I just love these little guys!!

I had one named Elvis when I was a teenager. He was in love with my cat Pippi, and used to follow her everywhere. Of course, she was absolutely disgusted, and rejected all his advances. Elvis used to wheek at the other cats and dog for food. I guess he thought since they were out of the cage, they could get snacks for him.

Sadly, Elvis got sick over the weekend, and the vet wouldn't answer his emergency line. I brought him in first thing that Monday morning. He died in the waiting room while the vet was finishing his breakfast. :mad: It's been over 5 years now, but I still miss him.

This past November we got Buster. We rescued him from a family that got bored taking care of him. I don't think he was ever let out of his cage, or received the proper food. He is still really timid, but after all these months of love and attention, his personality is really coming out.

He's bossy and demanding. :p And heaven help you if you bring him celery instead of romaine lettuce.

He's about four years old, and has medium length hair. His markings are really cute. I call him my little chocolate and butterscotch sundae with whipped cream on top. I have pictures, but I don't have a scanner right now.

He has a little toy bunny. He purrs when you rub his side with it. I just love this little guy sooo much!!

Sadly, the vet said that he is too old to neuter, so that rules out getting a little girlfriend for him. I have been looking around for a young male (under 1 year) because I have heard that old males will get along with younger ones. I would really like him to have a friend to play with and whisper secrets to.

Anyone else have a guinea pig? Or have questions on diet and health?

Awww, how CUTE!!! :D

I dont have one, but my sister used to..they really are soo adorable, and smooshy looking, hehe....I like your little icon picture, its also supercute

and also, i'm really sorry to hear about Elvis..i can't imagine how frustrated you were...well, actually i can, being that a similar thing happened to me, but with my parakeet...sometimes things work out strangely, and unfairly, dont they? Keep on being a great guinea-mommy though, i'm sure they love ya :)

Just wanted to say thank you to VealPrincess! After reading about Buster, she told me about Barlee's Angels Rescue Network and that they had some guinea pigs up for adoption. Yesterday we got Flurry a 10 month old male albino piggie. He's in a separate cage right now, but already Buster and Flurry seem to be hitting it off. They had some floor time today, and although there was a lot of bum sniffing and humping, they didn't fight and seemed happy to see each other.

So Buster has a little buddy! :)

Oh, and I adopted a 12 week old male kitten named Tuffy from the shelter I was working at last week for school. I just couldn't resist. It's a full house now! :D

It sounds like your house is pig heaven!

I'm so glad pig daddy Flurry is doing well!

:)

Pictures finally!!

First, Buster the Singing Piggie
http://www3.sympatico.ca/sean.sanders/Pic2.bmp

Flurry the new singing piggie
http://www3.sympatico.ca/sean.sanders/Pic3.bmp

Buster and Flurry kissing
http://www3.sympatico.ca/sean.sanders/Pic1.bmp

Buster showing off his cute little lips, and Flurry looking cute
http://www3.sympatico.ca/sean.sanders/Pic4.bmp

And Tuffy, the naughtiest kitty ever! Don't let his sweet face fool you!!
http://www3.sympatico.ca/sean.sanders/Pic5.bmp

awwwwwww the cuteness!

They look so great together- :)

Edited to ask: can I send some of those pig pictures to the e-mail list so that they can see how well these guys are doing?

Of course! And I will be adding some more pics some time soon. :)

More pigtures!! :)

Buster and Flurry
http://www3.sympatico.ca/sean.sanders/Pic6.bmp

http://www3.sympatico.ca/sean.sanders/Pic7.bmp

Flurry's lips!
http://www3.sympatico.ca/sean.sanders/Pic8.bmp

Aw, they like each other. Now do they like the cat?

hah yeah that's what i was wondering too ;)

Well, Tuffy has this love/hate relationship with them. When they are in their cages, he acts all cocky, and sticks his paws in at them. He also likes to sleep on top of their cages. :rolleyes: But when they are outside of the cages, he is terrified of them!

The pigs were afraid of him at first, but now they just ignore him. I think they know that even though he acts all tough, he's a little chicken! :D

Okay, here's the story. We had got Flurry, our second guinea pig, from a rescue organization. He had a pretty crappy life before that, I imagine. Anyway, we got him at the beginning of September. We took everyone in at the end of September for checkups, and both pigs got a clean bill of health. I had mentioned to the vet that Flurry scratched a lot. Nothing to worry about, she said.

In November, my husband found a little buggie crawling on Flurry's face. Brought him back to the vet and found out he had lice. Ick!! And because he had contact with Buster, Buster had them too. Thank goodness the lice were species specific, so that the cat didn't have them.

Anywho, the vet recommended two shots of Ivermectin per piggie. I had read on a guinea pig board that ivermectin doesn't work well on lice on guinea pigs, they recommened Advantage. I told my vet this, and he (different vet this time, big clinic) said that Advantage wouldn't work and that Ivermectin was the way to go.

We got the first shot, sterilized everything, kept the pigs seperate, bathed them, combed them. Two weeks later we got the second shot, and repeated the above. Two weeks after that, we brought them back in for a checkup. A third vet looked at them. He found a nit, but assured us it was dead. So we thought they were lice free.

Well today, I found some more lice on Buster. BLARGHEL! (that's my upset word :p ) So I am going to try out Advantage. I ordered some online, but it won't be here for 5-7 days. I am just really pissed off. I trusted my vets that they knew the best treatment. I should have just listened to the people on the guinea pig board. Most of them are pig rescuers, so they know how to treat lice. Poor piggies! They went through the stress of three vet visits, two injections and two months of having lice! All for nothing. Not to mention that the vet didn't notice the lice way back in September, even though I mentioned the itchiness!

Sorry for the rant, I am just really mad right now!!!

We have a single guinea pig. We THINK it is a girl, but we aren't sure...we had her in the house, but now she lives in a big pen outside, on the grass. She is managing the cold weather nicely.
We want to get her (Buttercup) a friend.

Anyway, Buttercup has always acted a bit afraid of us, no matter how much attention that she gets. (We got her as an adult)
We were thinking that we should get the next one as a baby.
What do you think SilverC?

Well, the first thing to do is figure out what sex Buttercup is. How old is he/she? If Buttercup is a male, his testicles should be really really noticable after a couple of months. Flip your piggie over, if the genitals look like an i, then he's a he. If they look like a Y then she's a she. Here's a link to some pictures, so you can see what I mean. http://www.guinealynx.info/healthycavy.html#sexing

About a buddy for your piggie, that would be great!! Piggies are really social, so it's nice for them to have someone to talk to. Make sure you get the same sex, because they'll be babies everywhere if you don't. If Buttercup is a girl, then it doesn't really matter what age friend you get. Females tend to get along very well (of course, there are always exceptions). If Buttercup is a boy, it's best to get a younger boar. Boars the same age will fight a lot more for dominance.

Getting one as a baby will probably mean that he/she will be less afraid of you than Buttercup is, as long as you interact with him/her a lot. And as an added bonus, Buttercup might become less afraid of you too. Since we got Flurry, we noticed that Buster is a lot more active, seems a lot happier, and more cuddly. :)

The link I provided above has a lot of great info on picking out piggie buddies, and introductions, quarantine periods, etc. I would definately recommend getting a second pig. Try calling your local shelter and see if they have any. Usually shelters don't advertise that they have pigs like they do with dogs and cats, but they usually have some.

Good luck! :)

works on killing the lice. Lice don't have noses to breath out of. They breath through pores in their bodies.

Pesticides become less effective with each use because the bugs build a tolerance to the poison. Plus, some of the pesticide is absorbed through the skin.

Olive oil works well to on helping to get the nits out.

The only downside is washing it out afterwards. Dishsoap cuts the oil, but I don't think you want to use that on your buddies in case they should get it by their eyes. Maybe baby shampoo.

Also, wash everything they come in contact with and change their bedding. One nit left behind and your back at square one.

Well, good luck to you.

silver c-
have you tried the shampoo that is recommended on guinea pig lynx? i have being trying to get some, but can't seem to find it. how is flurry doing, besides the creepies? are you sure that you don't want a couple of more piggies? ;)

mushroom-
i'm sure you know this- but just in case- piggies need supplemental vitamin C from pellets or vegetables and can't live just on grass. i've heard some very horrible stories of vitamin C deficiency and want to spread the word. what colour is your pig?
how does she (or he!) like outdoor life vs. indoor life?
definately look at your local shelter for a piggie! and check out this really cool site (that is if you haven't found this cavy heaven before!):

www.cavyspirit.com

When we got Buttercup, we were told that she is a girl...but, I am not sure the person really knew. I had rabbits when I was little, and with rabbits the sex is obvious. Buttercup is an abysinian (sp?), brown & white. My little girl plays with her a lot, gently...but Buttercup always looks uncomfortable...like she would rather be in her pen. We give her pellets and all sorts of veggies & fruit.
She seems to like it better outside, we give her lots of hay to help her stay warm (her outside pen is bigger than her inside one was) We have had her about two years, but don't know her age.
Thanks for the information SilverC and VealPrincess.

Well, we got the Advantage today. And after dinner, it's lights out lice!!! Gah, I hate those little things, biting my poor little babies! :mad:

I never heard of using olive oil on lice, MsRuthieB, did you do that on your pets? How long until they die?

I think Buster being longhaired helped those little nits hide out last time. That's why I wanted the advantage, you don't have to worry about getting every last one.

VealPrincess, do you mean the EpiSoothe they recommended for Buster's dry skin? I haven't seen it in stores, but I did find a couple places online that have it. www.vetBUY.com has it, I love this site, I wish I could buy so much stuff from there!

I usually use kitten shampoo on the boys, and only bathe them when they really stink. I bought a little tiny slicker brush for Buster, I think that should help his skin too. Get rid of the scruff and spread his natural oils and all that. Once the advantage treatment is finished, if his skin is still dry, I'm going to order the EpiSoothe.

Mushroom, you should add timothy hay to your piggie's diet. It helps wear down their teeth, and helps their digestion. I also give my boys vitamin supplements in their water, just to make sure they are getting enough Vitamin C.

VealPrincess, I would LOVE more piggies!! :) But sadly, it probably wouldn't be the most responsible thing to do. Maybe when I am done school, and we are both working full time, we could afford more pigs.

Besides the lice, Flurry is great! He is such a little character. When we cuddle with him, he gets right into it, and stretches his little feet out. And in the mornings, Buster and him wheek up a storm for their breakfast, and Flurry gets so excited about food that he runs laps around his cage. During floor time, he sniffs around, and bucks like a chicken! It's too cute! :)

Hey, look at this really incredible thread! I can't believe how wonderful it is.

I wonder who the genius person was who came up with the idea for this thread?

Brilliant!

Guinea Piggies are very, very, very, cute.

And demanding.

When Silver goes to school I am home with the piggies, and every chance they get they wheek and wheek and compel me to get them all sorts of veggie treats!

But I don't mind doing it because I love them!

:)

*grins* Welcome, SilverC's husband.

aw, the flurrymeister's dad!

are you sure you don't want some of Flurry's sons to keep you even busier then you already are?

;)

hey, it's worth a try.... :D

Don't tempt me ;)

I am a sucker for little piggie faces...

Mushroom -

I know this is an old thread, but I wanted to ask how Buttercup is doing. Did you get her a same-sex friend after (and is she indeed a she? Here is another very comprehensive page on sexing in case you still aren't sure: http://www.cavyspirit.com/sexing.htm).

You don't necessarily need to get a baby - adult pigs are successfully introduced all the time, and there are many adult pigs in rescues and shelters in need of homes. Adults are also often calmer and easier to handle. Getting a pig as a baby does not guarantee that it won't be skittish - that really depends on personality. There are lots of friendly, cuddly adults in rescues. Pigs at a rescue would be socialized and a rescuer could help you find one who is right for you. :) You can check http://www.cavyrescue.com to see if there are any rescues near you.

Remember to quarantine the new pig for 3 weeks in a seperate cage behind closed doors, washing hands and changing shirts after handling the new pig. (In some cases, such as if you adopt from a very reputable rescue, you can forgo quarantine as the pig has already been quarantined and observed for signs of illness at the rescue. The rescuer should be able to advise you on quarantine and whether or not it is necessary, but if in doubt, quarantine.)

I strongly recommend that you bring your pig(s) indoors. Where do you live? I know keeping them outdoors in more common in the UK and Australia, but most pig owners agree that indoors is best. Even if the pig is in a safe, secure enclosure and the weather is appropriate (not too cold, but also not too hot - pigs are very suseptable to heat stroke) - there are disadvantages to keeping them outdoors. For example, you usually aren't with them as much, or observing them as much, and it can be easier to miss signs of illess. You can still let the pigs have playtime/grazing time in the outdoor pen. Here is a page with guidelines for cage location, and a section on Indoor vs. Outdoor and why indoors in recommended. http://www.cavycages.com/cagelocation.htm

You can make easy, large and inexpensive indoor cages out of cubes and coroplast. Browse through the Cavycages site for more info and ideas. This is a great site with a wealth of information.

Another great pig site: http://www.guinealynx.info (great message boards here with many extremely knowledgeable members, great place for medical info and general info as well)

SliverC-

I noticed you said you put vitamins in your pigs water. Vit C in the water is not recommended as it can discourage the pigs from drinking and also degrades quickly in water, plus you have no idea how much they're getting. And multivitamins should not be given at all - some vitamins can build up in their bodies and cause problems. Plain C can be given in chewable tablet or liquid form - 25-50 mg per day.