Me and My Pig(s): Two adopted piggies and two new owners

[jessnjen]

Hi Everybody!

We've just adopted Duchess and Skittles from a guinea pig/rabbit rescue in Audenshaw. Tameside Rabbit and Guinea Pig Rescue. Now we, my partner and I, thought that getting them from a rescue would be a great idea. Well we did adopt them in the end but there's the deal. This wasn't an ordinary rescue, it was pretty much the back garden of this lady's house lined in 1.5ft x 2ft hutches. The one we got our piggies from housed four pigs, the full grown Duchess and our little ginger one, Skittles. They seem very happy to be able to run around the room. We decided to give them free range of the room while we're in here. We are in the process of building a c&c cage, cubes are extremely hard to find in the UK so we have Correx( which we got for £12) but I am going home for a weekend in October (home being the US) and picking up some grids while I'm there. In the mean time they are loving it here. Skittles was orphaned along with most of her siblings so she follows Duchess around everywhere she goes. It's quite comical, one Giant fat white cavy being followed by a ginger fur ball. Apparently Skittles is the kind of cavy that has the medium hair, she's already covered in little cowlicks. One thing about our little one we were wondering is that she still has a belly button, so we don't really know how young she is, we haven't seen her eat either. Any input on this? There's pictures of our two new girls, it's a shame we couldn't take all her sisters, we would have liked to but there's just not enough space here for all four piggies.

[jenniwat001]

That's where my piggies are from!

Hello and welcome. They are so cute!

They have cubes at stochport b&q. no other b&q in manchester though!

Oh and just to add, I did research on her before we got ours and she is proper rescue/ shelter. She gets the pigs from the RSPCA and nurses them back to health. The cages are small but mainly due to the number of irresponsible pig owners who buy fom pet shops and then their kids get bored! She never turns down a pig and tries her best-she moved back in with her parents to afford to do it!

[jessnjen]

Oh okay then, it just seemed dodgy to us, she was dead nice and everything, plus we got linked to her from the rspca. Our little ginger one was pretty much playing follow the leader with duchess today and running and jumping, it warmed my heart. They've been slow to eat and stop if you move at all but have really chowed down when no one is around.
But let me ask this, Duchess is being a huge bully and not letting Skittles in the igloo, she was rumbling last night, not sure if it was at Skittles or what but skittles is definitely not allowed in the igloo. How do I correct this or should i just get another igloo? I'm afraid if I do get another one Duchess will just over take it too.
oh well, they get along outside of the cage, just inside Duchess is boss.

I think I'll stick with when I go home. I was thinking about picking up some extra ones and reselling them, as we went to about 8 different stores trying to find some, people look at you like you're crazy!

[akstrohm]

She's definitely very young. She is most likely eating when you aren't around and she feels safer.

In my opinion, never turning a pig down is not a good position to take. This can get out of control quickly, and then the animals suffer. It's better to know your limits and provide proper care for the pigs you do take in.

Good luck with your new pigs, jessnjen!

[angiekay]

Awwww, they are so cute, congratulations, and have fun, piggies are soooo addicitive! I love mine to pieces!!!

[rabbitsncavyluv]

Do you happen to have a kitchen scale to weigh the little one?

Can you take her out and offer her alfalfa hay and/or alfalfa pellets? Or put it somewhere the other pig can't eat it too?

[MissFormosa]

Welcome!

When I got Byron, he had a belly button scab too. I didn't have trouble with him eating, though, except at first he wasn't sure about veggies. He ate them after a few days watching my older pig eat them.

Now that I look back, he did seem more scared than the other pigs I have adopted, so I think he was just a few weeks old and hadn't had the chance to have a lot of human contact yet. I am anxious to hear some of the other answers on this topic.

[1frankie7]

Your pigs are Adorable!

[jenniwat001]

Originally Posted by akstrohm

In my opinion, never turning a pig down is not a good position to take. This can get out of control quickly, and then the animals suffer. It's better to know your limits and provide proper care for the pigs you do take in.

I agree, and have questioned this with the RSPCA but they told me that there are so few rescues that will take pigs that the alternative is putting them down- they have taken her some from surrey (other end of the country) and last year had 23 pregnant females from a breeder who "just gave up". Its a disgusting state of affairs really, and people still buy! From what I gather though she is good at rehoming them once they are healthy and always tries to rehome in pairs unless you have one already, and she splits up bunnies and piggies that are brought in. She also has two lethals that she cares for. I am saying this because I too was concerned when I first went but on subsequent visits and after chatting with the RSPCA I quickly learned that she was one of two RSPCA approved shelter in the greater Manchester area- another shelter (not RSPCA) has "bashed pigs over the head that they can't rehome"!