If you've seen our posts on social media, You'll notice that their are a few consistent faces! Those piggies are most likely those in our welcoming committee!

What is the welcoming committee? The welcoming committee is a group of our permanent resident guinea pigs to show incoming rescues that they are in a safe and happy environment! Most of these members are guinea pigs we've had prior to rescuing as well as rescues we've received that were foster fails/not suitable for adoption!

We currently have two welcoming committees a herd of 5 girls and a committee of two boys. Lets meet them!

First up our boys! Gus Gus was a foster fail and Boris joined us shortly after, they stole my heart and make me happy to have them every day.

Their names are Sir Augustus & Sir Boris. Or Gus Gus and Bob for short. 

We found Gus Gus at a local guinea pig show. He was incredibly tiny and we noticed that something was wrong with his eye. As we were afraid that he might pass from just how young he was we decided to take him in and try to help him.

upon closer inspection, he had a cloudiness to his eye and their was fur all in his eyelids. After a vet visit we discovered he had Entropion, a genetic condition common in Texel Cavies, That often leads to the need for eye removal. So we set out on treating him! Giving him eyedrops twice a day and pulling up his eyelid with a q-tip. Not only that but we constantly observed his feeding to ensure he was gaining weight as he was only 200 grams after 2 weeks with us!

luckily he gained the weight he needed an after months of treatment he grew out of his condition! And he began to flourish into a beautiful pig! 

Over the months of taking such constant care of him I decided that I just had to keep him and began searching for a cagemate. We had no male rescues coming in at the time so I decided to look into adopting. When I discovered Bob. He was a long term tenant of the Houston Humane Society and he immediately called out to me.

He had been at the Houston Human Society for a long time, Not many wanting him because of his red eyes. However their shelter began using him for promotional gatherings/classes and he was extremally well handled.

So Boris came home and was introduced to Gus Gus. Surprisingly they got on really well and after some time they became inseparable! They've now developed a strong bond and are often seen sitting together or even cuddling!

 What about our girls?

We have 5 girls in our herd. Baby Pig, Pip, Potato, Pickle and Tickles.

Baby pig and Pip I had prior to rescuing! In fact Baby Pig is my last guinea pig left from my original herd. With her turning 7 years old this year!

(photo from Baby Pig (6) and Pips (1) shared Birthday.)

Potato should be the most familiar out of all our pigs! Being a rescue we took in but wasn't social enough to be adopted. you can see her story here. Now potato has truly become part of the herd! Developing an extremally strong bond with Pip. We now refer to them as our 'mean girls' as they are always together but both doesn't bother much from the rest of the herd.

Then we have our skinnies! Pickle and Tickles 

I decided to adopt these two as a rescuer should be able to handle all the cases we get in. However, I have zero experience with Hairless pigs. So I found these two over a year of searching and took them in! Tickles has been a nice surprise as we originally believed her to be a normal skinny pig, but has sense began to grow hair. So although she does not have the full hairless gene, oh is she cute!

Overall this herd is full of little odd balls and I love them for it! They always have funny interactions going on and really do seem to like each other. This herd has become quite the lively one and they really enjoy speaking to other pigs from across the room!

These two herds have done an amazing job welcoming incoming rescues over the year! And our rescues seem more confident for it!