Rescued a Piggie

[tmarisco]

Hi guys! I am so happy to have found this site. I've got a new piggie named Maeby (after a character on my favorite tv show, "Arrested Development"). I've never owned one before--this is my first try.

I was surfing on craigslist and I saw her advertisement. Their picture of her showed her in a wire-floored cage (that had never been cleaned) with only a pigloo, food bowl, and water bottle. The family I got her from had bought her from a pet store (boo...hiss) and had lost interest in her.

She had been sleeping on a wire floor for almost a year! Also, she had been fed the pet store pellet-seed food and no hay. I went to get her and took her straight to the vet. She was underweight, dehydrated, and had mites.

She's since been put on a better diet (of timothy hay and timothy hay based pellets fortified with Vitamin C) and is up to a healthy weight. We give her plenty of floor time and she's slowly becoming better socialized. She hates being picked up/held, but once she's done with her floor-time popcorning she will let us pet her (but only on her sides, and not for long).

Currently, I have three major concerns for her:

#1: Her Cage
My cage isn't big enough. It's a cage I got from the local guinea pig rescue, but I really think she needs more room. I'm so excited about these C&C cages that I'm getting the supplies tomorrow. Also, I love the idea of the fleece linings. Once I'm done with the bedding I have, I'm getting it.

#2: Fruits and Veggies
I'm worried she just doesn't know how to be a guinea pig. She was probably bred in a mill and shipped to a pet store. I've tried EVERY way to get some fresh fruits and vegetables in her, but she just doesn't know what to do with them. I put it in her hay, near her food bowl, in her food bowl, randomly scattered on the floor of her cage. I've tried all sorts of greenery (cilantro, parsley, lettuces, cabbages), apples, bell peppers, you name it.
Whole, chopped up, in slices. The only thing she'll even nibble on is carrots. I give her carrots pretty often and she seems to really like them. It's my only victory. Does anyone have any suggestions? Oh! She loves getting fresh, cold water. It's how I reward her after clipping her nails. I think it's because her former owners only changed her water once it was empty. I change hers at least twice a day, and she does laps in the cage when I do.

#3: A Guinea Pig Friend
My next move is to consider a second pig. I've been scanning the Denver area shelters (private and public), rescues, and craigslist for about 2 weeks for a female pig, but there seems to be a piggie dry spell lately. The other problem is that I want to see if they get along before I commit to a second one, so I need a bit of flexibility from the other party. I don't know if Maeby even remembers what other guinea pigs look like. Ideally I would want a guinea pig that would help Maeby get some confidence (and get her to eat her veggies!). If anyone in the Denver area has an inside scoop, I'd love to hear from you!

In any case, I'm glad to take any suggestions/criticisms/advice.

Love from me and Maeby!

[Fluffy_Guinea]

Welcome to the forum and kudos to you for rescuing that poor girl!

It's also great that your getting her into a CC cage I know she'll love it after being stuck in such a horrible cage. As for the fruits and veggies just keep offering them she'll eventually start to nibble on them. Have you tried petfinder there's a link to it below. Oh make sure to take note of the sticky threads on the top of each subforum they are full of info. I'm also going to give you a few links that might help you out you might have seen them but just to be safe I'll give them anyway. First is a link to a page on links then a link to Kleenmama's hayloft the hay there is absulutely great from what I've heard (I don't have piggies yet but I'm getting some soon). I also heard it is cheaper then Oxbrow (another online hay site). Oh and last is the link to petfinder I hope you can find a friend for Maeby. Anyway I hope you are enjoying the forum as much as I am and if you have any questions I'll be happy to answer them.

PS. Maeby is adorable!

http://www.guineapigcages.com/forum/...ost-first.html

Kleenmama's Hayloft

Petfinder.com: Adopt a pet and help an animal shelter rescue a puppy or kitten.

[Fluffy_Guinea]

Oh yeah I forgot to add that you should make sure that you quarantine your new pig when you get him/her here's a great page that covers that as well as a lot of other great info.

http://www.cavyspirit.com/sociallife.htm

[tmarisco]

As of now, on PetFinder, the closest person to me (I'm in Denver, they're in Colorado Springs) with piggies appears to be a breeder. It's someone from the same location who has listed several baby pigs. I'm not so keen on getting pigs from a breeder, but I will keep the lookout at local shelters (they all have my name and number!). About quarantine: I would like to gradually introduce them to one another, but would putting them in different cages that are right next to one another be too much risk? I have read that having them near to each other but not in the same cage has helped...but what about during the quarantine period?

Anyway. Love from me and Maeby.

[chocolatefr0gs]

She's so cute, congrats! I did a search on petfinder for Denver and I see the babies you're talking about, but I'm pretty sure it's not a breeder. First petfinder doesn't list for breeders as far as I know, only shelters and rescues, and second they're listed as being in Dreampower Animal Rescue. I know it might seem a little suspicious because they only have babies listed, but if you click on the link for their website you'll see that they have all sorts of animals up for adoption, including adults. So I think they'd be a safe bet. Good luck!

[Fluffy_Guinea]

I just found another place you could get them from! It's a great site and I found a link to it in the adoptables section. Oh and to quarantine the two pigs need to be in seprate rooms.

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