode on another topic, I stumbled across a segment on pet photography, featuring photography expert Me Ra Koh. Her tips include:

• Make like a fashion or home photographer and create a staged set. Remove things that clash. Create some kind of boundary to prevent your piggies from wandering "off set."
• Get your "models" into a calm, even Zen-like state. Have a handler nearby to help you; your two hands are already busy with your camera, you would be greatly assisted by another pair of hands to keep the piggies corraled.
• Get down to -- or below -- their level. You miss a lot when you're standing up.
• Use props to help spark their curiosity, animation, and cuteness. Frame your shot to emphasize the things you love most about your pet (e.g., their profile, their ears, etc.).
• Learn to use your camera's features (e.g., no flash, natural-light settings, continuous shooting mode) to increase your chances of getting a great shot with every shot. After watching Me Ra photograph a pair of dogs (and noting the similarity to fidgety pigs), my next camera is soooooo going to have a continuous shooting mode feature.

For the full details of Me Ra's tips, read the Photo-Recipe for Your Pets article on Nate's site. You'll absolutely want to watch her in action in the Pet Photography Tips video clip, in which you can see her help various owners take pictures of their rowdy dogs, multicolored cat, and wandering bunny.

Spoil Your Pigs, Help Ours

With two weeks left in the month, I wanted to post a quick reminder about a news item posted on our Web site and out on our Twitter feed.

This month, we’re the featured rescue in the Rescue Donation Program run by Jen’s Custom Crafts, which sells beautifully hand-crafted fleece beds, sacks, pads, tunnels, and hidey houses for small and furry critters. All month long, 10% of all Jen’s Custom Crafts sales will be donated directly to us via either merchandise or cash. 

If you’ve never heard of Jen’s stuff, you can read our blog posts about her tunnels and hidey houses. If you’ve been thinking of spoiling your piggies with some new cage accessories, this is a great time to do it!

My Guinea Pig Is Chewing Her Roommate's Hair!

Of all the things a guinea pig could want to chew on, a cagemate's hair should be the last thing on the list, right? But, in one of the weirder twists of guinea pig behavior, it does happen. Delly and Sage, in the rescue's sanctuary, had to be separated because of persistent hair chewing. And, it seems, Roxy and Twilight are also having issues.

Their mom writes: "We purchased two young female guinea pigs in September. One is long haired, the other short. The short haired one is constantly "biting" at the long haired one, pulling out tufts of hair and eating it. Obviously, the long haired piggie isn't fond of this, and does screech, but it does not stop the short haired piggy from doing it. Is this a dominance thing? Should I separate them? When they are separated, they both whistle their discontent for being on their own..."

Such behavior typically is either boredom issues or dominance issues, though other causes -- like lack of other things to chew on, or obsessive-compulsive neuroticism -- can't be ruled out either.

Whatever the cause, this a behavior that should not be allowed to continue for two reasons. First, there's the emotional health of the pig being pestered, and the physical pain of having hair pulled out. Second, there's the physical health of the pig doing the chewing and pulling, because all that hair going into their gastro-intestinal tract is not a good thing.

Dominance Issues

If one pig's squeaks of pain aren't stopping the other one from chewing and pulling, you're likely looking at a dominance issue. One pig is determined to be alpha pig in the cage, and reminds the roommate so often that the behavior meets all the criteria for harassment and bullying. A guinea pig that isn't meek by nature, or hasn't been "beaten down" by a roommate, has no trouble whipping around on a pest and nipping at them, chattering their teeth in warning, or huffing and stomping. A guinea pig that isn't sticking up for itself needs its humans to intercede.

At minimum, the pigs need to be separated into adjoining cage spaces (such as fastening a couple of grids in the middle of a C&C cage to create partitioned spaces) or into side-by-side cages. This way, they can still visit with each other, but the victim has a break from the harassment and the bully has time to settle down. The hope is that the temporary loss of a roommate will effect a behavior change in the bully (i.e., "Every time I chew on my roommate's hair, I get stuck living by myself...which I hate").

In some cases, the temporary separation won't change behavior and the guinea pigs have to be permanently separated. If this is the case, keeping the pigs in side-by-side cages or adjoining partitions in a large C&C cage will ward off loneliness.

Boredom

Guinea pigs need things in their cages to keep them entertained, and if they're feeling under-stimulated they'll either sleep all the time or pester each other. They, like rabbits, also need stuff to chew on to keep their teeth from overgrowing. A sufficiently entertained pig is too busy to harass roommates.

Having tunnels to run through can promote chase games (the fun kind) and hide-and-seek, and tunnels like Chubes do double-duty by providing something to run through and gradually tear apart. Having a couple of hay baskets with different kinds of hay provides dietary variety. And a simple paper bag or wrapping paper tube, stuffed with hay or not, can keep guinea pigs entertained for hours. My first trio of pigs spent a year chewing on their wooden hide-a-way house, enlarging the width of the door and the front window.

Basic Neuroticism

There are some cases that I'm inclined to believe are nervous habits (like nail biting) that spin out into irrational, uncontrollable neurotic behavior. If the hair chewer is overly anxious and skittish in general, the hair chewing may be a symptom of anxiety. Whether the anxiety is an inherent condition the pig was born with, or was caused by something in a previous home, or is triggered by something in the current household environment (e.g., frequent loud noises, persistent uproar from children at play, etc.) is something that is going to require observation and deduction on the part of the owners.

To be clear, I'm drawing a line of distinction between hair chewing and hair chewing accompanied by pulling. When the line has been crossed into hair pulling, and one pig is squeaking out in pain, then you have an unmistakeable dominance issue playing out. When it's hair chewing, any one of the causes I've written about here could be the root of the behavior, and owners will need to observe and deduce through some process of elimination.

In the case of neurotic behavior, you can try the same strategy of temporary separation as a way of breaking an unhealthy pattern.

Whatever The Cause, The Behavior Is Unhealthy For Both Pigs

Ultimately, your goal is to break the bad behavior and distract the hair chewer's attention with more productive means of entertainment. It's similar to recovering nail biters taking up hobbies like needlework or knitting to keep their hands busy until they get over the urge to bite their fingernails.

In the event, though, that you have a severe case that won't be resolved, don't be afraid to separate the guinea pigs. The greater misery for them would be to remain in this kind of twisted, unhappy existence for the rest of their lives.