Munchings and adventures at the capital, Part II

Tian Tian the giant panda

Presenting more photo highlights from yours truly, the Cali Cavy Collective in Washington D.C.!

One of our favorite places is of course, the National Zoo. Whee encountered a variety of animals there, such as Tian Tian and Mei Xiang the giant pandas. Tian Tian is the male panda pictured above, Mei Xiang is the female pictured below. They were both gnawing away at giant fruit popsicles, which must have been quite refreshing in the heat and humidity.

Munchings and adventures at the capital

THROUGH TRUCKS PROHIBITED ON GUINEA RD

Here's photo highlights from the Cali Cavy Collective's adventures in our nation's capital, Washington D.C.! (Please click to enlarge any pictures you find of interest, the small icons do them no justice.)

Virginia is our sort of place, they even named this lovely tree lined street "Guinea Road" to honor all piggies! It was one of the first things whee saw, no joke! Whee begged our humans for our own personal "Guinea Road" street sign, but to no avail. Because apparently that would not be legal. Piggy sighs. Such a pity, that would have looked perfect hanging on the side of our cage, and been such a lovely souvenir.

Hay Solutions: Vertical hay rack

Hay is an essential staple of every guinea pig's diet, and should be available for your piggy to munch on freely at all times. One of the things an owner has to decide is how to give hay to their guinea pig. Whee here at the Cali Cavy Collective have experimented with many different methods of hay dispensing and would like to share our experiences with each method.

Revy munching hay from her vertical hay rack

A vertical hay rack is our humans most recent solution to dispensing hay. Ours is a simple DIY version made from bent C&C grids, coroplast and zip ties. It is secured onto the side of the cage with a large binder clip for easy removal.

Piggy Pics of the Day: Piggy with a bow

Coppy in her cuddle cup

Pigtures of Coppy looking adorably festive in a sparkly red ribbon...because there are few things cuter than a guinea pig wearing a bow!

Piggy Poems: Steve's Poem

Me, gazing at Steve's pigture where he is wishing I was there, wishing he was here

Wheek, it's me, Truffle! Today I wanted to share with you all a poem that Steve composed. Steve is my piggy suitor, and a very handsome, thoughtful boar. Like me, he is crested and has white, red, and agouti fur - see, whee are perfect for each other!

Piggy Songs: Volume III

One of our humans has been going through a Broadway musical phase lately so whee cavies have been listening to lots of Broadway classics. Obviously though, humans versions of songs leave a lot to be desired. It is indisputable that we pigs simply do everything better!

Can you guess this latest Piggy Song that Poof and Peaches came up with?

♫ Anything Poof can eat,
Peach can eat faster.
Peach can eat anything
Faster than Poof.

LolPig Peaches is too big for her pigloo

Peaches ate so much, she outgrew her pigloo!

Piggy Pics of the Day: Playing with the plums

Coppy, Sharky and baby Morry on the pigloo

Our humans have fruit trees growing in their backyard (along with a wide assortment of flowers, vines, bushes, vegetables, herbs and weeds). Apparently gardening does take some maintenance, but the upside is that whee get to enjoy the benefits of fresh, organic, pesticide-free home grown produce!

Piggy Pics of the Day: Sleeping piggy feet

Poof shows off her cute but unmatched socks

As anybody who has a guinea pig knows, whee piggies spend a lot of time sleeping! What can we say, napping is great, especially when we can stretch out our piggy feet after a large veggie meal.

Psst.. click on the pigtures to enlarge them!

Hay Solutions: Litter box

Hay is an essential staple of every guinea pig's diet, and should be available for your piggy to munch on freely at all times. One of the things an owner has to decide is how to give hay to their guinea pig. Whee here at the Cali Cavy Collective have experimented with many different methods of hay dispensing and would like to share our experiences with each method.

Litter boxes are one common method used by many guinea pig owners. These are plastic tubs readily available at pet stores in varying sizes, but are typically more associated with rabbits or cats. When choosing a tub, remember to keep the height and sides of the box in mind so it is not too high for your piggy to climb in!

Hopping about

Before whee moved, our humans had a living room that was sectioned off by couches so we could free range during our out-of-cage playtime. They put a 2x3 C&C grid cage in the center of this area with hay, food, water and pigloos. Since all of us are pretty adept at hopping up and down the stairs in our regular cage, they left one side of it open so we could come and go as we pleased. Us piggies would nibble, drink, poop or sleep inside the open enclosure, then hop out to go exploring.

Piggy Pics of the Day: Peaches nose nuzzling

Peaches greets her girl slave

Out of all of us guinea pigs, Peaches is one of the friendliest towards humans. She does not like all humans (and harbors a particular dislike for strangers, smokers and anybody wielding a jangling set of keys), however she is quite sociable with our human slaves.

Piggy Pics of the Day: Agouti Sisters

Belka and Truffle holding hands/paws

As babies

Here are pigtures of Belka and Truffle as baby guinea pigs grazing on the lawn for the first time while Coppy looks on. (See them with baby Peaches here.)

Piggy Pics of the Day: Posing with the piggy purse

Whee quite like this handmade guinea pig wallet clutch that our humans brought back from the OCCH Pignic last month. Its lavender with white polka dots and features a black and white piggy with Dutch markings. But most importantly, the front states "My heart belongs to my guinea pigs". Since our girl slave is the one using it, whee can assure you that this is very true!

Secrets of Fleece Bedding for Guinea Pigs Revealed: Part II, Selection and Preparation

Our bedding storage closet (fleece on the bottom, towels on the top)

Here's Part II of our Secrets of Fleece Bedding Revealed mini series! (For Part I click here.) In this post, we will outline where to find fleece, what type of fleece you should buy, and how to prepare it.

Preparation is the most important step to using fleece bedding because if prepared improperly, the fabric will fail to wick away moisture from the surface to the absorbent layer of towels underneath. That means any liquids whee piggies produce will stay on top of the fleece, and nobody wants wet piggy bottoms!

Help needed for 175+ abandoned guinea pigs!

"This is one of the pigs we took from the shelter today. He has very bad mange mites but he is eating. With some Ivermectin he will be ok" -OC Cavy Haven. Image courtesy of OCCH

Over 175 guinea pigs were dumped by a hoarder at Baldwin Park Animal Shelter in Los Angeles this week. Many of these abandoned piggies are sick, pregnant and suffering from malnutrition. According to the shelter, there may still be more pigs coming in from the same person.

Three guinea pig rescues have come together to pull these pigs out from the high-kill shelter, which is ill equipped to deal with pigs in general - let alone in such staggering numbers. However, the needy piggies aren't out of the woods yet, and these rescues need help!