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I was at a newly opened Chinese grocery store before my SPCA exotics shift today when I discovered that they had yellow bell peppers for the utterly ridiculous price of $0.59/lb. So I bought one ($0.20!) to give to the SPCA guinea pigs... and when I got in and started cutting it up, as soon as they smelled it, they all completely FLIPPED THEIR poo poo. Just constant deafening WHEEK WHEEK WHEEK WHEEK WHEEK WHEEK WHEEK from all 9 of them at once. I've made guinea pigs happy before, but I've never made guinea pigs THIS happy. Definitely more than 20 cents worth of entertainment, right there.
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Dec 10, 2009 22:35
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| # ¿ May 1, 2024 16:26 |
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Sometimes, animals surrendered at the SPCA come with a cage. Sometimes, they are surrendered when there's no exotics volunteer around. In that case, one of the intake people will just put the cage in the exotics room, make sure there's food and water in it, and go back to dealing with other intake-related duties. This is a guinea pig cage that I saw when I came in today:   Here's a view without the cage top on:  Not pictured: terrified orange guinea pig. Yes, that is in fact a massive layer of ancient, dried out poop on top of some kind of softwood bedding. I had to chip that poo poo out with a paint scraper.
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Jan 22, 2010 01:30
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SonicYooth posted:Oh man. That's just awful. So awful I don't really want to look at those pictures ever again. Let me know if I can chip in to buy that little guy a bunch of spinach and hay. The SPCA keeps us well-supplied with hay, but they could always use a few extra bucks - http://www.spcamontreal.com/aidez1a.php?lg=en . Veggies are really limited to what we volunteers buy ourselves and bring in, unfortunately. If you're hell-bent on contributing to our vegetable fund, IM or PM me and we'll talk... but I've decided I'm going in tomorrow just to bring this piggie treats regardless. SonicYooth posted:Any possibility that he/she will find a good home? If not, can we make you a thread on guinealynx to see if there are any rescues in the area? I occasionally read about fairytale endings for pigs there - might be worth a shot. The exotics department hasn't had to euthanize any healthy animals in years (although most vet treatment for exotics comes at volunteer expense... the SPCA is really pretty broke), so as long as s/he stays healthy, s/he'll have as much time as necessary to warm up to people. We only have three guinea pigs right now, counting this one, and the other two are pretty shy, too... but definitely less shy than they were a few weeks ago. They've started to see humans as "those big things that bring treats" rather than as threats. However, we don't have the time or manpower to conduct any sort of intensive behavioral rehabilitation, so it's likely to be a long and slow process. But I put the new guinea pig next to the other two, in hopes that their joyous wheeking whenever I look at them will provide a good example. I can find one rescue in the area, http://jiggleypiggley.com/ , but apparently they are really trying to scale back and reclaim their lives from the voracious guinea pigs and aren't taking in as many anymore.
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Jan 22, 2010 06:32
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SonicYooth posted:I'll send a few bucks over to the Montreal SPCA, even though I know sometimes the money doesn't trickle down to the local shelters as much as I'd like. Best wishes for the little guy. Actually, donations at the Montreal SPCA's website JUST go to the Montreal SPCA. So your money will go directly to keeping us supplied with heat, light, hot water, hay, and pellets. Or toward dog or cat food, since you can't designate a specific area, but they're cool, too.
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Jan 22, 2010 18:57
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I bought some stuff! That's parsley (a mix of curly and flat for some reason), spinach, romaine, a great big green bell pepper, and a little tiny red bell pepper. $4.04. Not too bad for Canada in the winter, I think. Here is Terrified Orange Guinea Pig:  Definitely a little less terrified today, and happily chowing down on delicious peppers. I'll try to bring some more in next week.
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Jan 22, 2010 21:23
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Nereid posted:Oooo, looks like a delicious stir fry. Can I come over? I'd say yes, but most of it's already been distributed to the guinea pigs, rabbits, and chinchillas, with a little tiny bit going to the degus and rats. And I'm hoping the rest of it will get distributed this weekend.
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Jan 22, 2010 21:45
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Rodent Mortician posted:Be careful with the chins, they're not really supposed to have fresh veggies. Yeah, I wasn't sure, so I just gave each of them a little section of a romaine leaf, the greener, less watery part. Which looks like it wasn't too bad.
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Jan 22, 2010 23:26
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Terrified Orange Guinea Pig is a boy named Rocco, and he is WAY less terrified already than he was last Thursday! He actually came all the way out from his hide to the opposite end of the cage to take a piece of bell pepper from me. This is awesome, he's warming up really fast. Or maybe he's just recognizing me as She Who Brings Bell Peppers. Also, he has a totally badass new house. Rocco + house + pieces of bell pepper: 
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Jan 26, 2010 22:30
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Two updates on Rocco, the terrified orange guinea pig with the horrible cage. 1) The little guy is INSANE for dill. 2) As the trusted bringer of dill, I get certain privileges. Like this:  He was so relaxed! It was amazing. I can't believe he came in less than two weeks ago. This little guy is going to make somebody an EXCELLENT pet.
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Feb 3, 2010 02:02
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I must not adopt Rocco. I must not adopt Rocco. I must not adopt Rocco. I must not adopt Rocco. I must not adopt Rocco. I must not adopt Rocco. I must not adopt Rocco. He totally knows and trusts me now, and he comes to the front corner of his cage when I'm passing out vegetables and STARES at me. It's really huge for him that he feels confident enough to come out of his hide when someone's around to do something other than just pick up a vegetable and run away with it. He eats his favorites from my hand. And he doesn't even mind when I pick him up as long as I support him well. .... I need to find this guinea pig an adoptive family like NOW. 
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Feb 5, 2010 01:51
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AAAAAAAAH NO NO NO NO I have a cat! And two ferrets! And one of my ferrets is partially paralyzed and needs a lot of extra care while she's recovering! (And we already take the ferrets to a really great local exotic vet and we have a bedroom that the cat and ferrets aren't allowed in at all and we use wood stove pellets and fleece for the ferrets' litter and bedding and I know where to get coroplast and we only live a couple of blocks from this really cheap fruit and vegetable place and and and and and...)
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Feb 5, 2010 03:58
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Oh, I don't need anyone to play devil's advocate for me, I know exactly what taking this guy on would entail. We're currently trying to get off of the Treadmill of Perpetual Ferret Acquisition, since there's a drat good chance we may be moving to CA or NYC in a year and a half, where they're illegal. And we feel bad enough about THAT. That being said, I visited him again today and oh my goodness he is cute.  He ate cilantro on my lap! Also I took some video of him.  If he's not adopted this weekend, I'm going to make a little sign for his cage saying what his favorite veggies are to make sure that whoever adopts him gets that info.
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Feb 5, 2010 20:47
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I may have convinced a currently pet-less acquaintance to enter the Cult of the Cavy. She MIGHT be interested in adopting Rocco. This would be perfect, as I would be able to fuss over him and buy him vegetables and design his C&C cage and make sure he's being taken care of and visit him, but I wouldn't have to keep him safe from my various predators or make sure that he has space even if we have to move to NYC in a year and a half. Even if she wouldn't completely spoil the gently caress out of him like I would, I feel like with my meddling, she could be in the top 10-15% of guinea pig owners. (if guinea pig owners are anything like ferret owners, I know that's not saying much, but still)
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Feb 10, 2010 03:47
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| # ¿ May 1, 2024 16:26 |
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Well, it's been an interesting day. I brought my camera in to the SPCA to take better pictures of Rocco. Unfortunately, when I went into the other room to check on the rats, a guy who - according to security camera footage - had been wandering around checking the place out for a while apparently managed to find where I'd hidden it, stuff it into his jacket pocket, and leave. I really, really hate humans sometimes. BUT. Just as I was getting ready to storm off home, miserable, a family came in to see Rocco. They'd been interested in getting a pair of guinea pigs that was already bonded, but their daughter just fell in love with Rocco's PetFinder profile... and then when they came in, he was the only one left unadopted! Apparently they'd been coming in and out for quite a while, while I was reviewing security camera footage, in order to see if he was willing to come out of his hide so they could see him. They didn't have vegetables, though, so he didn't... but then I showed up, and I took him out of the cage so they could see him, and let the kids touch him after they'd sanitized their hands. And let them feed him the dill that I brought. The parents and I talked for a long time about guinea pig stuff. They seemed to have REALLY done their research. They were already planning to build him a big C&C cage BEFORE I even mentioned anything. They haven't owned guinea pigs before, but one of the daughter's friends has some, so they're familiar with what's required for their care and housing. We discussed where to get cubes and coroplast locally, which herbs and vegetables Rocco likes best, the advantages of different substrates, the best vet/source for good pellets and hay... everything. I am 99.9% sure that they will adopt him. And while I'm kind of sad that he's not being adopted by a friend who'll let me visit all the time, I also feel like this family is going to be his forever home, and will be able to put more time and effort and money into his care than almost ANYBODY who could possibly have taken him. So here, taken by the cell phone camera that is now my ONLY camera, is a picture of the very lucky Rocco with the adorable little girl that's almost certainly going to be feeding him veggies very soon. 
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Feb 12, 2010 02:32
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