MAY'S GUINEA PIG OF THE MONTH--Chocolate Eclair!

$413.23 raised so far!! WE REACHED OUR GOAL!

UPDATE: We have an offer of a matching gift of $75! If you donate $75, your gift will go twice as far!

Meet Chocolate Eclair from

North Jersey Guinea Pig and Hamster Rescue!

Five year old Chocolate Eclair (or Clair, for short) came into the rescue with three other elderly guinea pigs shortly after Christmas of 2011.  They were given up because the children in their family had gotten older and were no longer interacting with them.  The mom in the family fed them and the dad cleaned the cage every week but they didn't receive any additional attention for months.  Clair had possibly the worst case of bumblefoot I had ever seen.  This isn't something that cropped up suddenly.  It had slowly developed over many painful months.

I knew she was in agony when she arrived because she was skinny, her eyes were glassy and she was extremely reluctant to move.

We got her to the vet later that day.  He agreed that due to the severity of the infection, there was bone involvement and this was no doubt going to be a chronic and complicated condition to treat.

Within a few days of being on metacam for pain and swelling, she was becoming very difficult to catch so we knew she was feeling better.  She was also trying to dominate her cage mate which was a very good sign and after a few weeks, she started to gain weight.

She has betadine food soaks twice daily, a dose of metacam once daily for pain, silver sulfadiazine cream for the bottom of her foot, and periodic use of the antibiotic baytril as recommended by her vet.  She has monthly vet visits to monitor her condition.




We estimate the cost of her care to be approximately $80 per month.


SAGP will be fundraising for four months of Clair's care, meaning a goal of $320. Please donate or pass along Clair's story!

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*you can also log in to your paypal account, select "Send Money," and type "carlahcpa@aol.com" in to the "to field." Then select "personal" at the top tab. The default status should be "gift." Leave this as-is. Then enter your gift amount. North Jersey Hamster and Guinea Pig Rescue thanks you for going to this extra trouble!

For the month of May--

We will be fundraising for one of our own. Marsha is a beautiful person, inside and out, whose home was destroyed in a tornado. Her pigs and rats were possibly killed, her daughter is on oxygen.

Please send checks, made out to Marsha Weaver, to Shevaun Brannigan, 700 Professional Drive, Gaithersburg, Maryland 20879. Reference Marsha in the memo line.

Envelopes must have my name on them, instead of Marsha's, otherwise they will not arrive.

Click below to donate--this is going to the SAGP paypal, so I can keep track of how much we've raised. There is no goal. Please donate as you can.

Thanks to all of you for understanding our deviation. Marsha is just like you, she loves piggies and donates to SAGP, as well as other rescues.

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$11,473.11 raised in Paypal, $2485 raised in checks/Cash, $50 in giftcards (Walmart), TOTAL: 14,008.11! excludes checks not yet received and donations made directly to Marsha's paypal.

PLEASE VISIT THE NEXT POST FOR WONDERFUL UPDATES :)

UPDATE FOR DEPUTY DOOFY

Way to go! We have raised $405 dollars for Deputy Doofy, well over our goal!

Thanks everyone! Tune in next month for June's featured pig!

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!

We reached our goal! AND Opie was neutered!

We've raised $338 so far-
we've reached our goal!

From an OCCH member:

"Opie was neutered today! He is doing well. He is eating hay and drinking water. He had some regular formed poops in his cage!

Thanks everyone for the donations, and GuineaPinny for fundraising for him. The donations covered all his pre-op, surgery, and post-op needs. He's recovering in style.

Here's the vet who neutered him. She did a wonderful job...the incision is so tiny and perfectly closed from inside. http://www.coteanimalhospital.com/




Opie in his recovery room"

MAY'S GUINEA PIG OF THE MONTH--Opie!

Meet Opie
from the CA rescue

Orange County Cavy Haven!

Opie is an absolutely adorable guinea pig who has a rather stigmatized problem. But unfortunately stigmatized. It's a a really, really painful and dangerous problem. During May we're going to try and raise the money to treat Opie's severe impaction (and we're not talking teeth). Please read on for this adorable guy's story and how you can potentially help save his life.

We are trying to fundraise $246 for Opie's neuter: broken down as $68 for the neuter, $15 for pain meds, $100 for Isofluorane, $12 nursing care, $15 fluids, and $36 exam, as well as some painkillers and antibiotics to take home.

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Orange County Cavy Haven had an 8 year old pig named Dusty who had recently lost a companion, but no one to pair him with. They contacted Wee Companions who had recently rescued Opie from an animal rescue in terrible condition. Opie arrived at the rescue, to the rescue! Unfortunately, the match was unsuccessful. The rescue thinks that poor Opie has never had a friend to live with, as although he can tolerate having other pigs nearby, when another pig is in his immediate presence he becomes incredibly fearful.

Opie didn't just arrive with emotional baggage. When Wee Companions transfered Opie to Cavy Haven they told them that his anal sac needed to be cleaned out every day. This can happen when a pig lives a lifetime of poor low-fiber diet and no exercise-the male's sac sags over time as muscle tone is lost. However Opie (at age 3 or 4) was too young for the severity of his condition.

While many pigs' conditions will improve with good diet and exercise, in some extreme cases the male has to be neutered, which removes the excess skin. It also prevents a dangerous condition from forming--unrelieved gas in a guinea pig can lead to gastric torsion, a situation that is almost always quick and fatal. Opie is already suffering from a repeated bacterial infection called enteritis, for which he has to take medication. His entire medication regimine (Metacam for pain, Reglan for G.I. motility, Charcoal for the gas, and Flagyl for the bacterial infection) costs $60 a month, but could be largely eliminated after Opie's neuter. Opie's neuter will also leave him much more comfortable, as he'll be able to pass his fecal pellets without aid.



Still, Opie's impaction issues aren't even the extent of it. His diarrhea kept returning, he was always bloated, and he strained when urinating. An x-ray at the vet revealed that Opie had two bladder stones! His neuter was put on the back burner for the stones to be surgically removed. Between the tests and the bladder stone surgery Opie's bills were $800 just in his first month at the rescue. He also suffers from arthritis (probably from being in such a small cage his whole life), and was initally overweight. Opie is a piggy who can't catch a break-aside from the enormous gain of being in the care of Orange County Cavy Haven!

Opie is just a sweetheart pig. He loves to have head petted, and will just stand there transfixed while you pet him. And he even tolerates his daily cleanings like a champ--he really gets along great with people if he's willing to put up with this! One of the largest benefits of the neuter would be that this poor pig, who has never had a guinea friend, would now be able to try living with a female. Opie could move from never having a friend to having a wife!

Thank you to all of you who help Opie find better health and possibly even love through funding his neuter!

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

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