[Gpdd] Thank you for travel info, condolences on guinea pig losses, interspecies friendships

[Ruth Q. Leibowitz]

Dear fellow companions and friends of guinea pigs:

I wanted to thank all of you who offered advice re travel with guinea pigs.
I now feel much more confident about being able to make travel arrangements
that will provide minimal stress for them.  

Also, my condolences re the loss of furry friends.  Unfortunately, even in
the best of circumstances piggies do not have very long life-spans.  The
fact that Chestnut waited for you to come back and hold her before she died
is, I think, her tribute to you and her message of how connected she felt to
you.

Re guinea pigs that languish in pet stores -- one of my pigs, Babu Franklin,
was such a creature.  He didn't sell for a very long time, so they put him
on sale.  I wasn't even thinking I wanted a pig.  But every time I returned
to the pet store to buy food for my other creature friends (cats, turtle,
fish) there he still was, alone and un-bought.  Finally, I told them that I
was going on vacation for two weeks but was committed to taking him home if
he was still there when I got back.  Two weeks later he was still there.  So
now he is my beloved little pig.  Because he was already an adult and had
not been loved and socialized, it was difficult for him to trust me at
first, and it took a long time for us to become friends.  I finally realized
he would never completely bond to me, and because I was away so often I
brought him home a little female friend.  They fell in love at first sight,
and I think they have a nice life together.  I've had to accept that their
first and strongest bond is to one another, and that's how it should be.
I've read a bit about guinea pigs in the wild, and that they are herd
animals.  So, once I settle down in a new place, I think I will expand their
living arrangements and adopt some more.  Funny how I was never even
expecting to adopt one pig, and now here I am with two, and a small colony
in my future.

By the way, from the very first Babu immediately developed a liking for my
big, orange cat Alex, showing curiosity rather than fear -- e.g. approaching
Alex to sniff and nuzzle.  Alex is a 14-pounder with a very sweet
disposition -- he tends to make friends with other cats and also any dog who
is respectful towards him.  I walk with Alex on a leash, and he will
actually approach dogs and, if the dog is friendly, sniff and nuzzle with
them. Alex responded in a very friendly manner to Babu's curiosity, sniffing
back, making gentle attempts to play that Babu actually responded to!  For
instance, Babu would hang out on one side of the door hinge sticking his
nose out towards Alex, while Alex gently inserted his paw to touch Babu's
head.  It wasn't at all the prey-predator relationship that I had expected.
In general, when I put the piggies on my bed for their exercise while
cleaning their cage, Alex likes to hop up on the bed just to be near them,
and they are very comfortable with him.  My other (female) cat doesn't show
predator behavior either -- she is just not interested. The most
"aggressive" act Alex has ever shown against the pigs is that at times when
they have bothered him too much (e.g. repeated nuzzling or even trying to
nibble his tail) he has gently swatted with a paw to let them know they are
getting on his nerves. I don't leave them alone for more than a minute, not
because I fear that Alex would be intentionally mean, but because he is SO
much larger that he could inadvertently hurt them in play. I wonder if the
cats simply accept that the pigs are part of our family?  I wonder how usual
or unusual this is?  

RQL