As it's national guinea pig day (it is a thing apparently) we thought we'd share an update with you about Ayr's guinea pig rescue centre.

The centre, which is located on Hope Street in the middle of town, is the largest of its kind in the country and they house nearly 100 guinea pigs at the moment.

Things were tough for the centre during the previous lockdowns, much of their revenue comes from donations and with people unable to visit them they really struggled for funds.

Kirsteen from the centre described the situation: "We've been a tad skint, we've not bought any clothes for ourselves, we've not been on holidays. Through lockdown there was basically nothing coming in, so it was all coming out of our own pockets, anything we could find.

"It's slowly going to come back in hopefully. We've got holiday-makers coming in now which is helping a wee bit."

But despite the financial hardship, the team at the centre, all volunteers, have managed to build a new pet handling centre where they'll welcome folk in to come and say hello to all their residents.

Ayr Advertiser: The new pet handling centre.The new pet handling centre.

It's hoped that the new section will encourage more people to come and visit and if they are so inclined, to donate what money they can, to keep the rescue centre operating.

And now they're appealing for one of you to make the final addition to their new room. They're looking for artworks of guinea pigs to be sent in to be hung on the wall in the room.

There are different age categories, 0-5, 6-10, 11-15, and 16+, the winner from each category will be selected by a judge and their artwork will be framed and take pride of place up on the wall.

Kirsteen said: "We're hoping to get as many kids and adults as possible to join in. There's one wall, there's nothing on it, it's very boring, we want pictures on it. So we thought, right let's get everybody to draw, paint, whatever, a guinea pig or a pile of guinea pigs."

Ayr Advertiser: The empty wall.The empty wall.

They'll announce further details of the competition via their Facebook page soon.

The team are also on the lookout for new volunteers, two of their piggy carers are heading off to uni soon and so the centre are wanting anybody who might be interested in lending a hand to get in touch.