Happy New Year

Wishing you all the very best for 2010!

Introducing Angela

This little cream Skinny Pig is named Angela, better known as 'Jelly' and all sorts of derivations, but mostly Angela, Jelly Belly or Jelly Bean. She joined us early in December at the tender age of 6 1/2 weeks old and settled in as quick as lightning.

She was born on 21st September 2009 and in daughter of: Arthur (a red and white skinny boar originally from Karen at KAB Skinnies) & Caramac (a buff carrier sow originally from Michelle at Shanhara Stud).

Within minutes she was running laps around the cage and bumping into older pigs, popcorning up and down the place and wheeking loudly whenever the food bags are rustled in the kithcen. The older sows really couldn't have taken to her any better - they mostly just followed her around sniffing to get to know her scent for a few hours - Zoe spurred to life when the wee thing passed by her first though, probably a maternal instinct kicking in since it was less than a year since she had her own littler, she became very 'heated' and started chasing Fiona around the cage for a lumber.

As you can see she's a gorgeous wee sow, full of confidence and personality, we're very happy to have her with us. More pictures will follow once we've had the chance to snap some quality close-ups

Nick Names

There's an interesting post on guinea pig nick names on the guinea pig forum today, so I thought I would share my girls' names on here too:

Keleigh = Keils (or Keilekins)
Betty = Bets ( or Betso)
Amy = Aims

Fiona = Fi-Fiona
Chloe = Chloe Closet
Zoe = Sowieso (German for anyway)
Bonnie = Bonnie Bonsai

Molly = Big Nose (or Mols or Molekins)
Diane = Muffin
Jenny = Jenny Always in the Way (she always gets in the way when I lift the top layer of fleece in the morning). She also gets called Jens, Jenekins and Wee'nShite (sorry about this last one )

Goodbye Twinkle Twinkle Little Star (?.08.2005 - 24.09.2009)

Twinkle had been loosing weight gradually and her breathing got heavier and heavier. We took her to the vet on Thursday and he operated her the same day. She got her uterus and spleen removed - she had large ovarian cysts and their was a nodule on her spleen. On top of that her kidneys looked mottled. The operation went well and we picked her up the same evening. She went back into her cage and died shortly afterwards. It seems she waited to be in her own home before resting for good.

The other girls said their goodbyes - everything from a lick to a proper groom. Molly seemed very distressed and Betty was grooming her intensely.

We put her to rest under the apple tree, next to Maya. Now my origi-pigs are reunited once more.

Twinkle is leaving a huge gap in our lifes but will always occupy an enormous place in our hearts.

This will be forever her song:

Twinkle, twinkle, little star,

How I wonder what you are!

Up above the world so high,

Like a diamond in the sky!

When the blazing sun is gone,

When he nothing shines upon,

Then you show your little light,

Twinkle, twinkle, all the night.

Then the traveller in the dark,

Thanks you for your tiny spark,

He could not see which way to go,

If you did not twinkle so.

In the dark blue sky you keep,

And often through my curtains peep,

For you never shut your eye,

Till the sun is in the sky.

As your bright and tiny spark,

Lights the traveller in the dark,—

Though I know not what you are,

Twinkle, twinkle, little star.

Quality Time

Just thought I would share a pig-ture of Molly and Amy spending quality time together:

Guinea Pig Crazy

They're all nuts. Betty just ran lap after lap around the cage. Diane tried to mount everybody in sight. Twinkle came out of the cage for a wee sniff - probably for the first time in years. Then Jenny had a gallop around the cage, while Betty, Amy, Chloe and Diane were exploring the wonders of the dining room floor. Then Jenny went to the kitchen to see whether breakfast might be ready. Now Chloe is giving me the evil eye - I should be typing less and feeding more!

Piggy Wash

All 12 Guinea Girls got a bath yesterday following an outbreak of lice. Luckily hubby offered to blow dry them - I couldn't have done this bathing marathon without him.

Most Guinea Girls were quite good. Twinkle bit me to remind me that she doesn't like sitting in the water but doesn't mind sitting on my arm and getting rinsed. Zoe was, as ever, an absolute neightmare. Bathing went relatively smoothly for her standards but then she jumped out of the washing basket when hubby was drying her and I had to crawl all over the second bedroom to catch her.

I didn't take any pictures yesterday, but thought I would share an old one of Maya whom we still miss very much:

Jenny is tweeting

I picked Jenny up for a cuddle today as the rest ran away when I got into their cage and couldn't be bothered chasing them. It's so nice that Jenny doesn't mind getting a cuddle - as long as it's a quick one.

I sat with her on the bed and she got comfy on my shoulder underneath my hair - a very unusual position for her. I was getting a bit worried about this when she suddently started chirping. Jenny never makes any noises, she never wheeps, the most you hear is her snorting nose when it's blocked again - something that is happening quite often this summer - I think she might have hay fever. Anyway, you can understand why I was so amazed at hearing her chirp. And especially when sitting on my shoulder. It wasn't a very loud chirp - nothing like Chloe's chirping which you can hear across the house - but definitely a chirp. I feel really blessed. Isn't she just an amazing pig?

The opinions on why guinea pigs chirp differ greatly. There has never been a satisfactory explication. However, I think I have unravelled the mistery tonight:

Chriping = Tweeting

Check this out:

http://twitter.com/Jenny_Pig

Spoilt Guinea Girls

Hubby stayed at home on Friday and spoilt the Guinea Girls with an extra meal half way through the day:

Chloe and Twinkle Update

Following her historectomy, Chloe is a much healthier pig. She looks absolutely beautiful, although a lot thiner than she used to. You can now cuddle and touch her without her groo-ing objection; somthing you could never have done before. Her character has changed a bit. She's still very vocal and screems at the top of her lungs at dinner time. Otherwise she is more laid back and it looks like she's passed leadership on to Betty who is mounting anything with legs, but Chloe in particular his her favourite object.

Twinkle too has given us a lot of bother over the last month. We noticed her foot swollen and an x-ray showed that the infection has gone into the bone. She has been on antibiotics and pain killers for the last month and the infection has gone down. However her bones are fused now and she has lesss movement in her foot. She's also been treated for mites, not the ugly black kind but a much smaller less harmful one. She had some hair loss under her chin and on her bum, but that is growing back now after the hated injections: poor sausage was screaming even before the needle went in. Once we took her off the medicine she lost some weight, but she's putting some back on and it looks like she too is on the mend.

So hopefully no more vet appointments for a long, long while.

Life without Guinea Pigs

This is how life would look without guinea pigs:

Isn't this much nicer?

Cuddle Cup

I finally managed to make a passable cuddle cup for the Guinea Girls. Hopefully they will like it. Amy sure looks pretty in it.

Mouse in the cupboard!

... a no, it's just wee Cassandra-pig.

This morning I had a cuddle with Cassy in the bedroom and put her down in the hall so she could run back to the cage. Well, a couple of hours when I walked through the hall I noticed a pair of eyes stairing up at me from inside the wardrobe and there was wee Cassy sitting comfy underneath our coats. Poor thing most have lost her orientation and just cuddled up in the first dark corner she could find. Gorgeous wee mouse!

Chloe's operation

Chloe's had her operation yesterday. She didn't just have her ovaries removed. They needed to do a full hysterectomy as they found a growth in her uterus. So unfortunately she had to stay at the vet's yesterday night.

We picked her up this evening. She looks absolutely tiny poor wee girl. She will have to get spoilt rotten to put some weight back on. She's eating and drinking just fine but moving quite slow and deliberate. We've sectioned of the cage so she has a quite corner which she shares with Twinkle who is good company.

She's such a brave wee piggy and we're so glad to have her home with us again.

Chloe likes her medicine

Chloe's really surprising me. She takes her Metacam without complains. I thought it would be a struggle as she's quite a head strong girl and in the past giving her medicine has been an uphill struggle. But now she really appears to like it. Apologies for the video being a bit dark: