Our
House Name
(Part 3 - First Shows & Tudor).
Pubpsy passed on on 5 May 98 while I was out doing some temporary work. Why did he have to go when I wasn't there? I got home to find the Chaps lying with him trying to keep him warm, but it was too late, he'd gone. Pubpsy's last trip was to the vets to be cremated and now his ashes have a place of honour opposite the cage next to his photograph.
Pubpsy died just after I'd arranged to take him to our first pet show so the Chaps went instead. The pet show was run by a local cavy club and led to my introduction to the world of cavies. The Chaps did quite well (see our Results). The organiser of another cavy show asked me if I'd take the rats along. I agreed and then discovered it was in my home town, Alfreton, Derbyshire. It came as quite a shock as I've lived here all my life and never heard anything about it. It was a *** event and had been happening for years and years. Well one thing led to another and different organisers kept saying "Come to my show, Come to my show" so we did.
On 5 July 98 we were at another show and I was feeling quite depressed as it was 2 months since Pubpsy's death. This is when I got Tudor, in a way he was a rescue. One woman had been buying new cavies at almost every show we'd attended, but when asked about the previously bought stock she always said it was really ill or had died. A few of us were beginning to be suspicious as she was also showing pregnant females, one of which aborted just after a show. She spotted Tudor and went off to get her husband so he could have a look at him. I quickly bought him as I honestly believe that he would be dead now if she'd have got him. So I now had my first cavy!
Most of the cavy people freaked when I said Tudor was going to live with the Chaps. I was told the rats would kill him, he'd be too upset to eat and would starve to death and that I was being cruel forcing him to live with a different species. Tudor was put in with the Chaps who nuzzled up to him and started grooming him - they loved him at first sight.
Bill was not too impressed with what I'd done and was also very unsure about Tudor living with the Chaps. Tudor had us both for complete fools during the first few weeks he lived with us. He'd wheeep for no apparent reason and the Chaps would go to investigate, he'd then turn up the volume and we'd both go running, the volume would increase even more so we'd pick him up. Just like a young baby he was seeking attention.
I'd arranged for the Chaps to enter their first proper rat show - NFRS Cleveland Show, 25 July 1998 - and was advised by Tudor's breeder to take him along too, otherwise he'd scream the house down with the absence of his friends.
About 2 weeks after his arrival Tudor nearly died. I was sitting with him, on the sofa, late Saturday night / early Sunday morning. Suddenly he had a seizure and stopped breathing. I paniced and tried desparately to find a pulse. Tudor was now all limp and floppy so I draped him on my stomach and began to rub his rib cage vigourously with the palms of my hands. He began to twitch and then seemed to cough and start breathing normally. I stayed up with him all night, through to Bill getting up later on Sunday morning, then I tried to get some sleep but couldn't settle because I was worrying about him. I rang his breeder and when I told her what had happened her first question was about his diet. We had been feeding him lettuce mainly and were very suprised to be told that, in excess, lettuce can be lethal to cavies. Tudor loved his lettuce and we had been killing him with kindness by giving him his favourite food. We haven't given him any more lettuce since that Saturday and, so far, Tudor is fit and well.
A few weeks later at another cavy show we heard of a family who had also fed their cavy mainly lettuce, they got up one morning to find it dead in it's hutch. I believe that we might have found Tudor dead in the cage had I not been with him.
The only problem we have with our cross-species living arrangements is Tudor's identity crisis, he thinks he's part rat and many of his mannerisms are rat-like. A normal cavy will tip its food bowl to get to the favourite bits while Tudor stands on his hind legs and digs with his front paws like a rat. Normal cavies run and buck while Tudor bounds and kicks his legs out in a rat-like manner. Tudor has also tried climbing the cage bars and has become more nocturnal like the rats he lives with.
Part 4 - Cleveland Show & The NAMB
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This page was last updated: 07/10/98 21:40