Gertie's Gossip 17 Update - Part 2
Intakes - Miss Gertie
Most days Mam and Aunty Karen don't know what day it is - so we thought we would remind you of some of the intakes we have had over the last few months. Early 2019 saw us fill up quickly, and Nana and Pops arrived with their many generations of family - showing just how quickly a mis-sex situation can get out of paw..... It wasn't that the owners hadn't done the right thing and at one stage even a vet had sexed some of them wrongly.
From these two beautiful piggies the intake ended up at 13 piggies. With a number of them being born in rescue.
What a mix of colours they gave us. One thing that became a common theme all the boars from this intake were pretty dominant.
We were already looking pretty full as we headed towards Easter.
In the spring we saw the intake of two large groups of sows. We had one set abandoned in a garden when their owners just moved out without them. An eagle eyed neighbour spotted them running around and called us. To this day we do not understand why - as they were well cared for guinea pigs.
The other large group came to us after a change of circumstances meant they could no longer kept. These two intakes totalled 14 sows. We had to go about sensible groupings so we could find them homes...
Mam and Karen always feel a weight of responsibility around getting the splits right.... It was especially more difficult where we have no history on the piggies.
Miss Edith was all for doing a cosmopolitan magazine style personality type quiz - and interview style questions to sort out the matches - but I'm pleased to say we ignored her and went for a more practical watching behaviours and interaction approach.
What was interesting was how the dynamics of a large herd changes as you take piggies out of the group. Pigs that once got on suddenly took a dislike to each other and we had this on a couple of occasions where we had to split groupings down further to accommodate characters. This meant hard hats on and building works to accommodate them all. With Miss Edith saying I told you to use a personality quiz.....
We also saw the arrival of some boars - Wogan and Pablo - the bickering boars who arrived with us when their owners were moving and couldn't take them along. We did try to keep the boys as a pair, and increased their space to see if that helped them - but they constantly bickered.... So again we made the tough decision to split them - Miss Edith didn't suggest any quiz this time but did suggest she move in with of them - but just could not decide if she preferred Wogan or Pablo.
Rasa was another lovely addition and had been a lone boar who just needed company... his owners did not want to adopt another boar and so for Rasa's sake he arrived at Gertie's to find a friend. Such a gentle lovely boar he was an instant hit here.
Summer saw us take in 2 pregnant sows from 2 different homes. Mrs Pepperpot (a mis-sex case) and Mary Poppins (who someone saved from gumtree when she was put up for offer and was obviously pregnant) she arrived with two young boars from her previous litter (Felix and Walt).
Between the two pregnant sows we had the joy of 4 baby boars and 1 baby sow.... We had hoped for all girls.... but the odds went against us big time!
Pregnant sows always bring mum and Karen mixed emotions. There is nothing more wonderful that seeing the arrival of new life arrive in the world. On the other paw it is also very stressful when it goes wrong. Mrs Pepperpot certainly fell in the latter category.... and saw Karen turn into the naked midwife.... as she came out the shower and noticed a difficult labour had started on Gertie Cam.... Dashing to help she had no time to worry about dignity and she lost her towel in the grapple to remove the birthing sacks off the babies.In a perfect world the mum would do this - but Mrs Pepperpot was a bit overwhelmed by it all.
Karen's face when Miss Edith told her we had been watching live on Gertie Cam was a picture, to this day she does not know what we did and didn't see in those frantic moments!
Alongside the more dramatic intakes we had others who just needed a space. Theodore arrived having been part of a 3 boar fall out and was living a very lonely life.
Larry Potter was another arrival due to a mis-sex case.
Mathilda and Stormzy the rapping pig arrived, again as part of a mis-sex situation.
3 sows arrived (Paloma, Dusty and Constance) when their owner was highly allergic to them - Having waited so long to own guinea pigs the young girl could then not even go anywhere near them and despite trying all sorts of remedy's her parents had to decide what was for the best.
We collected Dexter Dave and Sargent Carrot expecting a pair of boars (we had one pen only available) and arrived to find they had a massive fall out a few weeks before and were 2 single boars - and with Sargent Carrot with a very nasty infected wound. The owner was moving back to Poland so they had been an urgent intake and again we had to expand our cages. But who can resist Dexter Dave's smile...... or Sargent Carrot's tales of the Battle of the Carrot and his war wounds ?
Toffee and Chewie are probably one of the most difficult pick ups we have done - Real bad luck had hit their owners and we promised them we would help as soon as we could. How sad we felt for them all - They were loved piggies and the circumstance meant they needed a new home. It was heartbreaking.
Returning Piggies
We are always sad to see piggies return to us and this Summer we have seen the return of some Gertie's Piggie's for various reasons. The good thing about adopting from rescue is all our piggies have life long support from us - so when things don't work out they will always have space with us and sometimes we do know situations change and piggies fall out.
Stout - one of Marge's babies returned as he fell out with his companion Ted when he hit the dreaded teens. We were very luck that we were able to match Ted up with Teddy another Gertie's resident so it was like multi coloured swap shop...... Miss Edith said Karen was just like Noel Edmond's with her facial hair......
Snicky and Rosie arrived back in rescue when their home were no longer able to keep them due to allergies and poor heath.
We also saw Connie and Beatrice return - they had been bonded with another pair when they were adopted from us ...Thistle and Popcorn - and so we offered all four a space when again allergies meant they could not remain with the adopter.
Miss Edith said she hopes you have made notes and now feel on top of some of the piggies who have been here in rescue during the summer.......She may test you at any time...
Our next blog will happily move us to the adoptions that we have had over the summer - things went really quiet for a while and we were totally grid locked with piggies - but thankfully we have had some brilliant homes in the last couple of months and things are looking much brighter.
Despite all the intakes we have managed to accommodate - our waiting list for rescue space still remains at a ridiculous level and our little hearts bleed for those piggies who just need space to come and find a new home. It really is so sad.
Miss Edith points out to anyone who will listen, all the potential boar intakes we could have, and often cuts and pastes them to the top of the list - scribbling urgent next to their names.... Luckily I know her game!
Miss Gertie