LondonLady
Forum Donator 2026/27
At the age of 7 and after allowing me to be his Human for just short of 6 years, Toffee decided two weeks ago that it was time to join Biscuit, Spice and Treacle at the rainbow bridge.
For the last few months Toffee had been living with an unidentified mass in his tummy/side which had recently started to grow enormous. When we first found it the vet offered surgery but I decided I couldn’t put him through that and with the vet’s agreement we decided to monitor it. It didn’t seem to bother him but naturally I was worried. I was also worried and guilty because after losing Treacle at the end of May Toffee was on his own. And my personal circumstances meant I didn’t feel able to find a companion for him and had decided that Toffee would have to be my last piggy. He survived much longer than I expected. We went to the vet in early August and she confirmed that she was happy for me to take him home and he didn’t need any extra painkillers and those last weeks he really did seem to perk up, started coming out for his veggies again, and being much more lively. So it came as a great shock when I went in one evening, having seen him scoff his evening veggies just an hour earlier, to find that he’d had some sort of seizure. To cut a long story short I rushed him to an emergency vet who said the kindest option was to pts.
Toffee was a delight right from the beginning. He was never still, always running around, into everything. As a new piggy owner I was entranced. After a couple of days of settling in he didn’t seem afraid of anything and started taking food from my hand almost straightaway. He was a real escape artist and whenever I put him and Biscuit in their playpen he would start working to find a way out – and usually managed to. I was never really sure how he did it. He drove me mad chewing the bars of the cage and he developed a taste for wallpaper on his unauthorised absences from cage and play pen, and enjoyed nibbling the books on the bottom shelf of my bookcase
. However try and pick him up and that was a totally different story. This was something that he definitely did not allow. I used to say that trying to pick him up was like trying to grab a bar of soap in the bath.
We eventually lost Biscuit, and Toffee was very excited to meet Spice. He was rather over-enthusiastic at first and it was doubtful if the bond was going to work but after a few days at the rescue I was delighted to get a message saying ‘they’re fine, you can come and collect them’. Spice’s first season was a shock as I’d never seen anything like it before. Toffee wouldn’t leave the poor girl alone, chasing and mounting her constantly and I was seriously worried for a while not being sure how normal it all was. But things calmed down and life went on happily.
As he grew older Toffee developed arthritis and started taking Metacam, but never had any other health issues. As he matured he seemed to have a change in personality. To my surprise and pleasure he would now let me pick him up and would sit on my lap, if somewhat reluctantly. He would happily potter around the cage but all the frantic activity of his early years had gone.
We sadly lost Spice rather traumatically and after a short gap I took him back to the rescue to meet Treacle. This was a total success. They bonded instantly and although he got on well with both Biscuit and Spice I think I can say Treacle was the true love of his life. They were inseparable and it was a joy to see them laying down together, following each other round the cage and chattering constantly. Sadly it wasn’t to last. After only eight months Treacle too passed away and Toffee was left on his own again.
This was a bad time: losing Treacle, discovering Toffee’s abdominal mass and at the same time receiving some devastating health news myself. With everything going on I worry that I didn’t take proper care of him at that time. However those last weeks he was a huge comfort to me. We would have proper cuddles and by this time he was even allowing me to cut his nails, something I would never have dreamed possible in his young days.
So now my guinea pig journey is over but I have lots of lovely memories and I am so grateful for the last six years and my four wonderful piggies.
Hopefully reunited at the Rainbow Bridge: Biscuit, Spice, Treacle, Toffee
Enjoy reconnecting with your three ladies my beautiful boy (And no fighting over him, girls!)
Love you always
For the last few months Toffee had been living with an unidentified mass in his tummy/side which had recently started to grow enormous. When we first found it the vet offered surgery but I decided I couldn’t put him through that and with the vet’s agreement we decided to monitor it. It didn’t seem to bother him but naturally I was worried. I was also worried and guilty because after losing Treacle at the end of May Toffee was on his own. And my personal circumstances meant I didn’t feel able to find a companion for him and had decided that Toffee would have to be my last piggy. He survived much longer than I expected. We went to the vet in early August and she confirmed that she was happy for me to take him home and he didn’t need any extra painkillers and those last weeks he really did seem to perk up, started coming out for his veggies again, and being much more lively. So it came as a great shock when I went in one evening, having seen him scoff his evening veggies just an hour earlier, to find that he’d had some sort of seizure. To cut a long story short I rushed him to an emergency vet who said the kindest option was to pts.
Toffee was a delight right from the beginning. He was never still, always running around, into everything. As a new piggy owner I was entranced. After a couple of days of settling in he didn’t seem afraid of anything and started taking food from my hand almost straightaway. He was a real escape artist and whenever I put him and Biscuit in their playpen he would start working to find a way out – and usually managed to. I was never really sure how he did it. He drove me mad chewing the bars of the cage and he developed a taste for wallpaper on his unauthorised absences from cage and play pen, and enjoyed nibbling the books on the bottom shelf of my bookcase
. However try and pick him up and that was a totally different story. This was something that he definitely did not allow. I used to say that trying to pick him up was like trying to grab a bar of soap in the bath.We eventually lost Biscuit, and Toffee was very excited to meet Spice. He was rather over-enthusiastic at first and it was doubtful if the bond was going to work but after a few days at the rescue I was delighted to get a message saying ‘they’re fine, you can come and collect them’. Spice’s first season was a shock as I’d never seen anything like it before. Toffee wouldn’t leave the poor girl alone, chasing and mounting her constantly and I was seriously worried for a while not being sure how normal it all was. But things calmed down and life went on happily.
As he grew older Toffee developed arthritis and started taking Metacam, but never had any other health issues. As he matured he seemed to have a change in personality. To my surprise and pleasure he would now let me pick him up and would sit on my lap, if somewhat reluctantly. He would happily potter around the cage but all the frantic activity of his early years had gone.
We sadly lost Spice rather traumatically and after a short gap I took him back to the rescue to meet Treacle. This was a total success. They bonded instantly and although he got on well with both Biscuit and Spice I think I can say Treacle was the true love of his life. They were inseparable and it was a joy to see them laying down together, following each other round the cage and chattering constantly. Sadly it wasn’t to last. After only eight months Treacle too passed away and Toffee was left on his own again.
This was a bad time: losing Treacle, discovering Toffee’s abdominal mass and at the same time receiving some devastating health news myself. With everything going on I worry that I didn’t take proper care of him at that time. However those last weeks he was a huge comfort to me. We would have proper cuddles and by this time he was even allowing me to cut his nails, something I would never have dreamed possible in his young days.
So now my guinea pig journey is over but I have lots of lovely memories and I am so grateful for the last six years and my four wonderful piggies.
Hopefully reunited at the Rainbow Bridge: Biscuit, Spice, Treacle, Toffee Enjoy reconnecting with your three ladies my beautiful boy (And no fighting over him, girls!)
Love you always
(((hugs))) I know how much it hurts to lose your last remaining piggy
