Custom Plushie Update! Too Many to List! Part 2

Here's the second part of the large amount of custom plushies I made during and immeditely following the holidays. There are a few ornaments and even a few custom mouse plushies.

I've been busy. I've moved into a lovely new home with a big workroom. My boyfriend's mom recently came to stay for a few days. She's such a sweetie, it was a lot of fun. I also had to take yet another guinea pig in for surgery. Poor Kokiri. But I suppose I'll leave the details of that for another day.

Custom Plushie Update! Too Many to List! Part1

I have been immensely busy since last year's holiday season, and as a result lapsed on updating many things, such as this blog. I made many custom plushies, and just got around to putting together some photos and posting them online for all to see.

I'm getting ready to move to a nice house at the end of the week. Really, we should have moved in about a month ago, but there was a series of rather annoying delays. I've got all of my shipping boxes packed up, and my furs (I didn't seal the boxes yet, in case I need a few things).

I was working on rat plushies a few weeks ago, then I got the swine flu. Well, at least I think it was the swine flu, it was pretty nasty and left me with a cough that lingered far too long. I've got a bunch of half-finished rats sitting on my desk for some time now...

Mochi's gone through a bit of an ordeal herself. She was spayed yesterday, but hopefully it'll take care of her issues. I'll make a more detailed post about her later, with some photos of her shaved tummy (poor peeg).

Oh, Those Considerate Piggies

Last week I was hit with a nasty flu. I'm sure you know, it's the flu that's been making everyone you know sick, if it hasn't gotten to you already. One morning I woke up around 5 am, coughing and coughing and just couldn't get comfortable because I had to keep getting up to grab a tissue. I sat up for a bit and played my DS (trying to get everyone to level 40 so I can finally put Mario and Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story down before the new Pokemon games come out). About two hours later, when I started to feel dizzy I decided to lay back down, and thankfully got back to sleep pretty quickly.

I woke up late. As I slowly stumbled out of the bedroom, I was expecting to be greeted with the customary clamour of guinea pigs waiting to be fed. It was considerably later than I usually get up, which would usually mean a louder rodent ruckus. But on this morning, not a peep. I quickly took a gander at my messages, then took a shower. The hot steam was such a relief on my sinuses and sore throat. I left the bathroom, and upon entering the living room there was yet silence. Archie was under his stool, sitting up attentively, but silently. My girls, Mochi and Pocky, stood there in their cages, watching my every move ever so quietly. It wasn't til I actually walked into the kitchen and pulled out the tupperwares of parsley and lettuce did the first squeaks of the morning resound through the air.

My guinea pigs always seem to know when I don't feel well. This is most notably evident when I wake up late due to stomach aches in the middle of the night, or due to the flu in this most recent scenario. My little squeakers can tell when I'm ill, and they politely stay uncharacteristically quiet until I'm ready to feed them. This may sound a little silly to some of you, but those of use who have cavies know how relentlessly adament they can be about getting their meals.

Of course, now that I'm feeling better, the moment I set foot outside the bedroom door in the morning they all start wheeking their little heads off.

I :heart: Guinea Pigs & Mice Plushies

With Valentine's Day approaching, I thought I'd make some seasonally appropriate plushies. These are baby guinea pigs and mice, but they feature sweet fuzzy hearts in red and pink fur on their little bums.

As always, they are available in my Etsy shop and Artfire shop .

I've been busy still, which is a good thing. I like having a lot of work, especially when I enjoy what I do. I'm hoping to get all my orders and custom plushie requests done soon so I can get my plushie rats online, I know there are a lot of people waiting for those.

My boyfriend and I have also been house hunting recently, and hopefully we can be in a nice new home soon with a great workspace for me and plenty of room for piggies. Mochi's been feeling much better lately, and I'm trying to get Pocky completely weaned off the cortizone. I can't wait to see these guys scurrying across a nice hardwood floor.

It's Been Far Too Long

...since my last blog post. The holiday season was overwhelmingly busy. I had so many plushie orders, the volume of which I have to admit I was a tad unprepared for. I have learned a lot though, next year I'll be getting ready for the holidays well in advance!

The piggy herd is doing well. Pocky is back to her old self, eating lots of hay and pellets, and due to all the attention she got from syringe feeding and daily medicine she's even become a lot friendlier. Big brother Miso is also doing great, there's no sign of the abscess returning. Mochi, their mom, unfortunately suddenly stopped eating hay... Her pattern of behavoir was just like Pocky's when she'd gotten ill, so we immediately took her to the vet and got her on the same medicine we used to treat Pocky. Luckily we caught it before the issue progressed further, so she had a quicker recovery.

I've just about caught up on my plushie orders, so I'm ready to take on more custom orders. I've finished a few rat plushies, and even came up with a cute Valentine's plushie idea, so I'll be posting those as soon as I've got some photos taken. In the meantime, here are some custom piggies I made last year for some kind folks over on the GuineaLynx forums.

My First Craft Fair

On Saturday I did my first craft fair. Well, that is , as a vendor. I set up a table with some grids and fleece and made it look like a guinea pig C&C cage (or as much as I could). I also had a cage for my mouse plushies, and brought a couple of my new ratty plushies too.

There wasn't a large attendance. I blame the weather! It rained all day, and quite heavily. I did make some sales and some new friends, and the experience was invaluable. I'll be looking forward to doing more of these events.

Autumn is my favorite season. The richness of colors that flare in almost every tree, the crispy chill in the air, the grey drizzly days, the crunchy leaves that carpet the ground, I love it all. Warm drinks abound, and cuddles with your favorite furry friend under a soft blanket become mandatory.

I've gathered some of my most colorful plushies to play for a while amongst some seasonal autumn items.

Punkin is a guinea pig with bright orange fur, and an in-your-face personality to go with it! He refuses to tone it down, and instead relishes the fact that he stands out so much. He's a critter who loves being the center of attention, and will do whatever he can to get noticed. Punkin actually hates autumn, since there's so much blazing orange and red he feels like nature is trying to one-up him. As winter draws near, he feels that he's the best piggy up to the task of brightening up a dreary grey day.

I was out the day, walking through a carpet of leaves and breathing in the crisp autumn air. As I admired the vibrant colors swirling and rustling all around me, I was startled by a sudden squeak and burst of leaves. A plushie piggy had been hiding in the fallen foliage, his fur a rich auburn red that camouflaged him perfectly. I picked him up and brought him inside, as no piggy should be outdoors on a chilly day like that. We drank hot cocoa and watched the windbourne leaves from the warm indoors.

Ruby is a mouse with fiery red fur, but don't let that fool you, she's not hot-tempered! Despite her blazing demeanor, she's actually very mild-mannered and easy to get along with. She enjoys having deep conversations over hot tea, especially if there are cinnamon flavored treats to be had as well.


All of my autumn plushie friends are available in both my Etsy shop and my Artfire shop til the end of fall and beyond.

On the Road to Recovery

Well, despite improvement in her demeanor and increased appetite, Pocky still wasn't eating any hay or pellets. I didn't want to wait til we finished the antibiotics so I called the vet. It was a really busy day, so they said they'd call me back to discuss our options. Hours went by without hearing from them, so I called back. The doctor still wasn't available so all I could do was reserve the last available appointment for the next day. They must have been really busy, because I never got to talk to the vet. As soon as I woke up the next morning I called again. The person I spoke to said that if I wanted to bring Pocky in for a dental exam, I'd have to bring her in the next day in the morning since it's a procedure that couldn't be handled in a regular appointment slot. I agreed, made arrangements, and cancelled the appointment for that afternoon. Since we spent so much time on Pocky recently, we decided to give all the piggies a weighing that morning before feeding them. Everyone's weight was fine, but when I picked up Miso, Pocky's brother, I found a lump under his chin. Crap. I called the vet back no more than five minutes after hanging up and asked if they still had that afternoon appointment available. I brought Miso in, and the doctor says it was most likely an abscess, and we scheduled an appointment for surgery to have it removed.

Pocky's dental exam showed that her teeth were in good condition, they were filed down a bit but there was nothing that would cause her to stop eating. She seemed bothered after her procedure and showed no interest in even nibbling anything. I had stopped giving her antibiotics thinking that the exam would bring to light a dental issue. After another visit to the vet we switched her to Baytril, a different type of antibiotic in the hopes that it would target different bacteria, but again, Pocky still didn't eat on her own.

Miso went through his surgery just fine. The abscess wasn't related to a tooth, which is a good thing, and was most likely due to an external puncture wound like a bite (I'm looking at you, Archie!) The doctor wasn't able to take out the abscess cleanly, however, it burst during the procedure. They had to suture the incision open as they couldn't close it up as a sterile wound, and I was given the responsibilty of flushing it out with an antiseptic and packing it with Neosporin twice a day. When I first saw him, I cried. It looked horrible! It's really not as bad as it looks, the vet told me it's mostly scar tissue with no nerve endings so it doesn't hurt. Miso acts like it's not even there, he eats and drinks and goes about his daily life as if nothing were different. When I brought him back for a follow up exam his wound was doing fine with no signs of infection, and on the next visit his sutures were removed. Now I only need to cover the incision area with Neosporin twice a day, and I'll continue to give him acidophilus and antibiotics until he's fully healed.

I've had Pocky on baytril for almost 2 weeks. She's been very affectionate and vocal, and gets excited when it's feeding time but still didn't eat more than a nibble or so. I could see that whatever was affecting her still wasn't being treated, so I brought her in again to the vet when Miso had his stitches taken out. Her front teeth were getting misaligned, the lower tooth was very skinny and long, and the top was very thick. She squealed like I never heard her squeal before when they trimmed her teeth. The doctor felt her facial muscles, especially around her jaw, and could see that they'd become rather emaciated in comparison to the rest of her body. I also didn't realize that Pocky wasn't opening her mouth very wide until I had to give Miso meds and saw how enunciated his chewing motions were in comparison to his sister's. Taking all this into consideration, and seeing how she didn't have any bad teeth and probably not an infection, the vet said that she probably has some pain in the main muscles of her jaws, and that would be the cause of her lack of desire/inability to eat. He prescribed her a form of cortizone for the pain, so now I'm giving her that and acidophilus til her poops regain their normal consistency, but no more reglan or antibiotics.

This photo was taken just this morning, as Pocky eats her first piece of hay in over a month.

When I syringe feed Pocky now, it seems like her chewing is a bit more animated. She'e really been trying to get at her hay, pulling at it but not eating it. This morning she ate a whole meal's worth of parsley and lettuce, and even ate a long piece of hay and a couple of pellets. I'm so relieved and happy! Seems like we finally found out what the issue is. As tiring as it is to force feed her and give her meds several times a day, it's not nearly as frustrating as knowing that your pet is suffering and you can't figure out what to do to help her.

The Waning of Golden Days

Yellow is the color of summer, the sun, golden days that stretch on lazily for hours and hours. Roses thrive in this vibrant time, refusing to shed their silken petals til the sun shies away and leaves the days colder and darker. I recieved these beautiful yellow roses, my favorite of all flowers, and they begged me to appear in a photo shoot. To be honest, I like colder weather, and am eagerly anticipating the onset of autumn.

I know someone in particular who is sad to see the summer end.

There's a certain little mouse who isn't timid like the others. He doesn't like to hide in the shadows, rather, he prefers to bask in the warm rays of the sun. His name is Sunny, and he has an ever cheerful disposition. This mouse loves bright, colorful things, especially if they're yellow. You may find him in your garden amongst your most brilliant flowers, and on rainy days he'd like to come inside for some tea and you may get him to stay for a chat if you have some fresh cut flowers on display.

Sunny is available in both my Etsy and Artfire shops.

One Sick Little Guinea Pig Can Make a Big Impact

Here I sit in my living room, my feet up, laptop appropriately on my lap, and a little bundle of fluff at my side. I'm tired, my back aches a bit, and it's another 90° day so I'm warmer than I'd like to be. To say that all these issues were caused by a certain little big-eyed, squeaky fluff would be a bit of an exageration, after all guinea pigs don't control the weather, but it's not too far off from the truth.

It all began two weeks ago. My littlest guinea pig, the adorable agouti Pocky with her great big eyes, didn't eat much of her parsley. It was the last bit of an older bunch, and some of the other piggies didn't eat it all right away (Archie decided to decorate his cage with parsley leaf confetti). After all the others had eaten their breakfast remainders, she still didn't finish it, and didn't eat all of the lettuce that was offered for dinner. Pocky did snatch up the baby carrot presented to her and ate it all. I've had a piggy get into a mood where they don't eat as much as they normally do for a day, and seem to sit around in a ponderous mood, but they always go back to normal after a day or so, so I didn't think too much of it.

The next day Pocky still didn't eat much of her fresh greens, and apparently hadn't been eating much of her pellets or hay. I offered her carrot and bell pepper and lettuce throughout the day, which she'd only consume small amounts of. She had no interest in her hay or pellets at all. There is a good small animal vet nearby, but they're closed on Sundays so all I could do was keep a close eye on my piggy and wait. I was deeply vexed. She sat all puffed up in her pigloo all day, and didn't emerge for hay or drag her small pellet dish into the pigloo as she normally did. She was bright-eyed and alert and wasn't lethargic, so that was a good sign. I cuddled with her in bed watching tv til around 2 am. I was honestly afraid she wouldn't survive til morning.

At around 6 am I woke up, probably due to my obnoxious neighbors. I had to go check on my little girl. I quietly went up to her cage, sat on the floor cushion in front of it, and took a deep breath as I looked at her pigloo. I lifted it up, and to my relief I saw the pale morning light glimmer off her big bright eyes as her nose perked up at me. I scooped her up and held her close to my chest for a few minutes before going back to bed. (I go to bed late, so I get up late). When I got up again, I put Pocky on my lap and offered her some parsley. Her nose perked up at it, but she ate only the tiniest nibble. We offered a baby carrot, but she only ate about half of it, leaving little bits behind. I could see the situation was becoming dire. A call to the vet was made, they were closing within the hour but they would see her. I made the hastiest exit in my life and we took her there right away. The vet was in surgery, so he wasn't able to see her right away, so we had to leave here there. They checked her vitals, Pocky's temperature was good and she was still very alert and perky so that was positive. We just had to go home and wait til the vet was free to see her. After a few hours we got a call, they'd been syringe feeding Pocky to get her some food and fluids. They looked in her mouth and didn't see anything wrong with her teeth. There was a bit of gas in her tummy, so they gave her some treatment for her gut. The vet said that they'd call me again and I should be ble to take her home later in the afternoon. It may be just a gut upset, but if she didn't regain her appetite I'd have to take her back for bloodwork or a more thorough examination of her teeth.

We brought Pocky home with some Critical Care dry mix, some acidophilus tablets for her gut, and an appetite stimulant called reglan. For the next few days I fed her the Critical Care mush through a syringe and gave her the medications along with plenty of cuddles, but still she didn't want to eat on her own, so back to the vet we went. They did some bloodwork, and we waited a day for the results. Pocky didn't have any kidney or liver problems, but she did have a low white blood cell count which is indicative of an infection. Some antibiotics were added to the regimen of oral treatments.

"I said I'm not hungry!" says the grumpy Pocky-chan during one of her syringe feedings.

I have to mention that the Wednesday before all this occured, my boyfriend had surgery on his wrist. It was a minor procedure, but it left him with his right arm in a cast. That meant that the man who previously was happy to do dishes since I cooked dinner, and who helped me clean the guinea pig cages daily, was largely incapacitated. A little extra work on my part, but I shrugged it off, no big deal. Now I had two invalids to care for, cutting up steak for one and syringe feeding the other. I fed Pocky every four hours or so, which wasn't the easiest thing since she really wasn't too fond of it. It quickly became tiring.

Though all of this, Pocky remained chipper and in good spirits. Her eyes were bright, her nose twitched with interest at foods she then decided she didn't want to eat. The two vet trips showed her temperature was good and daily weighings made sure that her weight stayed stable. I cuddled her multiple times a day. After a few days of the antibiotics, little Pocky's appetite began to improve. She ate small amounts of parlsey in the morning, she emerged from her pigloo to lounge in her litter tray throughout the day. She began to squeak and cluck happily when I cuddled her. Overall, she seemed in a much better mood. As she still had no desire to eat hay or pellets and her front teeth came together at an angle, we brought Pocky to the vet for another visit. Her teeth were filed down a bit, and another examination with an otoscope showed that her molars were in good shape. The vet was inclined to believe that her issue wasn't with her teeth, her total lack of appetite pointed to nausea rather than a toothache, and since she'd shown progress after starting the antibiotics it supported the idea of a low-grade infection being the cause of her problems. She gave me an estimate on a dental exam, but said that it was a good idea to let her have the rest of the antibiotics before subjecting Pocky to another treatment.

So here I am, still syringe feeding and giving medicines to my cute little girl piggy. My boyfriend has had the stitches removed from his wrist, the cast came off and he's able to help me out. I started a new job, which will be a great help in paying off these vet bills. A lot of tears, time and effort have been put forth for my little Pocky-chan, and I can only hope that this treatment will work and that she'll be better soon.