Guinea pig

“ The showing or exhibiting of Guinea Pigs is rapidly becoming more popular and in nearly all pet stock and poultry shows you will find several pens of Guinea Pigs. There are many fanciers in the country who make a specialty of show animals and fancy stock.
In judging Cavies, the size, shape, condition, and color are the main things to take into consideration. The selfs or solid colors must have every hair of the same color. Any white whatever will disbar a pig that is otherwise red. ”

“ One of his pets was a guinea pig.
"There are few traits of character that speak better for the future of a boy than that which seeks to protect the helpless and overlooked in the brute creation," said Uncle Benjamin to Abiah Franklin one day. "There are not many animals that have so many enemies as a guinea pig. Cats, dogs, and even the hens run after the harmless little thing. I wonder that this one should be alive now. He would have been dead but for Ben." ”

“ The microbe shows a very close relationship with those of swine plague, chicken cholera and rabbit septicæmia, but it sometimes differs in showing little or no pathogenesis for the Guinea-pig.
Animals susceptible. It is pathogenic to deer, buffalo, cattle, horses, swine, rabbits, rats, mice, and to a lesser extent to goats and sheep.
The pathogenesis varies with the immediate source of the microbe. When obtained from cattle a drop of blood kills rabbits in twelve to twenty hours, with intense hæmorrhagic laryngitis and tracheitis. Guinea pigs die in forty to eighty hours. ”

“ The Pica is about the size of a Guinea Pig, and covered with yellowish-red hair. It inhabits the loftiest summits of mountains, and employs itself, during the summer, in collecting and drying a supply of herbage for winter use. The heaps of hay thus accumulated are of extraordinary dimensions, sometimes measuring as much as six or seven feet in height, and are invaluable to the hunters of Sables, affording fodder for their Horses at a period when no other provender is obtainable. ”

“ And though the pig of James was a good white pig, with a black patch on his right side and one little dab of yellow fur where his tail would have been if he had had one, yet, compared to the guinea-pig of Peters, he was nothing. James, however, didn't mind the loss of admiration for his pig, and he offered Peters to let the pigs live together, which would be better for both of them, because a guinea-pig is the most sociable thing in Nature, and are known well to pine, and even die, if kept in single captivity. ”

“ Among the purchases was an alleged New Guinea pig, which had the legs and body of a deer and the head of a porker—and it had fur, too. God! I never saw anything like it. It didn't have an orthodox corkscrew tail but a compromise between a pig's and a deer's tail. The pig mascot was given the freedom of the Wolf and dashed if it didn't lick every dog on the ship. We had seven dogs on board, taken from sunken ships—dachshunds, fox terriers, all sorts—and the pugnacious deer-pig cleaned them all up. ”

“ That of cage birds is interchangeable with that of man.
Rodents. Guinea pigs have a strong susceptibility to tuberculosis, whether from human or bovine source, and rabbits for that of birds, and by continuous transmission through the body of the rodent, all alike seem to tend toward acquiring common characters. The Guinea-pig, therefore, has been especially availed of for the experimental transmission of tuberculosis, and, as the disease in them becomes acute and rapid in its progress, these subjects permit the multiplying of experiments in a short period. ”

“ The Society have old authority for any amount of confusion between the swine and the rodents. The guinea-pig has long ago established its right to its name, on the indisputable grounds of being entirely unconnected with [Pg 600] Guinea, and not a pig, but a rodent. The capybara is also called a water-pig (even in its Greek name) in virtue, doubtless, of being a rodent. "Porcupine" means a thorny pig ”

“ The flesh of the guinea pig (Cavia cobaya, Desm.) is eaten in South America, and is said to be not unlike pork. When he is dressed for the table his skin is not taken off as in other animals, but the hair is scalded and scraped off in the same manner as it is in a hog.
The white and tender flesh of the agouti (Dasyprocta Acuti, Desm.) , when fat and well dressed, is by no means unpalatable food, but very delicate and digestible. It is met with in Brazil, Guiana, and in Trinidad. The manner of dressing them in the West Indies used to be to roast them with a pudding in their bellies. ”

“ What people like in the Guinea-pig is its pretty coloring. The wild form is of a grayish-brown color, but as kept on the farm its color is white, with patches of red and black. It is of no use to man except as a pet, for it is not fit for food and is too stupid for anything else. ”

“ The guinea-pig, when full-grown, is not much bigger than [102] a large rat. In shape it is a good deal like a fat pig. When hungry it grunts like a pig. In color it is white, spotted with orange and black. It is a native of Brazil.
Guinea-pigs serve very well for pets. Some children are very fond of them. But old folks like me prefer pets of another sort.
UNCLE SAM.
A BEAR'S STORY. ”

“ Sometimes in spite of all you can do a Guinea Pig goes light. If the treatment for worms has no effect it may be tuberculosis. Separate at once from the others. Give special diet of milk and bread or bran and oats. If it does not get better destroy it as it does not pay to have such stock around. ”

“ A thing that can come under two rates is naturally due to be classed as the higher. But are guinea-pigs, pigs? Aren't they rabbits?”
“Come to think of it,” said the president, “I believe they are more like rabbits. Sort of half-way station between pig and rabbit. I think the question is this—are guinea-pigs of the domestic pig family? I'll ask professor Gordon. He is authority on such things. ”

“ If a Guinea Pig is a good feeder and still does not grow, if he looks unhealthy and his coat is not glossy he may have worms. Give a half teaspoonful of any kind of worm medicine such as children use. ”

“ Eric went on briskly: "You know how fast guinea-pigs breed, and how close and clean they crop grass. Well, here is a great natural industry waiting to be exploited. My guinea-pigs are going to give an ocular demonstration to my farmer friends. My [Pg 82] idea is, if I breed guinea-pigs and let them out in squads at so much a day——"
"But if you let them out," said Lady Barbara, innocently, "won't they run away? Ours did."
While Hermione was laughing, Eric promised to supply movable enclosures with his Guinea-Pig Squads. "When they've eaten one area clean, simply move the hurdles on. ”

“ When a guinea pig is inoculated with plague material the animal should be placed in a galvanized iron garbage can or other similar container and the opening covered with cheese cloth to prevent the fleas or other vermin which it might harbor from escaping. Again a 6-inch band of tanglefoot fly paper should be attached around the interior of the upper part of the can to further prevent escape of fleas. ”

“ This little animal (fig. 79.) though a native of Brasil and Guinea, lives and breeds in temperate, and even in cold countries, provided it is properly taken care of and sheltered from the inclemency of the weather. The Guinea-pig is frequently reared in France, and though very prolific, they are far from being numerous, for the attention they require is poorly rewarded by the profits derived from them. Their skin is of little or no value, and their flesh, though people do eat it, is very indifferent ”

“ Apthomas found himself famous before a week had passed, through the circumstance of being represented in the leading journal of caricature as a guinea pig, flying, with the spoil of bubble boards of directors under his arm, from the attack of a number of quaint-looking mammals wearing collars inscribed “ACCURACY,” “CORRECT BALANCE SHEETS,” “LEGITIMATE SPECULATIONS,” and other phrases that suggested the need for the old guinea pig to give way to a new breed. ”

“ The lower tier of a rabbit-hutch is esteemed excellent quarters by the guinea-pig: here, as he runs loose, he will devour the waste food of his more admired companion. Home naturalists assert that the guinea-pig will breed at two months old, the litter varying from four to twelve at a time. It is varied in colour,—white, fawn, and black, and a mixture of the three colours, forming a tortoiseshell, which is the more generally admired hue. Occasionally, the white ones have red eyes, like those of the ferret and the white rabbit. Their flesh, although eatable, is decidedly unfit for food ”

“ A rattler, you know, will touch no dead meat, so I had to seek some living bait. After ransacking the markets I found at last one young cuye—the funny little South American, generally miscalled among us the "guinea-pig." It was about half grown—a very proper-sized morsel for the larger snake.
My friends rattled a little as I opened the slide on the top of their cage, promptly closing it as I dropped the cuye in. But, to my surprise, they paid no further attention to the newcomer, except to appear very much bored by him; and, stranger yet, the guinea-pig showed no sign whatever of fear. ”

“ Intravenously it proved fatal to Guinea pig, rabbit, pigeon, chicken, rat, mouse, horse, ass and ox. Yet many other accessory causes must be admitted as operating in different cases.
Youth shows the greatest susceptibility whether the victim be mammal or bird. So marked is this influence that the principle sufferers are lambs just weaned or yearlings. Yet mature animals, that are debilitated from any cause, also fall victims. The measure of immunity usually noticed in mature sheep may well be attributed to a previous mild and non-fatal attack of the bacillus. ”

“ Chicks, too, are born highly developed, and so lose during the first day. Then the daily percentage of increase is greater than in the guinea pig. From the sixth to the tenth day inclusive the average is nearly but not quite 9 per cent; at the end of the third month, only 2 per cent. Rabbits are born very immature and, being less developed, grow more rapidly. The average for males of the first five days of growth is over 17 per cent. The rabbit thirty days old has about the same daily percentage of increase as the new-born guinea pig. The human child takes 180 days to double its weight ”

“ The fecundity of the guinea pig is much greater than that of the dog. Of a given number of guinea pigs born, a much smaller proportion [Pg 307] are able to survive in the keen rivalry, so that the limits of selection are wider, and the selection itself more rigid; nevertheless the progress made by the progenitors of the dog since eocene days has been much more marked and rapid than the progress made by the progenitors of the guinea pig in the same time. ”

“ The lad without much thinking, stood up and began, “Nisi dominus frustra. Unless we are lord’s sons, it is vain to come here.”
A “SINGLE” PIG.
A butcher of this city bored the ears of his guinea [228] pig, and inserted into them a pair of large ear-rings. As the guinea pig lay before his door one summer day its ludicrous appearance attracted the attention of a gentleman and his daughter who were passing by; the gentleman called the butcher by name, and enquired of him how he came to dress his pig so fancifully? ”

“ The guinea-pig is a singularly inoffensive and defenceless creature, of a restless disposition, and wanting in that intelligence which usually characterizes domestic pets, although said to show some discrimination. It is of no particular service to man, neither its flesh nor its fur being generally put to use, while the statement that its presence is sufficient to drive off rats and mice appears to be without foundation. ”

“ An allied species, the Chinese or edible guinea-pig, the Sing Fat Soo of the Cantonese restaurateur, is indeed quite plentiful, but for some reason or other has never found favour with the leading English fanciers. The fact is that since the War our customers have become more discerning, and the common guinea-pig, being no longer called for, is not bred and has therefore ceased to be available for scientific purposes. ”

“ If you expect to raise Cavies for commercial purposes the English is the kind that should pay you best. They are easier to take care of than the long-haired varieties. For laboratories, experimental purposes, etc., it is the smooth-haired Cavy that is in most demand. If you are a Guinea Pig fancier or are raising them for pet purposes it is merely a matter of taste and choice. The long-haired ones are usually more expensive and sell for more, as they are scarcer and are generally sold for pet and fancy purposes. ”

“ There is possibly no animal so well adapted for scientific experiments as the Guinea Pig. In the testing and analyzing of serums and antitoxins and for experimental purposes generally the demand is enormous, thousands and thousands of them being used every year. ”

“ You see I have thought of these things even before the guinea-pig with his hand in his vest rose to speak. I have thought more than once, too, of the fate of our domestic fowls. Are they bred to such safety, after all? The agreement reads generously enough. They are to live like the most luxurious invalids. The women are to be relieved altogether of the croodling anxieties, the nervous and fluffed worriments of motherhood; entire societies, educated for the purpose, will look after and educate their children for them ”

“ It is a pity no one was sensible enough to try and take it alive. As yet nothing is known of its habits. Of the last family, Caviidæ, the cavy and the capybara are well known to travellers in South America, and the common guinea pig is familiar to us all. ”