Chuffnut Cavies in Eltham, Victoria, Australia | Animal shelter

Chuffnut Cavies

Locality: Eltham, Victoria, Australia

Address: near Eltham 3095 Eltham, VIC, Australia

Website: http://www.australiancavysanctuary.org

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• Non-profit organisation
• Charitable organisation
• Community organisation
• Animal shelter

19.01.2022 SATIN GUINEA PIGS SO SHINY BUT SO DEADLY! Many people have been lured by the exquisite shiny coat of a satin guinea pig. Sometimes dubbed selfs in cellophan...e, these pigs are quite irresistible. Just Google images of satin guinea pigs and you will find stunning examples from many different breeds, as most have been ‘satinised’. But there is a catch! Along with the beautiful coat comes the high likelihood of a short, painful life with a dreadful disease osteodystrophy. Wikipedia: Satin coat is linked to Osteodystrophy (OD), an incurable and potentially painful metabolic disease of the bones. OD symptoms in guinea pigs begin showing at around 12 to 18 months, including wobbly gait, problems with eating, and with sows, parturition complications. Due to animal welfare concerns, some registries such as the Swedish and Finnish guinea pig associations refuse to register satin cavies or cavies with a satin parent. Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_guinea_pig_breeds IMPORTANT INFO from Guinea Pig Welfare UK: Anyone rehoming satin guinea pigs should undertake to make the new owner aware of OD, it is a very real problem. Some breeders have ceased to keep this breed, nothing has been scientifically proven but the thought of breeding guineas that may suffer from this awful condition has been enough. Some have even said they will not rehome or breed from their carriers. It is vital that information is circulated to vets, rescues, pet shops and pet owners, hopefully people will be able to make an informed choice when deciding to buy a ‘Shiny’. For the breeder: It appears that osteodystrophy cannot be ‘bred out’ of satins by using carriers or healthy stock. OD is, it seems, carried through the generations maybe not showing for a while. Breeding with carriers does not alleviate the problems of OD; it is passed down to the offspring. Reference: http://www.guineapigwelfare.org.uk//symtoms-diagnosis-and/ If you decide to take a satin guinea pig into your life be prepared for problems with: dental bones joints / arthritis reproduction Personally, satins have been a heartbreaker for me much loved for their beautiful personalities but all memories are tinged with the sorrow of the pain and briefness of their stay. Nothing good comes from osteodystrophy. Please read the personal accounts below to gain an idea of the heartbreak this disease can bring. PERSONAL ACCOUNTS Pinky (on Guinea Lynx forum) My vet said that satin pigs don't get enough calcium because they aren't absorbing it, leaving mottled bones that calcify and become fused. He showed me the x-rays ... it's horrific. Once Truffles was diagnosed, I kept her on pain meds and eventually separated her from the others because she required a lot of extra care. She became increasingly immobile and I eventually had to hand feed her. I had her on pain meds. I eventually had her euthanized. As long as she wanted to eat, I hand fed her and tended to all her needs. It was really heartbreaking. Stray Hares from Brisbane: I have a satin abby named Elma Sparkles who is currently battling with OD. She's had two dentals in the last few months and is on two types of pain medication, because her jaw is quite badly affected which obviously makes eating hard for her. That sounds horrible, I know, but she's still happy and maintaining her weight with the help of a daily bowl of Critical Care, vitamin C, and calcium lactate (and sunshine!) supplementation. She just turned two. Her bones look mottled and moth-eaten, but they're stable. She's doing okay! It is a terrible disease though. The first thing I noticed with Elma was that she was struggling to chew larger items of food, like larger pellets. She lost a lot of jaw strength, and it was really quite obvious she was struggling to bite down even though her teeth were fine (at first). She is also a teeny tiny pig, 650-700 grams adult weight. Her (non-satin) sister Darla weighs nearly twice as much as her! Eventually, because Elma was chewing in such a strange way her teeth did wear down unevenly, hence the dentals. Currently she has monthly vet check-ups to make sure her teeth are a-okay and to make sure she's doing okay overall. She's a cheeky little trooper. Reference: http://www.guineapigcages.com//86756-Osteodystrophy-and-Sa Post pic source: http://www.guinealynx.info//coat_american_satin_josephine2

16.01.2022 To all our wonderful supporters, adoptive homes, and prospective adoptive homes, After a crazy couple of weeks, and world-wide lockdowns to stem the number of COVID-19 cases, we continue to receive adoption enquiries. We value your adoption enquiries, and we value you. We need wonderful homes for our precious furries...... However, NOW IS NOT THE TIME TO ADOPT. We have decided not to hold adoptions until the threat of this virus has passed. Yes, this could be a while. It could be months. But until we fully understand the rate of spread and the risk factors in this country, WE ARE CLOSED TO ADOPTIONS. If not to protect ourselves against potential risks, then at least to DISCOURAGE PEOPLE FROM LEAVING THEIR HOMES FOR NON-ESSENTIAL REASONS. Adoptions can wait. It is non-essential. Please, for your own sakes and for the purposes of not being an unwitting transmitter of this disease, PLEASE STAY HOME. We will still be here in a month, in 2 months, maybe even in 3 months time. ADOPTIONS CAN WAIT. Yes, other shelters around the country are remaining open - if they choose to do so, then that is their choice. The Chuffnut team, however, will NOT encourage people to come from their homes into potentially risky environments to make their way to the shelter. The best way to reduce the time we are in lockdown is to TAKE THIS LOCKDOWN SERIOUSLY. If we ALL take this seriously, if we ALL self-isolate for a month, then perhaps we can get this horror disease in check much faster and STOP placing the LIVES of high-risk people people on the line every single time you and your family leave the home. When you need to go out for ESSENTIAL items, only one member of the family should be going out, not family units. Please do this, please. We don't want to be in lockdown/isolation for any longer than absolutely necessary, so if EVERYONE took this advice, then the entire process can be halted A LOT SOONER. Thank you all for reading this rant, and we really, REALLY want to see you ALL out the other side of this, healthy, happy and adopting our beautiful Chuffnut piggies. ~Lil, shelter manager

10.01.2022 Hello to all our Chuffnut friends. We are seeking new foster homes. Until recently, our foster program was only small, and not all people enquiring to foster ended up fostering through us as we didn't have the "manpower" to build and manage a full-blown foster program. However, we are now trying to rebuild the program we DID have, and also to expand this program. SO if you are in Melbourne, Australia, and have ever considered fostering, please pop on over to our Foster group ...and ask to join. https://www.facebook.com/groups/chuffnutfosters/ Its important though, that you are within a reasonable distance of the shelter and/or our preferred vet clinics of Warranwood Veterinary Centre and the Lort Smith Animal Hospital. You must be willing to do some travelling on occasion to our adoption events so that foster piggies can make their way into forever homes. If you do live further afield, but are still keen to be involved, please do make contact to [email protected] as we may be able to work out some sort of "partnership" system to jointly help the piggies of Victoria :) Thank you all for reading this :)P

04.01.2022 As COVID restrictions are lightening up, and the number of cases under control in Victoria, we are considering opening up again for some adoptions. This will be smaller events than we normally would do, and we will still have all the social distancing requirements in place. But as we can soon have outside gatherings up to 10 people, then we can start finding our beautiful babies some very special homes. We have dozens and dozens of adoption enquiries to wade through, most of ...which arrived during this COVID lockdown stage. We were really reluctant to do any adoptions during this time, other than finding lonely piggies a new friend, because too many people seemed to suddenly decide they now had the time for a pet! But these lockdowns are not going to last much longer, and what happens when you go back to your normal routines in life? So, no, when you find yourself stuck in an extraordinary situation and with more time on your hands - that is NOT the time to adopt a new pet. You adopt a pet when you are at your busiest, when you know precisely HOW much time you will have to give to these precious animals. So any folks who sent in adoption enquiries during the last couple of months - if you are still wanting to adopt, please let us know, as we will place you guys on top of the priority list when we start adoptions again in the next couple of weeks. Thank you ALL for being so wonderful and so patient. Here is to finding dozens of little furries some fab new homes :) :)

01.01.2022 SHELTER UPDATE!! We have some exciting news at the shelter. We're getting a new shed! Our Shelter Manager has been wanting this to happen for... far too long now, and after a rough couple of years, this is bringing a much needed smile to her face! This will allow us to utilise our space far more efficiently, which will in turn allow us to do the daily tasks of feeding, watering and cage cleaning much more easily, and hopefully in less time! Everything will be set up exactly h...ow we want it! However the time line for building our shed has to be brought forward due to winter coming (and needing to have it built to be functional in time for rain!), and so we have to spend more time focusing on preparing the shed area for installation. As the whole team is volunteering our time outside of our own busy working and personal lives (including our fearless leader!), this cuts into our available time to help with the adoption and foster side of the rescue. Additionally with the increasing spread of COVID-19 and the uncertainty surrounding what we as a community need to do as this develops, we will be "playing it by ear" for adoption events for the next few weeks at least. A significant portion of our team are considered part of at risk groups with this virus, and we need to ensure that their potential for exposure is reduced as much as possible (we need them!), and the best way to do this is reduce unnecessary contact with others. This means that our March adoption day that we had planned will have to be postponed until around mid April, depending on how we're tracking shed wise. It also means that we may be slower than usual at replying to emails, as we will be spending the time we usually process adoptions helping to prepare for the new shed. We thank all of our followers, adoptive homes, foster carers and supporters for your ongoing support and patience while we've been getting back on our feet after a couple of hellish years.