[Gpdd] [CARE] how to play with gps

[Penny Charlesworth]

Hello Elise and welcome to the wonderful world of guinea pigs. Do ask us any 
questions that you may have regarding your piggies. Someone is sure to be 
able to help.

I have a little piggy sanctuary for unwanted piggies and some of mine arrive 
in a very poor state, never having been loved and can be terrified of 
everything, including being picked up. Poorly ones often need daily checking 
and medicating so it is a case of catching them for their own good but, as 
your two are in good health, you can take it very slowly.

Do they have cavy cosies or a little bed like the one in Jaime's pigtures of 
her Mimi? They may feel safe in their cosy so this is an opportunity to pick 
one up at a time inside his cosy taking care that he does not jump out. With 
the cosy on your lap, he might be encouraged to venture out and realise that 
he is safe with you. You can feed him some favourite veg when he is on your 
lap and he will come to associate you with a treat.

Piggies learn from their mothers and cage mates and new ones arriving here 
at Piggyfriends do not generally take long to discover that the scary lady 
who cleans the pens also brings food and that it is not necessary to run 
away from her. They see their new friends rushing to the front of the pen to 
take yummy slices and quickly join in so catching them becomes easy.

They will need their nails trimmed even if they do spend a lot of time out 
of the cage. Practice makes perfect so clipping a little each time you pick 
them up will make you ( and them ) more confident.

My herd have plastic and cardboard tubes to run through and this can be a 
way of catching a piggy without too much stress as you can pick up the pipe 
when he is inside, keeping your hands over the ends. He can be encouraged to 
walk out of the pipe onto your lap or, at least, peek out of the end to see 
the food that you have in your hand.

Many of my piggies love to tear up a cardboard box. I have cardboard wine 
boxes ( the kind that hold 6 bottles ) full of hay for them to hide and 
sleep in and lots of piggies enjoy tearing windows in the boxes. Some 
piggies like to jump up onto the boxes and run along a row of them. These 
are easily replaced when the piggies have destroyed them or they become wet.

I line my pens with newspaper. In England all newspaper is printed with non 
toxic ink and will do no harm to a piggy that enjoys shredding it.

Some piggies enjoy chewing on wood. I save apple branches when I prune them 
and they are available to any pig that wants one. Some like them others give 
them a derisory look and ignore them. All piggies have differing 
personalities.

Our very own Professor Igor, a piggy in the Netherlands, has his own 
website. As he is probably very busy, I am sure that he will not mind if I 
give you the link to his page on PLAY, which might give you some ideas.

http://www.guinygirlz.nl/WinkyGang/Igor%27s%20PLAY/PlayPage.HTML

Piggies derive the most pleasure in their lives fom eating. Don't worry if 
your piggies do not appear to play. Eating and sleeping are the major 
activities in their lives.

Penny and the Piggyfriends.