Day 14: The Others

Today I received some updates on the other guinea pigs in our branch's care that were rescued from the Booth's Garden Centre fire (see Day 1 for details). Twice a week a member of staff pops down and health checks all our rabbits and guinea pigs (this is not including the many vet trips every week!). We don't have an animal centre and use a private boarder instead. They really are a life saver for us, they feed and clean out the animals, give medicines if needed and ring us most days with updates. They also show potential adopters around and provide a bonding service for lonely pigs and bunnies.

At the moment we have around 30 small animals in our care so our private boarder is busier than ever! They are also fostering 2 German Sheppard puppies for us - that's dedication to the cause! This is Elsa...

The other guinea pigs rescued are females Petina & Gertie. They are both heavily pregnant like our Mouse, Petina is particularly big. They are all the same age and more than likely related. Here they are (apologies, they do look rather unladylike!) ...

Gertie

 Petina

Petina has a scabby nose which we are presuming is from scrapping with the other guineas she was being kept with. Petina & Gertie have been separated (them, Mouse and Brad were all together) and everyone is looking much healthier. We hope that each will give birth to a girl (or two!) and then they can be paired up for life. Brad has been neutered and in 5 weeks will be ready to be bonded with another female. If you have a female, pair or group of ladies why not consider adopting a neutered boar? Boars often have a great influence on the ladies, making them bicker less and generally encouraging better comraderie in a group.

Males tend to get left 'on the shelf' in rescues because you can only keep 2 males together, away from females so they don't fight. Males are more prone to falling out with eachother, especially during puberty. Although, I've had some very sweet male pairings too. It works best if they are brothers, together since birth. Females on the other hand can be kept in large groups, 3s, pairs etc and are more flexible in that sense. But gosh, they really do get moody with each other, especially when they come into season!

I've also had updates on the baby bunnies from the same rescue. We originally had 4 but sadly 1 died. Look how they have grown!

                                                   From this....

                                                                          

                                                                           To this!

On that note, where are those babies Mouse?!