[Gpdd] [MISC] Secret Santa Thank You! Also, a story about a couple of other piglets.

Janna Willard janna.willard at gmail.com
Thu Jan 6 12:46:19 EST 2011


Guido and I wanted to take a moment to thank Jocelyn, Edgeworth, Benito, and
Flash Bang Fatbottom for our treats! I have been away for the past three
weeks, and the package arrived while I was away, and my husband didn't open
it, and of course the girl who was looking after the animals for the week
that he was also away wouldn't dream of it. I arrived home this morning, and
what a lovely surprise! I love the calendar, and the delicious treats have
already disappeared! Guido has actually been eating his box of hay, which is
surprising to me as I wasn't sure if he would like it - you guys win for
knowing what picky little men will like! :) Guido wants to try the other
treats, too, of course (what a greedy boy he is!), but I have informed him
that he has an open package of yogurt drops already, so he has to wait until
he finishes those. ;)

So I spent the last three weeks at my parents' house; the middle week was
full of people (my husband, my single brother, and my brother who is married
and has two children all joined us for Christmas itself and the week leading
up to New Year's), but for the most part it was just me, Mom, Dad, their
18mo poodle-border collie-spaniel (who looks like a poodle except for his
spaniel tail, and definitely has a border collie personality), and my 18yo
cat (who I have never been able to have live with me, because I was in
school and then living all in places that didn't allow cats; now I could,
but he is very old and diabetic and has cataracts and has had most of his
teeth pulled and seems to have dementia and I am concerned that my 3yo cat
would beat him up).

Mom teaches piano, and lessons started up again this week. She had talked to
me about one of the families back when I first arrived (actually, she talks
to me about the families all the time; I know a lot about the kids she
teaches). There are two girls, and they have two guinea pigs. Apparently the
mom was talking to my mother about the guinea pigs at the girls' final
lesson before Christmas (everyone knows that I love guinea pigs; my mother
talks about her children a lot), and she said that they really needed their
nails trimmed but she was scared to do it. Of course, Mom knows that I am
rather experienced in the act of trimming piggy nails, so she volunteered me
to go over to their house and do it. (I'm used to being volun-told for all
kinds of things by my parents; everything from babysitting to helping out in
various capacities at church.)

The girls had their first lesson of 2011 on Tuesday, which was just in time
since I was leaving at Evil O'Clock this morning! :D After their lesson was
over, I went home with them and had a look at the boys. They are both HUGE,
easily twice as big as Guido, and of course very cute 2yo males. :)

Sammy is mostly black, with some white spots, which means that he has a lot
of dark nails - this is why the girls' mother was afraid to trim them for
him. I held him and talked to him and trimmed his nails back to where they
ought to be - the front ones especially were quite bad and curling under so
that I'm sure it hurt to walk, as I think a couple probably poked into his
feet. :( Sammy made some "I'm in pain!" noises when I was holding him with
my hand across his belly, but there are no visible sores. I suspect
something internal, and said that he should probably see a vet. I checked
his front teeth (all there) and his butt (no impaction). I had to press to
get his penis to extend, which was odd as I've never had a male whose penis
wasn't visible as soon as you flipped him over - I took the time to extend
it because I was worried for a moment that they'd accidentally wound up with
a male and a female or something!

Joey is a long-haired Abyssinnian, with cream-coloured, dark brown, and
beige patches. He also has a few darker nails, but most concerning is that
all of his front toenails are growing in spirals. I cut off some long
corkscrews there. He displayed his indignation by pooping on me while I had
him flipped on his back. He also has all of his front teeth, and there is
definitely no impaction! ;) I didn't have to press to view his penis, and he
didn't make the "I'm in pain!" noises, so he is probably fine. He did have a
spur on the outside of one of his front feet; I trimmed it back and
explained why that's important to do regularly and talked a bit about the
many different theories about why they grow.

I talked to the piglets throughout the operation, of course. I think it
helps keep the animals calm while they're undergoing such a stressful event,
but I also think it helps to keep the humans calm. Neither of them bled at
all, because I paid attention to their jerks that showed when I was pinching
a bit close to the quick of the nail.

Other things I was sure to mention while I was there: the importance of
regular vet visits to ensure that their back teeth aren't growing too long;
the possibility of feeding too many carrots, as they are high in sugar and
guinea pigs can become diabetic; the importance of making sure they are
eating timothy hay pellets; and the necessity of getting them a larger cage
(I actually recommended they have a look at cavycages.com for ideas and
dimensions; both parents seem handy with tools, so I'm sure both Sammy and
Joey will end up with a lovely good-sized cage that will stand up to years
of use), as they are currently living together in a cage that is smaller
than the one Guido is living in by himself (which is almost but not quite
large enough for one). I talked up the larger cage by pointing out that more
room will give them more exercise, they won't fight as much (they aren't
drawing blood, but they have been scrapping lately; I said it probably
wasn't serious and that they're probably just re-establishing the pecking
order), it will help keep them impaction-free, and there will be room for
both of them to have their own igloos.

If nothing else, their toenails are going to be trimmed once a week from now
on. I expect they'll get a C&C cage (or at least one that's the right size)
sometime soon, too. The girls' mother was pretty enthusiastic about it;
there's space for it right where their cage currently is, and since they
don't have any other pets they can make it open-topped, which will make it
easier to catch them. (These were the bonuses she came up with herself.)

So, good deed done, and I am glad to be home and Guido loves his presents!
:)

-Janna, Guido, and Roy (the cat, who missed her mommy so much that she
decided to hide the guinea pig Beanie Babies from the shelf in the bedroom)

"Nobody realizes that some people expend tremendous energy merely to be
normal." Albert Camus
"I want to remake the world; anything less is not worth the trouble." Karen
Cushman



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