Eriathwen
Adult Guinea Pig
It's hard to know what to write for such a special piggy, it's even harder to limit her life and personality to just 10 pictures (so I havent)
Shelly has been with us almost since the beginning of me keeping guinea pigs again after a 3 year break, making her just shy of 5.5 years old. From the get go she was such a strong willed little madam..that'd be the bit of cuy floating around in her
turfing her poor brother Leonard out of what she perceived to be 'her spot' hence the name Sheldon, which after discovering she was actually a girl! Became Shelly. Her fiery little attitude meant that even having been together for 5 weeks, she told Leonard exactly where he could go with his ideas..and luckily never got pregnant.
Shortly after this discovery we got Ebony and Ivory as friends for my 2 lone girls that didn't get along, Shelly and Bramble. Shelly absolutely adored Ivory from the moment she saw her.
Together we created my first ever herd, with her gentle but firm leadership that herd has grown over the last 3 years or so and lead to the creation of a second, where the misfits live and the beginnings of a 3rd. After a rocky start where Treacle and Cinnamon needing to be removed due to not understanding how to socialise properly with other pigs, every single new piggy was welcomed by Shelly and the rest followed suit. Whenever anyone was ill, or recovering from surgery, Shelly was always there to comfort them and watch over them.
While she did know her actual name, and would occasionally come when called by it, she much preferred the name Beanbag, and would enthusiastically popcorn and come running usually because that meant good things were coming. She loved a fuss in the cage and would sploot out while being stroked, and would even entertain 'outsiders' (friends and family ) coming in to give her a stroke and a fuss.
Unfortunately, like her brother, Shelly was a satin carrier and 1/4 cuy, meaning as she aged she developed Osteodystophy as well as heart issues, common to those breeds. Which is how we come to be at this post.
Last Thursday Shelly deteriorated rapidly and I thought we would lose her, luckily she rallied round and we already had an appointment booked for something else for her first thing in the morning. We decided she would go in for xrays and probably surgery to try to fix what was wrong, this was due to happen Monday.
So Monday, yesterday, came around..Shelly was dropped off for her xrays and after an incredibly anxious wait I recieved a call to say she was out of surgery, had woken up well and I could take her home after speaking to the vet.
It turned out Shelly had a bloody, inflamed mass on the neck of her stomach, not removable. The rest of her abdomen was inflamed and not healthy looking apart from her uterus and ovaries which were in good condition so he did not spay her (our concern was uterine or ovarian cancer at first)
She also had a stomach full of gas and had bloated while at the vet, we were sent home with antibiotics and motility medication to have on top of her regular painkillers and anti inflammatory meds.
Initially she seemed in good spirits, but by the time we got home I could tell she wasn't doing well. I placed her in her hospital cage with the hope that seeing her friends would perk her up but unfortunately she almost immediately went into a massive seizure and bloated again, I knew at this point it was game over and that I couldn't save her so I called my vet back up and whisked her back down to be put to sleep, sadly she passed in the car, although I don't think she was aware of what was happening at all due to how bad the seizure was.
Her herd have all had the chance to say goodbye, Fern, Panda, Daisy, Delilah and Oliver all gave her a groom that I saw but I left them in peace for a while. Luckily with Oliver now in charge, they seem to be coping better than I am. She is going to be so, so missed, there aren't even any words to explain how loved she was, she was such a brave girl..I'm so sorry we couldn't make it better this time Shellbert ❤
Shelly has been with us almost since the beginning of me keeping guinea pigs again after a 3 year break, making her just shy of 5.5 years old. From the get go she was such a strong willed little madam..that'd be the bit of cuy floating around in her
turfing her poor brother Leonard out of what she perceived to be 'her spot' hence the name Sheldon, which after discovering she was actually a girl! Became Shelly. Her fiery little attitude meant that even having been together for 5 weeks, she told Leonard exactly where he could go with his ideas..and luckily never got pregnant.Shortly after this discovery we got Ebony and Ivory as friends for my 2 lone girls that didn't get along, Shelly and Bramble. Shelly absolutely adored Ivory from the moment she saw her.
Together we created my first ever herd, with her gentle but firm leadership that herd has grown over the last 3 years or so and lead to the creation of a second, where the misfits live
and the beginnings of a 3rd. After a rocky start where Treacle and Cinnamon needing to be removed due to not understanding how to socialise properly with other pigs, every single new piggy was welcomed by Shelly and the rest followed suit. Whenever anyone was ill, or recovering from surgery, Shelly was always there to comfort them and watch over them. While she did know her actual name, and would occasionally come when called by it, she much preferred the name Beanbag, and would enthusiastically popcorn and come running
usually because that meant good things were coming. She loved a fuss in the cage and would sploot out while being stroked, and would even entertain 'outsiders' (friends and family ) coming in to give her a stroke and a fuss.Unfortunately, like her brother, Shelly was a satin carrier and 1/4 cuy, meaning as she aged she developed Osteodystophy as well as heart issues, common to those breeds. Which is how we come to be at this post.
Last Thursday Shelly deteriorated rapidly and I thought we would lose her, luckily she rallied round and we already had an appointment booked for something else for her first thing in the morning. We decided she would go in for xrays and probably surgery to try to fix what was wrong, this was due to happen Monday.
So Monday, yesterday, came around..Shelly was dropped off for her xrays and after an incredibly anxious wait I recieved a call to say she was out of surgery, had woken up well and I could take her home after speaking to the vet.
It turned out Shelly had a bloody, inflamed mass on the neck of her stomach, not removable. The rest of her abdomen was inflamed and not healthy looking apart from her uterus and ovaries which were in good condition so he did not spay her (our concern was uterine or ovarian cancer at first)
She also had a stomach full of gas and had bloated while at the vet, we were sent home with antibiotics and motility medication to have on top of her regular painkillers and anti inflammatory meds.
Initially she seemed in good spirits, but by the time we got home I could tell she wasn't doing well. I placed her in her hospital cage with the hope that seeing her friends would perk her up but unfortunately she almost immediately went into a massive seizure and bloated again, I knew at this point it was game over and that I couldn't save her so I called my vet back up and whisked her back down to be put to sleep, sadly she passed in the car, although I don't think she was aware of what was happening at all due to how bad the seizure was.
Her herd have all had the chance to say goodbye, Fern, Panda, Daisy, Delilah and Oliver all gave her a groom that I saw but I left them in peace for a while. Luckily with Oliver now in charge, they seem to be coping better than I am. She is going to be so, so missed, there aren't even any words to explain how loved she was, she was such a brave girl..I'm so sorry we couldn't make it better this time Shellbert ❤
Sleep tight Shelly xx
Sleep tight gorgeous girl 
