JordyW
New Born Pup
My sweet little Junior (Black and white Crested) passed away 2 days ago on February 13th. He was 4 1/2 years old. We don't know what happened. He was fine last week as far as we could tell, but then over the weekend he stopped eating and drinking and began to seclude himself from us and his cage mate and "brother" Bernard (Brown Silkie) who has been with since they were babies. I tried everything to help him. I gave him extra vitamin C by mouth, softened his food and mixed it with pureed veggies and critical care mix to feed him via syringe, etc. Nothing worked. It got to the point I couldn't even feed him myself because he refused to chew what I was giving him. I didn't want him to choke, so I had to stop.
His passing was slow and heartbreaking to watch. I'm trying to tell myself it wasn't painful for him, but I have no way of knowing that for sure. Realistically, there had to have been at least some painful times during the process. Even though my heart broke every time I saw him, I am thankful that I am able to work from home because it meant that I could keep him next to me, if not in my lap. I talked to him constantly so he knew he wasn't alone. I saw his brother Bernard go and check on him a lot and even groom him a few times which was so sweet because Junior was the type to always groom himself more than any other Guinea Pig I have ever seen, but as he continued to deteriorate, he didn't have the energy to do that anymore.
Now we are dealing with bereavement process. I have read, and reread the posts on here about the subject and I have found them quite helpful so thank you for that. I cry at the smallest things like not having to buy as many vegetables because I only have one piggy instead of two, or even seeing less poop in the cage when I clean it. Who would have thought that seeing less poop would make someone cry?
Telling my 9 year old son that Junior was sick was so hard. Seeing the look on his face and the tears form in his eyes immediately made my heart ache. The only thing harder than that was telling him that Junior had actually passed away. Hearing his sobs had to have been the worst thing I have heard in my life. He had never lost a pet before, so this is new territory for him, but even if it wasn't I know it would still be just as difficult. He loves Junior, and asking a 9 year old to cope with something like this is seemingly impossible when it is something that even adults have a hard time with. As a parent, I wish I could take his pain away.
Now we try and pick up the pieces and remember him while focusing on our other piggy Bernard. I am thankful Bernard is still eating and drinking normally, but he is showing signs of loneliness. He wants my attention in the form of cuddles and pets as opposed to before when he just wanted to be seen but not touched. I have been giving him extra attention for both of our sakes, and I hope it is helping him. I have also apologized to him that I couldn't save his brother. My husband says there wasn't anything more I could have done, but I will always feel like maybe there was something I missed.
His passing was slow and heartbreaking to watch. I'm trying to tell myself it wasn't painful for him, but I have no way of knowing that for sure. Realistically, there had to have been at least some painful times during the process. Even though my heart broke every time I saw him, I am thankful that I am able to work from home because it meant that I could keep him next to me, if not in my lap. I talked to him constantly so he knew he wasn't alone. I saw his brother Bernard go and check on him a lot and even groom him a few times which was so sweet because Junior was the type to always groom himself more than any other Guinea Pig I have ever seen, but as he continued to deteriorate, he didn't have the energy to do that anymore.
Now we are dealing with bereavement process. I have read, and reread the posts on here about the subject and I have found them quite helpful so thank you for that. I cry at the smallest things like not having to buy as many vegetables because I only have one piggy instead of two, or even seeing less poop in the cage when I clean it. Who would have thought that seeing less poop would make someone cry?
Telling my 9 year old son that Junior was sick was so hard. Seeing the look on his face and the tears form in his eyes immediately made my heart ache. The only thing harder than that was telling him that Junior had actually passed away. Hearing his sobs had to have been the worst thing I have heard in my life. He had never lost a pet before, so this is new territory for him, but even if it wasn't I know it would still be just as difficult. He loves Junior, and asking a 9 year old to cope with something like this is seemingly impossible when it is something that even adults have a hard time with. As a parent, I wish I could take his pain away.
Now we try and pick up the pieces and remember him while focusing on our other piggy Bernard. I am thankful Bernard is still eating and drinking normally, but he is showing signs of loneliness. He wants my attention in the form of cuddles and pets as opposed to before when he just wanted to be seen but not touched. I have been giving him extra attention for both of our sakes, and I hope it is helping him. I have also apologized to him that I couldn't save his brother. My husband says there wasn't anything more I could have done, but I will always feel like maybe there was something I missed.
Time will heal and life will get better, but while you grieve take care of each other x
. Death is a hard life lesson to learn about. Take care 