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.

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!

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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!

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.