© K Gardner - tillysburrows 2009 all rights reserved
Guinea Pig Stories
George
©KayGardner2009. My young sister with George
Read the Story of George and Lucky.
Baby and Smokey
Baby and Smokey were misfits.
Baby as her name suggests was a tiny little Guinea Pig when we obtained her. She was in a situation where she should never have been in the pet shop at her age, but we got her because we felt sorry for her. She was the size of a hamster. She was a Self, short, smooth haired, dark golden Cavie, and in a cage with Guinea Pigs much bigger than herself. It was a good job we rescued her else she would of died from dehydration and starvation as the larger Guinea Pigs were eating all the food and she was hiding in a corner of the cage in the shop.
When we started to handle her after her settling in period, we found that she couldn't walk, but hopped like a Kangaroo. she was obviously very young and should have been with her mum. We kept her in the house as she needed a lot of warmth for her size,and we fed her well. Luckily she could feed herself and drank water instead of looking for mums milk. We had to teach her how to use the water bottle, but she could feed herself. Slowly she started growing. Our work was paying off and she looked well.
A few months after we had rescued Baby, my sister bought a Guinea Pig from a run down shop in town. A Self short, smooth haired chocolate cavie, who she called Smokey.
She has lost some of her fur on her rump looked shabby, and needed to see the vet. She had mange and needed treatment. Unfortunately Baby had contracted the illness too, as they ended up living together, and both went to vets for injections. Unfortunately again, the illness got worse for Smokey and the scabbing got worse, causing her fits, which was very scary to watch. She ended up having strong dips to combat the disease and eventually got better. The illness for some reason kept reoccurring in Smokey, it was always worse for the one Guinea Pig. The housing was always clean and we even changed the hay we used. The downside to having so many treatments was that it bleached the fir as the disease was treated more and more.Their coats never looked as bright. We conditioned them with a mild conditioner to improve them but they never got their colour back to the original sheen.
However the good news is they both were happy and were house Guinea Pigs, so were pampered alot. Baby grew to the size of a brick and Smokey followed.
Their housing was Banana boxes with tunnels in so they had one huge run along the side of the lounge, and the flooring was newspapered with dust free shavings and hay which was changed everyday. The boxes were very obtainable as i was still at secondary school and working for a fruit and veg shop.
They would also get a daily run in the lounge and garden and comically got dad annoyed as they learnt that newspaper was their toilet so the days newspaper was regularly messed on before he could get to read it.(well it shouldn't of been left on the floor should it).
They learnt to come when called and they new that the fridge meant food. When ever they heard a plastic bag rattle they would come running and squealing.
They had a great life. Baby outlived Smokey to the age of 6.5 years and died of old age.
© Baby and Smokey KGardner2009
©Fozzy KGardner2009
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