Eriathwen
Adult Guinea Pig
Arriving as a tiny baby in 2017 with friend Ivory, barely 5 weeks if that, Ebony came to be a companion for my most special girl, Bramble. From the very beginning they adored eachother, content to submit to a blind, deaf, head tilty, wonky dictator Ebonys sweet and quiet personality shone through from day one.
Unfortunately Ebony arrived with scurvy, unable to walk well, she bounced alone like a little wind up toy, her back legs frozen in place.. calcium and vitamin D supplements soon saw her running around as she should, although later in life that came back to bite her as in apparently quite common, her joints became painful as she aged, leading to a fair whack of pain meds.
Ebony developed bladder issues, and lost her first, most loved companion after only 1 year together and became incredibly depressed, moving in with Treacle and Cinnamon shortly after. Again, testing to her gentle nature she won over even my most antisocial piggy, Treacle who other than Cinnamon who she came home with never tolerated another piggy in her home, except Ebony.
Sadly once again she lost her friends one by one, which once again devastated her (and earned her the secret nickname of 'the black widow'!)
Due to her grief, upon dropping Treacle at the crematorium I searched the local area for friends for Ebony, who had stopped eating and just lay down, not wanting to move. This is how we came to have Bailey and Pippin, and while Pip ended up having to be moved to a different group due to fear aggression, Bailey became her firm friend, another bolshy hairball that she was happy to be bossed around by, in spite of being 2 years older!
Ebony and Bailey became the founding members of the Misfit group, welcoming Thistle, Poppet, Coco, Biscuit, Paddington and Clover over the years. She may have been gentle, but she was also brave, and hard as nails, defending her new found friend Poppet from Baileys aggression during bonding, receiving a nasty accidental bite to the ear. Luckily her welcoming personality soon saw Pops as a firm group member to this day. At around 3 years old Ebony needed to be spayed due to developing ovarian cysts, and even then, she couldn't bare to be away from her friends to recover and had to be returned to her group prematurely in order to keep her eating.
As she aged, Ebony also then became one of the founding members of the OAPiggy clan, consisting of her, Thistle, Daisy and Gus.my attempt to consolidate the most special needs or elderly piggies to make medicating and feeding weight gaining foods easier on me.
One by one Ebonys friends dropped away leaving just her and Gus, she needed surgery at 5 years old to remove a cyst on her back, she developed a strange dental issue, and a pressure sore on her foot, Mabel joined the pair, another longhaired piggy that she loved to cuddle with, just like Thistle, Bailey and Bramble before her. Mabel was accepted with the exact same gentleness she always extended to her piggy friends. We lost Gus, Ebony once again grieved hard, having not long lost her previous husboar Paddington who still lived next to her with the misfits as well as Clover not too long previously. Mabel was there to cuddle and comfort her and I am glad that at the end, she wasn't alone, she had Mabel resting beside her the whole time. If Ebony had made anything clear over the last 6 years it was that she adored the companionship of her friends.
All in all, Ebony outlived 10 friends in total, she was the piggy I'd had the longest out of everyone in the room, we had such a close bond, she was hard as nails and fought to survive every hurdle thrown at her in life with grace and good humour. In spite of monthly injections, dental work, endless syringe feeds, medicating, foot cream, baths, eye ointment, post surgical care, she was never once uncooperative, she knew what we were doing was in her best interest. Even on her last day she fought so hard to stay, she really didn't want to go, which broke my heart all the more.
6 years was not long enough to love you, Ebony, but I hope you are reunited with all your friends and making new ones
I will take care of the friends you have left behind, until they too are ready to come find you again.
Unfortunately Ebony arrived with scurvy, unable to walk well, she bounced alone like a little wind up toy, her back legs frozen in place.. calcium and vitamin D supplements soon saw her running around as she should, although later in life that came back to bite her as in apparently quite common, her joints became painful as she aged, leading to a fair whack of pain meds.
Ebony developed bladder issues, and lost her first, most loved companion after only 1 year together and became incredibly depressed, moving in with Treacle and Cinnamon shortly after. Again, testing to her gentle nature she won over even my most antisocial piggy, Treacle who other than Cinnamon who she came home with never tolerated another piggy in her home, except Ebony.
Sadly once again she lost her friends one by one, which once again devastated her (and earned her the secret nickname of 'the black widow'!)
Due to her grief, upon dropping Treacle at the crematorium I searched the local area for friends for Ebony, who had stopped eating and just lay down, not wanting to move. This is how we came to have Bailey and Pippin, and while Pip ended up having to be moved to a different group due to fear aggression, Bailey became her firm friend, another bolshy hairball that she was happy to be bossed around by, in spite of being 2 years older!
Ebony and Bailey became the founding members of the Misfit group, welcoming Thistle, Poppet, Coco, Biscuit, Paddington and Clover over the years. She may have been gentle, but she was also brave, and hard as nails, defending her new found friend Poppet from Baileys aggression during bonding, receiving a nasty accidental bite to the ear. Luckily her welcoming personality soon saw Pops as a firm group member to this day. At around 3 years old Ebony needed to be spayed due to developing ovarian cysts, and even then, she couldn't bare to be away from her friends to recover and had to be returned to her group prematurely in order to keep her eating.
As she aged, Ebony also then became one of the founding members of the OAPiggy clan, consisting of her, Thistle, Daisy and Gus.my attempt to consolidate the most special needs or elderly piggies to make medicating and feeding weight gaining foods easier on me.
One by one Ebonys friends dropped away leaving just her and Gus, she needed surgery at 5 years old to remove a cyst on her back, she developed a strange dental issue, and a pressure sore on her foot, Mabel joined the pair, another longhaired piggy that she loved to cuddle with, just like Thistle, Bailey and Bramble before her. Mabel was accepted with the exact same gentleness she always extended to her piggy friends. We lost Gus, Ebony once again grieved hard, having not long lost her previous husboar Paddington who still lived next to her with the misfits as well as Clover not too long previously. Mabel was there to cuddle and comfort her and I am glad that at the end, she wasn't alone, she had Mabel resting beside her the whole time. If Ebony had made anything clear over the last 6 years it was that she adored the companionship of her friends.
All in all, Ebony outlived 10 friends in total, she was the piggy I'd had the longest out of everyone in the room, we had such a close bond, she was hard as nails and fought to survive every hurdle thrown at her in life with grace and good humour. In spite of monthly injections, dental work, endless syringe feeds, medicating, foot cream, baths, eye ointment, post surgical care, she was never once uncooperative, she knew what we were doing was in her best interest. Even on her last day she fought so hard to stay, she really didn't want to go, which broke my heart all the more.
6 years was not long enough to love you, Ebony, but I hope you are reunited with all your friends and making new ones
I will take care of the friends you have left behind, until they too are ready to come find you again.
I've barely eaten or slept since she became unwell on Thursday and stringing a sentence together still seems to be a bit beyond me.
She was a trooper and you have lots of lovely memories to hold on to