HannahPiggie
Junior Guinea Pig
I am so happy! One of my piggies, Saga, will be two in January. He was always the crazy one, who seemed to hate handling with a passion. When he was a baby and I got him out he would go mad trying to get away from me, even doing somersaults inside the blanket I used to hold him. I decided it was just his personality and I have enjoyed getting to know him in other ways - he is by far the most vocal of my two pigs - always greeting me at the bars of the cage whenever I come into their room, and making the full range of piggie noises at full volume! Back in May or June I noticed when he started having lawn time that he had some hair thinning on his back (which I posted about on here) and so off to the vet we went and he was given a spot on treatment for mites which sorted it right out. After that I decided I needed to stop being scared and hesitant, and get him used to being picked up, even if just to the extent that having his nails clipped wasn't as traumatic. So in July I started picking him up to put in his carrier during cage-cleaning time, rather than bribing him into it by using food as a temptation! I started stroking him more during lawn time. Then I started picking him up and holding him on my lap for a minute or two next to his cage. Yesterday I finally decided to try a proper cuddle. So I sat on the sofa with him on my lap and stroked him, and he made happy noises! This morning I tried again, and he sat still for nearly 10 minutes, purring as I stroked him! This makes me so happy 
Not sure whether this change is because he isn't irritated by mites any more, or because I am more confident, or because he is calming down as he gets older, or a combination of all these. But I am super happy and proud of my boy and myself!
