Meet My Pets: Teddy and Domino
Welcome to the next installment of Meet My Pets! This one is about my piggy sisters, Teddy and Domino.
We’ll start with Teddy (or, if we’re going by her full name, Teddothy Beansworth).
We got little baby Teddy along with her roommate, Porky, in June of 2018 from a local pet store that collaborated with a nearby breeder.
We went through many stages of learning how to better care for our piggies. They upgraded to bigger and better cages, and we eventually switched from wood shavings to soft fleece blankets on the bottom of their cage, which is better for their respiratory system (as long as we didn’t use fabric softener on it), and also gentler on their little feet.
In April of 2019, we very sadly lost our Porky to a lung infection. Not wanting Teddy to live alone, we adopted Domino from the same breeder a few days later. She was so itty bitty when we got her! When we first adopted her, we thought she was a rex guinea pig, which is the breed that Teddy is (medium sized with short, wirey, scrubby fur), and that they would grow to look very similar. We were pretty wrong with our guess!
Though we don’t know for sure, Domino appears to be an alpaca guinea pig. She has long, curly, coarse fur that grows quickly and requires very regular haircuts. She’s like a teeny sheep!
Teddy and Domino were fast friends. They would even sleep together! It’s much easier to have two guinea pigs get along if you introduce one as a youngster, because they’re no threat to the older pig. That being said, it’s also wonderful to adopt older guinea pigs who need a home! It’ll just be a little bit more work to incorporate them into the herd.
Teddy tends to be a little more reserved, staying mostly in her hidey houses, but doesn’t mind a little cuddle now and again. Domino, on the other hand, is pretty social, usually happily munching hay at the hay rack or splooting halfway out of her bed in plain sight. They continue to be besties, though they don’t snuggle like they did when they were younger - guinea pigs, unlike hamsters and other rodents, dislike being touched when they’re sleeping and prefer their space.
To wrap it up, here are some fun little facts about our pigs!
They love soft, snuggly little beds, just like cats or dogs!
Their favorite food is LETTUCE!!!!!
They know my routine very well - as soon as they hear me start to feed the cats in the morning, they start squeaking for their morning veggies. They also know that they get more vegetables after I sweep up their poos every day, and will start popcorning (this is what guinea pigs do when they’re really happy - they randomly hop into the air over and over!) because they’re just so excited!
Even though Domino was a tiny bean when we first got her, she looks to be almost twice as big as Teddy now! That’s partially because of her huge fur, though.
Domino’s gray and white color placement is called “Silver Dutch”. As for Teddy, I’ve tried hard to find a proper name for her coloring, but haven’t been successful! I guess the closest would be “Tricolor”.
That’s about it for our little piggies. If you have any questions, or would like to tell me about your own guinea pigs, please feel free to leave a comment! Domino, Teddy, and I wish you a great day!