Piggie Post: Nellie Turns 5!

Ohai Everybody!

While I was taking my "I suck at blogging" break in November, a certain someone turned 5 and we threw a huge bash for her. How does one go about throwing a party for a guinea pig? Well, it's quite simple really... we just obtained a bouncy castle, and by bouncy castle I mean tub of hay that we dropped the pigs in.

Aggie was the first pig in and naturally she wasted no time and started chowing down. She had a grand ol' time at the party and spent the remainder of the night wondering why she wasn't always surrounded by unlimited amounts of hay. (Yup, this totally sucked to write... miss you Aggie)

Lucy was next to have a turn in the hay bin. Much to my surprise she HATED it. She kept trying to dig her way out of the bin. She was promptly returned to her cage to make room for more willing participants.

 

Pru and Maggie were next. They were good little noodles and had a jolly time frolicking in and eating the hay.

Eleanor and the birthday girl were next. This didn't last long though because Eleanor decided to be a party pooper and bite Nellie in the ass. Once Eleanor was removed against her will Nellie happily munched on all the hay her little heart could want.

 

 

Happy birthday Nellie Bellie! Time to relax and enjoy your senior pig years! I'm sure your mommy and sisters were celebrating with you too :)

Crippie's Tippie - When in doubt just give your piggies a crap ton of hay and they'll be happy

Little Pig, Little Mamala

Hey Guys,

I wish I had happier news to report to you guys tonight, but alas that is not the case. Mama Pig passed away around 7:45 this morning after a brief battle with an Upper Respiratory Infection. I did everything I possibly could to keep her going, but ultimately she was beyond help. I was able to give her pain medications so she was insanely happy and peaceful when she died.

After we obtained Nellie & Emma we weren't sure if we should go back for their mother and sister. A few months later we were in the pet store, visiting the mother and sister. I walked by the cage, the piggies stayed the hell away from me. My grandmother walked by the cage, and miss Mama Pig ran over and started pouting with her "Patti Lupone" lips... and the rest is history.

Mama Pig was quite the diva. She loved being brushed, bathed, any spa treatment really. Anything except nail trimmings. She was an attention whore and enjoyed being called pretty. She would only eat her pellets AFTER the special cranberry treats were applied. She'd hog all of the comfy beds, sleep near the hay so only she'd get the freshest hay, all sorts of diva behaviors. Hell, even last week if we didn't give Mama her special vitamins before we sat down for dinner she'd stare us down and start to gnaw at the cage for attention until she was fed. 

In spite of her diva attitude Mama was actually one of our kinder pigs. She never tried to kill any of the others (which is impressive knowing the others). She'd give her humans kisses and nuzzles all the time. If ever Mama was displeased with us she'd let us know by pooping in mass quantities. She will always be #1 at #2 in my house. 

Mama Pig was always close with her daughter Frida. She forgave Frida even when she'd use her face as a step ladder. Once they moved into the big cage with Nellie, Mama and Frida became fast friends. You'd frequently see them snuggling, and you know... not using faces as step ladders. 

Frida even got to have a goodbye snuggle with Mama last night (Mama wasn't contagious). Even though Mama was stoned out of her mind she recognized Frida and snuggled close to her. 

Mama Pig was roughly around five years old, possibly older. She was predeceased by her daughter Emma. She is survived by daughters Nellie and Frida, roommate Maggie, strange pig across the room Aggie, those giant furry things Angel and Helen, and of course her humans. All of whom miss her greatly. 

Rest in peace Mama Pig, mommy loves you so much and I'll never forget you <3

Crippie's Tippie - Have a supply of metacam in your house at all times. If your pig is beyond help at least they won't suffer.

Fuzzy Wuzzy Was A Pig...

Ello!

I hope y'all had a nice weekend. The weather was craptacular here, so I spent the weekend with Glenn the heatpack. Today was also kinda sad because it marked the one year anniversary of my guinea pig Emma's passing :(

I still can't believe it's been an entire year since my little Fuzz Ball left us. It certainly doesn't feel like it's been a year.

Emma was a freakishly cute pig, and she thought that she could use that cuteness to get away with being a little demon pig. She found ways to make enemies with Maggie, Aggie, Frida, AND her own mother! Not to mention how she'd boss around poor little Nellie, constantly stealing her treats and grabbing lettuce out of her mouth! Even though she hated a vast majority of the other pigs, she LOVED her humans. She'd snuggle for hours with you. What can I say, she was a smart girl... she knew to love the things that gave her salad, and hate the things that she'd have to potentially share said salad with.

Her grave marker is about 8 times longer than she was

I like to think that Emma is somewhere with unlimited salad and lots of comfy things to pee on, watching over her sisters, mother, and those two random ones that were super weird. 

We love you Emma Rose and we miss your terribly. RIP Fuzz Ball <3

Crippie's Tippie - If your pet is sick, take 'em to a vet

Nellie & Frida Turn Four!

HOWDY Y'ALL! 

Hope y'all are having a great week. Things have pretty uneventful on my end. We're kinda working out a system for giving Angel her ear drops... it takes three people but it gets done. Her ears are starting to feel better already. 

The big news for today is that Nellie and Frida are officially four years old! I don't know their exact birthday, but Nellie was between 6-8 weeks old when we obtained her in early December. So I guess and celebrate their birthdays in mid October. I'm definitely a proud mama today :)

These little pipsqueaks have changed soooooooooooooooooo much in the past four years. Nellie started out as a loud, adventurous asshole. Once she grew out of her asshole toddler stage she became a quiet little snugglebug. She can stay on her human's lap for HOURS on end. Nellie is gentle soul who will give you kisses if she deems you tasty enough (she has deemed me to be quite delicious).

Frida also started out as an asshole, a violent one at that. She used to bite people when she was younger. Whenever company would come over they were not allowed to touch her and children were not allowed to hold her for YEARS. Frida used to step on Mama Pig's face to get our attention, I mean she would literally use her mother as a step ladder. Manners were learned with time and now with her new friends and bigger cage Mama's face is no longer trampled. She has learned to appreciate a good cuddle, except she still tries to bite you when she wants to go back in her cage. Frida loves music, especially Lady Gaga. Although she likes anything with a good beat really. Frida has grown in more ways than just maturity... she also uses her double chin as a comfy pillow. 

We celebrated their birthday with food, snuggles, and some Lady Gaga. Needless to say I have some very happy piggies tonight. And how... PIGTURES 

BABY NELLIE!!!!!!!! (I'm kicking myself for not having baby pictures of Frida)

The birthday girls!

I figured they were looking at something really nifty...

NOMS!!!

Frida being beautiful

Nellie and her "I'm peeing on you" face

Of course we didn't only celebrate ONLY Nellie & Frida's birthday's today. All the pigs had some extra treats to celebrate Emma's birthday as well, even though she will forever be three. I think she'd be happy to know that her sisters and mother are still very well loved and VERY well fed. Miss you Emma, mommy loves you <3

Crippie's Tippie - Cherish every moment you have with your pets, they're only here for such a short while

Piggie Post: Sick Piggies

Greetings,

SO MANY PIGGIE POSTS... my goodness. Honestly, most of it is because I am focusing on piggies rather than my doctor's appointment Thursday. 

Anyway, I apologize for not posting yesterday. Ya see, Crippie went out to see a show (I'll discuss it in a future post when I'm in a better frame of mind) when I returned home I noticed blood in the trio's cage. Upon examination I discovered that it was from Mama Pig. I don't want to go into too much detail or ask well wishes or anything because I really don't want to jinx anything. Crippie will say that Mama Pig is being treated and monitored and will probably be making a trip to the vet either tomorrow or Monday. I'm not gonna say "Mama Pig will be fine" because a) I can't guarantee that and b) last time I said that Emma died. 

I think it's pretty safe to say that Crippie is freaking out. I can't lose Mama Pig now. I'm still trying to cope with Emma's death. With all the medical crap going on right now I need my pigs to help me get through it. Crippie is going to do anything and everything in her power to keep Mama Pig alive. 

As my mini-freak out suggests, when piggies get sick it can be very serious. If you notice that your pig is acting weird or if something is clearly wrong... here's a list of what to do.

1) Pigs live for eating, pooping, and peeing... if your pig isn't doing those things get them to a vet ASAP

2) If your pig is not in "immediate" danger, get your ass on the internet to look up what could be wrong with them. My old standby is www.guinealinx.info. They have tons of medical info and tbey make it relatively easy to get a vague diagnoses. I would discuss what I found with Mama Pig but again... don't wanna jinx it

3) Guinea Pigs simply do not get better on their own, whether it is homeopathic medicine or a trip to the vet, you have to do something.

4) For minor guinea pig ailments homeopathic methods could work. For example, Nellie and Frida are prone to minor UTIs I give them an herbal supplement called Shilingtong

5) Pigs can take a turn for the worst verrrrrryyyyyyy quickly, Emma showed improvement for weeks before suddenly dying. 

The average guinea pig life span is 5-8 years, if you take care of your pigs and get them help when they need it hopefully they will live a long and healthy life. Mama Pig is probably 4.5 years old, God I hope she makes it to 5. 

Crippie's Tippie - Take care of your pigs, they deserve it

Crippie & The Great Medication Question

Ohai

Well, it's been a week since Crippie lost her little fuzzball Emma. It's a process but everyone is adjusting. Nellie was starting to get a little bit lonely, so I decided that she should have a playdate with Frida (who is her biological sister) and their mother, Mama Pig (who doesn't like me at the moment because she has not been featured on the blog yet, she refuses to talk to me until I post her picture). All playdates prior to this week had been utterly disastrous, but go figure the playdate went swimmingly and Nellie was happy. So on Tuesday Nellie will officially move in with her mommy and sister... YAY! I'm so relieved that Nellie gets along with Mama Pig and Frida. Here's a picture of the playdate, salad makes for an excellent ice breaker, and the two happy sisters.

Moving on to actual cripple related topics. I'm usually pretty open about answering any questions people have about my disability. However there are a few topics that I really don't like to answer, one of the main ones is "Which medications do you take for pain Crippie?" Usually this question is asked by a relative or friend, mainly relatives. The only reason I object to answering is the fact the some of my meds are pretty strong and potentially addictive narcotics. I used to keep my medications verrryyyy hush hush during college, cause let's face it, someone could've taken them. Now a days someone stealing my meds isn't really a priority, but you never know when someone will say "Oh Crippie I hurt my leg... can you spare me a pill or two?" I know it's not the worst thing in the world, but it's terribly annoying. I feel like "these are my medications, I need them, it takes a lot of effort to obtain them, get your own". 

Apart from the fact that I am very protective about my medications, its also kinda pointless for me to answer it. For example, I was prescribed Vicodin after one of my surgeries. After I took said Vicodin I went to watch some decorating show on TV. While I was watching the people magically turned into penguins. Crippie and Vicodin do not mix. While this is a humorous story does it mean that Vicodin will make everyone hallucinate? No, everyone reacts differently to medications. Vicodin does wonders for Dr. House. It really does not matter whether or not I had a good or bad experience with a particular drug. 

To be fair, there are times when people do have a valid reason for asking what I take. In those cases I have no objects to giving that information out.

So in conclusion when people ask me this question I give them a generic answer like "narcotics" and if people ask if they can "borrow" some I tell them "LOL... no".

Crippie's Tippie - Unless you have a valid reason to ask someone which medicines they take, don't ask.

Just Keep Swimming

Greetings,

First off, thank you so much for the well wishes I've received over the past few days. They really meant the world to me and the piggies. Not gonna lie, the past couple of days have very hard for Crippie. My piggies are huge source of happiness and comfort for me, so to see one of them slip away while there is nothing I can do about it is devastating.
While it is very challenging, I'm doing my best to apply my "this to shall pass" mantra to this situation. I know as time goes on it will hurt less and less. This is just another hurtle Crippie has to find a way of jumping over. In the meantime though Crippie is distracting herself by taking care of my remaining piggies (who all say "HELLO... WE ARE REALLY CUTE"), watching TV, and watching stupid videos on YouTube.

With all the sadness revolving around Emma's death, there is a silver lining... her sister and cagemate Nellie. Nellie and Emma had been together for their entire lives. Naturally when Emma passed I was worried about how Nellie would handle it. Usually guinea pigs can sense the loss of their friend and fall into a depression, when they fall into a depression they stop eating and drinking, when they stop eating and drinking they get sick, and when they get sick they run a fair chance of dying. Nellie is not your usual guinea pig, she is very happy and very clueless. She's been prancing around the cage saying "I DON'T HAVE TO SHARE MY HAY WITH ANYONE! THIS IS FRIGGIN AWESOME!" So thankful that I don't have a depressed piggie on my hands. Speaking of Nellie, she said (and this a direct quote) "Mommy can you show your wonderful readers how cute I am... pleaaaassssseeeee"
How could anyone say no to that face!

Carrying on to other issues... who saw the Golden Globes last night? It was a fantastic night for cripples! Peter Dinklage won for his completely brilliant work in "Game of Thrones" (don't get me started on the whole Dwarf Tossing thing...). Let's not forget George Clooney stealing Brad Pitt's cane. When canes start becoming this years "it" accessory, let it be known that I started it first. I will say, I was hoping Brad Pitt would've had a bad ass pimp cane. Kinda disappointed that he went for solid black, a major fashion don't IMO.

Crippie's Tippie- Remember that loss is a really craptacular part of life, everyone has to deal with it, and thus you are not alone.

Nellie's Tippie- NOT NOW MOMMY... I'M EATING ALL THE HAY! 

Emma Rose

Hi Guys

Crippie is writing this blog post with a very heavy heart. As some of you might recall my piggie Emma had been sick for the past couple weeks. She had been making great improvements and was almost all better until last night when she took a sudden turn for the worse. Crippie spent most of the night keeping Emma alive and comfortable. Unfortunately I could only do so much and Emma passed away around 8:00 in the morning. She is the first piggie we've lost and today has been very difficult for Crippie and her family.

We got Emma Rose and her sister Nellie three years ago in December. Even from the beginning Emma was a spritely little punk, she loved running, eating, bossing around her sister, and taking massive wees on people.

Emma always had a sparkle in her eye, you could tell she was happy just by looking at her. She loved a good snuggle and she would snuggle you right back.

Goodbye my sweet little fuzzball, mommy loves you very much and will never ever forget you. I'd like to think that whenever it rains or snows, that's your way making sure you'll always be able to take gigantic wees on us.

Crippie's Tippie- I know how easy it can be for a pet to fade into the background at times, but we mush cherish every moment we have with our furry friends. They will not be around forever. 

Crippie Actually Tries To Fulfill Her New Year's Resolutions

Ello!

I hope my readers had a fantastic Friday. Mine went relatively well. Emma went to the vet again today for a follow up. They think she has a bladder infection and needs 10 more days of antibiotics. On the bright side, Emma finds antibiotics to be delicious.
Crippie has been spending the past few days working on some New Year's resolutions. First I started with the learn web design one. I figured I'd limit this one to blogger design so I can customize blogs and all that fun stuff. I've starting looking at tutorials and code from other people's blogs and think I'm starting to get a gist of it. I made a blog for me to practice coding on, it's viewable HERE if you want to see my progress. I've also been making some typographic drawings that I'm gonna turn into a Society6 shop. YAY for progress!
Crippie actually should amend her resolution list to add something that I really need to do, regulate my sleep schedule. I used to have a really solid sleep schedule and I wouldn't go to bed terribly late. Now my sleep schedule is awful, thanks college. I'm not sure of the best way to regulate my sleep. The whole "just go to bed early" thing doesn't seem to work, it actually seems to cause discomfort. Should I go for herbal suppliments? Spend an hour walking up and down my driveway? Milk and turkey? Any suggestions readers?

Crippie's Tippie- If you want a shnazzy blog and can't design one on your own, there are tons of free backgrounds out there. 

Resolutions & Such

Happy 2012 Y'all!

It's that time of year again, that time when Crippie makes a few resolutions that she probably won't be able to keep. I'm hoping that writing them here on "the interwebz" will help me remember/fulfill them

CRIPPIE'S 2012 GOALS & STUFF

LEARN WEB DESIGN- Crippie knows some verrrrrrrrryyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy basic html/coding things, but I suck at it. I'd like to relearn CSS and all that fun stuff. When I do learn this stuff, I wanna redesign the blog with all kinds of shnazzy things. 

GET MORE FREELANCE CLIENTS- Crippie needs to expand her design horizons. I'm also thinking of setting up an online shop for my designs, sell prints, t-shirts, things of that nature. I was also thinking of mayyybbbeeeeee starting a design blog... but I dunno.

CLEAN MY GOD DAMNED ROOM- Crippie's room is a kinda messy and rather cluttered. I've decided that I'm gonna treat my room like a studio apartment, cause I'm probably not gonna be going anywhere for a few years. 

LESSEN DRIVING ANXIETY- The whole driving anxiety thing is getting better... but I still have trouble going to new places by myself. I also NEED to learn how to drive on damn highway. 

FIND SOME FORM OF SOCIAL LIFE- Crippie doesn't have much of a life outside of work, home, internet, and pets. Let's hope I can find some things outside of the house to occupy my time.

So that's about it, I don't think I'm being particularly unrealistic. I hope all my freakishly awesome readers had a lovely New Year's Eve/Day. Crippie didn't go to any parties or anything, I watched the ball drop with my family, dogs, and piggies. Frida was really happy because she got to watch Lady Gaga perform. Btw, if anyone thinks I'm kidding about that Lady Gaga thing I'm not. Frida LOVES Lady Gaga, she will just flatten out and purr listening to her music. Her favorite song is Poker Face but she also enjoys Bad Romance and Born This Way. Some of Crippie's relatives came over on New Year's day. We watched "Cyberbully" and had some pretty awesome food. All in all I'd say this weekend was purdy good.

Also, Emma is responding to the medicine! The tumor in her tummy hasn't changed yet, but even if it doesn't change I'm not terribly worried. 

Completely random question for people who watched "Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve"... Did Ryan Seacrest look weird to you? Everyone in my house was trying to figure out whether or not he had plastic surgery done. 

Crippie's Tippie- Attempt to keep your resolutions and make this year really freakin' awesome. Not much of a tippie but I can't think of anything else.

Luck Be A Piggie Tonight

Yo!

I just wanted to say a quick thank you to everyone who has been posting such sweet comments here, y'all are seriously awesome. I'm also glad to see that people are enjoying my pee cup story. Yeah, Crippie has arthritis and tumors in her fingers, so opening jars and bottles is challenging to say the least. Can any of my wonderful readers recommend a jar/bottle opener that works for someone with a stupidly weak grip? I really haven't been able to find any good ones.

Carrying on, today was kinda scary for Crippie and her family. Last night I was taking care of my piggies when I noticed a fair amount of blood in one of the cages. After some examinations I found out the blood was coming from Emma. Upon further inspection I also found a tumor on her tummy. Internet research told me this was reallyyyy not good. The internet said Emma would need surgery. Guinea Pigs and surgery don't always mesh well. So last night Crippie was stressing out to say the least over Emma's possible prognosis. We took Emma to the vet today after I got home from work. Emma was not pleased about the whole prospect of seeing a vet, she told me so by taking a massive wee on me on the ride to the vet. The vet (who looked and acted a little too much like Dr. Cox from "Scrubs") thought Emma either had a bladder stone, an abscess, or a really bad infection in the uterus. ALL of those things require surgery to fix... SUPER. The doctor wanted an x-ray to properly diagnose her. Emma didn't like the idea of an x-ray, she let us know by taking a wee on my mom. Emma was a good girl though and let the vet take x-rays of her. I was getting purdy damn worried as to what the x-rays would show, much to my surprise the x-rays showed that Emma has no serious health issues... YAY EMMA! The vet then concluded that Emma probably has a infection that caused the tumor and the blood, some antibiotics should hopefully take care of the problem. So we have to give Emma cherry flavored anti-biotics for the next week, works for me.

I'm soooooooooooo freakin' happy that Emma doesn't need surgery. Let's just hope that the anti-biotics work. If y'all could send your ninja healing vibes to Emma I'd greatly appreciate it.

Crippie's Tippie- Normals make the best can and jar openers

Emma's Tippie - HAY STICKS ARE FREAKIN' AWESOME... and please keep a watchful eye on your pets so you know when they get sick


P.S. Yes, Crippie is aware that she made two posts in a row related to pee