Written by Alison.
Photo of Mr Bond, one of our lethal whites.
Welcome to Wheekly News. This week's news for the rescue is we welcomed two new rescue's this week. First new rescue is Miss Ruby, she is a lethal white. She is blind, partly deaf and has all her teeth. She came to Mintie N Friends through someone who already knew of us and asked for advice on her. But sadly couldn't continue to give her the care she required. Teeth trimming etc. Which is very common with lethal as there teeth grow much faster then normal guinea pigs. They require there teeth trimmed every 2-4 weeks.
Health Tip - Guinea pigs require food that keeps there teeth moving and grinding regularly. Hay should be 80% of there diet. As this is great for grinding there teeth and over great for there diet. Hard foods such as carrot, celery, capsicum etc are also great for grinding teeth down. Banana leaves and apple tree branches are also great for this too.
Photo of Miss Ruby.
Second rescue we welcomed to Mintie N Friends is Muffin. She is also a lethal white. She is blind, deaf and has no teeth. This means she will require her food to be finely chopped/ grinded down, mashed and crittacare daily. As she has no teeth she requires a diet that's easiest for her to chew and get her daily requirements she needs.
Muffin enjoying some finely chopped wombok and a crittacare mix.
Sadly the people Muffin came from thought they were getting two females and ended up with a male and female that were sexed incorrectly. Not only were they brother and sister. They were also hidden roans. Which sadly resulted in a lethal white pup. They didn't have the knowledge on how to care for her. So they brought her to me, to give her the care she requires. She will require her weight to be checked more often to ensure she is gaining well.
Photo of Muffin.
Weighing Tip - Following issue 2 of Wheekly News on the importance of regularly weighing to ensure of weight gain and no loss of weight which usually indicates a sign of sickness. To give an idea of the ideal weights for an adult guinea pig.
Adult boar/ male - 1200 - 1700g.
Adult sow/ female - 1200 - 1400g.
Young/ pup there is constantly changing and continues to go up from birth as they are constantly growing. As long as guinea pig under 1 continues to gain weight regularly there is no need for any concern.
Prince Frankfurt's Reflection (Short Story)
Once upon a time there was a guinea pig named Mr Frankfurt, but since he was a prince he went by the named Prince Frankfurt. Prince Frankfurt lived a big magical castle. Prince Frankfurt was a little different to a normal guinea pig. Prince Frankfurt was what was known as a lethal white. He's sight was blurry and hearing was minimal. He relied more on sense of smell to find his way around. On this day, something different happened and this made things a little different to what he was used too. He decided to explore the castle, he stumbled upon a open door to a room he had never been in before. The door to this room was always closed. He was curious and wondered in. He looked around the only thing he could see was a mirror. He couldn't understand why this room was always shut off and seemed so mysterious to him. He looked at his reflection, but it was just a blur of what looked like his reflection. He walked closer to the mirror to be sure. Without realising it, this was no normal mirror it was a magic mirror. He had stepped through the mirror and gone through to another world. Suddenly Prince Frankfurt could see and hear things clearly. Something he had never had the ability too, he couldn't understand why at first. As he was still trying to gasped the fact he could see and hear everything around him so clearly. He took a minute to take it in, once he had. He realised after looking around he was no longer in the castle but in a big green field. How did he get here, he was only looking at himself in the mirror. Or was he? Was that why the door was always shut, cause there was something different about the mirror? He decided not to question it too much and enjoy the fact he could see and hear normally for the first time in his life. He ran across the field and before he knew it he came to a castle. He was quite surprised. He wondered if maybe it just teleporting him out of the castle he was already in? He ran to the castle but out the front was guinea pig guards, they looked at him and questioned why he was outside when he had not left. Prince Frankfurt was confused these were not his normal guards. He thought maybe they had swapped shifts or something and continued on. Once he got inside he found a on the throne sat a guinea pig that looked like him, only slightly different. He approached him and asked who he was. The guinea pig on the throne responded "Prince Bond and you are?" Prince Frankfurt looked at him and replied "Prince Frankfurt." He looked at Prince Bond and asked "How can we both be princes and both live in this castle and not know about it?" Prince Bond looked confused and said "This is my castle and no one else's, I'm not sure who you think you are. But I think you are an imposter. Guardsss! Arrest him!" Prince Frankfurt was confused and as to why all this was happening all so suddenly. The guards grabbed Prince Frankfurt and arrested him and took him down to the dungeon. Prince Frankfurt was unsure why he had to be treated so badly within a few minutes of talking to this Prince Bond. Was he the imposter or what this another world, was Prince Bond really was the prince of this castle? Prince Frankfurt had to come up with an idea to get out of this dungeon and find the mirror and use it to get back to his castle. After all he was a prince and a dungeon was no place for a prince. He wasn't sure how he was going to get out, but he knew he had to. He looked around the dungeon cell he was in and there nothing around him. There was no way for him to escape. He looked around and then he saw one of the guards and with them they had keys round their neck. He thought maybe he could there attention and somehow get the keys. But how? He wasn't sure how he would trick the guard. He thought about it for awhile and then he came up with an idea. He put his plan into play and before he knew it he had lured the guard over and tricked them into thinking there was food and when the guard looked down the keys fell off his neck and right in front of Prince Frankfurt. This gave him the chance to grab the keys and make a break for it. He ran as fast as he could, he looked behind him and there was were guards chasing him with celery sticks. Throwing them all directions trying to hit him, but they kept missing. Prince Frankfurt ran around the castle trying to find any room with another mirror in it like the one he found in his castle. The guard yelled "Don't let the imposter get away! The prince will execute us!" Prince Frankfurt, thought I would never do something like that to my guards. He kept running, but suddenly something caught the corner of his eye..It was the mirror he quickly ran towards it. But stopped for a second and thought if he went back home he wouldn't be able to see and hear like normal again. He could hear the guards getting closer, he thought to himself although execution sounds worse. After this adventure, I miss home..He walked back through the mirror and was back home. He waited by the mirror to be sure the guards didn't follow. But no one ever came, they must not have seen him walk through. He was so relieved, he decided it was probably better a the mirror did stay hidden.. As that adventure could have been much worse if he had not escaped. He closed the door and locked it and went back to his normal prince life.
THE END!
Illustration by Alison.
Meet Mr Frankfurt, he is a lethal white. He is blind in his smaller eye and has slight sight in his bigger eye. Is deaf in one ear and has slight hearing in the other. He has all his teeth and they will require regular trimming.
Photo of Mr Frankfurt, he is one of the lethal whites here in our care at Mintie N Friends.
DIY Of The Wheek - Treat Ball
This is what you will need for this DIY:
- Toilet roll.
- Scissors.
- Hay.
Step 1: Get your toilet roll and cut it into rings.
Step 2: Slide the rings over each other to form a ball. Add hay or treat while forming the ball.
Step 3: Give to your piggy or piggies and watch them enjoy there new DIY toy.
Photo of Macadamia one of our lethal whites, enjoy a DIY treat ball.
Piggy Of The Wheek
This week's Piggy Of The Wheek is Zeus, photo by his owner Richelle. Zeus may look like a normal guinea pig, but he is actually completely blind. But very spoilt and loved.
Want your piggy to be featured as Piggy Of The Wheek? Feel free to share a photo of your piggy to have a chance for your piggy to be Piggy Of The Wheek. Issue 4 of Wheekly News will be available from 18-07-2021. Want to see more? Feel free to comment suggestions or tell us if you like something from the blog and we will make it happen.