[Gpdd] MISCELLANEOUS: SCAMPS

[DebJonSara at aol.com]

Grace
 
Sorry to bewilder you! SCAMPS is the Senior Citizen Ageing Miracle Pig  
Society, and embraces all guinea pigs who reach the Grand Old Age of 5 years and  
above. I just thought it would be a good idea to keep track of how many of our  
piggies made it to over 5 years, and exchange hints about care of Senior 
Citizen  piggies. I have asked all slaves of pigs aged over 5 years to give me 
their  details, and so far there are 15 SCAMPS that I know of :
 
Dee's Pumpkin - at least 6 years old
Joan's Lady Bug - 5 1/2 years old
Heather's Seussy - 6 1/4 years old
Milton's Noodle - 5 years old
Penny's Satin - 5 years old
Penny's Pansy - 5 years old
Glynis's Duke - 6 years old
Joanne's Tootsie/Footsie - 7 years old
Antoinette's Freckles - 7 years old
Antoinette's Speckles - 7 years old
 
Plus my own five, Scarecrow, Soulage, Sable, Fidget and Cherry, who have  all 
just turned 5 - they, or their heavily pregnant mums, were all rescued from  
a very unscrupulous breeder in January 2003.
 
A lot of other gpdd slaves have posted to tell us of many other piggies who  
have survived well over 5 years of age, which is extremely encouraging, as I 
did  once hear that the CCT in the UK found from a survey that the average age 
of  departure for The Rainbow Bridge was just 4 years. I used to really dread 
mine  being 4 for that reason, but now I am hopeful that at least some may 
make it to  7 like Tootsie, Freckles and Speckles, and many departed 
Piggyfriends. 
 
I think we have all reached the conclusion that genetics is probably a  major 
influence over life expectancy, though of course even a piggie  genetically 
pre-disposed to reach a ripe old age will not do so if it does not  receive 
proper care. I used to think mine were probably destined to die young  because 
they came from such appalling conditions, with much inbreeding,  overcrowding, 
poor diet etc., and it is true some did become ill and die. But  now I am 
thinking that maybe, BECAUSE the conditions they came from were so  appalling, the 
ones I rescued were largely the toughest, most genetically  pre-disposed to 
fight off illness and infection - a kind of direct result of  "survival of the 
fittest". I suspect that many of that awful woman's piggies  died young as a 
result of their poor care, so those who survived long enough to  breed had the 
strongest constitutions, which they then passed on to their  offspring. This 
could explain how come so many of Penny's rescues also survive  into old age. It 
is an excellent argument for adopting rescue piggies, don't you  think? Sadly 
though, you can never be sure of the actual age of a rescue piggie  if it is 
rescued as a fully grown adult.
 
Birdie, is it you that has the gpdd roll call? Forgive me if it isn't - I  am 
over 50 myself, and prone to frequent "senior moments"! I just wondered how  
many piggies we have between us altogether - it would be interesting to know  
what proportion of our piggies are aged over 5.
 
Wheeks to all piggies everywhere
 
Debbie (and the Dozen ageing Dolly Mixtures)