THURSTON

Is he ours? Is he a foster? Why is he still in our house?!?

Thurston is an MGPR pig but he's been around for quite some time. There's been a lot of curiosity recently about Thurston's status in the Gaynea Pig household, so let's talk!

We typically divide our guinea pigs into two categories: personal and foster. Our personal pigs are fully our responsibility - they were adopted with the intention of living out their lives in our home (Leo, Lynx, Rigel, Io, Vega, Lyra). Foster pigs are temporary. We provide shelter, care and socialization for them while they wait to find their forever homes.

So what is Thurston?

Thurston is still an MGPR guinea pig, but he is not up for adoption. We took him in as a foster pig back in October of 2024, however, within a couple months discovered that he was going to have lifelong dental issues. Several times a year he needs surgery to file down some of his molars. We don't know exactly why, but his back teeth overgrow to a point that he has difficulty eating. And unfortunately, this procedure has to be done under anesthesia. He also has ongoing issues with impaction, and needs his front teeth and gums cleaned once or twice a week.

The Metropolitan Guinea Pig Rescue is committed to only adopting out healthy guinea pigs, and the amount of resources (read: money! and time) that Thurston requires for his quality of life makes him a less than ideal candidate. So after we had been briefly fostering him, the rescue decided he would need to become a sanctuary guinea pig. He has been living with us permanently ever since.

We are on the lookout for a cage mate for him - ideally an older sanctuary girl - but one just hasn't come along yet.

Thurston currently lives alone, but he has ample floor time and play dates with other pigs. He also gets a ton of snuggles and attention from moms!

Having a sanctuary pig wasn't something that we were seeking out, but the opportunity to care for him inadvertently fell into our lap, and we have loved him ever since.

Long story short: he's here to stay with us!!