Happy new year from Omelet, Dumbo and Truffle!

WiFi is down again at home, hence I am squeezing in this very quick update from el trabajo.

Here is a drawing of Omelet on my cell phone that Billye made last night:

I think it's absolutely great! Very true to life, if you ask me. :D <3 Omelet, my baby. Omelet has been scratching a lot of late. In fact, he scratched so badly about a week and a half ago, he fell upside down (like a turtle on its back). :(

On Wednesday, Billye administered 1 part neem oil and 4 parts olive oil to all the pigs in case they have mites. They will get a thorough Selsum blue bath tomorrow morning. You're supposed to keep the neem oil on your pigs for 2 days, then shampoo, then wait 5 days, then repeat again.

They look like total greaseballs. Billye says they look like the cool Spanish guys with their hair all gelled up, hehehe. I have not picked them up, so I'll be really excited when they're finally clean and grease-free again tomorrow. :D

OK, that's all for now. Here's hoping the pigs do NOT have mites!!! :X


Enjoy the Super Bowl and gooooooooooooooooooo Giants! Yay!!!

Farewell, our little love. We hardly knew ye.

It is official as of yesterday morning around 10:30. Sammy is no longer part of our guinea pig herd. :(

Do not fear and do not despair!!! We gave him up for adoption to the Helping All Little Things Rescue, which works out of Southern NJ. We met up with Laura who acts as the NYC branch of the rescue for the handing over.

We will miss Sammy very much and already do. But considering everything that has happened over the last three weeks plus, this was truly for the best. We know he will find a very good home down there somewhere in NJ. For now, Laura  has taken custody of Sammy (for the next few weeks) to make sure he is on the right track and continues to eat and drink normally. I received an update via text from her yesterday afternoon. She said he is very shy and wouldn't move after she put him in a cozy. :(( Rest assured, though, she knows he will be fine.

Billye shot one final video of Sammy in all his awesome Sammy glory late Saturday night around midnight - you can see that video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DyqYf7g1E54

To see the rest of the videos that Billye made in the past, you can go to: http://www.youtube.com/user/billyemerrill

Sammy is still very young, I would say only about two or so months at this point. In that regard, he should not have any problems readjusting to a new home/family/situation/environment, etc. The only thing is how long it will take for a family to bring him and his fabulousness into their home. The absolutely FANTASTIC thing about the HALT rescue is they do not allow families with children to adopt their animals. (A million hearty YAY!s for that.) Plus, Laura is a great person, so if she is great, then by extension I would think everyone from the rescue is great too. I'm sad he is not in our home and part of our daily lives anymore but I am hopeful he is headed for a great life with really great people. :]

Sammu and Truffle's last time playing together.

Truffle: Sammy, you're gonna get in trouble!

Sammy: No, I'm not, Daddy!

Sammy: Daddyyy, where are you going?!

Truffle: I'm too shy, I can't face the camera!

Sammy: Daddy, let me clean your butt for you.

Truffle: OK.

Sammy: Daddy, I own you!

Truffle: You will be in time-out very soon, Sammy!!

Sammy: Daddy, what will happen if I walk off the bed?

Truffle: You will go SPLAT! like a pancake.

Now it's officially the end of the Sammy era. I shouldn't feel sad but he was a really special pig and I will miss him. He brought such a youthful and fresh vigor to our lives and home that our others didn't (mainly 'cause they are too old... ha ha ha, just kidding, Omelet, Dumbo and Truffle! geez, relax yourselves...).

Eeeeeee!! Baby Truffle!!! From August 2009. Here he was probably a wee 2 (or slightly less) months old.

More Baby Truffle because he. was. the. cuuuuutest. baby. ever!!!

If you look behind him, you can see what used to be Pepper's cage. Pepper was Billye's hamster and she passed on last March at just under a year old after having what very well might have been a bad case of pneumonia.

Me and baby Omelet back in August 2009. He was SO small. Hard to think he's just about a three-pound monster less than two years later! It's crazy to imagine he could actually fit in MY one hand, but as you can see here, he really did!

Young Tommy and young Truffle. Friends till the very end. <3

Three's company. :) L-R: Baby Tommy! Baby Omelet! Baby Truffle! Again, August 2009.

Before Tommy and Omelet's "friendship" (ha! were they ever really friends to begin with?) were on the rocks.

On a final note, thank you to all our military men and women who have served and continue to serve on our behalf. As it has been said many times, freedom is not free and we should never forget that.

New guinea pig (on probation) and new photos of old guineas!

Hello! Happy official spring to our flock of readers (and everyone else)! We have a new addition to our guinea pig brood. Yes, he is on probation as we are not quite sure yet where this all will go. But right now, he seems to be settling in pretty nicely. :) Although he did have one (big) mishap when he arrived home last night - Truffle was doing a customary domination ritual upon being introduced to the new baby Sammy (Billye named it and I completely agree - this little guy looks like a Sammy indeed), so Sammy needed a place to run away to and managed to get his tiny little head stuck in the wire cage! It was a truly terrifying moment and one where none of us knew how it would turn out, but somehow with Billye's coaxing, he was able to maneuver his head out of the wire bars. :( He looked OK and we don't think he hurt himself badly. He's been eating here and there, so his head and neck area might just be a bit sore. Otherwise, he seems to be doing fine.

Meet Sammy! He is extremely small and we guesstimate that he is probably around 1.5 to 2 months at most.

He is really cute. We saw him at PETCO Saturday afternoon and were pretty sure some lady with her daughter was gonna buy him, so we walked out of there content and hopeful that he was on his way to a good home with someone who seemed like a caring individual. But then Billye said Sammy was still there when he went back yesterday after work. :( The lady must have chosen the other piglet she was cuddling. Sammy is rather skittish but it's quite understandable. Truffle, his new best friend and adopted "daddy," has already formed an attachment to him.

This is such an adorable photo of Omelet. He is sleeping here, completely unaware his mug will soon be posted on the Internet for billions and trillions to see. XD

Truffle, Sammy's best friend/"daddy." :) <3 <3 <3!!

And that's it for now. Today will be Sammy's first full day in our home, so we shall see how it all goes. He lives separately by himself for now, with intermittent periods of visits from Truffle. 

Till next time...

XOXO

Omelet is fine!

Omelet came down with a diagnosed case of ileus last week. Dr. Jessica Pizzillo over at the Vinegar Hill Veterinary Group (love them!) examined him, along with her sidekick/technician Jean (who, according to another technician, Tara, knows a TON about rabbits and guinea pigs), and sent him home with Reglan. Dr. Jessica told us to feed Omelet three days of Critical Care (which she then amended to 'not completely necessary' as long as he was eating his normal food) and unlimited amounts of hay. She also recommended we pick up some simethicone (basically, Gas-X in liquid form for babies). We did but then returned it to the store the next day as we did not feel he was exceptionally in need of it.

As of Thursday morning, he has been off of Reglan (which makes you regular, ha ha ha!) and is pooping on his own again. Let it be known that he was switched to a new brand of pellet food last Sunday (actually, two Sundays ago - not Halloween Sunday) and about three days later we observed him suffering from a bit of lethargy and not being overly, well, poopy.

Now he looks better. His poops are self-produced and he is eating normally again. (However, for the record, Truffle, dear sweet little Truffle, is STILL the poop king! Yowza, that little guy with the big rump sure can push those little poops out really quick!)

Here's Omelet:

"What did you say about me, lady?!" (Yes, that's his trademark "angry" stare, LOL.)

Happy Halloween (in advance)!

Truffle, Omelet and Dumbo all want to wish you and your family a very happy and safe Halloween this year! We wish that Tommy could be here for Halloween so that the entire brood can look for treats together. Love you so much, Tommy!

Billye put this together very quickly in MS Paint, LOL. He says it's very silly, but I think it's quite cute (and funny).

Dumbo takes his antibiotic and Omelet takes... a bath.

From last Sunday (October 17):

 Being a good sport by taking his meds with minimal 'wheeking'! Thank you for your cooperation, Dumbo! :-D

"Just so you human thingies know, I really HATE having that dumb syringe poked in my face!"

Dumbo gets rewarded with chew blocks for being on his best behavior during Medicine Time. :-)

"I'm ready for my closeup, you human thingies."

Not exactly happy, but extremely squeaky clean! :-D No more poopy butt.

"Where's my baby carrot? I'm soaking wet and have nothing to show for it?"

Weights are in...

Billye bought a food scale from K-mart yesterday and we weighed the pigs.

Surprisingly, Dumbo is 2 lbs. 9 oz! At Vinegar Hill on Sunday, they said he was 2 lbs. 1 oz?!

Here's the results that floored me: Omelet is actually heavier than Truffle. Whoa, did not see that one coming from anywhere! Omelet is almost THREE pounds (2 lbs 15 oz.) and Truffle is slightly less at 2 lbs 12 oz.

I do think Omelet feels noticeably lighter than Truffle and yet he is the fatter one... humph.