Happy Halloween!

WHEEK wheek! Trick or treat! Give us something green to eat!

Our C&C fleece cage home upgrades

Whee guinea pigs got upgraded from our previous cage setup this week, and have been enjoying exploring our new home. It's true what they say, the bigger your piggy's cage, the healthier and happier he/she will be! We agree that it is now mansion sized, but we are still waiting on a more palatial upgrade. Can you spot us in the pigture above?

Guinea Pig DIY Hideaway Tent

Have extra grids and fleece lying around from building your guinea pigs a C&C cage? Don't let those spare parts go to waste, try building a fun cage accessory for your cavies to play and hide in! Today we wanted to share our easy DIY hideaway tent. Plus, it's practically free.

Poof's Piggy Transformation Magic Act

Yesterday, Poof the wizard astounded us with her pumpkin transformation magic trick. Today, she told us she would be transforming us piggies into a guinea pig plushie.

Poof the Magical Wizard Piggy

Who is the mysterious piggy standing on that stage? Why, its Poof! This year, Poof is dressing up as a guinea pig wizard for Halloween. She put on a fun magic show for us earlier, whee were quite impressed.

X-rays of a healthy guinea pig

Belka

Sometimes, extra diagnostic tests are necessary to rule out potential factors that may be ailing your guinea pig. X-rays are commonly used when the cause of your cavy's discomfort is not obviously apparent or easily spotted. A set of x-rays can show things such as bladder stones, an enlarged heart, and accumulated fluids around the lungs. With a cavy savvy vet, these are all treatable conditions - if they are caught early enough.

An experienced cavy vet or radiologist should not need to put your piggy under anesthesia. Clear x-rays of Peaches and Belka were taken, even though both were feisty, stubborn, muscular and quite determined to get away. However, it did take several tries, and two people to hold on!

These are Belka's x-rays, taken earlier this month during one of her trips to the vet. Our vet did not find anything amiss on these - no bladder stones, fluid buildup around her lungs, or signs of an enlarged heart.

Belka and Truffle, Partners in Crime

Sisters Belka and Truffle teamed up for their Halloween outfits as Cowpigs of the Wild West! Once again, Truffle donned her favorite cowboy hat while Belka chose to sport her signature sombrero.

Belka, Sombrero Bandit

Matching her sister Truffle, Belka is also masquerading as a cowpig in the Wild West for Halloween.

Truffle the Carrot-Lassoing Cowpig

For Halloween this year, Truffle is dressing up as a cowboy - err, cowgirl - or should that be cowpig? Whee like her guinea pig sized cowboy hat because we think it matches her fur quite well.

Coppy and Poof, the two sides of a cavy's conscience

Coppy: Be kind and share your food with your other piggy friends!

Last Halloween, Coppy and Poof dressed up as the two sides of a cavy's conscience.

Captain Peaches Meets Revy the Pirate

Revy : *crunch crunch munch munch munch*
Peaches: Hey! Those are MY carrots!

Intent upon retrieving her pirates booty, Revy the Pirate launched an offensive upon Captain Peaches ship. She invaded the USS Lettuce, pillaging it of all the carrots stored in its hold.

Revy the Pirate, Swashbuckling Cavy at Sea

After being defeated by the valiant Captain Peaches, the sea monster sulkily floundered back to its master, the infamous swashbuckling scalawag guinea pig known as Revy the Pirate.

Captain Peaches, Sailor Pig on the Rough Seas

For Halloween, Peaches has decided to dress up as a sailor pig. She is captain of the USS Lettuce, pictured in the background. Peaches will be embarking upon a journey to sail across the Cavian Sea in search of the Endless Fountain of Food.

Belka's Misfortunes & A Letter From Truffle

Dear Belka,
How are you? I just wanted to tell you that I miss you lots. Even though I may deliver the occasional nip or chase you around for fun, you are still my beloved sister. Daily mealtime squabbles just aren't the same without you. Poof and Peaches are here of course, but they're not you. 


Our humans told us that you had gone downhill quickly after switching to a different antibiotic to treat your URI. Suspecting an antibiotic intolerance, they rushed you off to the vet, whom promptly decided to discontinue all medications until your tummy returned to normal. Now it is a week later and you still aren't pooping much or eating on your own, making the humans hand feed you every few hours. Why won't you eat or drink by yourself? Eating all the food by myself isn't half as fun as stealing yours, if I promise to share will you come back and start eating again like normal? I'll even give you a head start on my lettuce. And why won't you poop? Our humans are still force feeding you but you can't possibly be eating all of them...


Please get better soon. I miss you.


Love, your sister
Truffle

Belka & Truffle

And now, a word from our sponsors - aka the humans, whom have more of the story than any of us piggies do.

Waiting for dinner and showing off my piggy tongue

"Mmm, something smells delicious!"

Sometimes whee piggies get to watch our food being prepared in the kitchen. However, the downside is that this makes us even more hungry and impatient than usual, since we can hear every plastic bag rustling and the sound of veggies being sliced for us!

Where'd all the food go?

"Where'd all the food go??"

Sometimes (okay, usually), our humans just can't feed us fast enough... whee don't even know where all the corn husks disappeared to!

Piggy Songs: Volume IV

Here's another piggy song, sung (squeaked? wheeked?) by the musical loving sows of the Cali Cavy Collective. Whee have titled it "Over the Cage Bars". Hope you enjoy it!

Here are the lyrics, can you guess what the humans version of this is called?

Pumpkin House Hideaway

Peek-a-boo! Peaches sees you

For October, our humans surprised us with this fall themed pumpkin house! As you can see from the pigtures, it is a snuggly cotton and fleece hideaway with a side entrance and removable top. Inside there is a cushioned pad for us to lounge about in that is easily removed for washing. Apparently our humans purchased this from Sewing 4 A Cause several months ago, so we piggies don't know why they didn't give it to us before now. Hmph.

Hay Solutions: On the cage floor

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.

Offering hay to your guinea pigs by spreading it on the floor of their cage is perhaps the most straightforward solution to dispensing hay. Just take care not to let any wayward strands land in your piggy's eye when you're giving them some!

Give us our carrot tops already!

Our humans brought us home a treat of carrot tops.. but they made us work for it! Whee tried pulling the cute card and stood on our hind legs to beg for the tasty leaves. Piggy slaves can't resist our adorable piggy tummies :)