Adoption in Canada

[Ithilgil]

I know that most people using this forum knows about Craig's List, but there's another website where people post ads for cavies adoptions. Unlike Craig's List, though, Kijiji (www.kijiji.ca) seems to be for Canada only, so that's why I'm posting it here.

There are a lot of animal ads, guinea pigs included, on that website. Please help them find a new home.

[ellisa]

I found my neutered boar on Kijiji. I got my sow from a site that has ads and a discussion board for the city I live in.
There are many pigs for sale on Kijiji, but I don't think you can flag breeders like you can on CL.

[Ithilgil]

You can't, but they usually tell you if they're breeders or not. The ad posters have to say who is offering the animal - owner or register breeder. Of course, not everyone would tell the truth, but it's better than nothing.

I also found my cavies from Kijiji.

[ellisa]

Yeah.
I know my boy that I got off of Kijiji wasn't from a breeder. He had been rehomed a few times before me. When I got him he had lice, a wound on his back, his nails had never been clipped, and he has an ongoing eye issue. He's the sweetest pig I have had and it breaks my heart to think of what would have happened to him if I didn't rescue him.

[Ithilgil]

Poor boy. He's really lucky to have you stumble across his ad. How could his owner wait until he's in that condition before posting an ad? The owner should've posted it a long time ago.

My girls are luckier than your boy, but their condition wasn't that good either. They didn't have any water bottle so they had to drink out from a bowl, but their urine-saturated bedding kept going into their bowl.

They didn't have any hay either. When I asked their owner if they would come with hay, they just replied with something along the lines of "Hay hurts their feet, so they used Carefresh as bedding instead". I wasn't even asking about hay as bedding. I was asking about hay as food.

Their cage was really small too, only about the size of 1 x 1.5 grids. Their hideaway took up half that space. I made them a 2x4 C&C cage two days after I got them though. I think they're much happier about that.

I think their previous owner got them from a pet store since they kept referencing to someone from the pet store when I asked them questions (The pet store said that guinea pigs...)but I could be wrong because I didn't actually ask about where they came from.

I think I'm rather lucky that my girls don't seem to be having the same problems I've read in the forums regarding pet store cavies. I've seen pet store cavies before though. The poor dears were so large (about 3x bigger than my 3-month-olds) and dirty, and they were kept in a small aquarium.

I read that your sow is an Abby from your profile. Mines are Abbies too. They're really cute aren't they?

[ellisa]

Aww, poor things. They must be so happy to have a second chance and a happy life with you!

Abys are so cute but usually pretty naughty! At least my Penny is a naughty little thing!

[Ithilgil]

I'm not really sure what you mean by "naughty", but mines aren't that naughty. They don't try to escape from their cage, though it's most probably because their view of the "outside" world has been partially blocked by the vinyl table cloth lining 1/4 of the grids for some and 2/3 for other grids.

The only real naughty thing they do is bite me, thinking that my hand is food or has food, or Robin bullying poor Rhode once in a while.

They wouldn't let me pick them up from their cage though. They wouldn't even let me pet them in their cage, but they arre fine with me petting them during laptime. Weird, huh?

I have to trick to get on their cozy before I could place them on my lap. But they're getting smarter. It takes a lot longer before they fall for the "I have a carrot, so get into the cozy" trick. Basically, it's their desire for carrots vs. their confidence in getting out of the cozy in time vs. their awareness of their surroundings as they try to get the carrot I'm dangling in front of them.

Is your Penny like that?

[ellisa]

My pigs have gotten to the point where they will hop right into their special cozy when I place it in their cage so I can pick them up. Penny freaks when I just try to pick her up when she's in the cage.

By naughty I mean sneaky-smart, and full of "aby-tude". If Penny is having free range and she sees something she wants (but isn't allowed to have) she won't give up. She is a very dramatic, hyper, happy little pig!
Penny is acutally a very good girl, she doesn't bite or anything. She loves scritches, when I rub her face and back she immediately lies down and closes her eyes.

[Ithilgil]

How did you get them to do that? They try to stay away from the cozy when I go near the cage. Even when I dangle the carrot in front of them pver their cozy, most of the time day only place their forelegs into the cozy, stretching their necks to try to get the carrot. They don't dare to actually climb into the cozy because they know I'll pick them up. As I've said, Rhode and Robin had gotten really smart.

Lucky. Mines bite. That's why I can't use the "place my hand on the fleece and wait until they climb over it, hoping they'll get used to having my hand underneath them" strategy to pick them up. Actually, I tried to do it a few hours ago, and Rhode bit me hard enough to bleed. (She thought I was food or I have food.) So, I'm not trying that any time soon. But I might try to again later.

They seem to be fine with laptime brushing and petting though.

Robin purred today when I was brushing her. And Rhode chirped as I petting her and hummed. She seems to like the humming and petting/brushing combination, because she stopped chirping when I stopped humming to try to hear her chirp. I tried to video tape that with my camera phone but she stopped chirping as soon as I lifted up my phone. I think she was wary of the phone.

Oh well, better luck next time.

And laptime seems to be one of the only times I can actually pick them up.

[ellisa]

Your girls sound adorable!

I'm not really sure how my pigs learned to hop right into the cozy. I think it's because Penny knows she will get her veggies after she hops into the cup. Sheldon will hop in just to follow Penny. He adores her and goes wherever she goes!
I guess it can just take time for them to develop a routine.

[Ithilgil]

My girls know that they'll get the carrot if that hop in, but they also know that they'd be picked up. And that's their concern. They don't want to be picked up.

[BedfordCavies]

Hi,
I got my girls off of Kijiji as well. The previous owner bought 2 "girls" from a pet shop, only to discover that she really had a breeding pair. So I adopted the mama pig and her daughter and the owner kept the daddy and a son. We've had Bella and Mya for 3 weeks now and they are both a mix of of aby/short hair/long hair. Bella has a wild lock of hair between her eyes that reminds me of Elvis. If she had been a boy, her name would have been Spike.

[Ithilgil]

Is Bella the one in your avatar?

[BedfordCavies]

Is Bella the one in your avatar?

Yes, she is.

[Ithilgil]

My girls, as mentioned earlier, are both Abbys. They both have a stiff lock of hair on their forehead. Bella most likely got that wild lock of hair from her Abby genes.

[BedfordCavies]

I love twirling it during lap time. She's so pretty.

[Ithilgil]

I agree with the pretty part. Her fur pattern is really nice. Mines are roan, so they have white fur mingling with their brown and black fur, more in some areas than others. In terms of colouring, it's rather messy. But I think they're beautiful all the same.

[BedfordCavies]

I peeked at your piggy pictures. Your girls are very sweet, I love their faces. Mya (baby pig) has similar markings on her butt but I didn't know the term "roan", thanks for the info.
Mine aren't crazy about being picked up, but I never knew that some pigs do like it. I had 2 pigs when I was a young girl, and even though we had them for 8 and 9 years, Citrus and Squeaky never liked the picking up part.

[Piggypogs]

I got my girls from the SPCA they go fast there but the adoption process is long you can also go on petfinder thats where i found mine they have lots of bonded pairs there

[Ithilgil]

I peeked at your piggy pictures. Your girls are very sweet, I love their faces.

Thank you

Mya (baby pig) has similar markings on her butt but I didn't know the term "roan", thanks for the info.

You're welcome.

Mine aren't crazy about being picked up, but I never knew that some pigs do like it. I had 2 pigs when I was a young girl, and even though we had them for 8 and 9 years, Citrus and Squeaky never liked the picking up part.

My girls really dislike being picked up. In fact, I've never been able to pick them up from their cage with my bare hands. I had to either resort to herding or tempting them with a veggie toards their cozy and picking them up that way. But it's getting harder and harder to do so, because they're really smart girls.