Rescuing guinea pigs
We visit an amazing centre dedicated to rescuing and rehoming guinea pigs who have had a rough start in life
‘Many people don’t realise that guinea pigs do need a little bit of fuss and attention and perhaps more in the way of care than they think’
When Valerie Savage was first asked to look after some guinea pigs by someone who no longer wanted them, little did she imagine that one day she would be running a rescue centre for these cute furry creatures.
With no specialist knowledge of their care, Valerie has become a guinea pig expert as she and her team of volunteers have cared for more than 2,000 guinea pigs that have been brought in, unwanted or abandoned, over the last 12 years. “Most of them arrive because they’ve been bought for children who have lost interest in them or because the parents realise they’re a bit more difficult to handle than they thought,” says Valerie.
“We also have cases of people going to pet shops to buy two baby boys (called boars) and as they get older they can often start fighting so people give them up. Sadly, we also have four or five cases every year where a box of guinea pigs is left dumped on a railway line or found abandoned in a park.” Whatever its history, Valerie and her team always make sure every guinea pig gets the best possible treatment once it comes through the doors of April Lodge Rescue Centre, in Sandwich, Kent. Valerie says: “As soon as they arrive, they go into quarantine care where we assess them, medicate them, bathe them and also get them used to being handled properly. Often the biggest problem is that many have been on the wrong diet, either having too many vegetables or an insufficient variety of them. Their diet should actually be about 80 per cent farm fresh hay with just a handful of four or five different bits of veg a day and some nuggets.
“Others haven’t been looked after properly so their hair and nails don’t look nice, but we spruce them up. Once they have been turned into fine young creatures, they go to our adoption section where, hopefully, they’ll find good new homes.”
A handful of guinea pigs that are elderly or have minor health problems will be put into foster care, during which time April Lodge continues to pay for their vet visits.
With up to 80 guinea pigs in the centre at any one time, April Lodge thrives thanks to its army of volunteers, aged from 16 to 80, who feed, water and clean out the pens seven mornings a week. Volunteers also help with free welfare checks for animals adopted from April Lodge as well as providing training sessions for new owners on how to look after their guinea pigs properly. “Many people don’t realise that guinea pigs do need a little bit of fuss and attention and perhaps more in the way of care than they think,” Valerie explains.
The centre has recently started a project that helps guinea pigs to find a mate. “We found that we were getting lots of calls from people saying they’d had two guinea pigs but when one had died the other was lonely as they really need to be in pairs – so we started Matchpig,” says Jo Lockett, April Lodge’s secretary. “It’s essentially a dating service for bereaved or lonely
guinea pigs because you can’t suddenly put two together as they can often become aggressive. So what we do is use matching pens where two guinea pigs get to spend time apart from each other but they can see each other through their respective pens. “Then we watch for behaviour signals and if the initial aggressive sounds they make abate, it means they’re compatible with each other. We’ve had great feedback and so many lovely matches since the scheme started.”
One such match was made for a girl called Marmalade who was three months old when she came to be fostered by Jo after she had
been found living on her own in a hamster cage. “She was so terrified of people that rather than run away she would just sit motionless. It became apparent that what she needed was a companion so she was introduced to a chunky neutered boar called Jordan and then she really came out of herself.
“To see them both sort of skipping in their outside run and chasing each other was amazing. And it’s so rewarding to know I’ve made that difference.”
■ If you’d like to make a donation, send a cheque payable to april Lodge guinea Pig rescue, thornton Lane, Eastry, Sandwich, kent Ct13 0EU