[Gpdd] ANNOUNCE: Welcome Luke

[Dukejan1 at aol.com]

All,
My husband and I first saw a male guinea pig at a local pet store about 6  
months ago.  He was a cutie and we mused about having him.  However,  we had two 
sows that were having health problems and getting near the magical 5  year 
mark.  Additionally, we wanted our next pig to come from a rescue  organization. 
  About 3 months ago, the pig was still not purchased  but had been caged 
with another male near a sow.  Needless to say, the  little pig took a real 
beating from the other boar, lots of bite marks, a ripped  up ear, etc.  The pet 
store sent him off to be healed and he re-appeared as  a back room piggie.   His 
ear will never recover but the scabs have  all healed.  Well, to make a long 
story short, I came home from work today  and my hubby had brought little Luke 
home.  He is currently being  housed in an adjoining bedroom on the third 
floor, as we don't want to  stress Lily (now 5 1/2 year old) and Isabel (who has 
ovarian cysts --that, by  the way, are responding well to her Lupron 
injections).  Isabel will be 5  years old in about 6 weeks.  The girls are living in 
their normal room--the  "nursery" as we call it, on the first floor.
 
Eventually, we plan on having Luke neutered and introducing him to the  girls 
slowly.  We pretty much had decided not to get him, but when we read  about 
Penny bringing home Casanova--who had also been picked on by others-- we  
figured that any home we could give him would be better than what he currently  
had.  While technically not a "rescue" pig, we think we rescued him since  it is 
unlikely that Luke--8 months old with a chewed up ear--would be the first  pig 
brought home from the pet store.  
 
Question:  Should we try to introduce a neutered adolescent male to  the 5 
year old sows????  Or would we be better off continuing to house him  separated 
from the girls?????  I just don't want to stress Lily or Isabel  
needlessly..... on the other hand, they could think that Luke is great!
 
Meanwhile, Luke is purring and snugggling with my husband and  me.   He 
obviously has had more love in one day than he had in the  past 8 months.
 
Janet, slave to Isabel, Lily, and Luke



**************Gas prices getting you down? Search AOL Autos for 
fuel-efficient used cars.      (http://autos.aol.com/used?ncid=aolaut00050000000007)