Missing two of my special little guys a lot lately... Pye was rescued from a disgusting petshop/backyard breeder, who bred texels to stock their own store. But their animals were riddled with coccidiosis, and were placed for sale despite being deathly thin and dying. When my friend Cheryl saw Pye and his friend Amber, she could NOT leave them to die. She managed to liberate the two tiny piggies and bring them to my shelter for the care they needed. Darling little Pye needed 3 courses of coccidiostat before he received the all clear to coccidiosis. He was a very lucky little man...I miss his adorable fuzzy face :( This pic of Pye was taken 4.5 years ago, when he was tiny, and after his 3rd course of Baycox to get rid of his horrid coccidiosis. Bingo was one of 17 boars and 6 sows (and a handful of tiny babies) from a very, very sad case of accidental backyard breeding at the hands of a well-meaning owner who was totally ignorant to the needs of these animals. Originally one very pregnant sow was acquired by the owner - the sow gave birth to two babies, one was obviously a male, and the rest is history. The numbers grew out of control, the animals were released into the backyard where there was soon nothing left for them to eat. They were fed a diet of dried pasta and bird seed. Babies were being taken by ravens. Finally the owner chose to do something - she advertised the guinea pigs for sale as Ego pets (I suspect she meant Eco pets) - because they could keep your grass mowed, and they had been trained by her dog to run and hide (ie. terrorised by the dog). Between our Ballarat shelter and Chuffnut, we mounted the rescue. At first glance, it was found that all of the animals were suffering severe mange and fungal infections, and many had serious bites wounds and eye injuries. All females were pregnant, and tiny babies were sick. None of these animals had been touched by human hands in years. Bingo was perhaps 3-4 months old on arrival, and was totally wild (as they all were!). Yet within 2 days, this crazy, feral piggy suddenly changed - he developed an instant trust in me, allowing me to pick him up and walk around with him in my arms, and he would then go to sleep in my hands. This pic of Bingo was taken over 5 years ago...he is such a poser! I miss my gorgeous fuzzy Pye and my cheeky spikey-dude Bingo every single day. No, they have not crossed rainbow bridge...they were kindly taken into foster care about 12 months ago when I had to desperately move animals from my work place back to the shelter in a great hurry. They have never come home, and I havent had the heart to ask the dear lady who is caring for them to please let them come home... I just want to give my special boys a hug :( :(
Posted on: Mon, 15 Dec 2014 13:01:07 +0000