A lot of people have switched to C&C grids and fleece for their indoors piggies (as I have I). New alternative bedding products have also come on the market. We have also more members sewing cosies (often quite elaborate ones). Several do so in support of rescues.
Skinnies still divide people; you either love them or not and approve of the concept. Sadly, as backyard breeders have got hold of them, more and more are indiscriminately bred and thrown onto the market without pointers to their special needs. A steadily rising number is now ending up in rescue as an indicator to this development.
Guinea pig rescues have started to work together more since big rescues and influxes have become more frequent with each passing year and are straining the resources of a single rescue running on donations. They are supported by a network of volunteers who help shift piggies between rescues. That is the "Piggy Bank", which you will find on some avatars.
The Piggy Bank UK has also been trying to build up a map of (vetted) recommended good standard and practice guinea pig rescues because anybody can call themself a "rescue" and there are no regulations or controls, with sometimes dire results for the piggies and the people adopting from them.
Furryfriends has founded a hospital/sanctuary for special needs piggies (mainly dental piggies) in conjunction with one of the best guinea pig specialist vets in the country. They have had some amazing successes and saved several piggies close to death. Some of them have been able to go back home to a normal life after a just a few rounds of treatment. Some needed to stay on, but can enjoy a good quality of life with regular dental treatment. The Excellent Adventure Sanctuary (Teas) is well worth supporting and fundraising for!
One other thing that we have been pushing over the last couple of years is the idea of "boar dating" single fallen out or bereaved boars with rescue boars at rescues that offer this service. If done carefully and with experience, a boar bond is as stable as a sow bond. Sadly, far too many boars still end up living a lonely life unnecessarily due to shops' and breeders' misinformation that "aggressive boars are unbondable", but a greater number of them have been able to find new friends this way.
TGPF has gone from a fairly small forum to the toplisted forum on Google in the last few years, and the membership and their interests have changed quite a bit in relationship to that.
