[GPDD] MISC: re: Critter Corral and traveling piggies

[Renee Roszkowski]

Hi All!! 
            Well, I finally finished catching up on my GPDD! My husband
and I and our "children" have had quite an adventure. We are finally
settled into our new house. My husband is in the US Coast Guard and was
recently transferred to Kodiak Alaska!! And, of course we brought
everyone with us on the move. We brought Flash (the basset hound) Mary
and Molly and Patches (the piggies) and Kate and Dora (the ratties) all
the way from Chicago Illinois to Kodiak Alaska. We drove the whole way
(since the airlines won't let our fuzzies on the planes-GGRRRR!!!). We
drove up into and across Canada and through Alaska before taking a 9
hour ferry ride to get to Kodiak island. We are finally settled in our
home up here!! Everything went very well. I made sure to make pet
friendly hotel arrangements before we left. We stopped every night so
they could have time out of the car and in a room to relax. We needed to
get out of the car too after an average of 10 hours a day driving.
Everyone traveled in travel cages (except Flash, who slept in the back).
They did quite well. Our Montero sport was filled to the point of
exploding. We had the inside filled and stuff on the top as well! :-) I
think our piggies Mary and Molly get the award for being the most
traveled piggies. They came from a large scale raid on a breeder in
California (see the Cavy Spirit website-Hollister rescue for more info)
and were moved all the way to the Critter Corral piggie rescue in
Illinois where we adopted them from. Then they made the trip with us all
the way up here to Kodiak Alaska!! If anyone has piggies who have
traveled further I would love to hear the stories!!! :-) So, needless to
say, moving with piggies (and ratties and a dog) is possible. It wasn't
that bad either. After the first day or so (of 14 days of travel)
everyone settled in and did great. I brought lots of medical stuff and
Critical care and bene-bac with me just in case. We stopped for water
breaks and they got watermelon and iceberg lettuce to keep them
hydrated. We left the water bottles off the cages cause they leaked way
too much. Not too much lettuce and watermelon though... And now,
everyone is happy and healthy in their new home. I forgot to send the
coroplast (which we can't find up here) with the movers who shipped our
stuff. I was so mad, but our apartment is smaller than I thought. We
bought a kiddie pool from Walmart (the only place to shop at up
here-read miniscule little town on an island) and put a grid wall around
it. We recently put a top on it to keep out our new additions. We
recently adopted Sheba, an 8 year old english mastiff (I couldn't let
her stay in the shelter at her age), a medium haired kitten named Mike
Wazowski (our last name is Roszkowski so it's Mike Wazowski
Roszkowski-it's funnier when you say it out loud) and a 10 year old
Siamese mix named Sam. Everyone is doing great. The cats love watching
the piggies and ratties. They don't bother them though. That's all the
additions to our house though. 2 dogs, 2 cats, 3 piggies, and 2 ratties
is plenty for us.  
            I'm sorry to hear about all those who have lost piggies
recently. Just remember the good times and know that they had good lives
with you.
            YEA Critter Corral!!! Like I mentioned before, I adopted two
of my girls from Critter Corral and volunteered with them while I was in
Chicago. I miss them already!!! HI ROSE (and everyone of course)!!! :-)
They are a wonderful rescue who have their work cut out for them. They
get tons of calls every week from people wanting to give up their
piggies. If you are in the Chicagoland area, please contact Rose for
adoptions and volunteering. They do adoption events and can always use
help with many different areas of the rescue work. And even if you can't
help by volunteering, please visit their website www.crittercorral.org.
They have many different ways that you can help the rescue, even if you
can't volunteer. Enough of my plug for them...
            Well, just wanted to share our adventure. Sorry for the long
post. And, we'll hopefully have a website up soon to post our trip
pictures if anyone would be interested. We'll let you know when we get
it up. 
 
Greetings from Alaska!!
 
Renee and Paul, Mary and Molly and Patches (the piggies), Kate and Dora
(the ratties), Flash and Sheba (the dogs), and Mike and Sam (the
kitties)... Whew!! What a mouthful...I think I'll just sign Renee and
the boys and girls or Renee and family from now on. :-)