The Kavee Rescue is committed to giving every guinea pig the chance to find a safe and loving home where they can happily grow and bond with other cavies. Unfortunately, not every piggy gets so lucky as to find the right piggy pawrents from the start and when they’re in trouble, the rescue does everything it can to help them thrive in life.
Today’s story is one of friendship and resilience between two brave little piggies - meet Pumpkin and Reuben.
Pumpkin
Back in February, the Kavee Rescue was contacted by the local charity, Friends of the Animals, to care for a poor little piggy that was found in a highly stressful and dangerous situation. His owners were reported for suspicious behaviour and after conducting an investigation, it turned out that they were illegally keeping guinea pigs to use as food for their snakes. When the charity found Pumpkin, he was sitting alone in a small cage, in the same room as the snake, and was understandably terrified.
We’re lucky that different charities pitch in to help and rescue these sweet furbabies that aren’t receiving the care and love they deserve. However, Friends of the Animals doesn’t have the facilities and experience to care for distressed guinea pigs, so Pumpkin was initially placed in foster care. When his foster carer was unable to keep looking after him, he was adopted by the Kavee Rescue. Tara and Iain instantly fell in love with him and were determined to give him the safe, loving home he so much needed.
When he arrived to the rescue, his stress levels were still high so the focus was on making him feel as safe and comfortable as possible. Despite everything he had been through, he couldn’t be a more loving and caring guinea pig. As soon as he was shown some signs of affection, he became the biggest fan of cuddles and head scratches, and is now very eager to give out endless kisses to his hoomans. Needless to say, he instantly became a permanent addition to the Kavee Rescue’s furry family!
Now, it was time to find him a friend, and it just so happened that at the same time as his arrival, a pregnant sow named Iris - who also lives at the rescue - was about to give birth.
Reuben
Iris gave birth to four beautiful boys but one of them had a trickier birth than the others. This pup got stuck on his way out and if Tara and Iain hadn’t intervened, he had a slim chance of making it through the birth. They had to manually manipulate him to be delivered safely and after some tricky manoeuvres, he was out and was quickly followed by his brothers.
Reuben’s troubles were, however, not over as he was under shock and was not breathing. Tara and Iain began resuscitation until he was finally able to take his first breath. This little piggy stood out from his brothers not only for his difficult start in life, but also due to his different appearance. While the three brothers are all agouti guinea pigs with brown fur, he shows off a cream and lilac fuzzy coat instead.
Reuben may be tiny for his age but his charming personality definitely makes up for what he lacks in size. And worry not, he’s been enthusiastically eating all of his food, he’s getting stronger by the day, and got a clean bill of health from the local cavy-savvy vet.
Soon after Reuben was born, he joined Pumpkin in his cage and the two quickly became inseparable. Pumpkin has been a great piggy role model for Reuben, who has now picked up all of his endearing traits. They both grew really attached to the hoomans at the rescue and enjoy doing everything together. This is a friendship that we’re sure will stand the test of time!
You can follow Pumpkin and Reuben’s adventures and read more about the piggies at the Kavee Rescue on Instagram. While if you’d like to support the rescue and learn more about it, head over to this page.
