I was expecting him to be quite naughty, after all he's a cheeky boy and hasn't had too many baths in his life as he's been showing since he was young and you can't bath a Rex cavy within 4 weeks of a show or their coat goes soft and flat. But I was pleasently surprised and he was one of the most well bahved piggies to bath!!

It seems that when one of my piggies gets ill, so do two or three or several others! (Unrelated) I think they must see the extra attention a poorly one gets and think 'hmm...what can I come up with to get even more attention?'!!

In the last few weeks we've had:

• Kiwi still suffering with resporitory problems (which I now believe to be some sort of allergy)
• Sara's teeth problems continuing (and her still not having the babies so they can't be fixed yet!)
• Eros with a Cyst on his tummy - fortunately it was only quite small and ruptured and I was able to treat it at home
• Bambi with blood on her anus, which fortunately turned out to be a small, external scratch and the blood wasn't actually coming from inside
• Pluto presenting with blood in his urine and pain when urinating (he's on Metacam pain relief and Cystitis treatment and if this doesn't help he'll be on Baytril and if that doesn't help he'll need to be x-rayed for stones)

So its been quite a busy time for me and the medical box recently!!

Poor Kiwi has been struck down by another URI - he really has been in the wars this year. He was on a course of Baytril injections but after 5 days of slight improvment the URI came back bad again and so I gave him another course of 5 days but this time there's been no improvement at all.

So I took him back to the vet today and the only other anti-biotic that he could have was Marbocyl (which I've used before and is good) but you can only inject it and after 10 injections already we're running out of room on his neck and I don't want him to end up with an abscess. So we're trying oral Baytril now and some Metacam (anti-inflammatory) because the membrane in one of his nostrils is all inflammed.

I really hope he starts to make an improvement soon.

Kiwi had an oil soak the other day - he isn't going to a show for another 3 weeks so it was an ideal opportunity to give him a pamper with plenty of time for his coat to harshen up again.

Here he is relaxing mid oil soak! (he's a big softy)

And here he is post oil soak. Look how clean and white he is!

It's been a busy 3 weeks for The Ribble Cavies Stud with showing!

And first and foremost our amazing news is that Ribble got Best In Show last Sunday at Staffordshire CC Show!!  I am so happy - absolutely over the moon!

Here's a picture of him with his Best Non-self rosette (L) and his Best in Show rosette (R):

And the week before that, at Oswestry Show, Ribble's son, Munchie, came out for his first show and got Best U/5 and was in the Best in Show line up!! I was so happy - and on his first show too!

Here's a recent picture of him:

I've also done not just my first judging position, but two! I wasn't sure if I was going to be judging the pets at Oswestry show but when I arrived Steve said if it was ok with the main judge I could. I was watching the pures being judged and waiting to do the pets when suddenly the judge came over and asked if I'd like to do the Juveniles with him helping me, which was really nice of him.

There wasn't many Juveniles, but it was nice not to be thrown in too much at the deep end! There was quite a few pets though and I really enjoyed it - and the bonus was that there was no time to get nervous about it, as I didn't know beforehand!

Then I judged the Pets and Juveniles at Staffordshire CC last Sunday, which was great! I had about 50 pets to judge and it was real fun, but so difficult to decide! There were so many that were so well prepared and friendly. I'm really looking forward to my other judging positions that I have coming up. I'm so glad I took the plunge and did this - I think the only way to learn more and improve is to get out there and do it.

Gromit also did very well at his first show since coming to live here, getting a 1st in his class and then a 2nd and 3rd in the challenges at Oswestry.

Our next show isn't until 23rd April and the cavies are all having a well earned rest! I'm going to be taking some babies out to Oldham on 7th May, which I'm really looking forward to.

This is a photo of our NCC Pet Points 2005 trophey:

I've been trying to think of a way to display my rosettes for quite a while. I wanted something a bit different to go in my 'Cavy Den'. One day I was flicking through my Robinsons Catalogue and I found the perfect solution - a giant rosette shaped notice board! So I ordered one and below are the 'before' and 'after' pictures. It's a bit full at the moment and I plan on getting another one and dispersing the rosettes a little so that you can see the actual board! But I am really pleased with it and it's hanging on my wall with pride.

Before:

After:

As always, it's been a very busy time here at Ribble Cavies!

First things first (!) we got a very groovy new broom, which sure brightens up the shed some!

Mike has been building some more cages in the caviary. We now have 16 cages, 15 of which are occupied. He has 2 more doors to make on the one block and then one, perhaps 2 more blocks when needed. My trio of sows, Xiamen, Jemima and Tinkerbell were lucky enough to get the first new cage on this block and Kenco and Gromit moved into the second one.

We're now under way with our 'Breeding Programme 2006' which you can keep up to date with HERE when I update it soon. I'm a little behind with that as I've been so busy otherwise. It's nearly time for the first two sows to come out already! The sows will be coming to live in the Cavy Den once they come away from the boars. Mike is putting a top along the wall in the Cavy Den and I'm building some cages to go on there for them.

Apollo has been suffering from a very nasty URI. He had a nose bleed with it too, which I've never seen before. Fortunately he seems to be all better now and I'll pair him back up with Kiwi in about a week or so. Hopefully, they'll behave and go back together well again. They are both very laid back piggies and very good friends!

Buster has recovered from his Kidney infection and is piling the grams back on well! And Kiwi is out of the hospital cage at last and his leg seems to be doing much better.

We haven't had any shows for a few weeks, because most of the Rex (apart from the babies) have been in for breeding and there wasn't much point travelling a long way with only one or two cavies. There aren't a great deal of shows within 2 - 2 1/2 hours of us. I have quite a big stint of shows coming up though, starting with the Midlands Championship Show on 26th March, Oswestry on 2nd April, Yorkshire CC on 8th April, Warrington on 23rd April and Oldham (where I'm judging!) on 7th May.

It's been a bit like 'Animal Hospital' around here the last few weeks...

Kiwi is still limping unfortunately. I thought I would take him back to the vet tomorrow when I take Buster in (see below) but I looked at the calendar and it's not even been 2 weeks since he was last there and the vet said to give him 2 - 3 weeks. It seems like ages ago that we went - I've been too busy lately!

Poor Buster has been suffering with a kidney infection over the last 10 days or so. He's been on a course of Baytril, which is now finished and I am so relieved to say that he is getting better and better each day. It was so horrible to see him sitting in the cage, looking so sad and in pain and not eating. He couldn't have any pain killers as they are not very good for their kidneys and would have only made the problem worse. And it is so not like Buster to not eat - he must have been feeling so ill. He is normally the first one at the bars in the morning, climbing up and chewing at them! I can't tell you how pleased I was when he started chewing on those bars again for his veggies! He's got to go back tomorrow for a final check up because his kidney pain was so bad and the vet wants to just check that it's all cleared up now. He had an x-ray done last week at the vets and they said he was so well behaved - he even lay on his side with a little sand bag over him while they did side shots. He must have been feeling so unwell - anyone who knows Buster will tell you that he never sits still!

I guess the more cavies you have, the more time you spend at the vets! Mum says it's also because I'm very thorough and notice things other people would miss or not bother to go to the vets with. I think they've all grouped together to help me to practise for when I become a Veterinary Nurse! Let's hope not....