Piggie Post: NEW PIGGIES!

Greetings!

As promised, here's the story of our new additions...

Ok, well it started the day after Frida passed. As I mentioned in a prior post Nellie and Maggie were very mopey. The mopey-ness progressed over the next few days, and one of the only cures for the loss of a piggie friend is a new piggie friend, plus I really was not happy with the emptiness of the herd. So on Wednesday I started my search for a new pig, but it had to be the RIGHT new pig. Generally speaking it's easier to introduce babies and senior pigs to an existing group. A senior pig was unfortunately out of the question because I cannot stand the thought of losing another pig right now. I needed a baby pig. First I went to PetFinder. There were a few baby pigs in rescues about an hour away, they didn't scream out "MINE" but I kept 'em in my maybe file. I decided to check out Craigslist for teh lulz. Usually Craigslist pigs either come from a) Idiots who "don't have time" for their pigs anymore, or b) breeders. FUN FACT: If you see a Craigslist post for a baby guinea pig without the word "rehoming" or "adoption" fee, they are breeders. Do not support them. Most of the posts were idiots selling pigs, but none of them were close to me. I scrolled down a little and found a post from a month ago from my area. A rescue had acquired 3 young female pigs and they were looking to adopt them out. I figured I'd shoot the rescue an email inquiring about the pigs. Honestly I wasn't expecting much out of this inquiry, it was a month old after all. Anyways, flash forward to 15 minutes later. I get a facebook message from the rescue... because I went to high school with the person running the rescue! Small world ain't it? She told me that the piggies were still available, after I answered the basic adoption form questions she said I sounded like the perfect owner for the pigs.

Here's the thing, there was always a chance that the new pigs would not get along with Nellie and Maggie, if that was the case I offered to foster the pigs until a better home could be found. We settled on that agreement Thursday. So... when I wrote that post about wanting new pigs I actually had these pigs lined up. I would've mentioned 'em, but I didn't want to jinx anything.

I arranged to pick them up yesterday. Once I met the new pigs I knew they'd be mine. They were so friggin cute! First thing I did though was double checked that they were all girls. Seriously, whenever you obtain a guinea pig CHECK THE GENDER FIRST! Once I was certain they were all girls they were placed in a box and into my car (the box had a seatbelt around it). They were very good during the car ride and barely made a peep, granted that was probably because they were freaking terrified. By this point Nellie and Maggie were clearly sad so I wanted to get this introduction over with ASAP. They needed friends damn it! So the new pigs were placed in a giant playpen in my living room with Nellie, Maggie and a big ass bowl of salad. The biggest tip I can give anyone who is introducing pigs is feed them. The food distracts them enough and kinda works as a "peace pipe". The introduction went fairly smoothly. Two of the new pigs and Maggie quickly accepted recessive roles. However Nellie and one of the new pigs did not. New pig thought SHE was the boss and Nellie thought SHE was the boss. So they spent an hour running around the cage and biting each other's butts. I supervised with a towel to break up any bad fights, but I mostly let them work it out. Remember, as long as no blood is shed they're ok. Eventually they got tired and stopped fighting. By this point all of the other pigs were sleeping so I declared the introduction a success. I put all five pigs in their new cage expecting a new battle but I was pleasantly surprised. The new pigs were like "THERE ARE SO MANY TOYS HERE" and happily roamed around the cage. Nellie would periodically bite one in the ass, but again to be expected. Maggie clearly does not like change as she spent a few hours hiding in a corner. The cute thing was one of the new pigs loves Maggie, she would sit by her while she was cowering in fear. Again, no blood was drawn so that means that over the next few days the "Quints" will learn to be buddies. That also means that I am again the proud owner of six guinea pigs.

Wanna meet my new babies?!?!

This is Eleanor, she is a grey, cream, roan and white shorthair. Her coloring is so unique, I love it. She is the one who was fighting with Nellie. Even though she is the dominant one of the new pigs she's very timid at the moment. She SCREAMS when you touch her in the cage (she's louder than Aggie which says something) but once you remove her from the cage and put her on your lap she turns into quite the snugglebug. She kinda reminds me of Emma sometimes.

This is Prudence. She's a white, cream, black, and chocolate brown shorthair. Again, beautiful color and such a pretty face. She is, without question, the sweetest freakin' thing I've ever seen in my life. She is enthralled with Maggie and she LOVES her new humans. She loves to give nuzzles and kisses. She was actually kissing my grandma's face earlier. SO DAMN ADORABLE!

Last but not least, this is Lucy. She's a black, red and white shorthair. She has the same coloring as Frida and some of her marking are similar. I think she is a month or two younger than the other two. Here she is sleeping through the introduction. Lucy can be best described as "special", apart from sleeping through intros her hobbies include fearlessly wandering the cage, outsmarting other pigs for food, sleeping by water bottles, and apparently swimming. As if her having similar markings and colors to Frida, they also share a similar manner when dealing with humans. Lucy's idea of being affectionate is nibbling you. Not quite as painful as a bite, but not a pleasant experience. Oh well... nothin' time won't fix. In the meantime, Lucy can only be handled by people who don't mind the nibbles.

I cannot begin to describe how happy all of the humans in house are. We felt incomplete before them. Losing Mama Pig and Frida in such a short time put a massive hole in our hearts. I'm actually getting kinda emotional right now just thinking about them. Lucy, Eleanor and Prudence are not "replacement pigs". I will never be able to replace Frida, regardless of how Lucy is eerily similar to her at times. Prudence is quite the cuddler, but she's not Mama Pig. Eleanor is a cuddly lil' butthole, but she's not Emma. Now that all the pigs are settling in everything feels as it should. Everything is back to normal, a new normal, but a normal nonetheless.

Crippie's Tippie - Never buy a pig from a pet store, always adopt

HAWMC - My name is MHE and I'm a Genetic Disorder

Ohai Everybody!

So I'm a day late with this "Health Activist Writer's Month Challenge" thing. Sue me. In my defense, I've discussed yesterday's prompt in the past.

Today's prompt is... "Introduce you condition to other health activists. What are 5 things you want them to know about your condition?

Okay... LET'S DO THIS! AA STYLE!

MHE - Hi, my name is Multiple Hereditary Exostoses and I'm a genetic disorder
Everyone - Hi MHE!
Crippie - Why don't you tell everyone a little about yourself
MHE - Um... ok... well... for starters I am a genetic disorder that causes benign tumors to grow on bones
Crippie - What else?
MHE - I... um... I can be very painful at times. I mean... well.. I can cause a lot of pain. I mean it started by growing on the bone, but then I was hooked! And by hooked I mean one of the tumors snagged or irritated the surrounding area causing pain.
Crippie - I see, is that all you do?
MHE - No... um... I also cause skeletal deformities. Apart from the tumors. THE TUMORS WERE JUST A GATEWAY DEFORMITY! 
Everyone - Gotta watch out for those gateways man
MHE - Before I knew it I was warping bones and causing limb length discrepancies. I'M A MONSTER! 
Crippie - Have you sought treatment?
MHE - Well, I can only be treated through surgery right now. But I guess pain medications help manage me.  
Crippie - What do you want everyone to know about the people you effect? 
MHE - That they're just like everyone else, except riddled with tumors
Crippie - Ok, thank you MHE. You may go sit down. *Everyone claps*

Yup... I just did that. GO ME! I have every intention of posting every single day this month. Let's hope I'm able to do so :)

Crippie's Tippie - People with MHE are just like you... except for that whole being riddled with tumors thing

P.S. If anyone was wondering what I thought of the Walking Dead finale... I thought it was a tad underwhelming, but everyone I hated died so I really can't complain. Plus, the cripple lives for another season! GO HERSHEL!

Four's Company

Salutations!

The Quartet wants to thank everyone who called them adorable. Phase Two of the introduction phase is going quite swimmingly. Maggie had a rough day yesterday with lots of tears, but today she made a complete 180. She was wandering around the cage, eating, drinking, hanging out with her new buddies, etc. She seems very excited about the new living arrangement. Nellie, Mama, and Frida aren't exactly as enthralled as she is, but they tolerate her. One thing I've noticed with the piggies in general is that they are happier when in larger groups versa just pairs. When Mama and Frida were in a cage by themselves they would constantly bicker, Frida would stand on Mama's face to get attention and just be an all around asshole. Once Nellie joined the mix they were all visibly happier. Just goes to show ya folks, unless your pig is a freak of nature like Aggie, the more the merrier.

To those of y'all wondering how the lone wolf is doing, she's very content. Aggie's always been a bit of loner, she seems much more relaxed now that Maggie is no longer stealing her hay.

In cripple related business, I was rather achy today. I think I might've pulled a muscle in my bum during yesterday's introduction (I had to bend down to move piggies). Nothing a little heat won't cure but still, weird. I'm also contemplating obtaining one of those heated chair massager things for work. Me thinks it could help my back and bum. Can any of my lovely readers recommend any good ones?

Fanny probably had a role to play in today's pulled muscle (she rubs against that one). This might be my first surgery where I am really, really, really excited about having it. Also, I found out that I can't keep Fanny in a jar once she's removed. Alas, I guess I'll just have to stick to pictures ;)

Sorry for the short-ish post, I'm super tired and I've got a long day ahead of my tomorrow. Night y'all!

Crippie's Tippie - Pigs are very social creatures, they like having oodles of friends

We Can Work It Out

Yo!

I hope my crippled comrades had a fabulous weekend. After a craptacular Friday my weekend went really well. It didn't rain so I was in a much happier place pain wise. The biggest reason my weekend was awesome is that *drumroll* MAGGIE IS LIVING WITH THE TRIO!

YUP! You heard me right, Maggie is now living with Mama, Frida, and Nellie. Here's how I worked miracles and got this to happen.

1) Maggie had mini "play dates" with each of the other pigs on their own, to gauge their reactions. No one tried flat out attack the other pig. No one was thrilled to see her, but at the same time no one wanted to kill her. 

2) Wide Open Spaces - This intro had the potential to go VERY poorly. They needed a very large open space so they could run the hell away from each other. I opted for outside on my lawn because they could have ample space plus unlimited noms so they could eat their feelings. Also this is neutral territory for all involved. 

3) I stood guard with a towel, prepared to break up any fights. Again, NEVER BREAK UP A PIG FIGHT WITH YOUR HANDS, YOU WILL GET BIT! I did have to break up one fight during their introduction, but after that squabble Maggie learned her place and they all more or less stopped fighting. 

4) While I was introducing the pigs, my mom was cleaning the trio's cage out. She used a different smelling cleaner than what she normally uses and she rearranged the cage a little. That way when the pigs went back in the cage, they'd all think it was a new cage. 

We've gotten through the first phase of the introduction, they're all in the same cage. But the new quarter is still not on good terms yet. That'll take a few days. Maggie is probably gonna have a rough couple of days, she spent most of tonight crying in her house. We're making sure she has plenty of secure hiding places, I will also be monitoring her weight carefully over the next few days, to make sure she's eating and drinking. The next few days might be challenging, but as long as Maggie has friends in the end, it'll be worth it. And now... PICTURES!!!

Do you have friends for me?!?!?!

FRIENDS!!!

My name is Maggie and you are my white glowy buddies!

I HAVE BUDDIES!!!!

The Quartet (Frida, Maggie, Nellie, Mama's Butt)

Crippie's Tippie - During introductions, a little fighting is to be expecting, but stop the intro if you see  blood. 

Yup, I'm Insane

Ohai August

I hope all my readers are having a lovely week. I'm still kinda recovering from Cripplefest so I'm a wee bit tired. I better hurry up and recover because there will be another massive event at my house on Saturday. Approximately 60 people will be coming to my house for a cumulative "LOL, my mom and grandma are old" party. I'm gonna have to clean soooooooooooo many things tomorrow... oy! 

On top of that general craziness I have my own guinea pig drama to deal with. As y'all might remember, the last time we heard from Aggie & Maggie they were in separate cages because they now hate each other. Well, I gave them some time to forget that they want to kill one another but alas, it does not seem to be working. Whenever I put one close to the other they goes all "bath salts"on each other and try to eat the other's face. *Sigh*. Aggie is still rather content being a solo pig. I have not noticed any changes in behavior from her. Maggie on the other hand is depressed. She just sits around her cage and sulks. I can't just leave Maggie alone in her cage and I have very limited options. I could trrryyyyy to put her with the trio, but I don't see that ending well. My other option is to get her a new friend. Since Maggie is a little asshole getting a buddy for her is no easy task. Generally speaking it's easier to either get a senior pig and or a baby pig, they are not as likely to hurt them. I can't afford to take care of another senior pig now, not to mention that I really don't want to go through the whole introduction process again when the senior croaks. So it looks like I need to find a baby guinea pig that Maggie will like. My plan of action is to contact the nearest guinea pig rescues and shelters, ask if they have baby pigs, and ask if I can bring Maggie over for a "play-date". Since Maggie is such a butthead I can't just adopt any baby that I want, if she doesn't like the n00b I'm screwed. Maggie has to be the one to choose her friend. What can I say, I'm a crazy guinea pig lady. I've already contacted the nearest rescue (an hour away from me) asking about a play-date, no response yet (keep your fingers crossed readers). In the meantime I'm checking Craigslist and Petfinder to see if any new piglets pop up. Oh, if by chance any of my local readers are looking to rehome a young, female guinea pig... hit me up.

So yeah, things are slightly hectic around here, but it's all good. It's definitely a change from the usual. Again, due to the craziness, I don't know if I'll be able to post this weekend. I'll try though.

Crippie's Tippie - Cannot say these this enough... if you want a guinea pig, ADOPT. Also, guinea pigs are hard freakin' work. 

Maggie's Tippie - Unless you're a weirdo like Aggie, piggies like to be with other pigs. If you're adopting pigs, make sure that we have friends.

Give Peace A Chance... Or Not... Whatever

Greetings

Soooooooo... Buddy Bath....... yeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

I tried, I really tried. I put them in the water, they freaked out and huddled together. Brilliant, it was working. I took them out to dry off. They were freaked out and were still huddled together, AWESOME. 20 minutes later Aggie bites Maggie in the ass and they start fighting again. CRAP. I figured that they needed to sort out some dominance issues, okay, I played referee and let them work out their issues blocking them with a towel whenever they started to attack each other. After about 30 minutes of blocking some potentially nasty fights, they were still mad as all hell, ready to pounce on the other one. I took each pig out to examine them for bite wounds and discovered that Maggie had been bitten in the lip. After that I decided that it is not safe to house Maggie and Aggie together in their present condition. Maggie and Aggie will now be housed in individual pet store cages, not the ideal situation but it has to be done. Maybe I'll try the buddy bath again in a few weeks, but for now... not gonna happen.

DO NOT WANT... AT ALL 

IN THE NAME OF ALL THAT'S HOLY... SAVE ME AGGIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now that I'm dry... I think I want to kill you again

In other news, something miraculous happened at work over the weekend. My office isn't exactly handicap friendly. You need to climb a few stairs in order to get to the door, there is a ramp... but it was chained off. It's been that way for as long as I've been there. I told the higher powers from the very beginning that the ramp should be open... cause... ya know... it's kinda illegal to have it blocked. Alas, my request to open the damn ramp had fallen onto deaf ears until now. I mentioned to my boss that I will be having hip surgery, and that when I return to work I'll be needing that ramp. FINALLY after working at this place for close to 11 months, THE RAMP IS USABLE!!!  I had "The Eye of the Tiger" playing in my head as I triumphantly walked up the ramp to the door. YAY! VICTORY!!!!

I cannot stand seeing modern buildings disobeying the ADA. It irks me beyond belief. You can walk in your store, restaurant, sidewalk, whatever... great... kudos to you. But just because you can that doesn't mean that everyone can. Maybe a day will come when you can no longer walk. Have fun trying to go places my friends. Good luck opening that heavy narrow door. Have fun getting your wheelchair down that crowded sidewalk. Oh, can you not fit in this aisle... oops. This bathroom isn't handicap accessible,  is that alright with you? I forgot to mention that the elevator doesn't work. People should start hiring cripples to test out their buildings, or maybe we should put the architects in wheelchairs! Let's bind their legs and let them have it out. I'm not asking for much, I just want things to be handicap accessible.

Crippie's Tippie - MAKE THINGS HANDICAP ACCESSIBLE... IT'S NOT THAT HARD

It's Hard Out Here For A Pig

Greetings

The Aggie Update - The chubster saw the vet yesterday. Apart from meeting a new friend (a little girl who gave her lots of rubs) Aggie received a clean bill of health! YAY AGGIE! I'm not doing a victory dance though. Aggie appears to be a little traumatized from the past week. She was taking her emotions out on Maggie and the two had to be separated. Once we got come from the vet I let Aggie recover on her own for a few hours. I planned on putting her and Maggie together that night following a salad introduction. They ate their salad together, but then started to squabble again. I then decided to let them hang out on neutral territory, the sofa. Unfortunately they had a full on brawl. I was able to pull them apart. While I was putting each of them in "time out" I noticed that Aggie had been bitten in the face, more specifically her mouth and nose. So, for those of you keep track at home, Aggie has managed to injure her eye, nose, and mouth all within a week. I cleaned the wounds and they weren't deep thankfully, BUT Aggie and Maggie cannot be housed together with their current temperaments. So for the time being Maggie has their cage, and Aggie has a playpen on the floor. 

I'm still in a total state of disbelief. Maggie and Aggie have been paired together since Maggie was about 4 weeks old (and she'll be 3 in February). While they've never been an affectionate pair, they tolerated each other. I can't believe that they would fight like this. Ugggggghhhhhhhhhhhhh. The life of a pig owner, right? 

So, what am I gonna do? Alright, I know that Maggie and Aggie are capable of being nice... they've done so for two and a half years. I just need to get them to remember that they like each other. First, I'm gonna let them both cool down for a few days. Hopefully they'll forget that they were fighting. Next I'm gonna try a "Buddy Bath". A Buddy Bath is when you put some water in a tub, and put both the pigs in the tub. The pigs freak out, forget that they're fighting, lose whatever scents they had, and they bond about the whole experience. Essentially it should act as a reset button. Both Maggie and Aggie are good candidates for Buddy Baths because they both HATE water. I'll probs do that on Tuesday... *fingers crossed*.

In non-guinea pig related news, I drove to the gas station today :). It might not seem like a newsworthy event, but the local gas station is on a road that I'm not exactly comfortable with. But, I've been memorizing the road for a few months and today I finally drove there! Granted, my mom was in the car with me for support, but still... I DID IT! YAY CRIPPIE! It's only a matter of time before I get more and more comfortable driving to new places. My next task will be to drive to a completely new place with no practice runs. I need to find a place that would be worth the panic attacks. Any local readers have any suggestions of really kick-ass places? There's a guinea pig rescue in New Jersey... maybe the thought of piggies will help me get over some fears :D

Crippie's Tippie - The occasional guinea pig squabble or nip is not a huge deal, once blood is drawn however, separate the pigs.

Piggie Post - Introductions & The Trio

Ohai!

I hope you guys are having a nice wheek. Crippie has been spending a lot of time with her piggies over the past few days. Our new trio is totally in love with their new cage and I think they are starting to bond with each other. If any of you guys have ever had guinea pigs and have had to do an introduction you know how hard they can be. Things can go verrrryyyyy wrong with introductions. Piggies need to sort out their dominance and someone (human or piggie) could get hurt in the process. Here are Crippie's Tippie's for successful Piggie introductions (try saying that three times fast... whew).
1) Know your pigs - Your pigs are gonna fight for dominance, that is a given. If you put two dominant aggressive pigs with each other bad things will happen. Emma and Frida had a nasty spat the one and only time I tried to introduce them. With this recent intro I knew that Frida was dominant, Nellie was recessive, and Mama Pig was neutral. Their personalities made this transition easier.
2) SALAD - Food makes everything better. When we first put Nellie in with Mama and Frida we put a giant plate of lettuce in with them. They cared more about food and less about fighting.
3) GRAB A TOWEL - Have a towel handy in the event that things get nasty. NEVER use your hands to break up a piggie fight. Blood will be shed. Throw the towel on the pig causing the problem.

Our trio's intro went pretty smoothly. After a quick nip in the butt Nellie assumed her recessive role. Even though we got through the first hurtle of the introduction, we had to make sure they continued to tolerate Nellie. The next few days involved a lot of Nellie be chased around the cage, Nellie being scared, Nellie screaming bloody murder, and lots of Nellie crying on my shoulder (literally). Here's what we did to help Nellie adjust to her new buddies...
we gave her extra treats and oodles of extra attention. We also had a hiding place with four walls that only she could fit in, so she had a place to go where she felt safe. Of course Crippie had to put the pig that was chasing her (which was usually Frida) in "time out", which involves putting them on their backs (vulnerable position) and saying BAD FRIDA! I might seem like a crazy guinea pig lady for that but Frida knows when she's being naughty.

Everything simmered down after a few days and Frida stopped chasing Nellie and blocking her in corners. Now everyone sleeps in the same general area, eats together, drinks together, and most importantly no one bites anyone else! Now for pictures! I wanted to add more, but my computer is being stupid and won't let me... I'll probs edit this post once it lets me.

MY BOWL IS EMPTY... FIX IT - Mama Pig

The Blur of Fury that is Frida

Mama Pig is so photogenic... she either tries to eat my camera or pose

Mama Pig in a hay ball

Nellie checking out my camera

Crippie's Tippie - Guinea pigs are not simple pets to raise... cannot stress that enough.