I feel so guilty 😞

Claire W

Claire W

Forum Donator 2025/26
Joined
Mar 23, 2008
Messages
37,473
Reaction score
30,283
Points
2,915
Location
Lancashire (Originally from Nottingham)
We have been moving the run around the grass for the Piggie to mow it. Yesterday we moved it and left the piggies to it (They have a very sturdy and safe wooden run). Anyway, I came back in to the living room to find Edward and Elizabeth on the grass OUTSIDE the run! I managed to catch them and realised that there was a small gap between the run and the ground that they had managed to squeeze out of.

I dread to think what could have happened as they could quite easily have escaped under the fence.

I feel so guilty that I could have lost my babies forever :(
 
Claire W said:
We have been moving the run around the grass for the Piggie to mow it. Yesterday we moved it and left the piggies to it (They have a very sturdy and safe wooden run). Anyway, I came back in to the living room to find Edward and Elizabeth on the grass OUTSIDE the run! I managed to catch them and realised that there was a small gap between the run and the ground that they had managed to squeeze out of.

I dread to think what could have happened as they could quite easily have escaped under the fence.

I feel so guilty that I could have lost my babies forever :(
Click to expand...
Blimey that must have been a shock! The main thing is that they didn't escape under the fence and all is fine. And now you know that there is a gap so you can't leave them unattended or the run can only go on completely flat ground with no chance of gaps. A close shave can be rather jarring but nothing bad happened in the end, so try not to feel guilty about it.
 
Clair everyone here knows that the care you give your piggies is second to none.
But sometimes accidents happen.
You spotted it in time and all is well, plus you can now add yet another piggy care task to your list - checking the run is flat on the ground on all sides!
Silly Edward and Elizabeth making a break for it like that - they really won't find a better home.
 
Claire W said:
We have been moving the run around the grass for the Piggie to mow it. Yesterday we moved it and left the piggies to it (They have a very sturdy and safe wooden run). Anyway, I came back in to the living room to find Edward and Elizabeth on the grass OUTSIDE the run! I managed to catch them and realised that there was a small gap between the run and the ground that they had managed to squeeze out of.

I dread to think what could have happened as they could quite easily have escaped under the fence.

I feel so guilty that I could have lost my babies forever :(
Click to expand...
You can't be perfect 100% of the time 😉

Missed you too By the way 😋
 
What a scare for you, it's easily done, don't feel guilty. Our grass patches (can't call them lawn!) are very bumpy. I have a small pile of bricks , when I move the runs I check round for gaps and fill any piggy sized ones with a brick.
 
I know exactly how you feel, believe me when i tell you that cheeky jellicoe not only managed to escape his but also decided that the neighbour run required free-ing from their piggy world on the grass.
I discovered Jellicoe under the shed with Beatty and the other 4 under the apple tree where the grass is very long.
Considering we get a lot of cats (which I'm trying very hard to deter!), they were all good.
I still think now about what could have happened.
 
Don't feel bad Claire, at least you caught them in time and they are safe! My lot stay indoors but we did once almost have Tallulah run out of the back door, piggy daddy was folding in the playpen sides to make it easier to catch her and she shot out under a tiny gap between the playpen and the floor... fortunately she was so surprised by what she'd done she froze in the middle of the kitchen floor and we could grab her but we were seconds away from her going behind the oven or into the back yard!
 
Don’t feel bad Claire, no harm done x This once happened to a previous piggie of mine many years ago. She was caught luckily too, I never realised just how they can squeeze through the smallest delve in the grass. I always check around the bottom of Bill and Ted’s run as we have a very uneven lawn which you don’t really notice until the grass is cut short x
 
I know how you feel, there have been multiple times I’ve found Bacon just sitting there outside his cage
 
Well Dennis managed to escape from the hutch one morning. I hadn't put the bolt across properly the night before as I was upset cos it was my FIL's funeral the next day. I went out to feed them, in my best funeral clothes (cos I was only going to be a couple of minutes and then we were leaving) only to find Dennis under the hutch. It took me a good 5 minutes with the behind the radiator cleaner to coax him out!
 
One of our rabbits escaped from the outdoor run once.
I was on holiday in England and got a text from my Swiss neighbour saying they thought they had just seen my rabbit run across the garden.

Cue a mad flurry of texts explaining we were away, and my poor neighbour rushing out to catch the rabbit in the middle of Winter.:yikes:
Turns out a panel had blown over in a huge storm, and our female decided to go 'free range' for a bit.
The male rabbit was found sitting next to the food bowl enjoying a bit of peace and quiet :))
 
Don’t feel bad, Claire. No harm came to them and I am positive it will never happen again. We’ve all had mishaps like this. I just don’t know why piggies always think the grass outside the run is better than the grass inside the run. Little monkeys!
 
Once when I was unable to be at home, my parents took a while admitting to me they almost lost Jack. I must've looked cockeyed at them because how the heck did they nearly lose my guinea pig? Well boys and girls, let me tell you a story...

They put him in a tiny cardboard run that was no taller than the breadth of your hand, in the middle of their large garden, weighed it down with bricks to stop it blowing away and then...left him there. Yes, you read that right. He got out of that, clearly, got underneath the decking, and then from the decking into the neighbour's garden and the neighbour's garden was one of those well tended but very busy gardens with lots of great hiding places for a little guinea pig.
They swore blind they weren't going to tell me about it til they were sure he was alright but according to my sister the sight of these two big hard lads on their hands and knees in this very intense garden searching for a guinea pig is one of the funniest things she ever saw. Sheesh.

Claire, you're not my parents and have nothing to feel guilty about. Accidents can and do happen, we can't prevent everything. It might be worth seeing if anyone has a few extra/old bricks laying around, if only to help shore up potential gaps in the cage.
 
This happened to me once Claire, Sven and Olaf were in their run, l looked out and saw this little white piggy visiting all the other piggies in their runs! He could have been eaten by a cat or fox in a second. It just makes you even more obsessional about setting up the runs correctly! Please don't feel bad xx
 
Thank you everyone and I'm sorry to those who this has happened to too. It certainly is a shock. I have moved the run off the bumpy bit, checked and checked again and all is well. I do have a spare couple of bricks if needed but I shall be triple checking from now on.

Thankfully they were just sat there eating grass xx
 
Good to know they can escape, :tu:.

Mine act so wimpy, super wimpy at times, so this is a good information to have.

Glad nothing bad happened to yours by the way, :)
 
In all the years I've had piggies, only one has been an escape artist; same as you through a really small gap at the bottom of the run on a lumpy lawn. It's scary how they can get through tiny spaces. Don't blame yourself! Needless to say that now the lumpy bits of lawn have long grass, as they are best avoided by naughty piggies.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top