Boy or Girl?

I looks like we have one baby boy and two baby girls!

The grey/white/blond/brown baby is definitively a boy! And the chocolate one and the grey one appear to be girls. Not an ideal situation as I will have to separate the wee boar next week until he's old enough for a new home... 

More baby pictures

Mummy and babies are fine. Other girlies are getting used to having babies about.

Here some more pictures:

Three beautiful babies

Zoe had her babies yesterday evening just after 5pm. We were sitting next to the cage and were lucky enough to see the whole thing. Everything went very smoothly and was over within 15 mins. There was enough time between each baby to give them a good groom. The little grey one was first, followed by the big chocolate colour one and finally the white one came along. The whole family is healthy and the babies are very active.

Zoe is a very protective mother. She's claimed the corner where she's given birth for her and the babies and won't tolerate anybody in it. She loves her babies to bits!

We took the following pictures this morning:

Poor Zoe

The babies are still giving poor Zoe a proper kicking: very big and stong kicks. I think there might only be 2 babies and not 3 as I previously did. I hope she'll have them soon as she looks so uncomfortable. Hopefully this week.

Introducing Zoe - Part 2

Zoe's babies have been very active today: you can now see them kick and not just feel them. She is really big now and so so hungry all the time.

Introducing Zoe - Part 1

More Bonnie Pictures

Introducing Bonnie

A couple of weeks ago I went into our local P@H and saw two gorgeous guinea pigs in the adoption section. I just thought they were the most gorgous piggies ever: one was a white and silver agouti boar (Charlie), the other one was a beautiful girl called Lola (since renamed to Bonnie).
I dragged my OH back to the shop the next day and made some more enquiries about the girile (the boy was gone by then): they told us that she was about 6 months old, previous owner gave them up due to allergies, she was kept in the same cage with another girl and a boy. So there's a chance she is pregnant. I have no experience with pregnancies but if she's pregnant then it's certainly early days. And one the plus side, if there's a boy I might already have a good home lined up for him. :)
So we took Bonnie home and put her into a cage in the bedroom away from the rest of the gang. She was the most miserable piggie I've ever saw. She would just sit about, not move and not eat. She looked so depressed. But then she heard some of my piggies move about the hall and she finally showed signs of interest. The inevitable happened and we left the door open and Jenny walked into the room up to the cage. So we threw caution to the wind (which I would never ever recommend) and introduced the two. It took about 2 mins to introduce her to the rest and she settled into the gang in about 10 mins (honestly I've never seen a smoother introduction). And what a different piggie she was after the introductions: she went from being depressed to the happiest piggie in the world!!!

Sleepy Twinkle

Twinkle really enjoys the new extension, but she gets very tired running up and down the ramp....

Gorgeous Guinea Girls

Chloe and Betty have settled their differences. They're not best pals but they're not fighting either. Chloe is the boss and that's that. I'm really happy that she is feeling better and her ear seems to be alright too. The rest of the gang are doing fine as well.

I gave Twinkle a drastic hair cut a couple of weeks ago and she's looking absolutely beautiful now. She's got such a heavy cut; it can't be nice for her in warm wheather.

Jenny and Betty are still really adventurous, and every so often they surprise us with a wee visit when we're watching TV.

We have extended the Guinea Girls' cage, pardon, the Guinea Girls' palace, upwards... and they really like it!

Chloe update

We had to take Chloe to the vet on Monday. We noticed that she wasn't running around as much as she used too. She was still active but just a bit slower. She also was still eating and not loosing any weight. However her breathing was laboured and she was quite swollen around her tommy.

The vet said that she had a lot of gas in her tommy and gave her two injections - Chloe didn't like these at all and was screaming down the house.

So we had to give her antibiotics for 5 days. What a hassle - she's not an easy patient. And we are very happy that she is doing much better now.

She's in great spirits and unfortunately has been arguing a lot with Betty. We think that while being ill she didn't move around as much and Betty has been slowly making the cage her own and bossing the others about whenever she can. Now that Chloe is all better she wants to be the bossy pig again and Betty is in the way.

They had a couple of bad fights on Friday which resulted in Chloe having a bleeding ear and a scratch across her lips. We thought that we might have to take Betty back as we don't want our girls to fight all the time. Things calmed down on Saturday and there has been no problems today. So fingers crossed that it stays that way.

Inside and outside

Yesterday after cleaning both cages in the morning, I decided to leave them open and see how they all get on. The new girls feel comfy in either, but get quite often chased away; Molly being the only one who runs after them. I just cannot believe what a bully my Mollekins is! Chloe was quite happy lying about in the small cage most of the day. I believe she thinks it's her own personal office. Betty really loves the hammock and spends a lot of time in it.

I have decided to keep feeding them fresh vegetables in the kitchen. Jenny and Betty went through there for a wee munch every so often. Keleigh and Chloe have gotten used to it as well. And even Molly found her way into the kitchen yesterday evening. Twinkle only realised today where the fresh veggies are kept. :)

I popped Betty and Jenny back into the small cage for the night and closed it off. Both girls were desperate to get out this morning! Less chasing about today, so might leave both cages open overnight and once we have a few more hammocks I will remove the small cage completely.

Almost forgot, Betty and Jenny ventured into the hall yesterday evening. I came out of the living room and they had come out of the kitchen and were half ways down the hall. Will have to keep all doors closed from now on.

The girls spent two hours outside this afternoon. Their current run is really too small for all six, but hopefully the new one will arrive shortly. They got on brilliant outside so I'm really happy.

I am however worried about Chloe today. She suddenly started squeeling and jumping about. It looked like one of her back legs had a live of its own as it was making all sorts of uncontrolled movements. I picked her up and put her on my chest and she was teeth chattering for a while, then gave herself a shake and was back to normal. I put her down and she walked fine, even had a wee run around the room. So hopefully her leg was only asleep and it's nothing more sinister. Will keep an eye on her....

Jenny and Betty

One Monday (26/05/08) we picked up two girls from Hutches, a rescue in Alyth.

Betty was born in July 07 and gave birth to 4 babies in April 08. Jenny was born in September 2007. Betty's daughter and sons were also at the rescue and available for adoption and it was really hard to leave her wee daughter, Daisy, behind. I hope she will find a new home soon.

Once we got home with our new girls (we initially went for one), we came back and built an extension from the main cage, so they will have their own enclosed space until they are fully integrated with the rest.

On Tuesday morning I put a blanket down on the kitchen floor with a pile of food and put all 6 girls on it. At first Betty was quite aggressive to my other 4 girls but it soon became apparent, that she was really frightened of her. I was really worried about her at the time.

I repeated the whole procedure at lunch and things looked a bit better. Jenny was mainly ignore. Betty quite often sat frozen at the edge of the blanket.

Again the same procedure in the evening, and things looked a bit up for Betty: she wasn't quite as afraid any more. However we discovered that Molly is a right little bully. We then popped our old girls into the small cage and let Betty and Jenny enjoy the big cage. Wow, what a show. They ran around like crazy. Just round and round in circles. They are such wee darlings.

Maya

It's been a couple of very sad weeks. We cannot get used to Maya not being there anymore. She was such a beautiful pig and cuddles with Maya were just the best.

The last hours of her live were some of the most intense hours of my live and I hope I will remember them for a very long time. I was so very close to her and it felt like we were comforting each other and sharing something sad but also very special. I wish I could put all these feelings into words so that I could preserve them forever.

I'm very glad and thankful that she died lying on my chest rather than at a vets. She died in the same room where she lived most of her life and were she was happy.

She left a big hole in our hearts but we're glad we were able to share some great years with her!

She's greatly missed!

We love you, Ma-May!!!

Maya passed away last night.

We took her to the vet two weeks ago because she was loosing a lot of weight, but still eating happily. The vet diagnosed her with ovarian cyst, but also her breathing was very laboured. For the last few says I have been syringe feeding her but last night she decided to stop fighting. After hours of quality cuddles, she past away while lying on my chest.

Rest in peace, Maya. We love you and will never forget you!

I'll miss you terribly, my little Maya!