I’m midway through and I haven’t adopted a guinea pig!

~bad Lala~

It’s been awhile since I adopted a guinea pig. I’m not left with any of my adoptees, but I always think about them.
Chloe was up for adoption at Petsmart as an adult guinea pig with a crowded cage. She had dandruff, colored food, no hay available and two hideys in a small cage. She didn’t know how cool being a guinea pig was. I took her home, washed her up, clipped her nails, cleaned her ears, got her vet check , gave her hay and put her on timothy hay pellets. Eventually she lost a little weight and in her case it was a good thing. She was sweet, shy and when she would wheek for snacks it sounded like “OOOT OoooOoOOT *tongue flick/tongue flick*”.  She was a self black American guinea pig and beautiful curvy girl.

Callie was from Craigslist as an older adolescent with two babies. She was a white aby-ruvian. I gave one baby girl away to a vet tech through Craigslist and the other stayed with us. Callie was here a long time with a well rounded personality and a curiousness for food that never stopped.

Cici was Callie’s baby who turned out to be blind and mostly deaf and stopped growing around the age of two months. She would sleep in the ramp to the original hayloft in the C&C cage, while other guinea pigs would just over her. I would occasionally trim her teeth and whenever I would give out treats and salad I would have to rap the bottom of the cage just a bit to simulate the herd moving around if she didn’t pick up on the others’ movements right away. Then she’d come over and see what the commotion was.

Emerson was my outgoing little man. He was a crested white aby-ruvian. He took his neuter like a champ. It was for the greater good so that he could live with all my lovelies. He never missed a noogie. I could always rub that crest while he was standing along the edge of the cage. He came home with me from Petco. He was up for adoption with a suitable cage for one piggie and he was an adult. He didn’t even hide in his cage when he was placed out in the living room floor. He said hi to anyone. He’s always missed.

Cat(shortened from Catastrophe)  was a special case. She was at Petco in a small cage, 8 months old, long hair that needed a trim and a wash and I argued down her price from “Manager’s Special”. I never felt like I bought her. I always felt that I rescued her. She was a black hooded, white coronet and it turned out that she had lice while sitting in that tank. Coronets need extra care the same as Peruvians and Silkies/Shelties because of the length of their coats. I bathed her, got her to the vet for the lice twice to make sure they’d all been killed off and kept her hair trimmed for the few years she was with me. She was a lighter pig and even refused hand feedings to bulk up. She was chic but not a diva.

Adopting guinea pigs is an experience in itself. If you want to adopted guinea pigs you have options. They are available from time to time at pet stores as owner surrenders. They are also surrendered to animal shelters and humane societies and from there they may be picked up by a guinea pig rescue for extra care.

Arizona Piggie Poo rescue is our local one with the most volume in the Phoenix Metro area in Arizona.
They do better with square footage. Wouldn’t you want a bigger apartment too?
And they are herd animals of prey. It’s always better to have more than one, though you don’t have to have a dozen like I once did. 🙂