Saturday, May 1, 2010

MAY'S GUINEA PIG OF THE MONTH-Deputy Doofy!



Meet Deputy Doofy
from CA Rescue
Orange County Cavy Haven!

Doofy gets some snuggles

Deputy Doofy was dumped at the San Gabriel (L.A.) shelter with about fifteen other pigs in July of 2003. He was around six weeks old. The conditions at that shelter were very bad, the pigs were in filthy cages, literally sitting outside in their own waste. Most of the pigs came down with enteritis and with medication all but one survived.

We had a hard time getting them adopted because, sadly, they were looked upon by adopters as not as pretty as some of our other pigs. They were almost all brown, smooth haired, kind of 'plain' but with plenty of personality. Deputy Doofy was actually adopted twice then returned. We paired him up with Natasha in 2005 -- she was a pretty white sow who was left on one of our doorsteps in a box. The two were adopted together but sadly, returned again. Once again they were adopted and it looked like it was going to last, but early this year they were returned to OCCH, now senior pigs and unlikely to be adopted again.

We realized right away that Natasha was ill. She seemed to be getting bloated. The vet felt a mass in her abdomen and, when we could not keep her from bloating, we had the vet do emergency surgery. Sadly, Natasha died only a couple hours after surgery and poor Doofy was alone. But not for long. He now lives with Itchy, another 7 year old boar who has been in our rescue since 2003.

Doofy is now considered part of our sanctuary. We don't know what he has been through for sure, but he has some health problems we are still trying to figure out. His eyes water continuously despite several courses of antibiotic ointments and oral antibiotics. He is very arthritic and has some twisted toes as well as a very painful back. He drinks a lot of water and can't keep his weight up without hand feeding. You can tell by looking at him that he doesn't feel well. He also seems to have bladder sludge, and that can be painful.

Doofy could really use some tests to determine if there is some medication that will help him
. An x ray and urinalysis could tell us a lot about him and might just solve the mystery. We would love to be able to give Doofy the TLC he deserves in his golden years. He is a really sweet boy who seems very sad and uncomfortable. It would cost about $250 to get Doofy an exam, urinalysis and x ray.

We will be grateful to all support given. Remember, Sponsor a Guinea Pig is Where a Dollar Makes a difference! Any amount donated would be amazing. Please forward this story on!

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*Orange County Cavy Haven
2052 Newport Blvd. 6-189
Costa Mesa, CA 92627

memo "Doofy" or "SAGP." Thank you for your generosity!

2 comments:

Unknown said...

People can go to the Orange County Cavy Haven "Sponsor a Guinea Pig" page to donate to Deputy Doofy using Paypal, since the Paypal button here doesn't work.

S.B. said...

It's now working! Please donate through this site, so we can track how much has been raised specifically for Doofy via SAGP. Thanks!