[Gpdd] ANNOUNCEMENT: Portia Arrives !

[pat schuett]

Hi everyone ---

Well, Portia came home with me on Thursday.  She was in a tiny little cage at the shelter (just big enough for a pigloo, the corner litterbox and her food and water dishes) which had apparently been surrendered with her; I declined their offer of the cage, but did take the pigloo so she would have something familiar to make her feel safe in her new cage at my place.

I don't think I needed to worry, though!  She is just about the bravest piggie I've ever met ---- by the end of the day on Thursday, my crew had taught her that when you stand up, shake the bars of the cage and wheek loudly, you often get veggies and other treats, and she was using this technique with great enthusiasm (including last night at 4 a.m. --- apparently she was awake and feeling hungry for something more interesting than pellets and hay).  I've barely seen her in the pigloo since Thursday evening; she's just fascinated with the other three piggies and doesn't want to miss anything.

She is in my guinea pig room but her cage is several feet away from Doris & Audrey's cage on one side, and Olivia's on the other, and I'm also setting up a NIC cube "fence" around it when the others are out to make sure there isn't any direct contact for the moment.  The vet I usually take the piggies to is off over the weekend, but the adoption includes one free vet visit to I'll be taking her in for a check-up on Monday.  Her coat looks very healthy and she has an excellent appetite, but I want to get that professional opinion before deciding how soon to allow direct introductions.

I'm hoping to have some pictures soon, but she is quite beautiful; in her Humane Society portrait, she looked as if she had a black face and head but the rest of her body was off-white with a frosting of darker hairs over top.  Actually, most of her except her head is a lovely pale peach colour and she has one black forefoot.  Her name at the shelter was Porsche, which just didn't seem like a proper guinea pig name to me (though Porsches are small and round as cars go, and this little girl is definitely speedy), so I'm calling her Portia for the moment...we'll see if it sticks!

                                                                           Pat S. (with Doris, Audrey and Olivia who are all just as fascinated with their new sister as she is with them!)



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