Chat Guinea Pig Stories?

[GuineaPigQueen1]

So this is a little bit different post. I am wondering if anyone has stories about getting their guinea pigs. I really want to know these stories ( Don't worry about mistakes being shamed from me I made some too and now it's good, well some of my mistakes, cough cough living world xl right now cough cough, is being fixed.

 

[Guinea Pig Papa]

Well, here are mine.

Pooper was my first pig as an adult. And he wasn't even MY pig. My stepson asked if he could get a guinea pig, to which I replied no for the obvious reasons. Add to that his only spending half his time at our house, which I knew was going to end up with me taking care of a pig I didn't want.

Boy, did Pooper change all that.

I knew nothing of pigs at that point. I had one as a child, but that's all. And we didn't do enough research when we got him, not for about a year. We found out all kinds of mistakes we made, and one of the was remedied with his new brother Sly. One of his nicknames was "Christmas Pig" because he came home with us to join Pooper a week before Christmas.


Both Pooper and Sly were pet store pigs. And they were the only ones. I started to frequent this site, doing more and more research. Its why I built the C&C cage. It's why they have an area now that's about 40 square feet. It's also why they were the only two pet store pigs.

Punkin and Scooter were babies from an unwanted litter. They came home the weekend that Pooper had passed away. I didn't want Sly to be lonely, and I was hoping against hope that a boar trio would work. It didn't. But Sly still had company and that was good enough for him. They were found on Kijiji, which is sort of a Canadian classified ads. There are no rescues close enough to me and with my job being what it is, travelling to one an hour or two away was a long shot at best.

After Sly passed away in 2018, Punkin and Scooter had the cage to themselves. And they loved it, and they loved each other immensely. They both fell ill at the same time, September of 2019. Punkin fought for two months before an upper incisor infection took him from us. By December, Scooter had recovered enough that we got Leo, also just before Christmas and from Kijiji.

Leo had never known another pig and boy, did he love Scooter. Scooter fell ill again in February and after fighting for another 3 months, we lost him suddenly to something completely unrelated. And that brings us to Simon, another Kijiji rescue.

All of the last four pigs were from homes who no longer wanted them. I knew they would be wanted and loved here. And so they are.

 

[4boipigs]

It's too bad the forum deleted my old posts under ChicoAndAmigo. You would have been able to read the chronicle of Bruin and Little Bear. In October 2020 some chick had called my work wondering where to take some guinea pigs she found in a fried chicken box while jogging. It was 90 degrees outside...she had been running and heard noise coming from a box. I was off work, so my coworker texted me about it. The girl lived close to me, so I met up with her at Walmart and took the pigs from her, still in the fried chicken box. Bruin, my big brown boy, had heart failure and was pts a month later. Little Bear is still alive, of course. Little Bear took Bruin's death badly and started to have seizures (likely from stress) until I adopted a new friend, Gimbly, from the local gpig rescue at the end of December. Now everyone is happy and well cared for! That's the super short version.



As for Chico and Amigo, my first boars, I decided I wanted gpigs after starting my new job last year. I found 2 pigs at an animal shelter and decided to check it out (after buying and researching everything). They were half off so I paid $10 for both. Chico had scurvy and extremely underweight at 1.5 lbs (he weighs 2.5 now) and both pigs had overgrown nails. The shelter really angered me cuz they hadn't trimmed the boys' nails, they were housed separately, and they were willing to let me adopt one pig. AFAIK, they had been surrendered together and their visit with the shelter states they had stains all over their feet as if 'lying in excrement for an extended amount of time'. Aside from all that, they're pretty unremarkable.

 

[GuineaPigQueen1]

Those are all great and heart warming stories. I will post mine soon.

 

[Rosiethecutepig]

I feel kinda bad cuz Rosemary was from a pet store (Please do not shame me for this), but I was dumb and there are no guinea pig shelters where I live. But there is a very, very sad story behind everything (I really hope she does not remember this). So we went to the pet store to get her. There were three little piggies in one small cage (I know, I know I feel really bad I only got one but my parents didn't want two): A brown and black one, a cream colored one, and a white and brown one. We originally got the brown and black one but she had a joint problem and we had to take her back to the pet store (I still cry sometimes about this). They took her to the "emergency vet". So there were two piggies left. I liked the brown and white one but I really wanted to get two piggies, but Mom and Dad made it very clear that they wanted only one piggy. We argued in the store and of course they won the argument, so we got the brown and white one one. There is the story of my dear little girl.

 

[4boipigs]

there are no guinea pig shelters where I live.

In the future, you can try looking at local animal shelters or on petfinder for guinea pigs. For example, here is Chico and Amigo!

 

[Rosiethecutepig]

Thank you so much! I was a bit afraid that people would start being mean to me with that story, but parents are parents and nothing can really change their minds.

 

[Rosiethecutepig]

In the future, you can try looking at local animal shelters or on petfinder for guinea pigs. For example, here is Chico and Amigo!

View attachment 87701View attachment 87702

Also, the piggy on the right looks a bit like Rosemary.

 

[4boipigs]

Also, the piggy on the right looks a bit like Rosemary.

That's Amigo. I hated their shelter names. HATED IT! But I wanted to give them really cheesy, matching names - thus Chico and Amigo.

Chico looks NOTHING like that picture. You can see how filthy he is, and how long his claws are. He had so much poop stuck in his nails. I spent a lot of time getting their nails down to a good length. Chico looks so much better/different today.

When you're able to get more pigs or move out of your parents' house, shelter/rescue pigs are a great investment. My 4 (5 including Bruin who was pts) boys are all perfect examples of pet store animals being bought and discarded when the owners were sick of them. Bruin and Little Bear definitely got screwed over being abandoned in a box they would have died in from heatstroke if they hadn't been found. At least Chico and Amigo's owner had the decency to take them to the animal shelter, even tho they weren't taken care of.

I would definitely recommend saving up for a vet fund. Do it now if you can. My boys have cost me at least $2000 since I started with Chico and Amigo in July 2020. Of course I didn't expect Bruin to have severe heart failure when I found him. He alone cost me like $800 within a month.

Here's Chico's intake notes. He is an abyssinian so you couldn't tell by looking at him that he was a skeleton. I get mad when I read this or think about it.

 

[4boipigs]

I also need to talk about Gimbly. He came from Texas Rustlers gpig rescue in December, about a month after Bruin was pts. The rescue does boar dating and suggested Gimbly as a good candidate for Little Bear, so I went with him as my first bonding choice even tho he wasn't _really_ my first choice. There was many more beautiful pigs than Gimbly, but...he had the right personality. He and Little Bear got along amazingly well, and Little Bear was popcorning and loving his new brother. Gimbly is a food aggressive butthole, but he is the cutest piggy and has lots of great personality quirks he picked up while being fostered (freaking out and wheeking when plastic rustles, for example). Gimbly did wonders for Little Bear, who has since started acting like Gimbly. Before Little Bear usually didn't make much noise or come to the side of the cage, but now Little Bear has been wheeking and vocal, and will beg for food alongside Gimbly!

Here is Gimbly's story from the rescue! His bumblefoot was bad enough to deform his foot, which now reminds me of a walrus flipper because Gimbly is so fat and much bigger than Little Bear.

 

[Rosiethecutepig]

Aw these stories are heartwarming!

 

[TheGuineaPigGal]

My stories about how I got my pigs is going to take forever, but I am going to post something that happened last night in relation to my pigs. My dog, Coco is a gentle giant. He has always wanted to befriend the guinea pigs. I caught him eating pellets from the container we keep outside the cage about a wheek ago, and the next day he way eating hay! He has made numerous attempts to eat pea flakes as well. He stuck his head in the cage, and Brownie and Smore's came up and kissed his nose! Note: his paws were not in the cage, Coco knows better than to go in the pig cage. He is such a sweetheart. I fed my guinea pigs their nightly salad and to be silly, I gave some carrots to Coco. He sat next to their cage and ate them. This way cute, and funny

 

[SSLee]

@TheGuineaPigGal, that is a cute story about Coco. I'm waiting for the day when you will pose pictures/video of him wheeking or popcorning. He is an honorary member of the piggy family.

 

[TheGuineaPigGal]

@TheGuineaPigGal, that is a cute story about Coco. I'm waiting for the day when you will pose pictures/video of him wheeking or popcorning. He is an honorary member of the piggy family.

Haha! Its going to happen someday.

 

[Rosiethecutepig]

Which breed is he?

 

[TheGuineaPigGal]

Which breed is he?

Coco?

 

[Rosiethecutepig]

Coco?

Yes, sorry I need to be more specific sometimes lol.

 

[TheGuineaPigGal]

Yes, sorry I need to be more specific sometimes lol.

He is a german shorthaired lab mix.

 

[Rosiethecutepig]

So cute!!!