Wheek & Squeak

Boarding Hutches made by Ryedale Pet Homes www.rehutches.com

JANUARY 2008

HAPPY NEW YEAR what happened to the last one Im sure it was only a 6 month year.

Well the news from the large number that came in early November the two pregnant sows have had their babies.  Sadly one of the sows lost all hers, two were born dead and she then to have an operation to remove the remaining two who were dead too, but the good news is she has helped the other sow rear hers so there was plenty of milk and attention for her friends four babies.  All the others that I was told could be pregnant werent. BUT one sow who had 10 day babies when she came in has just had 4 more babies and 3 sows who went to another Rescue who I was told in no way could be pregnant have all just had babies.  Im hoping as it is over two months now that is all the babies born and can concentrate of finding homes for these poor little souls.

Christmas has been very busy with boarding and with new babies I am a bit behind with my paperwork and the website.  Photos of pigs looking for homes WILL be put on the website this month and I WILL get the sponsorship paperwork off in the next 7 days and I will catch up on phone calls by the 7th January so please bear with me.

If anyone would like me to promote their website I am always happy to do so but I would be grateful if you could check with me first, I dont have a problem with it but I just like to know who Im promoting.

 Meet Loobrush.  She was one of the Southampton 100.  She was virtually bald, very underweight, large scratch marks over her body and passing white poos and living on her own as she apparently didnt get on with other sows.  She now lives with over 20 sows in a very large run, she is a good weight now, all her hair has come back and she is passing brown poos. She is such a lovely character and so enjoying life now.

 When my dogs heard I had taken in so many guinea pigs they decided to help me chop up the vegetables.  I will add the yellow leaves were for throwing away so they even chopped up the wrong ones.  Bless them!!!!!

I have started photographing the new rescues, so the sows page is now virtually up to date.  There are four mums and and 9 sows which will be put on the website when they are ready for homing.  The babies should be ready middle to end of February but you are welcome to reserve them beforehand.

FEBRUARY 2008

Life at the Wheek & Squeak are running smoothly at the moment.  Homing is going quite well but there are still around 130 guinea pigs here which is far too many so I am always delighted when I have an email or phone call offering a guinea pig a home.

The car stickers are selling quite well, they are £2.50 + 70p p & p, so if you are interested please email me and I will give you my address.

All the extra hutches in my garden have now been cleared so its beginning to look alot tidier, they have been donated to another rescue so they were put to good use.

I did what some people would say was impossible today.  Sooty a 4 year old boar, mate had died and he was missing him quite badly and I didnt have a suitable boar to pair him up with.  Rocky came along who was a 4 year old Satin boar (I dont rehome Satins because of the potential health problems) who had been used as a stud pig.  He paired up with Sooty very well.  That was about a year ago and then a couple of weeks ago Gus a 4 year old blind (roan gene)  Teddy who apparently alot of breeders say doesnt live past 6 months lost his mate and so I put him in with Sooty and Rocky and they were great together.  Then yesterday morning Owen a 7 year old torti & white lost his brother John and he looked really lost and unhappy so I put him in with Sooty, Rocky and Gus and they are fine.  I thought I was pushing my luck putting them all in together but seeing them snuggled up together in the hay tonight I know that was the right thing to do.   I do get frustrated when people say you cant pair up adult boars, you can and I would say that about 80 per cent of the boars here have been paired up since coming in.

Spring doesnt seem far away now, the daffodils are out in Bishops Waltham, and I cant wait for the ground to dry out so the pigs can get out in the runs, the babies havent seen the grass yet and its always a joy to see them popcorning around the run.

Last but certainly not least the table cloth for the car boot table has been completed.  An absolutely wonderful lady has put 'Wheek & Squeak Guinea Pig Rescue' on my table clothe in very large yellow and red lettering.  She has made a wonderful job and I know it hasnt been easy for her as she had hoped to glue it on but my cloth didnt like the glue so all the letters had to be machined on and you can imagine how difficult it was to manouver about 10feet plus of material to go round and round the letters.  I wouldnt have blamed her if she had given up but she didnt and I cant thank her enough for all her hard work.  As soon as the weather dries up and we can get to the next car boot sale I will take a picture so you can see the wonderful work she has done.

Sometimes when I lose a pig, had a bad day, feel too ill to do the pigs but have to get up and see to them, I wonder why I put myself through this, then when someone does something like this, sends a donation, brings stuff for the car boot sale or even buys a car sticker it gives me such a lift and its great to know people out there care for the pigs as much as I do.

The Wheek and Squeak has a new helper.  Her name is Lily, you may have seen her messages in the Guest Book, her family adopted two guinea pigs from me and is such a fan that she has taken on the task of naming all the unnamed guinea pigs that come into rescue.  If I name a guinea pig I feel they are mine and find it impossible to let them go but with Lily's help it will make my job alot easier.

MARCH 2008

Well the start of another month, it doesnt seem possible it was four months ago I had the phone call to take in 107 guinea pigs from one house.

Last week I had arranged for someone to come and repair some loose paving slabs in my garden, they were getting worse by the day.  Anyway, he arrived Wednesday only to find that the slabs had been laid directly on dirt and sand and where I was hosing down every day the water was getting under them, if he was to repair them the same thing would keep happening.  It was decided the lift mosts of the slabs in the garden and relay them and concrete them in, also putting a drain in to collect all the water when hosing down.  What was going to be a days work ended up being a weeks work, it does look VERY nice but with all the concreteing I was limited to the amount of cleaning out I could do so now Im behind again lol.

Sadly I have lost one of my volunteers who used to come during the week and did a wonderful job cleaning out hutches.  If anyone would be interested in helping out, even if it is one afternoon a month, you would be very welcome.  There are all sorts of jobs needing to be done so dont be put off thinking you will be just cleaning out hutches all the time.

Easter weekend, assuming the weather is good, will be our first car boot sale this year.  Thank you to everyone who has donated it does make a big difference and of course, the new table cloth will be very proudly displayed. 

APRIL 2008

Another month gone by.  As the field was too wet over Easter to do a car boot we hopefully will be going to one the the next available Sunday.

Homing has slowed a little but the great news is three pairs of boars have been homed that have been here over a year.  That is such great news.

Boarding is very busy with the easter school holiday which is very good news for rescue.

The Sponsorship Scheme has really taken off, although it does take a quite a bit of my time to do it it is very rewarding.  When I look at all the signs on the hutches and think about the people wanting to support the rescue it feels good.

I could certainly do with volunteers to help with cleaning hutches, feeding, filling water bottles etc etc.  If you have a few hours to spare on a regular basis and feel you would like to surround yourself with guinea pigs and help out please either email or phone me.

Two new runs arrived last weekend, they are 3ft high and were bought so the rabbits that board here can use them and it means they have the space in the run to climb up on boxes.  They look really smart and as there is a door into the run it means the guinea pigs and rabbits are particularly secure in them.  I have a rabbit that boards here who climbs trees lol, so a run like this should keep her very secure.

The last two weeks have been very busy with boarding as it is the schools easter holidays, I enjoy these times very much especially when some of my old rescues come to stay.

I am able to buy direct from a wholesaler now so I have started a shopping page where I have a list of goods in stock  I can get all sorts of things for any pet, dog, cat, rabbit, bird, fish food and products.  So if anyone would like me to price anything for them I will gladly do so.  There is a very wide selection of these foods and goods and the prices will be very competitive with all profits going into the Rescue fund.  As most products are large Im afraid goods will need to be collected.   

MAY 2008

Good weather at last.  The pigs are very happy in the runs munching the grass, it seems ages since they were last there.

Homing has slowed down but sadly pigs coming in hasnt.  I picked up 8 little baby sows last Bank Holiday Monday, they came from someone who was overrun with them AGAIN.  They are really sweet (well what pig isnt) but I will have to keep them a while to make sure they are not pregnant, then they will be up for rehoming.

This Sunday (10th) the car boot sale is on, yeh, so we will be up early and off with our loaded car.

Two of the rescue rabbits who live here were neutered last week.  Fluffy already lives with a neutered male, Munchie, but Snowy will be looking for a female friend in June.

This is one of the baby sows that came in on bank holiday Monday, she is the one with no ears, her ear flaps have been completely chewed off.

These two boars are very lucky to be alive.  They were kept in an indoor cage and left outside all last winter.  There was no cover over them and when it rained the cage just filled with water.  The were fed on cornflakes when the owner remembered.  Luckily the next door neighbour decided to intervene and got the owner to hand them over to him whereupon he brought them over to me.

JUNE 2008

This week I have homed 5 guinea pigs, but sadly 11 came in.  Must work harder on getting these numbers reversed lol.  The first week of June was quite manic.  All the old hutches from the shed were taken out, next day electrician arrived, next day flooring was put in and then the next day all  the new hutches were fitted.  Wow am I pleased with it.  The run for all the sows has doubled in size, and although I have the same number of hutches everything is more compact.  I will be putting pictures up as soon as I get a minute to take any.

I wonder if anyone could help me, on the 5th July 2008 I will be having a stand at a local show to promote the Rescue.  I am looking for something that I can display all the photos of guinea pigs looking for homes on.  It needs to be freestanding or if anyone is clever and can think how I could attach them to a gazebo I would be really pleased to hear from them.

AUGUST 2008

Im sorry for the lack of entries in the diary, I have been very busy with all the guinea pigs and rabbits boarding for their holidays.

Homing has been very busy and am delighted that some of the pigs that have been here in excess of 18 months have finally got a home of their own.  The two peruvian sows with their black and white friend April were homed recently and also the two white and black teddy brothers were also homed.  Another 5 pairs have been reserved so they should be homed over the next week or so.  Even with all these being rehomed there are still over 20 pairs of pigs looking for homes and 6 single boars needing to be paired up.

I would dearly love to find Preston and Mop a home, they have been here two years and they are such lovely characters.  They are now 3 years old, very easy to handle and Mop's hair only needs a little trim now and then.

Another pig that needs a special home is Jerry.  He is a single boar who is very lucky to be alive, his owners stamped on their 40 guinea pigs killing 25, there are now only 5 left to find homes for, Jerry is one of them.  He also has to endure the owners dog picking him up in his mouth.  He is quite friendly now, getting used to being picked up and loves his head being stroked, he actually closes his eyes while you do this.  He needs a home where he will be gently handled and will be patient while he gets used to his new owners.  He likes to live on his own but would like pigs being in nearby hutches so he can talk to them.  If you think you can offer him a home please contact me.

The show we attended mentioned in Junes notes, was a great success.  We sold quite a few pet products, the tombola was very successful and we met some lovely people so I could chat about guinea pigs all afternoon.  I would like to thank the Weeks family very much for inviting us.

Sadly I have had to close the guest page as some people think it is great fun putting stupid messages on their so if you need to contact me please email me privately.  I havent forgotten you Lily Ive just been so busy, I need to photo the new pigs and send you the pics for you to name.  Your names are so popular people always smile when I mention them, particularly Mop and Piglet.

In October, if anyone is interested, I am going to have afternoons where you can come along with your guinea pig/s and learn how to give your guinea pig a bath, maybe a hair cut, trim their nails and check their health and if I can, answer any questions you may have.  If you are interested please let me know and I can arrange some dates.