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Fall 1999 -- Issue #2


I was so shocked to see how many people responded to this new magazine! It has been fun to read all of the articles I have received and see all the photos of your precious cavies. This issue is much better than the first, as it is by you! There are photos, true stories, humor...basically, a little bit of everything. So print it out, grab your favorite cavy and an apple you can share, and sit down to read this issue! Have fun!
Melissa, Lilac, and Chloe
Hello Chloe and fellow piggies,
I just wanted to comment on what a great magazine this is. I had so much fun reading it! I can't wait to find out how the teddy came about. I am a one and a half year old teddy. I just love the beauty tips and pigtures; can't wait to read the next issue.
I had one question for Chloe: How do I get my slave to spend more time with me? Sometimes she just doesn't get it! One time she took me out for play time and then she went to another room. I had to call her to come back. I gave my loudest wheek and she came running back. I love spending time with her as she is my best friend. My neighbors are hamsters and they can be quite mean. The first time I went to visit "baby", she scratched my nose. Boy did that hurt, and I was bleeding too. Like I said earlier my slave is my best friend, she knows how to treat me and scratch me under my chin. She doesn't even mind if I have an accident once in a while. I'm pretty good now anyway 'cause I'm one now and know where to go.
Gotta go -- my slave is waking up so its time for breakfast.
Wheek wheek,
Tribble :o)
Tribble,
Thank you for your letter!
The best way to get more attention from your owner is to get injured. It's true! I don't recommend it, but humans are good at babying when it comes to you being sick.
Okay, well, that's not the best tip. So I guess a better tip is to tell you to just learn how to play it cute. Every time she walks by your cage, put your paws up on the side of the cage and stick your nose up as high in the air as you can. If she passes you by or ignores you, put on your saddest little dejected puppy-dog face. You can practice these when she's not around. Or start chattering your teeth -- that's crying in piggy talk for those of you humans who are reading our magazine.
Good luck!

Cavy Fun House

by Seitapirtti
I am a guinea pig who loves to play. My sawdust people made a great set up for my sister Mouton DuVernet and me, and I decided to share it so guinea pigs across the world can have fun with it too. For this project, you will need a room, lawn or hallway your guinea pig can run around in. You will also need several boxes of various sizes and scissors.
Cut doorways in some boxes and turn them upside down for your guinea pig to go under. You can also make a ladder leading from the floor to the top of the box. If you have any skinny boxes, cut a hole in them and make an arch. Use round boxes to make tunnels
Set out the boxes in a creative way, making an obstacle course for your piggy. You can also add hidden food or other fun guinea pig things to your fun house. Let your piggy romp all day! They will love it, just like we did!

Cavy Ornaments

For your holiday tree or any time!
by R Kelly Wagner
These are made using polymer clay "Sculpey" that can be baked in the oven to harden.
You will need:
polymer clay
small glass or plastic beads in black or dark red
a toothpick
a plastic knife
First, find a simple guinea-pig shape. I traced a Hardwood Cavy I obtained through internet mail order. You could also draw a simple outline on tracing paper over a photograph or drawing. You want just the basic shape - a lima bean, eggplant, or oval with a slightly distinct head at one end.
Next, transfer your tracing to a piece of good cardboard, so that you can use it as a template over and over again. Your template should be somewhere between 2 inches and 4 inches long.
Next, roll out the polymer clay according to the instructions that come with it. I found that making a GP looks snazzy - place 3 pieces of the clay, in 2 colors, side by side, such as brown-white-brown. Then lay your template over it, and cut out a guinea pig. Use the plastic knife for this - you don't need a sharp tool. Now, take one of your black beads, and place it where the eye should be - press it in a little, but it doesn't have to go all the way through.
Take some black clay (actually, I used the metallic-charcoal-grey color that came in an assortmentof 20 colors of clay) and break off a little piece. Roll it into an oval, then sort of flatten it, and give it a slight pinch between your fingers, to form a 3-D shape that looks a lot like a contact lens! Flatten one edge slightly, and stick it to the pig body, as an ear. It should stick out from the body, just the way a real guinea pig ear does! Use the toothpick to smooth down the area where you've attached the ear, so that the "seam" blends in. Then use the toothpick to lightly carve in a hint of whiskers, nose, and mouth at the front of the piggy.
Last but not least, at the top center of the piggy, or actually a little more toward the face, not exactly in the center, about 1/3 of an inch away from the edge of the piggy body, poke a hole with the toothpick. Make sure it goes all the way through. When you pick the clay piggy up, you should be able to see through this hole.
Transfer the piggy to a baking sheet. We found that using parchment paper on our cookie sheets helped them stay clean and made it easy to remove the piggies once baked. You should use a wide, flat spatula or pancake turner to transfer the pig to the sheet. Bake according to the instructions that come with the clay - usually, about 25 to 35 minutes will bake them entirely hard.
When you remove from the oven, and let them cool, you will see how really neat the metallic-grey or metallic-black makes the ears look, and how the glass bead for the eye has stayed really shiny.
This can be done by anyone old enough to know not to put clay in their mouth, although children too young to be allowed to use the oven will want their parents' help with the baking. Otherwise, it involves no sharp tools, knives, scissors, or anything dangerous.
Last year, we made red and gold Dutch piggies, red and white, brown and white, and black with red eyes and grey ears.
Tie a piece of embroidery floss or heavy thread through the hole at the top of the pig, to use in hanging it.
Also, if you get an assortment of colors of clay, try using the wild colors for vegetables - we used the hot orange (very bright) and the lime green to make some very bright carrots, and made a loop of green clay at the top of each, along with the leaves. Then we were able to make a garland of carrots, stringing them every few inches along some embroidery floss, and hang the garland around a couple of the piggies.
How the Peruvian Got Long Hair
by Melissa Taylor, written 1997
This story goes back to the times of guillotines and similar torture devices in the middle-ages. So cover up your cavy's eyes if he or she scares too easily!
Once upon a time there was a terrible, terrible guinea pig named Harry. Harry was awful beyond words. No other guinea pig could match him, and no other guinea pig has ever been naughty. Only Harry.
One day Harry decided to go to the king's court and and ask the king for money.
"I most certainly will not grant you money," the king said. "You have done nothing for me, so I shall do nothing for you."
This upset Harry very much. "I have done nothing?! How dare you say that to me!" Harry raged. "What have I not done, sire? I have lived in your terrible kingdom my entire life of two years without complaining once. I deserve some sort of monetary reward."
The king was very angered at this guinea pig. "Look at all of the other guinea pigs in my kingdom. They do not complain, they live together peacefully. Yet you are brazen enough to come here and demand money from me! Do I not clothe you?" Harry looked. As far as he could tell, he was naked, like all other guinea pigs. "Do I not give you food and especially lots of yummy Timothy hay? Nay, I will not give you any money."
This caused Harry to get very, very angry. He began to scream and wail! You have never heard such a scream, except from a guinea pig that is in very much pain or is at the veterinarian's and not very happy about it. That is the sort of yell that Harry yelled.
"Guards, take this ninny away!" The king ordered. The guards came in their suits of armor and carted the guinea pig away to a torture-chamber. Was Harry ever shocked! And scared, too! How dare they do this to him!
When the guards got down into the dungeon they were very, very confused. They had been ordered to put the cavy into a torture device where the hair on a person's head goes in one end and the feet in the other, so that the person stre-e-e-e-tches...ouch! It hurts me just to think about it! But they could not find where the guinea pig's hair began and where his feet began or ended, since he wasn't a human.
"What shall we do?" One of the guards asked.
"We were asked to put him on this machine for three days. I guess we will just have to improvise," the other replied.
"Whatever you are doing, hurry up. I am getting bored. Thank you," Harry reminded them that he was there.
"Yes, yes, we know you are there. Very well," one guard said, "we will just have to hook either side to his hair. That's what we will have to do, I suppose."
This made Harry very impatient, but they finally got his hair divided down the middle...very much like Abby Sinian's mother did for her in an earlier story. Anyway, they did that, and then they turned the machine on.
Oh, was it ever painful! Harry yelled in pain. He yelled a lot, so the king could probably hear him upon his throne, and probably it made him wish he had just sent the guinea pig away into the wilderness. Nevertheless, Harry was left there for three days.
When the guards came back after his sentence, they were astonished. Instead of pulling the hair out of the roots or making Harry stretch, they noticed that Harry's hair had grown very, very long.
"I guess it sped up the growth," one guard said to the other.
"I guess so," the other guard said. "What will we do about this?"
"Simple," Harry said. "I have a business plan...a lot of the girl cavies I know would jump and wheeek! at the chance to get this sort of hair-do. We can open a hair-salon, and then I can make my own money instead of demanding it from the king."
He presented his idea to the king, who readily agreed with the ingenious guinea pig. "And, dear Harry, I am very sorry for yelling at you. No guinea pig deserves that treatment."
And that's the truth.
[Don't try this at home! Turning a short-haired guinea pig into a Peruvian only works in fairy-tales.]
Stories in future issues: "How the Guinea Pig Got its Wheeek!" and "How Teddy Guinea Pigs Came to Be."
On Sunday, April 25, my dear sweet Lucy gave birth to the most adorable litter of pure white American ruby-eyed babies...the tiniest one, we called "Sugar," for Sugar Ray Leonard the fighter. She was so small, and couldn't even stand up. We fed her with an eye dropper, and put a heat lamp on her, but even at that, she was just too weak.
My husband and I had to leave on a planned vacation to the Carribean and left Lucy and the babies with my good friend Keli. Keli was sick, and so her friend Joan stayed up nights with Sugar, trying to help her get strong, but Sugar was just too weak. We all gave Sugar our permission to cross the Rainbow Bridge, and she passed quietly.
We will always remember sweet little Sugar, and she will forever have a place in our hearts. Joan planted a white rosebush over the place in the garden where she is buried.
I would also like to say "thank you" to Joan, Keli and Saydi for their excellent care for my piggies and also for their friendship.
Good-bye, Sugar! (^..^)
Love,
Mommy (Teresa -- mommy of Ricky, Lucy and Snowflake and the babies Larry, Curly and Moe)

Violet's Scrapbook

Violet's scrapbook is a non-fictional account of the two weeks following a pet guinea pig's death, written by Melissa Taylor. Where "..." appears, portions have been removed from the original.

August 6, 1995

I don't know if animals go to Heaven when they die
But if they do, Violet, I'll see you by and by
You'll be all well again,
Free from pain.
Your blonde fur will shimmer and be free
You'll be just the way you used to be
A little baby, quiet and quick,
Always playing a silly trick.
But if animals, instead, merely cease to exist
You'll still never really die
Because forever and ever, my friend,
Your memory lives on in my mind.
...
Just this morning I thought of a time long ago when I let Violet out on my lap. I was crying, and she licked up my tears, which really made me laugh. I think animals really hate to see us cry. She always looked concerned when I did (honestly and truly!). I wonder what she'd think now?
It really didn't hit me until today that she's really, truly dead. I'm still somewhat in shock. This morning I nearly prayed for God to help her [feel better], but caught myself and instead prayed that if animals go to Heaven, remember she loves lettuce, carrots, alfalfa, and the occasional apple [as treats]...
Oh, but I miss her so much! I even miss feeding her her diuretic by syringe. I miss how much she loved life enough to fight (she quit eating only two days before she died).
It's hard to remember her as a little baby, but the few memories I hold are dear. Since I had her since the age of nine, she was with me through many hard years...I just wish animals had the same life-spans as we do! It would be great! Just think, no more crying! I bet some people would get tired of their pets, but I wouldn't.
I still miss Violet. It was just yesterday that she left this world. It's already hard to remember my life with her. I wish I had a book of all her exploits, written as they happened. It would be so much fun to read. I also wish I could find more pictures of her. So far I've only found two -- one of her young, and one of her old. But I wish I could find her baby pictures!
I didn't want to get another guinea pig. It's not that I didn't love Violet -- it's that I didn't feel like replacing her. Guinea pigs all look the same, except for hair length (and rosettes) and color. And I didn't want to have to re-use her cage...
Violet, other than a few cranky times, was really a loving pet. Now I just feel really bad because I read that guinea pigs are social creatures and need to live with each other. I didn't give her enough attention!
But I can't worry about that now, because it's too late. Besides, she wouldn't have fought so hard for life if she had been depressed, lonely, or sad. Her life truly is an inspiration. I loved being her nurse. I would have done it endlessly. I loved helping her and giving her the medicine. The last few months of her life were very special to me, and enhanced our relationship. I only wish we'd had more time together.
Continued in future issues.

Litter-Training Your Guinea Pigs

You need:
1) Plastic triangle litter-box - this is made by Fancy-Pet, and it runs anywhere from $5-8.
2) Cat-litter - I use clay, non-clumpable cat-litter. Yesterday's News is good, but I've found that my animals will eat it. Litter *can* hurt a guinea's feet, so make sure it does not have any sharp pieces in it, and that your piggie doesn't sit in it all day.
3) Patience

Place the box in the corner your guinea pig uses most. Don't use too much litter because guinea pigs kick when they get out of the box. You can keep aspen shavings in their cage still, where the litter-box isn't. My Lilac, who was once trained, will not "go" outside of her cage. If your guinea pig is like this, hold it a while, and when you think it has to go to the bathroom, put it in the litter-box. After the guinea pig does its duty, give it praise and/or a treat. Keep doing this until your guinea pig is trained.
Lilac is no longer trained (due to an easier method I found), but she was good enough at her box-using that I keep a pillow-slip in the bottom of her cage instead of shavings. She liked walking on that surface a lot better than shavings. HOWEVER -- make sure your guinea pig's nails are trimmed if you decide to do this, because they could get stuck in the material (also make sure the material is very dense and sewn together tightly).
Another pointer: Make sure you use the hooks on the back of the litter-box! A frightened guinea pig will move the box and hide behind it. They are silly, but they will think of all sorts of ways to hide! :o)
[This article was originally posted in the GPDD a few years ago by Melissa Taylor.]

Cage Set-Up

I bought a Rubbermaid plastic container (96 qt.). The size measures 35" long x 13.5" height x 15" wide. At this height, I figured it would be safe for my piggies to leave the lid off. I drilled 1.5" holes along the sides and ends (each long side has five holes on the top row drilled 3" from the top and the second row down has four holes staggered between top holes. This second row is 5" from the bottom. Three holes are drilled in each end).
I have three babies in one and they love the amount of room they have to run around. The water bottles fit over the lip of the container. I layer newspaper in the bottom, cover it with aspen, and then put hay in the end where they don't urinate as much. When it is time to clean, I roll the newspaper up, bedding and all, and put it in a large trash bag.
The plastic container is so easy to clean! It doesn't get messed up like the bottoms of metal cages. It's very easy to wash out, dry and replace the bedding. I can clean the cage in five minutes because I don't have to scrub it like I have to scrub metal cage bottoms. (However, Casper can climb out of his so I had to drill holes in the lid of his "cage" and keep the top on it when I'm not at home. I didn't think guinea pigs could climb or jump very high. Must be part mountain goat!)
Cage idea by Lutricia Kroh

There once was a gentle guinea pig,
Who had grown up to be REALLY big;
In fact, he was large,
As big as a barge,
But he still could do the piggle-wiggle jig!
- by Lutricia Kroh
Eating Methods of a Typical Cavy
by Jean Walker
No one who is slave to a guinea pig can deny the fact that guinea pigs take eating seriously. In fact, the speed in which food goes in one end and comes out the other often appears to be more akin to food processing than the eating of a meal.
As in all things that require skill, successful piggy food processing requires several difficult maneuvers that are applied to get the job done:
Harmonica Slide: This is used when a piece of hay is picked up in the middle. It suddenly appears to slide magically to one end of the hay or the other.
Pencil Sharpener Chew: This appears to be the most commonly used processing feature. A piece of hay or small carrot is held horizontally and disappears into the mouth. It works like an electric pencil sharpener when a pencil is inserted. Unlike a pencil sharpener, however, the by-product comes out in small parcels rather than loose pieces.
Kung-Fu Toss: This is used to move and tame large, unwieldy pieces of leafy food. An occasional "Hy-ah!" can be heard when the toss is performed.
Nose Dive: A versatile move that has many uses such as picking out bottom of the dish delicacies, and surfacing hay fuzzies from the bottom of a pile of hay. Spillage can occur if caution is not used with deep dish digging.
Oreo Chew: This is used to subdue round or rectangle slices of food. Work begins on an outer edge, and with a continuing circular path around the piece, the slice is quickly diminished to nothing.
Thinking Man's (or Woman's) Chew: Most commonly used on "protein pellets," this move involves a long chewing stage accompanied by a thoughtful stare. A successful chew involves making slaves wonder what it is that could be processed for so long.

*

Guinea Pig Saved Lives
by Betty Betke

This is the true story of Leonard, a guinea pig who saved my husband and my lives by giving his own.
We lived in a beautiful log cabin, high up in the magnificent Rocky Mountains, where winter is nine months long! I was the person who everyone dumped their sick, old, and unwanted animals on (I've never met an animal that wasn't worth loving).
One day, a woman asked me if I would please take a guinea pig off her hands, but admitted that he was mean and disgusting. She brought me a gorgeous pearly white Peruvian with a large plume on his head, which he flipped Elvis-style whenever it suited him. He was very vocal, and seemed delighted to be away from those mean, disgusting people.
My husband was bedridden that winter, so I gave him the guinea pig for his special pet, hoping it would help speed his recovery. I had my hands full with the rabbits, goats, sheep, chickens, turkeys, and also two bummer babies, a sheep and a pork-type pig (a bummer baby is one that has been rejected by it's mother for a variety of reasons, and will die without human intervention).
John named his guinea pig Leonard, after his favorite musician, Leonard Cohen. One day I realized that I hadn't checked on John for a while, and the bummers were missing as well. I ran into the house and up the stairs, and as I went into the bedroom, I was stopped cold in my tracks as I saw the following scene: John was calmly sitting up in bed, with Leonard eating potato chips on his chest. Miss Piggy, the real pork-type baby pig, was leaning against one of John's legs, and Buddy, the bummer lamb, was also on the bed leaning against the other leg. They were watching "The Price is Right" with rapt attention. Only Pooch, our dog, bothered to take her eyes off the TV and look at me, and I'm sure I saw her roll her eyes! I will never forget that scene!
After that, Leonard was the only one allowed on the bed. Or in the house, for that matter! John and Leonard were fast friends, and developed a communication technique all their own. John got so much stronger and seemed so much happier, even though the weather continued to worsen. It was 25 degrees below zero for over a month, with so much snow that we had to give up any thoughts of getting to town. This wasn't really bad news, as we were nearly self-sufficient, but we hadn't expected the winter to be so cold or so long. We lived in a log cabin, and cooked and heated with wood. The snow was four to fourteen feet deep, the flakes were still flying, and I was getting nervous. We were out of wood. Then I remembered finding a bucket of coal in the root cellar. I put a lump in the fireplace and a lump in the cook stove, and the warmth spread through the house like a fuzzy blanket. We were so happy and relieved.
The next day, we added more coal, enjoying the warmth. I was glad we had the coal because we were both coming down with coughs. By that evening, our sore throats had advanced to burning eyes and that bone-tired feeling you get when a really deep sickness comes over you. We could hardly get through dinner, could barely keep our eyes open, and planned to plop into bed early. The wind was howling outside, and crawling under a quilt in our cozy little room was a very inviting thought. The last thing John did every night was to say good night to Leonard, but on this winter night, Leonard was dead.
We were horror-stricken. He ate better than most children, had no signs of stress, his little limp body was completely healthy, but dead.
Suddenly, I understood. So did John. I ran to the window and threw it open, ran to the bathroom window, too. I opened the front door and the back door, and turned on the fans that hadn't been used since summer.
We were dying of carbon monoxide poisoning! Our cozy bed would have been our death bed if Leonard hadn't been in our lives! John mourned Leonard for a long time. He refused another guinea pig, even though now I raise them and have tried to tempt him with beautiful babies.
John said it wasn't about having another guinea pig. He said that Leonard was his friend. He just happened to be a guinea pig.
Thank you, Leonard.


"Do you think my beautiful green tassle hat
goes with my designer velveteen
burgundy dress?"
(Maybe for Halloween!)


Here is Chloe, the typical tomboy,
squirming out of her dress!


These cuties are Curlie (husband)
and Sandie (wife), who are owned by
Tona Tuominen of Singapore.
They are only two of ten cavies!

If you are reading this online, this magazine issue is not finished, and is continued at http://www.angelfire.com/mi/FAST/fall99o2.html.