So Many Updates!

It really has been far too long since I last updated this blog. Since I don't want to overwhelm anyone with deathly boring details, I will just post some picture updates over the next few days, especially after I figure out how to use Gimp for Linux (I usually use Photoshop but its not compatible with Kubuntu >:(

Anyway, at the end of February the piggies were spending a delightful wheekend at their Dad's house. They have their own room and are essentially free range while there. Unfortunately, while sweeping up some poos, I noticed something wrong with Clementine's left eye. It looked like there was a bit of hay sticking out of her now-ulcerated eye, so we gently tried to pull it out, but when that didn't work, we made an emergency appointment with the vet at AZEAH.

Clemmy as her usual self.

As it turns out, Clemmy managed to get a foxtail seed stuck deep in her eye and needed emergency surgery to get it out. The procedure didn't take very long, but she did need a couple weeks of medication.

Clemmy the day after surgery.

She had a bluish-white glaze over her eye and it was quite ulcerated. However, after about three days of applying medication every 6 hours...

Much better!

We are back to a much more normal-looking eye! It was still swollen for a few days, but nothing nearly as bad as it was before. She is now fully recovered.

This, of course was the culprit:

Evil foxtail.

These are found quite often in hay, no matter the brand and location. I've found it in Kleenmama's, Oxbow, and in our local sources. Because of that, we've been stuck with the arduous task of combing through all the hay to make sure we don't get stuck with another $700 vet bill.

Meet Trudy!

Hello again, world! Meet our new pig, Trudy.



Trudy came to us from AZ Piggie Poo Rescue as a special-needs pig. After taking her to a wellness exam last night, we found she has some form of neurological disorder that leaves her unbalanced when performing normal tasks, random head tilting, and no real control of her hind legs. The vet performed a few short tests to see whether she was in pain and whether the disorder affected her nerves. He deemed her to be in pretty good health aside from that!

Trudy is already adjusting well to her new home. The other pigs pick on her, which does cause me to worry about it since she is disabled, but this doesn't stop her from pushing back. She is active and walks around rumbling with her fur all puffed up, a sign of trying to show her dominance. I think it would help more if she didn't trip over herself while trying to do this! My one concern about living with the other pigs is they are so much more active than her and often push her out of their way (how mean!), making her fall over on her back. But I am impressed by her propensity to get up and go back to whatever she was doing.

There are so many parts of her that remind me of Ginny, may she rest in peace. They share some color similarities and personality, but its also the little things. She's a much calmer pig and has already developed an affection for me. While in the waiting room at the vet's yesterday, Dave tried to hold and pet her but she didn't like it very much and crawled to my own lap. She's also much more receptive to being pet in the cage; I can walk over and gently pet or scratch her head and she won't run away. Most of the time she'll begin purring.

Obviously she won't--can't--take the place of Ginny, but it's nice to have a pig similar to her.

4 Months (almost)

So it's been nearly four months since Ginny's death and its still a difficult subject for me.

Since I'm living in an apartment with a roommate the pigs are housed in my bedroom, and I wake up every morning to hear their rustling and wheeking. It still hurts that I don't see her garent eyes first thing or being able to pet her. That last part, the petting, it the worst. The other pigs (Maggie, Clemmy, and Piper) all run away whenever I come near them and are really too skittish to be randomly picked up. Five minutes in your lap and they're already looking to be put back. Ginny loved petting so I could pick her up whenever I wanted with little hassle or even just scratch her nose while walking by. I try with the others, but each time they run away I still feel a lump in my throat.

Great, now I'm crying at work. Anyway, one of the main reasons I wrote an update was because I found a poem while looking for poetry and writing prompts for my students. This particular poem is about putting a beloved pet to sleep which, although not the same situation as mine, is similar to my feelings during and following Ginny's death.

Loyal, William Matthews

They gave him an overdose
of anesthetic, and its fog
shut down his heart in seconds.
I tried to hold him, but he was
somewhere else. For so much love
one of the principals is missing,
it's no wonder we confuse love
with longing. Oh I was thick
with both. I wanted my dog
to live forever and while I was
working on impossibilities
I wanted to live forever, too.
I wanted company and to be alone.
I wanted to know how they trash
a stiff ninety-five-pound dog
and I paid them to do it
and not tell me. What else?
I wanted a letter of apology
delivered by decrepit hand,
by someone shattered for each time
I'd had to eat pure pain. I wanted
to weep, not "like a baby,"
in gulps and breath-stretching
howls, but steadily, like an adult,
according to the fiction
that there is work to be done,
and almost inconsolably.

from Selected Poems and Translations 1969-1991, 1992
Houghton Mifflin, New York, NY

Death

My little baby, Ginny, is dead.

It has taken me about two weeks to write this entry. When I first tried a few days after her passing, I just wasn’t anywhere near ready to write about it. I started bawling when I wrote the words “trying to get a response from her.” And I just realized those words still bring tears to my eyes.

Ginny passed on the evening of 2 July (Thursday) and I never thought the death of a little rodent would affect me in such a profound way. It doesn’t help that she was my “favorite” piggy, who rarely ran away when being petted or picked up and loved gentle scratches between the eyes. She would close her eyes and open her mouth a little until I stopped. I’ll never forget those big, moist, garnet eyes watching me or the way we used to call her top crest a mohawk (a roach hairstyle, actually). She was a feisty and brave little girl from day one; in fact her name came from a feisty and brave redhead in a popular literary series.

My fondest memory though is from a quiet night spent by Dave and myself at home. We were sitting around watching TV and decided to give all the girls some lap time. Usually, it goes by chasing the pigs around the cage until we each catch one, take them to our sitting spot with a towel, then alternate petting them for about 15 minutes each. That evening, I had Maggie in my lap, Dave had Ginny on his chest. When came time to switch pigs, I put Maggie in Dave’s lap, then Ginny waddled off his chest to my lap. That little moment, which I’ve interpreted as affection, made my heart melt into a little puddle of love.

The other pigs have been doing fine though. That evening, after we buried Ginny, Maggie wandered around the cage several times, loudly sniffing. I can only imagine she was looking for Ginny whom she was bonded to. Eventually, she gave up and fell asleep where she last saw her. It broke my heart seeing that. The girls weren’t too interested in food the first couple days, but eventually were back to normal. In fact, they’ve been doing everything in a pack (more on that later).

Below is the description of that dreadful night, most of it from a journal entry. I don’t blame you if you don’t want to continue reading.

-----

5 July 2009

I feel like I need a few hits of morphine injected straight into my heart.

My little Ginny died Thursday evening.

I was scrambling around my room, getting things together to do laundry and cleaning my room up a bit. I noticed she had moved a couple times, both instances laying with her right foot sticking out. That’s usually a sign the room is a bit warm, so I turned the thermostat down a couple degrees (even thought it as 78F in the room).

When I came back, I saw her crawl from where she had last been laying (by the hay bin—the “kitchen”), dragging her foot behind her. That completely freaked me out, since I assumed she somehow broke her foot. After a brief panic attack, I ran to the fridge to look up the vet’s number, only to remember the number was already programmed into my phone. However, I discovered the vet’s office was closed.

In the mean time, the poor girl drug herself across the cage—slowly—to lay by Maggie in the fleece tent. I picked her up and placed her on a towel, petting her gently and pleading with her to not move and to promise me she would be ok. I tried convincing myself she would be ok until morning so we could rush her to the vet.

At that point I called Dave to let him know something was wrong with Ginny, secretly hoping he would have an answer. He told me he was on his way.

After I hung up, it happened.

The poor girl tried dragging herself off the towel, but I put her back and petted her again. Moments after that her little body began convulsing, with short jerks for about a minute. I petted her while desperately hoping someone at the clinic would pick up the phone. I knew what the jerking meant deep in the back of my head, but I was in denial. It just couldn’t be—she was too young.

It stopped and her breathing slowed. I petted her again, then shook her, trying to get a response from her. But she wouldn’t blink, she didn’t move her head in disapproval or make a sound. She just laid there, silent with a blank look in her eye.

I petted her, shook her, cried and yelled at her, demanding she do something. Anything.

But she didn’t. Ginny just laid there, limp and warm.

The rest of the evening was a blur, with Dave, Dad, and my brother showing up to comfort me and help bury her in Dave’s backyard. I remember wrapping her up in an old, bright curtain I had intended to use as a tent cover. Later I regretted not giving her something more comfortable to lay on in her sleep, like a little pillow. I regretted not letting her last minutes be spent next to her best friend-her sister-who always comforted her in stressful times. There are so many things I’ve blamed myself for in the last two weeks, most of it little things that were beyond my control or trivial.

I cannot wait to meet her again.

T’áá ‘ákódí. (That is all.)

Water Bottles

So it appears that Clemmy and Piper are still a little too shy to write anything other than "hello." I tried to offer them the keyboard, but they ran away. We'll probably need to wait another week or two before they're ready.

Aside from that, I discovered a cleaning method for those tricky water bottles! Much thanks to the Guinea Lynx Forums for this wonderful tip!

How to Clean the Water Bottle and Spout

* It should first be mentioned that water bottles must be cleaned out daily in order to prevent algae and other muck from contaminating your guinea pig's water. They need fresh water at all times and providing a clean water bottle is just part of it. While you may not need to repeat this particular method everyday, it should be done at least once or twice each week.

1. Start by emptying any leftover water from the bottle. Rinse with hot water once (fill halfway with hot water, cover, and shake for 20 seconds).
2. Pour one (1) tablespoon of dry, uncooked rice into the bottle. DO NOT use minute rice; it'll get mushy.
3. Pour one (1) teaspoon of plain tablesalt into the bottle.
4. Pour two (2) tablespoons of hot water into the bottle.
5. Cover the opening with hands/fingers and SHAKE VIGOROUSLY! for one to two minutes. Be sure to swirl and create small vortexes in the water so that the rice swishes throughout the entire bottle.
6. Empty contents.
7. Rinse bottle with hot water three (3) times and allow to air dry.
**(this may be repeated for very dirty bottles)**
8. Rinse spout with hot water and remove the rubber insert.
9. Wipe outer and interior areas with a hot cloth (soap optional). Any areas that cannot be reached can be wiped with a Q-Tip.
10. Rinse three (3) times, making sure any soap is completely removed. Allow to air dry.

The whole process takes about 5 to 10 minutes, depending on how thorough and/or dirty the bottles are. My girls are pretty messy, so I would need to repeat this process about two times each week. For daily cleanings, I would only need to do step one.

Hope this helps anyone that needs it!

A Visit to APPR

Hello again, world! Mom went out for a bit, so we're here to update you on our weekend.

Mom and Dad left us on Sunday to make a quick visit to the Arizona Piggie Poo Rescue. They dropped off the carriers they used to bring Piper and Clementine home and got some pellets as well. While there (at the East Valley location), they got to take a look at some of the most recent intakes.

The previous week, APPR seized about 100 fellow cavies from a backyard breeder (or in this case, a garage breeder). Their particular lot were being sold to Rainbow Exotics and were subjected to horrible conditions. Luckily, APPR were able to save them and have already started fostering/adopting out quite a few cavies. Mom shared some pictures with us of some 20 young boars. Thankfully, many of the babies were quite healthy, though not well-socialized. The adults were another story :( One of the adult females had to be euthanized due to a horrid infection in her uterus and bowels from several week-dead pups that weren't extracted from her. It made us quite sad to hear about this!

Here are some of the photos Mom shared with us. It makes us so thankful we have a safe, loving home with lots of food! These pigs are currently located at the rescue.

Some of the young boars. There's so many of them! They look happy now that they're being treated properly.
Mom also got a few photos of piggies that are patiently waiting for their own forever home. These gentlemen seemed quite charming and fluffy!



Well, that's all for now. Clemmy and Piper have been patiently waiting for their turn to write, so they'll be writing the next entry.

Home Again

Mom here. So sorry about leaving you all in the dark for the past couple weeks. We haven't had internet until today! Anyway, the girls are very excited to share their story with you, so here they are!

----

Well, our lovely trio has grown into a quintet (excluding Dad)! It was supposed to be just Maggie and I coming home, but at the last minute Mom decided to adopt two other sows, Clementine and Piper, completely messing up her original cavy house.

We met our new cagemates the week before during a brief stint in the grass, but Mom thought it was best that we just "visited" through the seperate cages and grids for the first week home. Later that week (the 27th), Mom decided it was time for us to meet again.

Things started off ok. She placed Maggie and Piper in the play area, then Ginny, and finally Clementine. We formed a little pig train for Mom, which sent her into fits of giggles over the overwhelming cuteness. Then, moments later, baby Piper decided that she would be the boss pig and went chasing after Ginny. Rumblestrutting and headbutting soon followed. Maggie and Clementine decided to join in the fun, and soon we became a group of loud, grumpy cavies. Even the bonded Maggie and Ginny were testy with each other! Mom had to throw towels over us a few times, to prevent any blood :-O

Then, she finally came to her senses and threw in some veggies! We calmed down a bit, ate, and fell asleep. However, once Piper started chasing Ginny around again, Mom decided that play time was over.

The following day Dad decided it was time for us to live together.
"What?! After the fighting yesterday?"
"Well, they need to learn to live together sooner or later!"

After those words were uttered from his mouth, the humans (or rather, Mom) spent the day creating a new mansion! It's so beautiful! She created a 2.5x6 cage, with a 2x2 hay loft. We have plenty of room to run, sleep, and eat.

That first week was difficult, since we all were trying to get acquainted and establish class systems (which Mom found to be unfair, but we couldn't help it). Ginny faced the brunt of this, with both Clementine and Piper picking on her at every possible opportunity. Her first couple days were spent in the hayloft, but things eventually settled down after a couple more days. At least Maggie (who got along well with the new girls) was there to protect her! Mom called her "Ginny's little thug," since her size outweighed the others and at every wheek she ran to defend Ginny. We suspect Mom gave her more laptime because of this.

Well, after a few more days the drama began dying down and Mom didn't have to come running at every sound that came from the house! At this point no one is actually the "head pig" and we're getting along really well!

We sleep together.

And eat together!

One thing we did notice, however, was how little vegetables Clementine and Piper ate the first two weeks they lived with us. Can you believe they didn't want to eat bell peppers?! Maggie and I gobbled whatever they didn't, but they eventually caught on that all veggies are delicious! There's nothing we won't eat now! Or is there?

Hopefully you enjoyed our little update. Stay tuned for the next addition: the Strange Case of the Mysterious Asparagus and the New Neighbors!

3 Days

Only 3 more days until the piggies move in with me! My bedroom is set up, for the most part, and their cage is all ready. I have come across one problem though--the room gets warm during the day. Unfortunately, my temperature gauge has been at my parent's house so I haven't had the opportunity to see just how warm it gets. I'm planning on installing some aluminum foil bubblewrap to the windows (which are only single-pane), which with past results, have made rooms 5-15F cooler in the summers. It's especially important out here in Arizona where the temperature can reach up to 120F during the day!

In the mean time, here's one more video to keep you happy :) I'll provide an update on Saturday when we bring the girls home!

Video

Mom here. The girls are currently staying at the local guinea pig rescue for the next week while I move house, since I know packing and all the repercussions that come with it stress them out. Why, just changing out their bedding stresses them out! I think they'll be happier at the new place though, since it will be much quieter and less stressful than my current living situation! In the mean time, enjoy a piggie video made by yours truly :)

For Starters

Hello world! Well, we are quite the trio and hope you enjoy this brand new blog concocted by Mom here. But first, I suppose we should introduce ourselves.

Our human, Monica, is a college student studying English Literature and it was really her idea to come up with this blog. We suppose she needs some sort of creative outlet that doesn't include nine page essays entitled "Pernicious Dualities: A Study and Comparison on the Manipulative Characters of Othello and The Faerie Queene." Whatever, we just think she slacks in the hay department. Aside from that, she stays quite busy with her women's human right's student organization called Women Beyond Borders. We really appreciate her desire to help the unfortunate since it reminds us of the time she adopted us!


This is our other human, Dave. He's been Mom's boyfriend for over five years (!) and usually visits on the weekends. He's a computer tech so he's a very logical person. Sometimes Mom says "too logical" but we don't really care because he gives us all the hay we can poop on and extra veggies. Mom doesn't like that because it "spoils" us and apparently messes up our daily calcium to phosphorus ratio that she carefully calculates. It doesn't matter to us since we love the extra stuff! Anyway, he's a liberal person, too, and absolutely loves animals! He cares for three cats at his house: Liz, Susie, and Kitty.


And last, but certainly not least, us! We're Maggie and Ginny, two year old sows. Mom adopted us last July from the Arizona Humane Society. Maggie was a stray, apparently. We suppose someone tried to "set her free" into the wilds of the park, but it didn't work out for her. We don't know Ginny's story, unfortunately, since the volunteers mixed up her papers with someone else. Maybe one day she'll let us know.