09 June 2009

The Taoists

Watercolor on Arches
16" x 12" 2006

Cullen and Mofusa, Cavadaii Porcellus, Cavys, Cochon des India or Guinea Pigs.
At home, the Guys, but they live the essence of the Tao. "What is, is."

Mofusa transformed into a Guardian Angel, thus spawning the Mofusa Memorial Park where wildlife visit, drink and feed. Wild Pigs, Elk, songbirds, Flickers, Rabbits and all the spring babies play and hide in Oak stumps and tall grasses. Cullen is seven this year. The one-eyed king.

7 comments:

su said...

Beauty beyond belief.
And I am urged to move mine into a protective space.
George was the pioneer to the other side and since his passing, three have followed.
No idea as to the cause.

Along the same lines, 50 whales beached themselves on the coast nearby. Looking at news I always noticed that a beaching of a large pod always preceded a disaster of some sort. We shall see.

Your eekers are so extremely beautiful and 7 is a huge feat.
What is the birth month?

nina said...

Here in the so-called civilized world, I've decided the key to health is their teeth. Incisors, the uppers only, need a little even trimming about every 3 -4 months. Otherwise, they grow continuously as all teeth in Rodentia do. When you notice one isn't eating, but hovering around the bowls, its teeth. See
Guinea Lynx Medical and Care Guide. They have this down. You could clip them yourself.
November 2002 is my best guess. I adopted them both in late December 2002.
Interesting about the beaching of whales, please let me know how it goes this time.

Anonymous said...

funny how we all have what attracts us--or, what draws us...I knew Su would be here......

Jj

nina said...

YOU haven't joined THE GUINEA PIG CLUB yet? Ooooo you are missing something wonderful.

su said...

Do you trim their teeth yourself?
And yet Goldipochx was only a few weeks old so that must have been a seperate issue.
Might have to consult the sangoma at this rate.
Perhaps Sage needs to learn this life skill.
Seems like kind of a crazy design to have your teeth growing through you.
Jj - You know us too well.

nina said...

Su, I think Nature takes hard biting into the system, if you gnaw to calm your nerves, you'd wear down the incisors pretty quickly. However, a Pig who cannot find hard chews regularly will develop overgrown incisors. Guinea Lynx contradicts Peter Gurney on trimming the bottoms, saying NEVER do it. I don't.

There are two tools Cian or Sage will need, one is a bucal pad separator to hold the mouth open and the other is the right dental clipper that will snip at the proper angle. Its painless, so he could do it IF HE KNOWS WHAT HE IS DOING. I, myself don't have the tools and wouldn't dream of doing a jury rig. Now, after a teeth trim, they need about 10 days to get back to serious eating, during which time you'd need to offer a chopped up, blended herbivore diet or just straight grasses.
Peter Gurney's Guinea Pig Health Pages

and

Dental Problems

More, the molars are a whole 'nother thing. Some pigs will need molar planing every year or so, that is a Vet's job.

Peter Gurney might make more sense to you as a Brit, I can't get many of his herbals in the US. But he is good for common sense solutions. In a serious crisis, I turn to Guinea Lynx or make the trek to the Vet.

I cannot imagine what happened to Goldi. Maybe there is something on Peter Gurney's site to explain?
She may have been dropped or fallen, she may have eaten philadendron? She looked so healthy. Bless her. Maybe the others who passed just wanted to be with George.

su said...

Thanks for the info.
Roaming the garden and having access to the stick/wood pile, I imagine they have enough to nibble their teeth down.
Sage and Cian will be reading up in depth on this subject today.
I went to look at the guinea lynx forum and they suggested that for hair loss it could be mange mites.
When we had all those chickens, they were initially covered in chicken lice which we dusted. The last one to die was having seizures which is supposedly one of the symptoms. There was moderate hair loss in Skitty but nothing that showed up on the skin.
I also noticed that we have had no babies born for a while. The moms get pregnant and then they are suddenly not.
In this part of the world the vets do not treat exotics. They treat sheep, goats, cows, dogs and cats and that is it.
I once took George to the vet but he was pretty clueless and in the end I treated him with oils and colloidal silver and Sage made him a splint.
I think you probably are right - they have gone off to be with George.
Sage put on George's accent last night and was "channeling" him - I swear it was like he had never left.