Tewdric
Teenage Guinea Pig
It is with a heavy heart, and a still a numb sense of shock that I find myself posting a tribute to my wonderful Mr Brunel.
He came to us back at the end of April 2014 as a little 12 week old boar from Windwhislte Warren, where I'd taken my (then) lone boar Mr Telford to boar date and find a friend.
He settled in very quickly, grew into an extremely handsome pig; and was a great companion to Telford.
Sadly, due to cancer we lost Telford at the end of August 2015.
Brunel went back to Windwhistle to try boar dating again. He had a wonderful time at the rescue - beat up his five other potential boar dates and bit a volunteer who put her hand in to break up one date that had turned aggressive very quickly. He came home after his visit full of himself, with a very satisfied look about him.
But he was pining for company, and after a chat with Alice at Windwhistle I decided to have him neutered so that we could find him a wife-pig. This turned out to be Lilith and the pair of them settled in together very quickly.
Moving forward a bit, we moved house and now had a big garden, a pig shed and more grazing, so we adopted two 6 week old girls from the Burford Blue Cross rescue. Introductions between the babies and Brunel and Lilith couldn't have gone better, and the gang of four settled in for several years of hard eating and generally enjoying life.
Brunel was a true gentleman of a pig. He wasn't noisy - in fact I barely got much more than the occasional 'wibble' or a 'burble' out of him, and I never heard him 'wheeeking' - but he was very expresive in his expersions. The vet where I had him nutered said that he spent the day giving her evil looks through his cage bars.
He could smile, be cheeky and would look most put out if I dared to suggest cutting his nails! At the mentionn of the B.A.T.H. word he would look seriously cross - luckily it didn't happen often!
He loved paper bags, beans and mint!
He wasn't a cuddly pig - but he did enjoy spending hours on the sofa sitting next to me with some veggie bribes or a paper bag stuffed with grass whilst we played board games. He'd often finish those sessions snuggled up agains my leg asleep whilst I continued to throw dice onto the coffee table in front of him.
He was a very relaxed and confident charicter - which meant that he paired up with the effuise Lilith extremely well. Very little phased them - traveling down to their holiday accomodation was fine by them - they knew that they'd be treated to extra rations down at my parents. The fact the pair of them were so relaxed passed itself onto Wenlock and Wellington when we adopted them which in turn helpped everyone to settle in very quickly.
Brunel was 5 and 1/4 when he died from a stroke nine days into a two week stay with my parents. It was a horrible shock to come back and find him gone, but at least it was quick as I know he was in excelent shape when I left him down there, and my Mum knows what she's doing with the pigs. There was a quick trip to the vets when she noticed something wasn't 'right' and he was gone the next morning. I haven't asked for full details - but it was the vet who did his neuter op. so she knows about pigs, and I know he'd been given pain relief.
He will be much missed, but rememberd with massive affection and due to a competition I took part in last year his memory will live on as a special card in a soon to be published board game.
Sleep tight old lad.
He came to us back at the end of April 2014 as a little 12 week old boar from Windwhislte Warren, where I'd taken my (then) lone boar Mr Telford to boar date and find a friend.
He settled in very quickly, grew into an extremely handsome pig; and was a great companion to Telford.
Sadly, due to cancer we lost Telford at the end of August 2015.
Brunel went back to Windwhistle to try boar dating again. He had a wonderful time at the rescue - beat up his five other potential boar dates and bit a volunteer who put her hand in to break up one date that had turned aggressive very quickly. He came home after his visit full of himself, with a very satisfied look about him.
But he was pining for company, and after a chat with Alice at Windwhistle I decided to have him neutered so that we could find him a wife-pig. This turned out to be Lilith and the pair of them settled in together very quickly.
Moving forward a bit, we moved house and now had a big garden, a pig shed and more grazing, so we adopted two 6 week old girls from the Burford Blue Cross rescue. Introductions between the babies and Brunel and Lilith couldn't have gone better, and the gang of four settled in for several years of hard eating and generally enjoying life.
Brunel was a true gentleman of a pig. He wasn't noisy - in fact I barely got much more than the occasional 'wibble' or a 'burble' out of him, and I never heard him 'wheeeking' - but he was very expresive in his expersions. The vet where I had him nutered said that he spent the day giving her evil looks through his cage bars.
He could smile, be cheeky and would look most put out if I dared to suggest cutting his nails! At the mentionn of the B.A.T.H. word he would look seriously cross - luckily it didn't happen often!
He loved paper bags, beans and mint!
He wasn't a cuddly pig - but he did enjoy spending hours on the sofa sitting next to me with some veggie bribes or a paper bag stuffed with grass whilst we played board games. He'd often finish those sessions snuggled up agains my leg asleep whilst I continued to throw dice onto the coffee table in front of him.
He was a very relaxed and confident charicter - which meant that he paired up with the effuise Lilith extremely well. Very little phased them - traveling down to their holiday accomodation was fine by them - they knew that they'd be treated to extra rations down at my parents. The fact the pair of them were so relaxed passed itself onto Wenlock and Wellington when we adopted them which in turn helpped everyone to settle in very quickly.
Brunel was 5 and 1/4 when he died from a stroke nine days into a two week stay with my parents. It was a horrible shock to come back and find him gone, but at least it was quick as I know he was in excelent shape when I left him down there, and my Mum knows what she's doing with the pigs. There was a quick trip to the vets when she noticed something wasn't 'right' and he was gone the next morning. I haven't asked for full details - but it was the vet who did his neuter op. so she knows about pigs, and I know he'd been given pain relief.
He will be much missed, but rememberd with massive affection and due to a competition I took part in last year his memory will live on as a special card in a soon to be published board game.
Sleep tight old lad.
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