N
nsharonew
I met my Max by chance. Someone offered him on a message board for things they want to keep out of the landfill, and I thought, oh well, a guinea pig, that could be cute. I stopped to see him and he was so cute with his little tuft of hair on his head, and the rest was a right mess. I took him. I had no idea.
One day my daughter got into trouble and I took the guinea pig out of her room. I was sitting in this very spot and looking at this little noisy thing and I decided I would learn about him. I read the whole wikipedia article and learned so much. I learned no cedar or pine, that the cage he was given to me in was far too small, and that they NEED to have timothy pellets (not alfalfa) hay, fresh fruits and veggies and companionship.
The very next day I went to the grocery store with all of my new information and got him so many treats, I was so excited to give them to him that I cut a whole bunch of everything up and took him out of his cage and let him have a piggie buffet. He was so cute, he LICKED everything there, and then bit into a pear and exclaimed "WHEEEEEK!" and proceeded to gorge on all of his new treats. Life changed for him. He got a giant C&C cage, floor time in abundance, all the cute little snack shacks and pigloos, only the best food and hay, snuggle time, obstacle courses, everything. My Max had everything; but a friend.
I put an ad on Craigslist asking for a baby boy guinea pig. I went to the pet store to buy him some more food and they had the most adorable piggies, so I bought one with a new cage for quaruntine and everything they could want.
When I got home there was a response to craigslist, so we loaded up in the car under the assumption "The more the merrier".
The guinea pig from the pet store was very aggressive toward max (Jr.) and the one from Craigslist seemed to get along with everyone, so we took Max out and left Jr. with Robot (Craigslist piggy). Then Max got sick. His eyes started to run, I was beside myself thinking the worst, that he had an upper respiratory infection, I was going to lose him. He went to the vet only to find he had piggy pink eye, got some medicine, no problem. All better.
Soon after, Max and Robot were living together because that was the whole reason we had gotten more piggies, for my Max. We noticed he was getting bigger and bigger until one day he had a baby...or rather she did. Of course, at this point, we kept her away from everyone, but Max still got to go and visit through the cage; she made him happy. It was all I ever wanted.
Knowing she was a girl, we knew she had to go or the boys would never get along. So, we decided to get another boy (Since we thought Jr. would never get on with another boar, he was in solitary confinement). We went to the local animal shelter and got Hawk.
We thought Max and Hawk could get along, but the girl was still in the house, so we took a giant 4x3 C&C and put up a wall, so they could snuggle and show off, but they couldln't fight.
Robots baby went away and we were in the process of finding Robot a home (all so Max could have a cagemate, honestly) and we found Jr. had jumped the wall dividing the room where she was and he was...so more babies were on their way. Thats about the time I fell in love with Billy Mays, a self-black teddy. I got him from a fair, he was about 6 months old and seemed to be a cast off from all the other adorable babies...
In the meantime, my ex-boyfriend brought home Him and Optimus Prime. I don't know why. Him is a gorgeous long haired peruvian and Optimus is some kind of self-white abby mix...older and with bad teeth. He had to have a trim last November, poor guy.
My boyfriend and I broke up and he didn't take any of his guinea pigs. Also, Robot had four babies...so, if you are keeping count, now there is Max, Jr, Hawk, Robot, Him, Optimus, Billy and four babies...
I wasn't about to put them on craigslist because I knew how mine from craigslist had been taken care of, or lack thereof...Optimus with his teeth, Robot really being a girl, and Him...he lived in an aquarium and was taken for race car rides by the kids in the house. So, slowly and carefully, I began to reduce my population. Two babies left, then another, Robot, Billy, and the only ones left were Optimus and Him, I would keep Jr., Max, Hawk and the baby and pair them off accordingly.
Until yesterday...My six-year-old said "Mommy, doesn't Max look sad?" So I got a carrot and whistled for him to come and get his treat. My Max, he just stayed where he was. Concerned, I went to his cage and picked him up only to find he was soaked with urine, foul smelling urine. I put him in for tub time and noticed he wasn't pooping in the tub, one of his favorite things to do, so I checked his cage...no fresh poop...my heart fell.
I got him back into a clean cage and gave him every last peice of fresh veggie I had. He had no reaction. I left the house, went to the market, and bought more, better variety, fresher, even some raw fruit juice because it's sweet and he loves sweet things...nothing. He ignored the raddicio, watermelon, corn. He took the tiny cup of raw juice and threw it, making a right mess. I was shocked. I continued to try to peak his attention, but nothing would get him interested. I took him outside, he loves hanging out in the grass and eating dandelion (also a diuretic) but he just sat there.
I brought him back up and got the critical care and syringe. He took about 8 ml from 10pm on last night, and another four this morning. I went to work, called the vet, made an appointment, and came home to get him. I tried to give him some more critical care, but he kept spitting it out, and when I checked his mouth, he hadn't swallowed any. I tried to give him some water from the end of a cutip, but he turned his head away. I packed him up and we left for the hour long drive to the vet.
when I got there they took him away from me. They left me in the waiting room and took him somewhere else. I was called into a room and told he had been put on oxygen to help him breath and the vet would be in with me shortly. I waited. I cried. I waited some more. The vet came in, told me it didn't look good. They had my Max in an incubator and on oxygen but they coudln't get a good check because he would get so upset. She told me he would die. She told me that even if they did diagnostics, sent him home with antibiotics, pain medication, put him on critical care, even with constant care, he would still have less than a 10% chance of living.
My Max. My amazing and unbelievable loving Max. Oh my god. The pain I felt was so great I can't even put it into words. My Max was dying, and there was nothing I could do. Nothing. That's what she was telling me. Nothing.
I asked to see him. She said of course. She brought him in a towel and I sat there and I held him. I cried. I put his cute little tuft into a mohawk, I told him how good he did. I told him it was ok. I told him I loved him. But he was having a hard time breathing, and I knew it wouldn't be long. I wanted it to be forever, because even with the incredible pain I had at that moment, even with my heart breaking right inside of my chest as I looked at him, even with all of the anguish, he was with me, and I didn't want to lose that.
But I had to.
My Max, at 3:30 on 5-3-2010 crossed over the rainbow bridge. He got sick. He didn't get better. My heart breaks at the thought of not having him here, and I don't know if I will ever truly recover. It hurts so much, and I still have 5 pigs, 5 pigs who didn't have homes before, 5 pigs who have homes now, because of my Max.
Get some rest, buddy, breathe, eat, poop, and give a snuggle to our friend Boy, our giant cat who was sick like you last November.
I love you, my Max. I miss you. It hurts.
One day my daughter got into trouble and I took the guinea pig out of her room. I was sitting in this very spot and looking at this little noisy thing and I decided I would learn about him. I read the whole wikipedia article and learned so much. I learned no cedar or pine, that the cage he was given to me in was far too small, and that they NEED to have timothy pellets (not alfalfa) hay, fresh fruits and veggies and companionship.
The very next day I went to the grocery store with all of my new information and got him so many treats, I was so excited to give them to him that I cut a whole bunch of everything up and took him out of his cage and let him have a piggie buffet. He was so cute, he LICKED everything there, and then bit into a pear and exclaimed "WHEEEEEK!" and proceeded to gorge on all of his new treats. Life changed for him. He got a giant C&C cage, floor time in abundance, all the cute little snack shacks and pigloos, only the best food and hay, snuggle time, obstacle courses, everything. My Max had everything; but a friend.
I put an ad on Craigslist asking for a baby boy guinea pig. I went to the pet store to buy him some more food and they had the most adorable piggies, so I bought one with a new cage for quaruntine and everything they could want.
When I got home there was a response to craigslist, so we loaded up in the car under the assumption "The more the merrier".
The guinea pig from the pet store was very aggressive toward max (Jr.) and the one from Craigslist seemed to get along with everyone, so we took Max out and left Jr. with Robot (Craigslist piggy). Then Max got sick. His eyes started to run, I was beside myself thinking the worst, that he had an upper respiratory infection, I was going to lose him. He went to the vet only to find he had piggy pink eye, got some medicine, no problem. All better.
Soon after, Max and Robot were living together because that was the whole reason we had gotten more piggies, for my Max. We noticed he was getting bigger and bigger until one day he had a baby...or rather she did. Of course, at this point, we kept her away from everyone, but Max still got to go and visit through the cage; she made him happy. It was all I ever wanted.
Knowing she was a girl, we knew she had to go or the boys would never get along. So, we decided to get another boy (Since we thought Jr. would never get on with another boar, he was in solitary confinement). We went to the local animal shelter and got Hawk.
We thought Max and Hawk could get along, but the girl was still in the house, so we took a giant 4x3 C&C and put up a wall, so they could snuggle and show off, but they couldln't fight.
Robots baby went away and we were in the process of finding Robot a home (all so Max could have a cagemate, honestly) and we found Jr. had jumped the wall dividing the room where she was and he was...so more babies were on their way. Thats about the time I fell in love with Billy Mays, a self-black teddy. I got him from a fair, he was about 6 months old and seemed to be a cast off from all the other adorable babies...
In the meantime, my ex-boyfriend brought home Him and Optimus Prime. I don't know why. Him is a gorgeous long haired peruvian and Optimus is some kind of self-white abby mix...older and with bad teeth. He had to have a trim last November, poor guy.
My boyfriend and I broke up and he didn't take any of his guinea pigs. Also, Robot had four babies...so, if you are keeping count, now there is Max, Jr, Hawk, Robot, Him, Optimus, Billy and four babies...
I wasn't about to put them on craigslist because I knew how mine from craigslist had been taken care of, or lack thereof...Optimus with his teeth, Robot really being a girl, and Him...he lived in an aquarium and was taken for race car rides by the kids in the house. So, slowly and carefully, I began to reduce my population. Two babies left, then another, Robot, Billy, and the only ones left were Optimus and Him, I would keep Jr., Max, Hawk and the baby and pair them off accordingly.
Until yesterday...My six-year-old said "Mommy, doesn't Max look sad?" So I got a carrot and whistled for him to come and get his treat. My Max, he just stayed where he was. Concerned, I went to his cage and picked him up only to find he was soaked with urine, foul smelling urine. I put him in for tub time and noticed he wasn't pooping in the tub, one of his favorite things to do, so I checked his cage...no fresh poop...my heart fell.
I got him back into a clean cage and gave him every last peice of fresh veggie I had. He had no reaction. I left the house, went to the market, and bought more, better variety, fresher, even some raw fruit juice because it's sweet and he loves sweet things...nothing. He ignored the raddicio, watermelon, corn. He took the tiny cup of raw juice and threw it, making a right mess. I was shocked. I continued to try to peak his attention, but nothing would get him interested. I took him outside, he loves hanging out in the grass and eating dandelion (also a diuretic) but he just sat there.
I brought him back up and got the critical care and syringe. He took about 8 ml from 10pm on last night, and another four this morning. I went to work, called the vet, made an appointment, and came home to get him. I tried to give him some more critical care, but he kept spitting it out, and when I checked his mouth, he hadn't swallowed any. I tried to give him some water from the end of a cutip, but he turned his head away. I packed him up and we left for the hour long drive to the vet.
when I got there they took him away from me. They left me in the waiting room and took him somewhere else. I was called into a room and told he had been put on oxygen to help him breath and the vet would be in with me shortly. I waited. I cried. I waited some more. The vet came in, told me it didn't look good. They had my Max in an incubator and on oxygen but they coudln't get a good check because he would get so upset. She told me he would die. She told me that even if they did diagnostics, sent him home with antibiotics, pain medication, put him on critical care, even with constant care, he would still have less than a 10% chance of living.
My Max. My amazing and unbelievable loving Max. Oh my god. The pain I felt was so great I can't even put it into words. My Max was dying, and there was nothing I could do. Nothing. That's what she was telling me. Nothing.
I asked to see him. She said of course. She brought him in a towel and I sat there and I held him. I cried. I put his cute little tuft into a mohawk, I told him how good he did. I told him it was ok. I told him I loved him. But he was having a hard time breathing, and I knew it wouldn't be long. I wanted it to be forever, because even with the incredible pain I had at that moment, even with my heart breaking right inside of my chest as I looked at him, even with all of the anguish, he was with me, and I didn't want to lose that.
But I had to.
My Max, at 3:30 on 5-3-2010 crossed over the rainbow bridge. He got sick. He didn't get better. My heart breaks at the thought of not having him here, and I don't know if I will ever truly recover. It hurts so much, and I still have 5 pigs, 5 pigs who didn't have homes before, 5 pigs who have homes now, because of my Max.
Get some rest, buddy, breathe, eat, poop, and give a snuggle to our friend Boy, our giant cat who was sick like you last November.
I love you, my Max. I miss you. It hurts.
