The Ballad of Helen

Salutations Everybody!

I hope all of my lovely readers had a fabulous weekend, chances are though Helen probably had the best weekend out of all of us. Saturday was the anniversary of Helen joining our family, thus she got spoils.

Helen started her life as a normal lil' Shih Tzu. She adopted by a family with small children and a big dog. For reasons unknown to me, Helen lost her sight when she was young. Allegedly she either whacked a wall reaaaaaaallllllyyyyyyyyyyy hard or fell off a bed. I wouldn't be surprised if an "accident" with the small children or big dog occurred. Either way her retinas wound up becoming detached. Helen was no longer an independent little puppy. She was scared and needed a lot of help finding her way around. Special needs puppies and young families don't quite mix. Helen spent most of her days in a bedroom all by herself. Eventually her family realized that they couldn't take care of her and handed Helen over to a rescue.

Flash forward to us finding out about a blind dog who needs to be held near constantly. After talking it over with the woman who had rescued Helen we opted to take a chance on the crippled puppy. We had to meet her. Hurricane Irene had just passed through and left the area with a good amount of flooding, but that didn't stop us from driving through it! We were slightly hesitant about adopting a blind dog, mainly because people kept telling us that blind dogs are vicious. As soon as we met Helen we knew she wasn't vicious. She would let anybody pick her up. We did notice that she was rather underweight, we could see her spine and ribcage. We have an excellent track record of plumping up underweight animals so that didn't bother us a bit. We knew she was perfect for our family.

Flash forward again and it's been a year since we made that decision, and we never second-guessed it. Helen blends in with our family perfectly. She gets oodles of love and attention from all of her humans. Angel is a doting big sister, she makes sure Helen stays the hell away from stairs. Helen makes for an excellent security system, she thinks that everyone who enters the house will kill her humans. She also barks at certain people on the TV, mainly anyone from The Jersey Shore.

We celebrated her anniversary by giving her ALL TIME favorite food... macaroni and cheese (small amount). She got to sit and the table with us and chow down while we sang happy birthday. Her big sister got some pieces of turkey so she was also insanely happy.

So heres to our little Helen Keller, may we have many more anniversaries!

Crippie's Tippie - If you want a pet... ADOPT

Helen's Tippie - Cheese is the bestest food EVER

Piggie Post: Andrew & Charlie

Ohai Everybody!

I hope all my readers had a terrific Thursday. Crippie certainly did. Crippie went to the animal shelter and officially signed up to be a volunteer! After I signed a waiver saying that I won't sue if one of these little buggers bites me I went to see the piggies! I got to spend some more time with them today so I really got to see their personalities. I hate how people think that piggies are just lazy potatoes that eat all day. Guinea pigs are LOADED with personality. All of my pigs have distinct and different personalities and the piggies at the shelter are no exception. Tonight Crippie is gonna tell y'all a little more about these two lovely boys in hope that someone will adopt them.

CHARLIE 

Charlie is a 3 year old Silke(Sheltie)/American Shorthair mix. He is without a doubt the dominant pig. He is an attention whore, when I was giving his buddie scritches he came over and starting eating my jacket! He loves rubs and he enjoys being held, mainly because he loves anything that involves attention in general. He is very smart, he responds to his name and HE KNOWS HOW TO USE A LITTER BOX! THAT IS HUUUGGEEE. Most guinea pigs see the world as their toilet! Charlie is super docile although he will occasionally take a nip at your neck, but that's just him being affectionate. He's super energetic and inquisitive. If you were to adopt Charlie, all you'd have to do is give him some delicious noms and he'll love your for the rest of your life. 

From what Crippie can tell Charlie is in good health. He is slightly underweight but this whole transition from being in a home to being in a shelter would frighten anyone. 

ANDREW

Andrew is a three year old crested. He is very shy and very much recessive. He is such a little sweetheart. He'll gladly let you pet him, especially if you massage his crest. Honestly, I think Andrew is having a hard time adjusting to his new surroundings. He isn't a very happy camper at the moment. When Crippie went to pick him up he started screaming and crying. He cried on my shoulder for a good five minutes before he realized that I give good chin rubs. It took my an additional ten minutes to get him comfortable enough for me to take a picture of him. Andrew is also very bright, he has also learned that litter boxes are for wees and poops (seriously, whoever adopts these two will be so lucky). Andrew has the potential to be a VERY loud wheeker. Even though he is scared he is still super docile, he never tried to bite me. If you were to adopt Andrew it would take a couple of days, oodles of cuddles, and some terrific noms and he will turn into a terrific companion.

Crippie couldn't examine Andrew quite as thoroughly because he was so scared, but from what I can tell he is healthy. He's close to average weight, good coat, spark in the eyes, hands and feetsies look good. 

I cannot stress it enough how lucky their potential owners will be, litter box trained piggies are rare, and they will make cage cleanings sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much easier. Crippie cannot tell you how much she wishes her piggies could use litter boxes, they just used them as beds -_-

Crippie is gonna go back to the shelter sometime over the weekend to trim their nails... they are in desperate need of a trimming. Something tells me it's gonna be a challenge. 

Crippie's Tippie - ADOPT ANDREW AND CHARLIE... their petfinder profiles can be found HERE

Piggie Post: Obtaining Pigs

Ohai

Two "Piggie Posts" in a row... WHAT IS THIS MADNESS! Crippie had a very busy day. Apart from seeing an adorable production of "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum" Crippie had to go to the pet store to obtain dog food and guinea pig treats, and while we were in the area we bought an extra bag of piggie treats and brought them to our local animal shelter. Going to the two main places to obtain a guinea pig in the same day really highlights the differences between the two.

First off, all of my piggies came from the pet store. Crippie was not a very educated customer at the time.

If you are serious about obtaining a pig, AVOID PET STORES. Why?

1) Depending on where you live there are tooooooooooooooons of guinea pigs in shelters.

2) Pet store guinea pigs are not properly taken care of... for example a few months ago Crippie saw some guinea pigs at her local mom and pop pet store. There were two adults and two babies. I held one of the adults and saw that she was a female (I know how to check the genders of guinea pigs) then I held the other adult and much to my horror it was a boy. That is reallllllllyyyyyyyyy bad. I soon as I saw that I knew that the adult female (who has to be under a year old) was pregnant again. The problem with that is that guinea pigs have a high mortality rate when it comes to childbirth, for both the mom and the babies. I asked the owner of the store why a boar was being housed with a sow and he promptly removed the male. I returned today to find this same female but with four new babies. Thankfully she seems to be alright, but that poor girl had 6 babies within a few months :(

3) Pet store pigs have a higher chance of not being healthy. On average guinea pigs live for 6 years. My Emma was 3 when she died and Frida has tumors. Part of me wonders if this is because of careless inbreeding. Nellie, Emma, and Frida were born in the pet store. Me thinks Mama Pig was accidentally placed with a male, possibly one she was related to. Pet store living conditions have been known to cause Upper Respiratory Infections which can kill pigs.

Crippie is not completely against store pigs, so if you do obtain a store pig limit the amount of money the store gets from the pig. Pigs are relatively cheap. It's their cages, bedding, hay, and food that are expensive. DO NOT BUY A PET STORE CAGE, they are too small. Buy a C&C cage beforehand and have it ready for your pig. Buy your hay and food online (it's ultimately cheaper too) and you can probably find tons of great guinea pig toys online. Have everything ready so you only buy the pigs at the store... nothing else.

Breeders are an option as well for obtaining pigs, but I seriously don't recommend them. Mainly because of the high mortality rate for the pigs and the fact that inbred piggies have issues. If you want a certain breed, check petfinder and craigslist daily... one will pop up sooner or later.

Crippie went to the shelter today to deliver the treats and naturally I had to give them to the piggies myself. There are two boars at the local shelter, a crested and a silke-shorthair mix (two uncommon breeds right there... hint hint people who want to obtain one from a breeder). If Crippie had the resources to take care of them she would have scooped them up.

Even though Crippie can't adopt them I want to make sure that they go to good home. These guys are a bonded pair and need to be adopted together. The top one is an attention whore. As soon as I walked into the room he was like 'LOOK AT MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE". The one on the bottom is very shy, mainly because their prior owners did not take care of them properly. But Crippie thinks that within a week or two of cuddles and treats he'll be fine. If you click on their pictures you can see their petfinder profiles.

Crippie actually decided to volunteer at the animal shelter to help take care of the piggies. These boys are in desperate need of cuddles. 

Crippie's Tippie - Piggies are not low maintenance animals, and if you really want a pig... ADOPT!

Sup Dawg?

Yo!

Thank you all so much for the ninja vibes and advice with Angel, we really appreciate it. Angel is pretty much all better now. She's not putting full weight on that paw yet, but she's putting some on it. Fortunately she can walk enough so we don't have to pick her up.
It's funny, Angel absolutely hates being picked up for any reason, and Helen absolutely loves being held. Sadly, Angel tends to get a bad reputation for her whole "not being affectionate" thing, and that really irks Crippie. Angel is very loving, caring, and highly intelligent... but people can't look past the fact that she will nip at you if you try to pick her up. I dunno, maybe it's the whole "I'm crippled and thus am used to things not being perfect" thing but I'm not angry at Angel for this. Angel was abused, I don't even want to know what people have done to her. If she doesn't want people touching her and or getting too close to her I understand that and I respect her wishes. Crippie cannot stand when people call her a "bad dog" or heaven forbid suggest putting her down (seriously people, WTF). Does she have some issues, sure... but overall she is a very good girl. To me that's like saying "Oh, you're a cripple... you're a horrible person". Angel is like any other member of our family... either physically or mentally disabled!
Well, I guess this post turned out to be a CrippleRant/vent. So in conclusion Angel is a very good and misunderstood puppy. And now... PICTURES!

I enjoy watching day time TV

I'm resting my paw... and my entire body

How could anyone hate this face? 

Crippie's Tippie - If you're getting a pet, get them from a rescue. These guys deserve a good home.