New Guinea Pig Rescue in Philadelphia Metro Area :D

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MuffinTopRescue

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Hey everybody! I'm Jim, and along with my partner Kim I'm starting up a new Philly based guinea pig rescue called Muffin Top! I've been a piggie parent in my personal life for 15-odd years.

The primary GP rescue in the Philly area shut down two years ago, and all that we're left with are some small rescues based in the burbs of New Jersey and PA.

Muffin Top is a rescue with space in both Delaware County and West Philadelphia. Starting immediately, we're able to take in rescues to foster and rehome!

We won't be able to do this without community help, so please visit our website at REMOVED BY ADMIN and if you can, check out our Amazon want list. Supplies donated from the community are going to be what keeps us going and able to expand!

If you happen to live in the area, and are able to foster - or need to surrender a pet - please get in touch ASAP!

Thanks a ton, and have a wheekin' good weekend!

111353
(This is my beloved Bubba, who crossed the rainbow bridge some 7 years ago.)

EDIT Website removed by Admin - sport_billy
 
Last edited by a moderator:
MuffinTopRescue said:
Hey everybody! I'm Jim, and along with my partner Kim I'm starting up a new Philly based guinea pig rescue called Muffin Top! I've been a piggie parent in my personal life for 15-odd years.

The primary GP rescue in the Philly area shut down two years ago, and all that we're left with are some small rescues based in the burbs of New Jersey and PA.

Muffin Top is a rescue with space in both Delaware County and West Philadelphia. Starting immediately, we're able to take in rescues to foster and rehome!

We won't be able to do this without community help, so please visit our website at www.muffintoprescue.me and if you can, check out our Amazon want list. Supplies donated from the community are going to be what keeps us going and able to expand!

If you happen to live in the area, and are able to foster - or need to surrender a pet - please get in touch ASAP!

Thanks a ton, and have a wheekin' good weekend!

View attachment 111353
(This is my beloved Bubba, who crossed the rainbow bridge some 7 years ago.)
Click to expand...

Hi!

It is great that you are starting up a rescue, but can you please tell us a bit more about your rescue and how you are running it?

What you are looking for in any new homes? (Minimal cage sizes, other pets, small children, care information etc.)
How do you home check/pass homes for adoption/questionnaire for applicants?

What are your quarantining measures for incoming guinea pigs and do you provide vet care?
Do you conduct a mandatory pregnancy watch for incoming sows and at which age do separate any male babies and at which age do you rehome babies?

What is the piggy accommodation while in rescue and what is your capacity? Are you running your rescue centrally or via a fostering system? If the second, what kind of experience are you looking for in fosterers? How do you organise vet access?

Do you offer meet and greets/rescue dating for single/bereaved piggies?
Do you rehome rehome guinea pigs as singles?

How are you planning to finance/support your rescue for the longer term?
 
Welcome to the forum
This is the place for the best possible information and advice on guinea pig welfare.
If you are meeting these standards then any piggy who lands with you is going to be very lucky.
Hoping to hear a lot more from you.
Bubba was a stunning piggy
 
>>It is great that you are starting up a rescue, but can you please tell us a bit more about your rescue and how you are running it?

Hi there! These are great questions that have bigger answers than can really be addressed here in the forum in a succinct way, but I'll do my best! It seems more or less like you're quizzing me on whether we know what we're doing, which I greatly appreciate. :)

>>What you are looking for in any new homes? (Minimal cage sizes, other pets, small children, care information etc.)

Applicants to adopt must provide proof that they either own their home, or that they have a clause in their lease stating they can keep pets. They can also provide a copy of the lease and contact information for the renter/owner if there is not language in the lease regarding pet ownership. They must fill out a questionnaire and a survey that asks questions pertinent to proper GP care, and be able to answer those questions again in a telephone interview. This would cover questions pertaining to proper handling of animals if small children are present in the home.After passing this phase, we do an in-home visit.
All applicants are required to obtain a C&C cage of appropriate measurements and exhibit knowledge of proper bedding, nutrition etc...

>>What are your quarantining measures for incoming guinea pigs and do you provide vet care?

There is a post on our website about the veterinarian with whom we work. :) We follow proper quarantine procedures for incoming pigs, which involves being in a private enclosure in a separate room (in fact separate floor of our two housing locations) so that they can be accessed and their behavior can be monitored.

>>Do you conduct a mandatory pregnancy watch for incoming sows and at which age do separate any male babies and at which age do you rehome babies?

Yes, an incoming female pig will not be paired with a male to begin with for obvious reasons; and all incoming sows will be watched for at least 12 weeks. Male babies are separated at approximately 3 weeks of age, giving enough time to nurse but before reaching age to exhibit mating behavior.

>>What is the piggy accommodation while in rescue and what is your capacity? Are you running your rescue centrally or via a fostering system? If the second, what kind of experience are you looking for in fosterers? How do you organise vet access?

Again, many of these questions are already answered on the website. :) We have two spaces, one in Delaware County and one in West Philadelphia. Both are privately owned homes. At the moment we can comfortable and safely accommodate 40 pigs, space wise. We have several people already signed up to foster should the need arise; these are people already known to us with care-taking experience. In the future we have a vetting system in place to access potential fosters. We have a centrally located vet office in Philadelphia who has experience with exotics. Fosters will need to have their own vehicle and a valid driver's license, and we have a credit card on file with the vet.

>>Do you offer meet and greets/rescue dating for single/bereaved piggies?

Yes. People with a single pig who are seeking a mate can set up a half-hour "date" with a potential new friend at one of our two locations, and will receive ongoing support via phone or email if they encounter any problems down the line. All of our adoptors are required to sign a form vowing that if they should for any reason decide they cannot keep their rescue pig, they will contact us to arrange a surrender back to the rescue.

>>Do you rehome guinea pigs as singles?

Only in the case of pigs who have been observed to exhibit behaviors in the long term that indicate they are meant to be a solitary pig, which is unusual but not impossible.

>>How are you planning to finance/support your rescue for the longer term?

The realistic answer is that there is no such thing as an animal rescue that can thrive long term without community support. In the immediate, we have been planning this out for about a year and a half, and we've set aside a sum of money that should sustain us for six months. We have enough supplies to support around 40 piggies for that length of time, but obviously we have to start rallying the community now in order to move forward. We'll be making our first public fundraising appearance in May at a flea market being held in downtown Philadelphia.


That was an awful lot of questions (Great ones!) so I hope I didn't miss anything. Thank you for caring enough to ask!
 
Merab's Slave said:
Welcome to the forum
This is the place for the best possible information and advice on guinea pig welfare.
If you are meeting these standards then any piggy who lands with you is going to be very lucky.
Hoping to hear a lot more from you.
Bubba was a stunning piggy
Click to expand...

Thank you so much! Bubba was the love of my life. He's the only piggie I ever adopted who wasn't named after food! He was also where I learned the joys of trimming the tushie hair of a longhaired male. :P

As far as the rescue, the best we can do is our very best! We're starting out small, but "small" is relative and it feels SO big! The most important thing is that we are going to put ourselves out into the world at events, so that there's a decent amount of transparency as to who we are and what we're up to. That includes an upcoming flea market in May and a whole bunch of LGBT pride events in the coming months.

I look forward to getting involved on this site a whole lot! <3
 
MuffinTopRescue said:
>>It is great that you are starting up a rescue, but can you please tell us a bit more about your rescue and how you are running it?

Hi there! These are great questions that have bigger answers than can really be addressed here in the forum in a succinct way, but I'll do my best! It seems more or less like you're quizzing me on whether we know what we're doing, which I greatly appreciate. :)

>>What you are looking for in any new homes? (Minimal cage sizes, other pets, small children, care information etc.)

Applicants to adopt must provide proof that they either own their home, or that they have a clause in their lease stating they can keep pets. They can also provide a copy of the lease and contact information for the renter/owner if there is not language in the lease regarding pet ownership. They must fill out a questionnaire and a survey that asks questions pertinent to proper GP care, and be able to answer those questions again in a telephone interview. This would cover questions pertaining to proper handling of animals if small children are present in the home.After passing this phase, we do an in-home visit.
All applicants are required to obtain a C&C cage of appropriate measurements and exhibit knowledge of proper bedding, nutrition etc...

>>What are your quarantining measures for incoming guinea pigs and do you provide vet care?

There is a post on our website about the veterinarian with whom we work. :) We follow proper quarantine procedures for incoming pigs, which involves being in a private enclosure in a separate room (in fact separate floor of our two housing locations) so that they can be accessed and their behavior can be monitored.

>>Do you conduct a mandatory pregnancy watch for incoming sows and at which age do separate any male babies and at which age do you rehome babies?

Yes, an incoming female pig will not be paired with a male to begin with for obvious reasons; and all incoming sows will be watched for at least 12 weeks. Male babies are separated at approximately 3 weeks of age, giving enough time to nurse but before reaching age to exhibit mating behavior.

>>What is the piggy accommodation while in rescue and what is your capacity? Are you running your rescue centrally or via a fostering system? If the second, what kind of experience are you looking for in fosterers? How do you organise vet access?

Again, many of these questions are already answered on the website. :) We have two spaces, one in Delaware County and one in West Philadelphia. Both are privately owned homes. At the moment we can comfortable and safely accommodate 40 pigs, space wise. We have several people already signed up to foster should the need arise; these are people already known to us with care-taking experience. In the future we have a vetting system in place to access potential fosters. We have a centrally located vet office in Philadelphia who has experience with exotics. Fosters will need to have their own vehicle and a valid driver's license, and we have a credit card on file with the vet.

>>Do you offer meet and greets/rescue dating for single/bereaved piggies?

Yes. People with a single pig who are seeking a mate can set up a half-hour "date" with a potential new friend at one of our two locations, and will receive ongoing support via phone or email if they encounter any problems down the line. All of our adoptors are required to sign a form vowing that if they should for any reason decide they cannot keep their rescue pig, they will contact us to arrange a surrender back to the rescue.

>>Do you rehome guinea pigs as singles?

Only in the case of pigs who have been observed to exhibit behaviors in the long term that indicate they are meant to be a solitary pig, which is unusual but not impossible.

>>How are you planning to finance/support your rescue for the longer term?

The realistic answer is that there is no such thing as an animal rescue that can thrive long term without community support. In the immediate, we have been planning this out for about a year and a half, and we've set aside a sum of money that should sustain us for six months. We have enough supplies to support around 40 piggies for that length of time, but obviously we have to start rallying the community now in order to move forward. We'll be making our first public fundraising appearance in May at a flea market being held in downtown Philadelphia.


That was an awful lot of questions (Great ones!) so I hope I didn't miss anything. Thank you for caring enough to ask!
Click to expand...

Thank you for coming back on this! And, yes, it was a test. We are contacted by new or existing rescues of all kinds of standards every now and then that would like to use our forum as a platform. When sub-standard ones realise that we know more about how a rescue operates than they would like, they usually do a diver. The good ones come back with details and generally get our support; the way and the promptness they come back also tells us quite a bit. ;)

While we are a rescue friendly forum, we are also very much about welfare and education. This means that we support rescues that comply with welfare standards and good care at all levels of the rescue process. A number of members are rescue or sanctuary owners or fosterers.

We are a great resource when it comes to knowledge (check out our Guinea Pig Guides shortcut on the top bar!) and a very friendly place that is dedicated to supporting owners and to help them make the best of their individual situation be it as new owners, during illness, bonding/behaviour problems, death/bereavement/finding new companionship and habitat upgrades etc. We have a strong ethic to seek vet care for diagnosis and not use cheap home cures on spec.

Where appropriate, we encourage our members from all over the world to go rescue to the best of their local possibilities - but at the same time we want to make sure that they are in safe hands when doing this; the relationship between the forum and rescue works in both directions. It has to be one of mutual trust and respect.
 
sport_billy said:
Your website is throwing up a security error I am removing the link until this is resolved
Click to expand...

Hi - thanks for letting me know. Can you elaborate? I haven't had anyone else say this has occurred, and it's been accessed by around 100 people over the last 24 hours or so. What browser did you get a security error through, and what kind of error did you get? Thanks so much!
 
That’s exciting!
I’ll check out your website once it is back on here 🙂
 
MuffinTopRescue said:
Hi - thanks for letting me know. Can you elaborate? I haven't had anyone else say this has occurred, and it's been accessed by around 100 people over the last 24 hours or so. What browser did you get a security error through, and what kind of error did you get? Thanks so much!
Click to expand...
Here you go
7BE8C6D6-2EF5-4488-86B7-BF61696BDAE8.webp
 
Are you using an ssl? Or http?
 
Hmm. So it seems like the issue is that the browser is concerned because the URL we registered redirects you to our WIX site.

Presumably if you go directly to this link - Home | Muffin Top Rescue [email][email protected][/email] 484-479-7857 - it will not give you a security warning.
(And for some reason the forum is changing the link text into the top text on the website? Hahah I'm pulling my hair out over here!)

It seems like Safari is the only browser returning this error but I'll have to contact GoDaddy to find out how and if this can be fixed.

Thank you again for letting me know! And if you get the same error just going directly to the URL I just posted above... then I'm at a complete loss! :(
 
MuffinTopRescue said:
Hmm. So it seems like the issue is that the browser is concerned because the URL we registered redirects you to our WIX site.

Presumably if you go directly to Home | Muffin Top Rescue [email][email protected][/email] 484-479-7857 it will not give you a security warning.

It seems like Safari is the only browser returning this error but I'll have to contact GoDaddy to find out how and if this can be fixed.

Thank you again for letting me know! And if you get the same error just going directly to the URL I just posted above... then I'm at a complete loss! :(
Click to expand...

I haven't got an error message using your new link, but I'm not a computer wiz.
 
I just accessed your website using the link in the message above and I’m using Safari on my iPhone
Love the piggy photos
 
It will be because the url is throwing a redirect off to your wix site.... and the certificates don’t match that is my poor understanding, I am really not tech to a great extent. We’ll promote you on forum using your wix address :)
 
Merab's Slave said:
I just accessed your website using the link in the message above and I’m using Safari on my iPhone
Love the piggy photos
Click to expand...
Thank you! One of the tabs set up tonight will be about Kim and I, and our own pets (two pigs, a cat, and a turtle), as well as our many pigs of past years. Honestly I go on forums like this 75% to look at pig photos. 🐹 I lost my hammie Cheesebox a few years ago and it was traumatic enough that I haven't been able to bring myself to adopt another one, but I think it's probably time soon!
 
It just occurred to me that one of the main pictures on our site is of my beloved Peanut Butter, who I had as a baby to a ripe old 5 1/2. IF you look closely he's sitting on a telephone bill. On that particular day we'd gotten a bill with an erroneous $120 charge, and I vividly remember telling him "Today, you can poop ALL OVER this! This is your lucky day!" *grin* Ok I really should go back to web editing. Thanks again to all of you for helping and your input!
 
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