sazmatazz
Junior Guinea Pig
Our old lady Mabel left us in the early hours of this morning.
In August, she'd been with us for 5 years & she was thought to be 3-4 when we rescued her. Her last "birthday" was 31st August and she was either 8 or 9 years old. She always lived inside with us and it was always so good to see her.
We loved her so much & she marks an end of an era for us as she was our last remaining piggy.
I've posted lots previously about Mabel, she continued to defy the odds & stay with us despite ovarian cysts, arthritis in her back legs & a likely reproductive tumour. She was totally blind in one eye and her hearing wasn't great more recently either. She'd also previously had a couple of instances of what were presumed to be seizures or mini strokes but she bounced back so well after giving us a few terrible scares. She was therefore considered to be palliative care some time ago & every time we took her to the vets for review they were surprised and pleased to see her. Despite all this she was such a happy soul, singing for and chomping all her food, bulldozing her bedding and doing lots of popcorining and happy squeaks.
She became ill suddenly yesterday morning when she stopped eating (she'd eaten fine on Friday evening as usual) so we knew things were changing for her. She had extra pain relief, syringe food & water, we held and cuddled her all day, doing our best to keep her comfortable. We'd agreed with the vet that if possible we'd like to keep her with us when the time came but we'd take her in as an emergency if needed.
She left us around 1.40am this morning, we were with her & she became unsettled so we were about to make the trip to the vet when she went further downhill very quickly. As it happened we wouldn't have made it there before she left us.
We think she may have left us before her body did, as she seemed to have a seizure of some kind not long before the end, she was there but didn't seem to be there, if that makes sense. We are hoping that means she didn't feel scared, even though we were terrified. It was so hard to be there but I'm glad she wasn't alone.
We had a million funny nicknames for her, sang songs and changed the words so they were about her, she made us laugh every day and we loved her dearly. Thankfully she had a great summer and spent a lot of time on the grass this year, which was a shock to us as we were convinced she was going to leave us about this time last year. So every day with her was a good day.
Today has been a truly awful day. My heart is honestly aching and it has been so quiet and weird without her here. I keep checking the clock thinking about when it's medicine time or food time.
It's frustrating people don't seem to understand how important piggies are to their owners. Perhaps it's easy to underestimate the impact such a little creature can have on your life if you've never had a Mabel.
RIP little Leggy.
In August, she'd been with us for 5 years & she was thought to be 3-4 when we rescued her. Her last "birthday" was 31st August and she was either 8 or 9 years old. She always lived inside with us and it was always so good to see her.
We loved her so much & she marks an end of an era for us as she was our last remaining piggy.
I've posted lots previously about Mabel, she continued to defy the odds & stay with us despite ovarian cysts, arthritis in her back legs & a likely reproductive tumour. She was totally blind in one eye and her hearing wasn't great more recently either. She'd also previously had a couple of instances of what were presumed to be seizures or mini strokes but she bounced back so well after giving us a few terrible scares. She was therefore considered to be palliative care some time ago & every time we took her to the vets for review they were surprised and pleased to see her. Despite all this she was such a happy soul, singing for and chomping all her food, bulldozing her bedding and doing lots of popcorining and happy squeaks.
She became ill suddenly yesterday morning when she stopped eating (she'd eaten fine on Friday evening as usual) so we knew things were changing for her. She had extra pain relief, syringe food & water, we held and cuddled her all day, doing our best to keep her comfortable. We'd agreed with the vet that if possible we'd like to keep her with us when the time came but we'd take her in as an emergency if needed.
She left us around 1.40am this morning, we were with her & she became unsettled so we were about to make the trip to the vet when she went further downhill very quickly. As it happened we wouldn't have made it there before she left us.
We think she may have left us before her body did, as she seemed to have a seizure of some kind not long before the end, she was there but didn't seem to be there, if that makes sense. We are hoping that means she didn't feel scared, even though we were terrified. It was so hard to be there but I'm glad she wasn't alone.
We had a million funny nicknames for her, sang songs and changed the words so they were about her, she made us laugh every day and we loved her dearly. Thankfully she had a great summer and spent a lot of time on the grass this year, which was a shock to us as we were convinced she was going to leave us about this time last year. So every day with her was a good day.
Today has been a truly awful day. My heart is honestly aching and it has been so quiet and weird without her here. I keep checking the clock thinking about when it's medicine time or food time.
It's frustrating people don't seem to understand how important piggies are to their owners. Perhaps it's easy to underestimate the impact such a little creature can have on your life if you've never had a Mabel.
RIP little Leggy.
Sleep tight Mabel xx
