Guinea pig Plushies

These are our latest super cute hand made guinea pig plushies! Their listings, with even more photos, can be found in our etsy store.

There are only ONE of each - so grab your favourite now to avoid disappointment!

We will release this pattern for sale later in the month if you'd like to have a go at making some yourself as well. I'll post a link when the pattern is finally in PDF format :)

plushie pigs

We're sewing again! (its about time, our guinea pig section on our website is a little sparse!)

I thought I'd dust off my more realistic plushie pig design and see about possibily releasing it as a PDF pattern for instant download. I wanted to make sure it was still a functional design - and make a few tweaks first though. So this week we're in the process of sewing up a family batch of adult-sized pigs and bubba-sized pigs.

This was the first one to be finished. We'll post the rest of the photos when we have them all finished!

bubba growth updates

Walnut as a newborn (above) and Walnut at 5weeks old (2 photos below). 

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Pecan as a newborn (above) and Pecan at 5 weeks (2 photos below). 

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Lucy as a 3-day old (above) and Lucy at nearly 2 months old (2 photos below). 

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Bonny and Clyde as newborns (above), and Bonny at 3 weeks old (3 photos below). 

And Clyde at 3 weeks (in the next 4 photos). We just discovered he has a bizarrely marked eye too. I had assumed it was just a black eye with a pink rim - but he has a funny eyeliner effect going on! And a pretty half/half face (see last photo).

Heat Stroke

Last weekend we nearly lost poor Kobe. 

She didn't cope well with the heat on Sunday and ended up with heat stroke. Stupidly I didn't realise till later in the day because she's not the most active pig at the best of times, and I thought she was just resting. When we figured out what was happening she was already at the floppy/unable to stand stage. 

A hell of a lot of TLC (tepid baths and rehydration) got her through the night, and Monday she slowly improved with regular feeds of soggy whizzed up pellet mix and some dissolved honey for energy - a similar idea to critter care.

She still had very little energy and just curled into a ball to sleep whenever I wasn't feeding her - barely moving. We thought she was going to die and my 5yr old actually said her goodbyes.

I felt so stupid for not recognising the signs of heat stroke in guinea pigs (watch for drooling, not eating anymore, laying still/unable to stand, floppy tone when picked up). There are some WONDERFUL websites online to help with what to do if you find yourself in this situation too. I honestly thought I was on top of this summer heat business - but I got too confident. 

It took a good 48 hours before she was moving around much at all. I got desperate and thought I'd try and add a baby pig (Lucy) to see if it would perk Kobe up a bit. Instead she actually got quite agressive and chased Lucy around. I've never seen Kobe do this before - and started to worry she'd had some brain damage from the heat stroke. But after a few minutes I think she got too tired to chase Lucy any more and settled down to nibble some grass on her own - HUGE progress!

Thankfully Kobe continued to improve, and today she's doing much better. She re-claimed her padded bed (she LOVES soft things!!!), and started to get a bit more of her appetite back.

 I think she might just be ok!

Pecan, Cruise and Walnut

On monday afternoon (27th October) we had a stinking hot day that culminated in a pretty full on afternoon summer storm. During that storm, Buttons gave birth to three gorgeous bubs.

'Pecan' is a sweet little lady in chocolate agouti, gold and white. She weighed 90g at birth.

Cruise is similar colouring to his sister - chocolate agouti gold and white again, but more agouti, less gold. He weighed 100g at birth.

And Walnut (below) was 95g at birth. She is cinnamon agouti, cream and white.

All babies have stunning big droopy ears and will grow long coats. Cruise has a rosette placement most similar to his dad - my guess is his coat will mostly grow towards his rump. Pecan's rosettes are more peruvian-looking then anything. Her coat will grow over her face. And Walnut is most like her mum - her coat will grow in multiple directions, similar to a sheba. It will be a delight to watch them mature.

Lucy and Luck - 3 days old

Little Lucy and Luck at 3 days old.

These healthy little bubs have packed on 20g in 3 days. That's a huge amount considering their size! (To put it in perspective, you can expect a healthy growing adolescent cavy to gain about 25-30g a week!)

Lucy and Luck - newborn guinea pigs

Last night we had a storm roll over our house. I was just cleaning up in the kitchen when it occurred to me that I should check on Abby (who was due the day before), to see if the storm had brought on her labour (something to do with the change in air-pressure tends to bring about labour in guinea pigs who are already close to delivery anyways). Sure enough, she was making the tiny hiccup-like motions and licking at her bottom. About 1min later a slimey white bub emerged.

Abby cleaned her up quickly and like a pro considering this was her first litter. Bub no. 2 was born a few minutes later. She didn't see to him as quickly, preferring to turn back to the first bub to continue cleaning her (this is a common first-time mum mistake). So I pulled the membrane off the second bubs face so he could breathe while he waited for mum to get back to him. It didn't take her long to remember that he needed a bit of attention too.

Both bubs are a good size - the first born girl was 105g and the boy 100g. Nice strong babies who were standing and walking within 10mins of birth too. I've seen so many babies born weak and wobbly over the years that it's always such a relief to see them stand up.

This is little 'Lucy' at about 1hr old last night.

First thing this morning my 5yr old daughter and I were down at the guinea pig cage checking on the little family and giving them their morning cuddles. Bubs were all clean and white, dry and fluffy! They both have beautiful markings - the dominant white through their coats is due to the roan-gene from their dad. Lucy has cinnamon agouti eye-patches while Luck has a bit of gold/black. I counted approx 12 rosettes on little Luck earlier today - the boy is going to be a stunner!

No particular breed on these two siblings, just very cute, very healthy little pets.