Remember Woody’s rescue story? Well, fast forward 3 years and 9 days to 20th November 2024, and that’s almost exactly how we came to rescue Timmy!
Two guinea pigs were spotted running loose on the edge of a housing development in Northstowe, near Cambridge, on 19th November. The temperatures that week were single figures, dropping to -5° at night. As soon as it was light the next day I gathered up a carrier, pigloos and fresh veg – as much as I could carry – in the hope we could get a group of people together and get these piggies to safety.
I was first to arrive that morning and the search area looked impossible. Ten times the size of the hedgerow we’d found Woody in. I saw one of the pigs – Timmy – within ten minutes of arrival. I managed to catch him on my own over the course of about an hour with a lot of patience, and a lot of scattered veg! Thankfully another 3 ladies arrived and they spotted the other guinea pig (“Leaf”), and we managed to close the human net and catch him once we were all in the thicket with him.
We all agreed I would bring them back for a full check and rehome them. I established soon enough that both pigs were boys and, at the time of rescue, I estimated they couldn’t be more than 4 months old.
Sadly Leaf had to be euthanised 6 days later after falling seriously ill with a myriad of systemic health issues. Timmy soon bonded with one of my lone boys, Rupert, and unexpectedly became a permanent fixture! Thanks to donations from the Tiny Paws and Northstowe communities, I was able to cover Leaf’s vet bill, Timmy’s vet check and castration without worrying about money.
His name came to me around two weeks on from the rescue; out of nowhere I simply tried it, and it worked. Timmy is the name he goes by, but of course he has to have a formal name, which is Timothy Linden. Linden, a type of tree, is used as his middle name in memory of Leaf, and Tiny Tim (nickname) also a nod to the time of year he joined us.
