The Wheek & Squeak Guinea Pig Rescue is based in Bishops Waltham, Southampton, Hants. UK.  We take in unwanted guinea pigs regardless of age or health.  The Rescue is entirely dependent on donations.

Some guinea pigs arrive in an appalling state and we nurse them back to health with the assistance of our vet.

In some cases, usually through ongoing health problems, some guinea pigs cannot be rehomed so they will stay in our retirement section and spend the rest of their life with us.

WHAT ELSE DO WE DO...

BOARDING Most of the funds raised for the W & S is through boarding.  We board guinea pigs for their holidays and give them the best care possible.  Our hutch sizes are 4ft x 2ft up to 6ft x 2ft and we offer indoor and outdoor accommodation.  We have safe secure exercise runs with lots of tubes, houses etc for them to explore, weather permitting of course.  Our boarding rates are very competitive which includes fresh vegetables, hay, Megazorb bedding, Readigrass, complimentary nail trim and 24 hour supervision in our own home.  We are happy to cater for any special diets, administer medications or give your piggy a pamper session with a trim and warm bath so they go home smelling beautiful. (see boarding page for details).

NAIL TRIMMING  We are aware that some people find it very difficult to trim their guinea pigs nails, so we offer FREE NAIL TRIMMING to all guinea pigs.  All you need to do is contact us and arrange a time to bring them over.  I have seen some horrendously long nails and cannot imagine how uncomfortable it must be for them.

BATHING AND/OR HAIR TRIM   You can also book your guinea pig in for a bath and/or hair trim.  Long haired guinea pigs coat can get very long and matted, so we are happy to just trim their coats or give a trim and a bath.  Some boars just need to have their grease gland cleaned.  Some pigs have minor skin problems and we are happy to advise on what shampoo would be best for them.

BONDING  Guinea pigs love company and hate living on their own.  When losing a cage mate some pigs pine and stop eating.  We do try to help with finding your guinea pig a new friend.  This can be pairing up a male to another male or female to another female or neutered boar.  It has been said that you cannot pair adult males together, this just is not the case, we have been successfully pairing up male guinea pigs since 1998 and have a wealth of experience  in guinea pig compatibility and body language.  The requests for this service has been far greater than we ever envisaged and we have been unable to keep up with the demand  We have therefore made the decision to give priority to people who have adopted guinea pigs from us before.  We will help others when we can but our time is limited.

SHOP We also have a small shop at the Rescue where you can buy the basics for your guinea pigs.  We sale meadow hay, timothy hay, Megazorb, Readigrass, Wagg guinea pig food, Selective Grain Free, Harringtons and Excel, hutch cleaning spray, tubes and water bottle springs etc.

We are always happy to give advice either by phone or email.  The phone is manned during our opening hours.  If you have a lengthy query please phone rather than emailing as this will be have a much quicker response.

You can follow us on Facebook.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Wheek & Squeak x

ABOUT ME

I have always had a great love for all animals from as early as I can remember.

We always had family pets when I lived at home with my parents and then when I married I had loads more.  I have had many dogs, mainly bearded collies but also beardie crosses, Airedales and at the moment a cute little dog from Serbia which looks like a cross between a dachshund and a miniature pinscher.  Lots of rabbits, budgies, guinea pigs, cats, degus and horses.  There would have been more if it was not for my husband saying perhaps we have enough.  As far as I am concerned there is never enough animals in my life as long as I have the time and money to look after them properly.

I am often asked how the Wheek & Squeak started.  At first I had a little sanctuary taking in unwanted guinea pigs and it just evolved over the years to get to where I am today.

In the 1980's I started showing my bearded collies and eventually achieving Best of Breed at Crufts in 1997 with my beautiful bitch Emma.  At that point I retired from showing but still continue to judge at open shows.  There is a lot more to showing dogs than just taking the dog to the show.  Nutrition is very important as is exercise and, especially with a bearded collie, preparation and maintaining their beautiful  long coats.  All this gave me more of an insight into all aspects of looking after animals.

When I retired from showing I could not walk away from bearded collies so I became a Rescue Co-ordinator for the Bearded Collie Club.  I did this for 6 years but as my area became larger and larger ie from Cornwall to Kent and up to the Midlands, I found the pressure too much and after much thought retired from this position.  I still help with homechecks, assessing dogs etc.  These six years gave me so much experience and  knowledge about animal rescue.  I also became very involved in dog behaviour at this time trying to help dogs that had behaviour problems so I could find them a loving home.  I adopted 3 beardies that had serious behaviour problems and found it so interesting that my interest widened to all animal behaviour.  All 3 dogs turned around from wanting to bite me to being very loving and well behaved dogs.

During the time I was doing beardie rescue I had some rescue guinea pigs.  Word then got around that I had guinea pigs and was soon being asked weekly if I could take some more as their children had lost interest in them.  I then had to learn carpentry so I could build hutches to accommodate all these poor little pigs who needed a home.  This all started in 1998 and my small guinea pig sanctuary was getting larger by the month, so much so I had to have an extension put on my shed and purchase two more sheds.

We financed this sanctuary ourselves and I had much enjoyment from these wonderful little animals.  I could never stop watching them and trying to understand their body language, just as I had done with my difficult dogs.

Around 2006 my husband came home from work one day and said I'm retiring in a years time.  I went into a panic as I had no idea how I was going to finance the keep of these guinea pigs and no way was I going to get rid of them.  After lots of thought The Wheek & Squeak Guinea Pig Rescue & Boarding was born.  I thought if I did boarding this could go a long way to financing the Rescue.  There is still a sanctuary here where the elderly and sick guinea pigs live their life out.  There is the Rescue where healthy guinea pigs are put up for adoption to suitable homes and then there is the Boarding which finances the above, every penny we take goes straight into the rescue fund.

I do not take a penny for my work at the rescue, the little pig/s that recover and goes on to a full and happy life is my reward.