KK327
Junior Guinea Pig
Truly your words are so true and your belief that differences can be made keeps us l going. I remember being a new pig Mum and filled with anxiety - this forum allowed me to breathe when I was afraid, it gave me and continues to give me courage and strength and here is my go to for anything piggy. It gives me knowledge and understanding which in turn makes me a better pig parent. It’s given me a safe place to meet new people who share the dark days and cheer lead the good ones. Truly the patience of all the wonderful people who I see giving answers to those in need, virtual hugging those in despair and gentle walking side by side with those taking difficult journeys with poorly pigs or those that have travelled the rainbow bridge. There have been many times I’ve turned here in desperation to leave again with comfort and strength. It is indeed a very special place and like you say very much needed xThank you. I hope that this very special corner of the piggy world will survive for a long time because we fulfill a need that is not going away and that is rather growing.
Owners with ill, fallen out, dying or dead piggies are very worried people. They come here because they care and we respect that. In order to help pets optimally, you have to get the owner on board as well.
Welfare and knowledge are not absolutes, they are moving targets we are all journeying towards. Everybody can learn more and make improvements to their personal situation; there is not one absolute standard that fits all. We get further if we walk together and help each other and learn from each other along the way. Ultimately, pets are not there to be worried about but to be enjoyed and to give us the freedom to give our hearts freely - even if hurts at the end, but the love will endure...
It is always great when our collective practical experience on here can really make a difference, and it keeps us going who give advice and personal input.
We also have a wonderful community on here that goes beyond piggies, including past owners who stay on for it. These places are sadly becoming rarer but because we share our forum ethos we can be together a lot stronger than if we are alone.
And thank you for your kind words and appreciation. Knowing that your lifetime is more limited can drive you in two directions - to focus on what you have lost or will never be able to do or to live up to your best and to make each day count in some little way. This community is giving me the strength and the support to live up to my best, the freedom to channel the gift of comforting that I have in a constructive way and to hopefully inspire others to find their own strengths, ability and courage, to grow with their own challenges and to come out the stronger for it.
To be honest, I have been more alive this past year than in the years before but the power to live up to my full potential and to make my remaining life worth something, that power comes from this community. It is the wind to my wings.
You cannot imagine how precious and empowering it is be carried be a community that allows me to be fully myself, where I do no longer to have to hold back - and where the same goes for everybody else, whether that is in adversity or in joy. We are all unique, different and don't have to hide or mask on here. But we can carry each other and give wind to our wings in turn to let us soar over dark crevasses and to live up to our individual best by our choice.
You know, leaving a legacy like this means that it doesn't matter so much how long I live or when I die but it matters that I have helped to create something meaningful and good in this world together with others who will hopefully continue to give each other strength, comfort and hope way beyond my own lifetime. I cherish every day I live and every day I still have my piggies with me.
Whether you are the terminally ill one or whether you are looking after a terminally ill piggy, pet or person, the lesson is still very much the same: The more you can make of the time you have at your disposal this moment and the more you can fill it with love and care, the more you transcend it. And if you can make it last past your death, then that is a legacy worth living and worth dying for.
PS: I started writing my guides because there was very still frighteningly little information around ca. 15 years ago and a lot of it was incorrect and downright wrong ot totally useless. What was there was usually vague in all the places where you really needed that guiding hand that helped you through the tricky bits - but then that is my personal bend of autism to build those bridges over the potholes and to be able think things really through and explain them clearly.
My luck to have found that wonderful unresearched and under-researched playing field that pet guinea pigs were and still are to a good degree because the other places still tend to hand around all the long debunked urban myths because they never question them and look at the real evidence like we have amassed on this forum and where every new thread and case contributes to. Again, I could not have written what I have without the input, feedback and support from all those forum members. There are still some gaps to fill, so I will hopefully live long enough and be well enough to get them done. I still have some goals and am not just drifting merrily through life.
