Cariad, whose name means Darling in Welsh, has joined her close friends Ceri (RIP February) and Nia (RIP May) on Friday morning, on the hottest and one of the most humid days of the summer yet. She’s been battling a series of health and persistent weight problems for the last two years, including a bladder operation and an emergency spay only a few months afterwards. She has been extremely frail after pulling through a first major crisis three weeks earlier, as some of the forum members at the Birmingham meet will remember. Under the circumstances, I feel blessed that Cariad did live to a very respectable 5 years old!
Cariad was admittedly not the brightest of souls, but a very sweet natured girl. Not for her rousing piggy adventures and the joy of roaming! She was a real stay-at-home gal, who loved her daily routine and could be seriously thrown by as little as a new vividly patterned fleece in front of the cage, which she didn’t dare set foot on for a whole week even with the rest of Tribe happily gambolling all around her! But if anypig needed a snuggle buddy, Cariad was always there for them…
When Cariad and Ceri arrived from Becklen rescue (then in Penrith) at the beginning of November 2009, they were just bags of bone and skin under the hair cover, too small for their age and very skittish. The fact that they were not eating from the plate, but snatching food from each other's mouths instead says it all…
Cariad was always a follower, but she also was very good at getting easily lost!
It took several months of literally inching her dinner plate down the length of the living room, until she was able to join the rest of the original Tribe under the dining room table! Just one inch too far, and we had to start from scratch again!
Cariad was always the last to the plate and often waiting in the wrong spot, and that never changed!
With some patience, persistence and lots of tlc, Ceri and Cariad started to fill out and thrive.
Snuggling in the hay was one of her favourite pastimes…
… and doing so with a friend (here Hafina), even more so!
After Hafina’s passing, Cariad became Nerys’ best buddy – not that friendship would ever get in the way of eating with Nerys!
Cariad was admittedly not the brightest of souls, but a very sweet natured girl. Not for her rousing piggy adventures and the joy of roaming! She was a real stay-at-home gal, who loved her daily routine and could be seriously thrown by as little as a new vividly patterned fleece in front of the cage, which she didn’t dare set foot on for a whole week even with the rest of Tribe happily gambolling all around her! But if anypig needed a snuggle buddy, Cariad was always there for them…
When Cariad and Ceri arrived from Becklen rescue (then in Penrith) at the beginning of November 2009, they were just bags of bone and skin under the hair cover, too small for their age and very skittish. The fact that they were not eating from the plate, but snatching food from each other's mouths instead says it all…
Cariad was always a follower, but she also was very good at getting easily lost!
It took several months of literally inching her dinner plate down the length of the living room, until she was able to join the rest of the original Tribe under the dining room table! Just one inch too far, and we had to start from scratch again!
Cariad was always the last to the plate and often waiting in the wrong spot, and that never changed!
With some patience, persistence and lots of tlc, Ceri and Cariad started to fill out and thrive.
Snuggling in the hay was one of her favourite pastimes…
… and doing so with a friend (here Hafina), even more so!
After Hafina’s passing, Cariad became Nerys’ best buddy – not that friendship would ever get in the way of eating with Nerys!
