[Gpdd] SILLY Plush Pals

[Penny Charlesworth]

I have quite a collection of plush piggies, gathered over many years.

I won two different ones on a WWF stall at a local fair. These are made by Leosco. I have one from a company called F.A.O. Schwarz, which I believe to be American. There are two by Hansa, one from Hamley's Toy Store in London and one by Merrythought, an English company.

My son gave me a Steiff piggy some years ago and also brought back a glove puppet piggy from a business trip to the U.S. This is made by Folkmanis, like Carla's piggy and I see that they also make a finger puppet in a similar design, available from the Winking Cavy online store. I used to take mine when I had a table at the RSPCA Pet Days and was amazed at how many people were fooled by it, despite me carrying a real piggy as well as this puppet.

I have two little key ring plushes, made for the old BBC tv programme, Pet Rescue. They made lots of plushes featuring some of the pets that they rehomed.

I used to buy "Wagg" dog bix and when the company started producing nibbles for small pets too, one could choose a free plush with every purchase so I managed to acquire five piggies before the promotion ended. We never do things by halves at Piggyfriends.

I made a lot of toy piggies to sell at the Pet Days and kept two of these. I was rather proud of these as I used pink felt to the little ears and by gathering the material managed to produce a good copy of a real piggy ear, whereas many of the factory made ones have thick plush ears which don't do justice to a real, sweet little piggy ear.

I also have an assortment of piggies by unnamed makers, most of which came from visits to zoos and safari parks here in England, where there are often toys for sale in the gift shops. 

There is also my Gupi, an electronic plush piggy, a birthday present from my son. I was away on holiday when I opened it and had it running around the hotel room. It is very lifelike and must have given the maid a shock when she came in to clean the room.

I hadn't seen the Fur Real toys but have just looked them up on the Internet. Thank you Carla. One of those is now on my wish list. I had never heard of Wonder Pets either. Maybe they are in English stores!

I nearly forgot my "Sylvanian Families" set of piggies. I need one more babe to complete the set of six.

I think that I nearly have as many as our Rodentologist, who keeps hers in cavy cosies and baskets all around her house.

I used to take many of my plushes to the Pet Days, when I crammed them into a tiny hutch for a display showing "How not to house your guinea pig" alongside photos of the Piggyfriends' spacious pens.

You don't have to be mad to be a member of this group, but it helps.

Penny and the Piggyfriends.