Elitah
Junior Guinea Pig
Haven't been here in ages and so I have also not written about the piggies we have lost. My husband and I have enjoyed happy years with out piggies, but now as they got old, we lost them one after the other. This is their story.
In January 2011 we got three little piggies. Back then we were still quite inexperienced and while we thought we had three males, one of them, Patch, turned out to be female - and by the time we found out, she was pregnant. She had three little ones which we kept as well, but we had all the males neutered. Since we had 3 males and 3 females, we kept them as couples in different cages and this worked well for years.
In 2013, after our move to a new flat, we lost our first piggie, Basil. I sometimes still think that if we hadn't moved, we might have spotted sooner that something was wrong. We didn't since they were all a bit traumatized after the move and were hiding for a while, but we did what we could. In the end, there wasn't much that could be done. Since we didn't want his little friend Spotty to be alone, we adopted Gilbert from the animal shelter, a cute, long-haired piggie, only about one year younger than the others.
In 2014, out little sunshine lady Spotty almost died from diarrhea. Thanks to our amazing vet, and my husband feeding her medication and special food 4 times a day, she survived. Later that year, she had an abscess, twice, but the second time, treatment was successful. She lost her bottom teeth, though, so we diced her food and took her to the vet regularly to have the upper teeth shortened. And then another piggie, Sparky, got ill. A heart condition. For over 6 months, we gave him medication every day. It cost us 12 € a week and it was a special mixture by out vet, but Sparky lived quite happily until autumn 2015. After his death, we put Patch in a cage with Spotty and Gilbert.
In spring 2016, we learned that out Mr. You had cancer. The vet said he could do an operation, but there were no guarantees, especially not since Mr. You was already 5 years old and had a few smaller problems. Worried that the operation might be too much for him, we decided against it. The vet was ok with it since nobody new what was right in this case. He died in autumn 2016. Cotton, who had been in a cage with Mr. You, moved in with Spotty, Gilbert and Patch. A few weeks later, Patch died as well. One day, her back legs were just not working and it was something wrong with her spine. The vet had to put her to sleep.
As they aged, more of them died. Last year it was Gilbert who had cancer. The vet had spotted it early, but couldn't do an operation because Gilbert had several small lumps and it would have ben too many. He got very sick within just two or three days and had to be put to sleep as well. At this point, we only had two of the girls left: Spotty and Cotton. We went back to the animal shelter where we met Brillo. An cute piggie with fuzzy fur and a horrible past. Police had taken him out of an appartment when the owner ended up in hospital. I was told Brillo's fur was so dirty and sticky they couldn't see where the front and where the back of that piggie were. His little feet were badly calloused and the claws were so long they had curled several times. They told us he was very old (nobody knew his exact age) and had an eye problem. We adopted him anyway and he moved in with Spotty and Cotton, out two ladies. He became very lively and self-confident and would "chat" all day and even popcorned. And he would just fall asleep on our lap which was really cute.
Sadly, Brillo had a tumour as well which grew very quickly and affected his organs badly. We took him to the vet as soon as we noticed Brillo was a bit "off", but again, the vet said he couldn't do an operation without harming other organs. We had to have him put to sleep last Monday.
Now Cotton is the only one left. She will be 7 years old in April, sleeps a lot, but is as cute as ever and still seems to be quite healthy. Last year we once had to take her to the vet for a bladder infection, but she recovered well. I can't believe we have had piggies for 7 years now. And I'm grateful to our vet. He is only a 10-minute walk away from where we live, very honest about what can be done and when it would be the best thing for a piggie to let it go. And while there were things he could do nothing about, there were so many things he did successfully treat. Sparky lived longer than anyone would have thought (including the vet), Spotty's horrible abscess never came back after he had treated it a second time, we got advice on feeding and care, there were operations and medication. And he never charges much.
Since we don't want Cotton to be on her own, we went to an animal shelter a few weeks ago (when Brillo was still alive, but we guessed that one of them could die soon due to their age) and "reserved" to female piggies that had just given birth. The babies have now been adopted and we are allowed to pick the two females up today. They are only about 1/2 year old and we might be allowed to adopt a young boar as well. It will be a busy weekend, introducing them to Cotton, but seeing her alone, even though it was just for a few days, breaks our hearts. It will also be a new generation of guinea-pigs, a new little herd. Cotton might still make it to 7 or 8 years old, who knows. I wish our piggies might have gotten older, I have read about piggies who made it to 9 years old, but we always did everything we could for them.
In January 2011 we got three little piggies. Back then we were still quite inexperienced and while we thought we had three males, one of them, Patch, turned out to be female - and by the time we found out, she was pregnant. She had three little ones which we kept as well, but we had all the males neutered. Since we had 3 males and 3 females, we kept them as couples in different cages and this worked well for years.
In 2013, after our move to a new flat, we lost our first piggie, Basil. I sometimes still think that if we hadn't moved, we might have spotted sooner that something was wrong. We didn't since they were all a bit traumatized after the move and were hiding for a while, but we did what we could. In the end, there wasn't much that could be done. Since we didn't want his little friend Spotty to be alone, we adopted Gilbert from the animal shelter, a cute, long-haired piggie, only about one year younger than the others.
In 2014, out little sunshine lady Spotty almost died from diarrhea. Thanks to our amazing vet, and my husband feeding her medication and special food 4 times a day, she survived. Later that year, she had an abscess, twice, but the second time, treatment was successful. She lost her bottom teeth, though, so we diced her food and took her to the vet regularly to have the upper teeth shortened. And then another piggie, Sparky, got ill. A heart condition. For over 6 months, we gave him medication every day. It cost us 12 € a week and it was a special mixture by out vet, but Sparky lived quite happily until autumn 2015. After his death, we put Patch in a cage with Spotty and Gilbert.
In spring 2016, we learned that out Mr. You had cancer. The vet said he could do an operation, but there were no guarantees, especially not since Mr. You was already 5 years old and had a few smaller problems. Worried that the operation might be too much for him, we decided against it. The vet was ok with it since nobody new what was right in this case. He died in autumn 2016. Cotton, who had been in a cage with Mr. You, moved in with Spotty, Gilbert and Patch. A few weeks later, Patch died as well. One day, her back legs were just not working and it was something wrong with her spine. The vet had to put her to sleep.
As they aged, more of them died. Last year it was Gilbert who had cancer. The vet had spotted it early, but couldn't do an operation because Gilbert had several small lumps and it would have ben too many. He got very sick within just two or three days and had to be put to sleep as well. At this point, we only had two of the girls left: Spotty and Cotton. We went back to the animal shelter where we met Brillo. An cute piggie with fuzzy fur and a horrible past. Police had taken him out of an appartment when the owner ended up in hospital. I was told Brillo's fur was so dirty and sticky they couldn't see where the front and where the back of that piggie were. His little feet were badly calloused and the claws were so long they had curled several times. They told us he was very old (nobody knew his exact age) and had an eye problem. We adopted him anyway and he moved in with Spotty and Cotton, out two ladies. He became very lively and self-confident and would "chat" all day and even popcorned. And he would just fall asleep on our lap which was really cute.
Sadly, Brillo had a tumour as well which grew very quickly and affected his organs badly. We took him to the vet as soon as we noticed Brillo was a bit "off", but again, the vet said he couldn't do an operation without harming other organs. We had to have him put to sleep last Monday.
Now Cotton is the only one left. She will be 7 years old in April, sleeps a lot, but is as cute as ever and still seems to be quite healthy. Last year we once had to take her to the vet for a bladder infection, but she recovered well. I can't believe we have had piggies for 7 years now. And I'm grateful to our vet. He is only a 10-minute walk away from where we live, very honest about what can be done and when it would be the best thing for a piggie to let it go. And while there were things he could do nothing about, there were so many things he did successfully treat. Sparky lived longer than anyone would have thought (including the vet), Spotty's horrible abscess never came back after he had treated it a second time, we got advice on feeding and care, there were operations and medication. And he never charges much.
Since we don't want Cotton to be on her own, we went to an animal shelter a few weeks ago (when Brillo was still alive, but we guessed that one of them could die soon due to their age) and "reserved" to female piggies that had just given birth. The babies have now been adopted and we are allowed to pick the two females up today. They are only about 1/2 year old and we might be allowed to adopt a young boar as well. It will be a busy weekend, introducing them to Cotton, but seeing her alone, even though it was just for a few days, breaks our hearts. It will also be a new generation of guinea-pigs, a new little herd. Cotton might still make it to 7 or 8 years old, who knows. I wish our piggies might have gotten older, I have read about piggies who made it to 9 years old, but we always did everything we could for them.
