"Love begins at home, and it is not how much we do, but how much love we put in that action."
~ Mother TeresaSo many times, mom is too sick to clean our cages, water bottles, food bowls, set up our Playpen for Runabouts, and spend quality cuddle-time with each of us individually every day...she laments.
People mistakenly think guinea pigs are easy to care for and that is one reason our Sanctuary has no dearth of
rescues...because we are actually high maintenance animals with a complex, herd-based social structure and
a need for much socializing, play, interaction, touching, and love.
Some of us arrive here having NEVER experienced any of this...we bite, we scream, we are afraid to be touched, we are sick, we are weak, we have mites in our ears and throughout the fur across our little bodies, some of us come with cancer, and some of us come because, at age 4, Calvin the small was determined "unsellable" since our lifespans run generally 5 - 7 years...so we are high maintenance to begin with, and still arrive with highly individualized "special needs" we learn to communicate to mom.
For those reasons and her own health - or lack of it - she cannot always do as much as she wants...and goes to bed disappointed, promising us that she'll get to this or that tomorrow...but one thing we NEVER go without is love and attention to detail, making sure that each one of us here knows how much we matter, to mom and to one another. There is never a dearth of love, petting, treats, cooing, sweet kisses from Calvin the small's pink lips, purring and purring when mom rubs my achy back just the right way, and reassuring Coconut that yes, life goes on even though she misses Erica and the Mahal Brothers are again tumping over their Pigloo in their eternal quest to move it so their food bowl, mini hay-bales, wooden chew toys, and other valuable possessions are contained therein, barely leaving any room to sleep! We watch mom's disappointment almost daily that she cannot "do more" but we know how much love she and every single person in animal rescue DO put into "that action" - particularly our disabled animal rescue friends - and there are many, particularly amongst MODS!
Every single one of you willing to have your own hearts broken over and over again to help heal ours,who genuinely cherish our willingness to trust humans again, we salute you, our brethren, our People, givers of the first "forever homes" we have ever known. We love you.
