* Raspberry found her forever home with lovely people and another pig to be friends with! Yay! *

Raspberry’s owners went to Hamilton Animal Services to surrender their “hamster” because they no longer wanted her. Paperwork was filled out, and when shelter staff opened the box Raspberry arrived in, they were certainly taken aback to find not a hamster, but a guinea pig inside. A very frightened guinea pig with extremely overgrown nails.
With a world of information at our fingertips, it’s tough to imagine that a person wouldn’t realize that they had a pet guinea pig – not a hamster. We can only hope that Raspberry wasn’t fed hamster food her whole life, seeing as guinea pigs and hamsters have very different nutritional needs. Not to mention their differing housing needs, etc.
But…we are thankful Raspberry’s owners did the right thing by surrendering her, as opposed to dumping her outdoors like so many other people do.
Shelter staff reached out to us, and we were happy to get poor Raspberry out of the shelter. She had a vet visit on her rescue day, and thankfully she seems healthy. She is now settling in at her foster home and she’ll be with us for a couple of months to be sure she’s not pregnant, and to be sure she has no underlying health issues that haven’t appeared as of yet.

We are very lucky to have an amazing foster mom step up to foster Raspberry. Abby (SkinnyPigs1 on Youtube) is a guinea pig guru. She has shared her wealth of guinea pig knowledge and education for many years through her YouTube channel, where she has thousands of followers. When folks ask us for resources for anything pig related, we send them to Abby’s channel. Raspberry has hit the jackpot as far as foster homes go.
You can follow Raspberry’s progress at Abby’s YouTube channel.

Here’s a report from Abby:
“Raspberry is an extremely sweet guinea pig with a loud wheek for veggies and fresh hay. She is nervous at times to be out in the open but I am sure that is because she lacks another guinea pig for reassurance. Once Raspberry has a friend I am sure you’ll see her personality come out even more. She loves her pellets, so I recommend making sure to only give her 1/8 of a cup max per day or she’d never stop eating them and too many pellets isn’t great. Raspberry loves being out for lap time but is sceptical about nail clipping. I am sure the more you do nail clippings the better she will get! Ultimately she is the perfect guinea pig and would love to have another Guinea pig friend.”

Wondering if guinea pigs are the right pet for you?
Check out the many informative videos by Skinnypigs1 for lots of pig education!

Guinea pigs need much more room than the typical pet store guinea pig cages offer. Here are some examples of appropriate cages pigs can live happily in, so that they have lots of room to move around and explore:
C & C Cages

Midwest Guinea Habitat (1 cage per pig)

Can’t adopt but want to help? Monetary donations are always needed, but donations of Oxbow Guinea Pig food, Oxbow “Natural Science” Vitamin C tablets, timothy hay, small animal chew toys, and fleece liners are very much appreciated!
Options for donating items:
🐾 Dundas Pet Valu – 86 Main Street, Dundas, Ontario. Purchase items in-store and leave in the donation bin.
🐾 Amazon Wish List – Purchase items and have them delivered directly to us!
* SUPPORT SMALL ONLINE BUSINESSES *
Order items from any of these Ontario based businesses, let them know your order is for Ladybird and they’ll send your donation to us!
🐇 TINY PAWS EMPORIUM
🐇 GREEN BUNNY STORE
🐇 ZOEY and LILO’s TOYBOX
🐇 MISCHIEF STITCHES
🐇 HOPPY’S HAY
🐇 KNEE DEEP FARMS
🐇 PROFESSOR FLOP’S BUNNY SHOP