Caramello and Koala's Story

In April 2007 a family that adopted from ACS rung us needing to surrender two boys ' Caramello ' and ' Koala ' that they managed to rescue from someone they knew. The two boys had been bought for a daughter almost like a bribe for her to clean her bedroom and do as she was told. If she played up and didn't clean her room the father would not feed the guinea pigs and in turn would mistreat them. Their was also a sow and she apparently had a litter and we were told that the newborn bubs were put on the lawn and THE ANTS ATE THEM ALIVE! The guinea pigs were only fed by the daughter on weekends when she went to visit her father and during the week they would starve as she wasn't their. The guinea pigs were kept in a tiny box and a lot of the time had no food or water. The boys were both longhairs although they looked like shorthairs on arrival with dropped shoulder coat, thin hair and mange/hair loss. The boys were also very skinny. We applaud anyone that keeps an eye out for other animals and whom care enough for their welfare to speak up on their behalf.

The boys spent a while at the shelter gaining condition we were surprised that both boys almost doubled in weight within the first week of arriving at the shelter and their coats quickly began to grow back after treatment for internal mites was administered and with them being on a proper balanced healthy diet and being in a clean environment. On arrival to the shelter Koala had a behavioral problem with chewing and biting on the bars of his cage. He was so used to trying to escape his enclosure this was habit although thankfully the habit subsided after a couple of weeks at the shelter. The boys were adopted in May 2007 and went to a wonderful new home with a two storey decorated hutch and they also met a new piggy friend. The two boys enjoy the freedom of a large enclosure and are treasured as part of the family in their new home. Below are images of the boys on the day they arrived at the shelter along with their prison cell box they had to live in. We were told that one of the boys was 5 years old...could you imagine being kept in this box for 5 years? We're surprised a guinea pig could live this long in these conditions...