Introducing my family - part 5 - Princess (now Rosie)

Meet Princess Rosie

Princess when she arrived

Princess is a female Peruvian guinea pig. Being Peruvian, she has long hair which falls over her face and rump (as opposed to the Sheltie, whose hair all flows backwards. This is her on the day we brought her home.

Princess

A work colleague had asked me if we would be able to re-home Princess, who is 4 years old and had been left on her own after her mother Elsa had died. There was another guinea pig and some rabbits kept in the same area of the garden, but Princess hadn't been herself since Elsa's passing.

We did some soul searching, as we already have 11 pets, but eventually decided that we would offer Princess a home.

We set up our spare hutch on the opposite side of the kitchen to Phoebe, Tilly, Molly and Emmeline, and after work on a Friday afternoon we went to visit Princess. She was a little timid, and skittish at being picked up from her hutch, but after a few minutes of being held she relaxed a little. We discussed her care and feeding regime with her owner, popped her into a travel box and drove her home.

I could feel some very small mats forming in the back of her coat (the sweep), and the individual hairs felt quite dry. All I did on that first afternoon was to carefully groom Princess with a wide toothed pet comb, and cut out the mats as I came across them.

I gave Princess a little hair cut to remove some small mats from her back end

It is always advised to cut mats out rather than trying to detangle them, even when very small, as they pull on the hair and skin and can be very painful. It's also important to note that mats can form very quickly, and round the tiniest bit of hay, so unless you are grooming daily then they are inevitable and must be dealt with as soon as you spot them. Don't wait for them to get bigger.

Now, it's quite difficult when you go and look at someone's pet with a mind to giving it a new home. You want to inspect the animal, to check for lumps, bumps, weight, discharges, mites and lice, but you are under the microscope as well. How are you handling the owners pet? Do you really know what you're talking about? Are you finding fault with the way they kept their pet? All I can say is, do check these things, but do it surreptitiously, under the guise of petting the animal. If you are really unhappy or suspect they are ill then walk away...or if you're me, take the animal home and get it to the vets as soon as possible for an examination.

NEVER put a new animal straight in with, or near your existing pets. They must have a good couple of weeks in quarantine to be sure they have no illnesses or pests that could be passed to your pets. That doesn't mean treating them any differently, give them somewhere quiet, warm and comfortable to live. Washable toys and hidies rather than soft/fleecy ones. Just don't bring them into close contact with your pets, and always wash your hands and forearms, and change your clothes before you go from handling your new animal to your existing ones and vice versa.

Another minefield is money...

When I have adopted animals from Pets at Home, you don't pay, but make a donation to the animal rescue charity. The amount you donate is up to you, but the store is not getting the money, it is going towards helping other animals. If you find you can no longer care for the animal then you have to return it to Pets at Home. you cannot sell or re-home it yourself. It's part of a signed agreement. If you adopt from a rescue centre, the rules are much the same.

When Emmeline came to us (under very similar circumstances to Princess), she came with a cage, bowls, feed, bedding, bottles, toys, hidies - it was like Christmas! The family are able to visit Emmeline whenever they want, and have offered to help us with any vet bills incurred by her. This is so kind, and highly unusual. Emmeline was very well socialised, in beautiful condition and settled in really quickly. No money changed hands for her.

Princess' owner asked us for an amount of money (I will not say how much), to include a hutch and run. Now, firstly, we didn't need another hutch and run, secondly we didn't really need another piggie, and we had understood it that they were keen to re-home her to someone they trusted, not recoup some of their losses (that's a bit harsh, and is not exactly the case, but...). So MrPB and I explained the arrangement we have with Emmeline's owners, that we were happy to help them by taking Princess, but had no intention of 'buying' her.

Thankfully this was all agreed before we arrived at the house. It would have been very awkward to get there thinking everyone understood the terms of the arrangement, only for them to change once the piggie was packed into the travel box.

After a couple of days to settle in, Princess was given a spa day, starting with another hair trim, a 20 minute conditioning treatment with Gorgeous Guineas 'Aloe Melt', and a lather, rinse, repeat bath in Gorgeous Guineas 'Lice and Easy'.

Rosie had a Gorgeous Guineas bath

And an ear cleaning

She got daily groomings to help us bond with her, and keep her coat knot-free, then a week later had a second 'Lice and Easy' bath. Her coat looked and felt more hydrated and less fly-away than when she arrived. We also cleaned her ears (externally only, not inside the ear canal) with olive oil over the course of a couple of days, as she had quite a thick, dark brown waxy build up on them. Massaging the ears with olive oil emulsifies the wax and it can be wiped away with clean, damp cotton wool pads, and is much gentler and more effective than trying to rub or scrape it off.

After the second bath Rosie's coat looked less flyaway and dry

Once the bathing and quarantine period was over, we let the newly renamed Rosie have a playdate with Molly, just like we did with Emmeline. Molly is such a gentle soul, and she imposes her dominance by being calm and assertive, not grumpy. She allows the newcomer to sniff her bottom, she teeth chatters, but that's normal and understandable, and once the newcomer has allowed Molly to wash her ear, the pecking order is sorted, Molly is the Momma.

Rosie ran to Molly straight away, and then panicked a bit that Molly was not who she thought she was. Molly remained her calm self, Rosie grumbled, teeth chattered, mounted Molly repeatedly...Molly just walked away. They ate side by side - food is an excellent distraction during bonding sessions, and I like adding small amounts of new foods to the pen during the session so there is always something interesting to investigate.

Rosie and Molly had a playdate

Which went quite well

We kept a close watch on them the whole time, and had a towel on standby to throw over them

NEVER try to break up a fight with your bare hands! You WILL get bitten!

Once Molly had washed Rosie's ear and the mood was calm, we removed Rosie from the pen.
She shouted and shouted and shouted! Whether she didn't want to be separated from Molly, or she felt she should have been left in the pen (which would be a dominant/territorial thing) it's hard to say. If we can give them even more room to bond, there is a chance we can eventually have Rosie living permanently with Molly and Emmeline.

Wouldn't that be wonderful!

I think Rosie looks quite happy to have joined our family

The Guinea Pig Secret Santa Project

Philanthropy and Guinea Pigs

Out in the big wide world, there are amazing people who dedicate their lives to rescuing and helping abandoned, surrendered, sick guinea pigs. Some are registered charities, some are simply kind-hearted people working, fundraising and donating for guinea pigs..

Whilst the idea that every single day guinea pigs find themselves needing rescue baffles and saddens me, knowing that there are safe places for these beautiful, gentle creatures, where they can be rehabilitated, shown love and kindness, and hopefully found a new caring forever home makes the situation a little better.

I already support Sarnia Guinea Pig Rescue on the beautiful island of Guernsey. I save stamps, send donations, and you can also find items they really need on their Amazon Wishlist. I also follow many other rescues on Facebook, YouTube  and Twitter, sharing their stories, advice and videos on my own social media. Lots of people will offer support by volunteering at their local rescue or sanctuary, they will take in foster piggies at their own home, they will do fundraising events and donate the proceeds. All these are wonderful ways to get involved. Then a few months ago I stumbled upon The Guinea Pig Secret Santa Project.

The Guinea Pig Secret Santa Project - What is it?

This is a fantastic group of volunteers who coordinate a worldwide scheme to send gift parcels to specific guinea pigs living in rescue.

Rescues send in information about piggies, often long-term residents, who they would like to receive gifts for. They provide a wishlist, photos and details of the single, pair, trio etc of piggies to the team at TGPSSP. Meanwhile, potential Secret Santas register their interest in taking part, how many piggies they would like to send gifts to and where they live (roughly, I gave the country and county where I live in my initial contact DM). If you're under 18 your are going to want to do this with a parent or guardian.

The process of pairing the piggies with their Santas takes time and a lot of work, as the team look at a lot of information, including where you are located and if you were a Santa on a previous year, they will try and match you with a different rescue this time around.

What can you send?

You can send as much or as little as you like, TGPSSP suggest a shoebox sized parcel but that's is purely a guideline.

While you are waiting to receive your match and their wishlist, you can start shopping for some rescue essentials, such as:

• Rubber gloves
• Syringes
• Anti-bacterial surface wipes
• Lint-free cotton wool pads
• Choccies for the Rescue team (not the piggies - it's poisonous!)

Your Rescue's wishlist is likely to contain more specific items, like:

• Oxbow Critical Care feed
• Timothy hay
• Natural treats
• a particular brand of food that they use
• particular brands of skin care products
• tunnels and hidies

My parcel included a range of these items, plus a large water bottle, and some products from Gorgeous Guineas. Gorgeous Guineas do a lot of different, all-natural skin care products, designed and created specifically for Guinea Pigs, but try to think what a Rescue or Sanctuary might need the most when you place your order. I chose:

• Lice and Easy shampoo - because surrendered piggies are likely to bring little friends with them!
• CocoNeem Melt - has a coconut oil base, and is used as a treatment prior to shampooing to help relieve scurf and crusty areas of skin.
• Calendula Lotion - which is suitable for using on pregnant piggies and Skinny Pigs (hairless), and is great for soothing sore, itchy and dry skin. Rescues see lots of pregnant sows surrendered to them every year.

NB: Check how you are going to send/deliver your gift, as some carriers cannot take parcels containing liquid.

Also NB: Before you buy any fleece/fabric tunnels, hidies and accessories for your parcel, wait until you receive your wishlist, as many rescues don't have the facilities or time to wash and dry these items, and might prefer, wooden, plastic or cardboard items instead.

I was teamed up with April Lodge Guinea Pig Rescue, and my final 'surprise' gift to them was a pencil portrait of my two Secret Santa recipients, Gonzo and his wife Busy Bee. I wanted to include something very personal in the parcel, and the photo I received of them was so beautiful that I used it to hand draw them onto watercolour paper. I popped it in a board backed envelope and put it in the parcel with everything else.

Pencil Portrait of April Lodge Guinea Pig Rescue residents Gonzo and Busy Bee.
Drawn by Rebecca Reynolds BA (Hons)
aka Pumpkin Becki

Sadly Gonzo passed away just before Christmas, but Busy Bee received her gifts safely, and generously gave her portrait to the kind lady who had fostered her and Gonzo for a time.


If you would like to take part in upcoming Guinea Pig Secret Santas, then pop over to their Facebook page and give them a follow https://www.facebook.com/guineapigsecretsanta/
Sleep tight little Gonzo xx