Adopting a Guinea Pig
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Adopting a Guinea Pig |
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TRUFFLE
Faith with her "special needs" guinea pigs Spring, Squeak and Orchid. I wasn't keen on getting "special needs" guinea pigs because my idea of the perfect guinea pig was one with all their senses and without any problems. I couldn't have been more wrong. We started off with two "special needs " guinea pigs called Spring and Squeak, they are both white, blind and deaf. Our friends didn't believe us because they don't look any different from a "normal" guinea pig. Having "special needs" guinea pigs has not been a disadvantage at all, in fact we now have a third one "Orchid". They are happy and live life to the full which is very important. They sometimes line up like three sausage rolls! Faith Harvey (11years old) Bridge, Nr Canterbury, Kent.
Scrumpy & Mischief "MY BOYS”
GNASHER 2000-2007
Just thought I'd let
you know how Archie & Honey are getting on. The great news is that they are getting
on really well, he's settled in nicely and Honey has taken to him well. Bar
the odd warble, they've been eating together and sitting next to one another
without a problem. Also we've renamed him from Sweep to Archie! Joanne, Kathy & Wayne Griffin
Hi meet Patch & Lola. Patch was from Pets at Home and had a companion Pip. Lola came to us from April Lodge on 2nd January 2009. Things started off well for Patch and Pip although they were never the best of friends. They slept at opposite ends of the cage and showed a lot of dominant behaviour toward each other. Patch eventually seemed to come out on top quite literally. He constantly mounted Pip, I reluctantly had them both castrated to try and stop the behaviour. Things settled for a while, but over Christmas escalated, this time Pip being the dominant one, biting Patch's ear twice and drawing blood. I divided the cage hoping things would settle down but Patch was a nervous wreck. I had heard about the work of April Lodge and decided to contact them. I spoke to Val who confirmed my worst thoughts they would have to be split up. Many tears later from my daughter Hayley and I, we decided to re-homed Pip, as Patch had been our first choice and was still recovering from his wounds. My neighbour who looks after them whilst we are away offered to take Pip so a good home was found. Whilst on the phone to Val she suggested getting a new companion for Patch. After our trauma I was a little hesitant, but she assured me a female would be the perfect companion for Patch as he was castrated. We went over to April Lodge where the adoption process was explained. Val showed us Lola (or Hotstepper as she was then called) . She is a Swiss Teddy and was rescued from a breeder. We did not mind what breed, colour or age we had. The priority was that they got along with Patch. We still had to pass the home check. As it was 30th December we thought we would have to wait a few days but the next day we had a visit from Suzie who checked the cage and run and told us that everything was more than adequate and would contact Val straightaway. Hayley and I went over with Patch in a divided basket. Lola as we call her was ready to go. Patch also had a health check. Once they were in the divided basket Patch immediately showed some interest in her, they were sniffing each other through the wire. The plan was to keep them in a divided cage for a couple of days but Patch had other ideas. Within 15 minutes he was over the wire and eating her food and we still don't know how he did it. She didn't seem too bothered so we took the divider out and took turns in watching them. Before long they were eating out of the same bowl and then snuggling under the hay. We have had for Lola for 2 weeks now and she is a delight. Still nervous but growing in confidence. Winner of a tug of war over a piece of apple and keeping Patch in line. I have to say that since meeting Val and her helpers, and seeing all they do at April Lodge I will from now on always adopt a rescue guinea pig. There are so many out there that, through no fault of their own, need loving homes, it just doesn't make sense to do anything other than adopt an unwanted guinea pig. Here is Patch and Lola - a guinea pig marriage made in heaven !!!! Jo & Hayley, St Margaret's Bay, Dover, Kent After adopting Lola in January I became a volunteer helper at April Lodge, faithfully promising my husband that we would not be getting any more guinea pigs. On my second day there I came across April (or Champagne as she was called) and promptly fell in love! It only took me a couple of days to sweet talk him round and she has been with us since 7th March 2009. As you can see she is a real sweetie and after just over 8 weeks with us, has started to eat whilst sitting on our laps (as long as she thinks you are not watching). She has now settled in beautifully with the other two, establishing herself as the boss, despite being quite a bit smaller than Patch and Lola. Our cage is definitely up to capacity with three, so i can say with certainty that we will not be getting any more guinea pigs - apart from the ones we have on foster of course!!!
Patch & Lola with the new arrival April Jo Wash, St Margaret's Bay, Dover
Ivory came to
April Lodge
back in 2005. He was such a sociable boy. I regularly let him run
around my living room floor which he relished. Following a phone call
from Applecroft Nursing Home at River, near Dover, Kent, he was
finally rehomed. It took Ivory a while to settle down to his new task
of snuggling up to terminally ill residents. But his job eventually
became paramount with the residents, some of which were only ever seen
smiling when Ivory was in their lap. He was much loved at the home and
still is. He still comes back to us for regular health checks and is
well. Ivory was at the April Lodge Open Day 2009 where he won the
"reserve champion" challenge shield he has been
renamed Pip.
Photo's By kind Permission of Applecroft Nursing Home, River, Dover ________________________________________________________________________________________________
Hayley with her friends Cuppy & Snowflake
I do not have
any brothers or sisters so my mum Karen and dad Lee thought it would be
nice to have pets, Our first pet was a rescue cat called Nathan, when he
passed away we got Josh and Jessie 2 rescue kittens and I have had 3
hamsters .We bought a large shed and decided it would be nice to have
more pets, so we got a rescue rabbit which I named Slippers. In November
2008 I told mum I would like to have a guinea pig we decided to look for
a rescue one that needed a loving home. We saw a notice in the
local supermarket about a guinea pig re-homing centre called April Lodge
so we popped round there after school, we met the lady who runs it
called Val and made an appointment to look round the following day.
I was so excited I couldn't stop talking about it at school. On
the 5th of December we walked into April Lodge I could not believe it I
had never seen so many guinea pigs, Val let us look around all the
guineas for as long as we liked she never rushed us and told us the
stories of how certain guinea pigs had got to April Lodge. It was so
difficult to choose from them all, we went in wanting to re-home 1
guinea pig but after a short time I wished we could take them all some
of them had been so badly treated I could not and still don't understand
how a human being could be so cruel to these lovely animals. After
we had been there sometime we came to a hutch with 2 male guinea pigs
their names were SNOWFLAKE and CUPCAKE.
CUPCAKE
Cupcake was brought in to April Lodge on the 14th February 2008, he had
been found in a cardboard box in a supermarket car park in Margate. Val
examined him, he was very underweight, had his left rear toe shorn off,
lesions on his back and bald patches, he also was understandably very
nervous. He started to gain weight and his medical problems were
treated with the loving care Val and her team gave him. He also needed a
friend so on the 20th of March 2008 along came Snowflake.
SNOWFLAKE
Snowflake had belonged to a lady who had foster children but Snowflake
was not having enough time spent on him so she asked Val to have him,
Val put him in with Cupcake and after a few squabbles they became
friends. He settled in well.
On the 20th of August it was April Lodges open day, along came a man and
his daughter who wanted to give Snowflake and Cupcake a good home. April
Lodge went to do a home visit which they do for all their guinea pigs to
make sure they would be well looked after. He lived in a nice home with
plenty of space for them so off they went. In October the gentleman
contacted April Lodge to say the guinea pigs were not well when they
visited they could not believe how they looked, they not been looked
after, they had both lost weight they had mange. Snowflake had no
hair on his nose or foreleg and they had mites, all the hard work the
team had done had been reversed in a couple of months by the neglect of
these people. It then emerged the gentleman was going through a divorce
from his wife if this was known they would never have let this man
re-home them as it is against their policy.
I picked up snowflake he snuggled in I fell in love with him, Cupcake
was very nervous he had such a frightened look in his eyes. My heart
melted I knew I would have 2 guinea pigs and not one and these were
them. Val was very worried about them going to a good home she was
scared of them being neglected again but mum reassured her this would
not happen they would be part of our family. After putting them back in
their cage Val said she would get one of the volunteers to come and do a
home visit.
THE HOME VISIT
A lady came round two days later she was very nice, we showed her our
cats and reassured her they would not be meeting the guinea pigs as they
slept most of the day and went out at night. She also met Slippers
the rabbit. We showed her their hutch we had ready and she advised us on
the best straw and hay and to have plenty of shredded paper in their
bedding. she said she would report back to Val to see if we were
suitable but praised us on looking after our pets so well.
We phoned Val the next day and she said they had decided we could give
Cupcake and Snowflake a loving home, I was so excited. The next day on
the 8th of December 2008 we went to pick our boys up. Val chatted to us
and explained they would probably lose weight because of the stress of
being re-homed. she also gave us lots of information on the best food
and veg to give them which has been invaluable, mum bought a large bag
of hay and a hot water bottle especially for animals as their
approximate age is 4 years and we didn't want them feeling the cold. Val
made an appointment with us for regular checkups and advised us on what
anti fungal bath and ointment to use as Snowflake still had no fur on
his leg .
THEIR NEW HOME
Mum and I bought them home and gently put them in their new home we had
bought everything they needed plus nibble sticks and a log cabin which
they immediately dived into. We put fresh food in and left them to
settle in. The next day Dad fixed a light up in the shed for them.
Snowflake was the bossy one of the two at first, Cupcake always dived
under the hay when I got near, but slowly he started to gain more
confidence with us, for Christmas we bought them a new house to have in
their run and they had a Christmas stocking like all our pets.
We took them back for a check up in January to April Lodge and even
though they had not put on a great deal of weight they were so pleased
at how well they looked, Val did a hair scraping and it was found they
were completely free of mites and Cupcakes fur had grown back on her
nose and leg.
SNOWFLAKE AND CUPCAKE NOW
Snowflake and Cuppy as we now call him are now doing brilliantly, they
have a lovely new run to go in, they love spending the day eating and
snuggling together, on the days it is too wet or cold they go in a tent
in the bathroom on a soft blanket, we spend a lot of time with
them everyday. they are so loving, Cupcake is not shy anymore and loves
all the attention and they are putting on weight they never stop
munching. We have enjoyed having them so much we now have two more
guinea pigs and am now getting a new shed so they can have even bigger
hutch. Everyday I look forward to spending time with Snowflake and Cuppy
and because of the wonderful care April Lodge have given them they have
grown to trust us, we love them and they love us, thank you April
Lodge for being such wonderful people.
Hayley Pemble age 12years from Ash nr
Canterbury.
Pepper (Rosie) Pepper Meg & Spice (Rose Meg & Thomas) I just wanted to share with you how thrilled I am that Meg's new companions Thomas and Rosie (aka Pepper and Spice) are getting along. While Meg was a little wary of a very noisy male in her run for the first few hours, they soon settled into a routine. It took a few days for all three to sleep on one level, either Meg was upstairs and the others down or vice versa but one chilly night and the lure of other bodies and the Snuggle Safe ensured all bedded down together. As you can see from the pictures all are well and taking advantage of my goodwill ! Having been caught in a short shower in the run today all settled down in my hat to warm up. You can really see their characters from this photo. Not sure I'll get that hat back any time soon though. Rosie (Spice) is growing fast and less nervous each time she has a cuddle. Thomas has decided it's far too much like hard work to run away and just sits waiting to be taken outside for a munch on the spring grass. Hope all is well at April Lodge, looking forward to bringing the piggies back to see you for their check in June. Robyn Widdup
Katherine with Frank Katherine with Betty Katherine's Story Katherine is 7-years-old and is a happy, sociable girl who loves helping and being with people. A week before her first birthday she was diagnosed with encephalitis, which was caused by an unknown virus. As a result she has a brain injury, is developmentally delayed and has a speech difficulty. She relies on Makaton signing for most of her communication. Recently, Katherine visited a school friend who keeps guinea-pigs and returned home signing ‘Guinea Pigs’ and making a snuffling noise. She also squeaked! We thought it would be lovely for her to have some furry friends of her own to learn about and look after. Since adopting Bully (renamed Frank) and Chequer (renamed Betty) from the April Lodge, she has loved holding and stroking them, helping to feed them, clean them out and generally help them to settle in. She has a picture list of all the food they are allowed and is keen to point to what she thinks they would like for breakfast. She has a special safety knife which she uses to cut the celery and carrot. We have also had to bath them which she loved helping with. All in all, they are really part of the family now and they have helped extend her vocabulary and promote a caring attitude to animals generally. She has learnt that ‘you pat horses’ but ‘you gently stroke guinea-pigs’! And From The Guinea Pigs Perspective Frank was given the name Bully because when he was rescued, he was separated from the other guinea pigs because he was behaving aggressively. There were 30 guinea pigs living together! We are not sure when he was born but he was at April Lodge for 19 months. He is absolutely adorable. Since settling in with us, he is inquisitive and calm, loves being stroked and comes up to the door of the cage to have a look at us and to see if there is any food going! Betty was rescued in April 2008, in quite a sorry state. Her records show she was born in 2007. She was being kept in a small hutch with 15 others and was pregnant. She consequently had 7 babies. Now she is with Frank, she seems happy and content. Since settling in to her new home, she is beginning to get more confident and explore the run. She is becoming more inquisitive and loves to eat her fresh food in the comfort of her little wooden house. In the morning she occasionally greets us with a few squeaks. Like Katherine, after having a traumatic start to their lives, we hope they have a long and happy life with us. Katherine aged 7
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