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PigPog
This is a story about a wonderful guinea pig called Sprout. I want to share it with everyone because he was an amazing creature and his short life made a huge difference to my own life.
It was December 2005, and I went to a pet shop for some feed bowls. In one of the sale pens there was an adult male Rex guinea pig being attacked by an enormous rabbit. The pig was up on his back legs, squeaking and trying to get away. I called to the staff who took the lid off the pen and I promptly scooped up the pig and held him to my chest. He was screaming and shaking. I then shouted at the staff for putting the rabbits with the piggies. They said they'd take him "upstairs". I asked what was upstairs and the guy didn't reply. To be fair I now know they have medical facilities up there (according to my vet so it must be true), but at the time I had no idea what "upstairs" meant. The guy then said I could just take the pig home for free, because he was already fully grown and they would have trouble selling him now.
To make it worse, I then noticed there were no fiddlesticks or hidey holes for the guinea pigs in the other pens to get away from the rabbits. So I planted myself in the shop (still holding the piggy) and refused to budge until they put something in for the pigs to hide under.
Eventually they did as I asked, and I left the shop with the pig.
My partner Simon had come to see what was taking me so long and he was slightly cheesed off when he saw me leaving the shop with a cardboard box! I explained to him what had gone on in the shop, and he completely agreed that I should bring the pig home. Simon drove us home, while I took the pig out of the box and cuddled him all the way. The pig put his head under my anorak and I think he was relieved.
We named him Sprout because he was a Christmas rescue. He absolutely reeked of rabbit wee so I gave him a bath the day I got him home. His nails were too long so I gave them a clip too. We set him up in the emergancy cage in the kitchen with fresh food and water and I spent a lot of time talking to him.
A couple of days later I took him to see the vet for a checkup, and he had teeth marks in his back, scars up and down his torso and lots of bruises. He also had a clump of fur missing on his back where it had been torn out. He had an injection just in case his wounds were infected and I took him home again. We kept him indoors for a while until he was stable enough to live out in the shed. He had his own 2ft x 4ft hutch and the longer we had him, the more settled he became and the happier he was. He used to lick my nose and give me kisses, and he loved having his chin tickled so much he would show you his lips and his teeth. He would let me kiss his ears and tickle him. He loved attention and he and I had a very close bond. He trusted me more than any other animal ever has, and I always gave him the very most respect and love in return.
Sadly, this month, we lost him at the age of two and a half after he started losing weight and breathing fluid out of his nose and mouth. The postmortem showed the wall of his left ventricle was so thin my vet could see his finger through it. Sprout's lungs were full of fluid due to his faulty heart, and he drowned.
We buried him with some hay and some vegetables in a sprout-coloured pot in the garden.
It's been about three weeks since he died, and I'm still crying for him. I have his cuddly zebra on my bedside table and I miss him desperately. I put a dedication to him at the bottom of my website. He was an amazing animal and he taught me so much.
It was December 2005, and I went to a pet shop for some feed bowls. In one of the sale pens there was an adult male Rex guinea pig being attacked by an enormous rabbit. The pig was up on his back legs, squeaking and trying to get away. I called to the staff who took the lid off the pen and I promptly scooped up the pig and held him to my chest. He was screaming and shaking. I then shouted at the staff for putting the rabbits with the piggies. They said they'd take him "upstairs". I asked what was upstairs and the guy didn't reply. To be fair I now know they have medical facilities up there (according to my vet so it must be true), but at the time I had no idea what "upstairs" meant. The guy then said I could just take the pig home for free, because he was already fully grown and they would have trouble selling him now.
To make it worse, I then noticed there were no fiddlesticks or hidey holes for the guinea pigs in the other pens to get away from the rabbits. So I planted myself in the shop (still holding the piggy) and refused to budge until they put something in for the pigs to hide under.
Eventually they did as I asked, and I left the shop with the pig.
My partner Simon had come to see what was taking me so long and he was slightly cheesed off when he saw me leaving the shop with a cardboard box! I explained to him what had gone on in the shop, and he completely agreed that I should bring the pig home. Simon drove us home, while I took the pig out of the box and cuddled him all the way. The pig put his head under my anorak and I think he was relieved.
We named him Sprout because he was a Christmas rescue. He absolutely reeked of rabbit wee so I gave him a bath the day I got him home. His nails were too long so I gave them a clip too. We set him up in the emergancy cage in the kitchen with fresh food and water and I spent a lot of time talking to him.
A couple of days later I took him to see the vet for a checkup, and he had teeth marks in his back, scars up and down his torso and lots of bruises. He also had a clump of fur missing on his back where it had been torn out. He had an injection just in case his wounds were infected and I took him home again. We kept him indoors for a while until he was stable enough to live out in the shed. He had his own 2ft x 4ft hutch and the longer we had him, the more settled he became and the happier he was. He used to lick my nose and give me kisses, and he loved having his chin tickled so much he would show you his lips and his teeth. He would let me kiss his ears and tickle him. He loved attention and he and I had a very close bond. He trusted me more than any other animal ever has, and I always gave him the very most respect and love in return.
Sadly, this month, we lost him at the age of two and a half after he started losing weight and breathing fluid out of his nose and mouth. The postmortem showed the wall of his left ventricle was so thin my vet could see his finger through it. Sprout's lungs were full of fluid due to his faulty heart, and he drowned.
We buried him with some hay and some vegetables in a sprout-coloured pot in the garden.
It's been about three weeks since he died, and I'm still crying for him. I have his cuddly zebra on my bedside table and I miss him desperately. I put a dedication to him at the bottom of my website. He was an amazing animal and he taught me so much.
