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we miss our girls

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Hi everyone,

I just wanted to write about this because I am struggling with my emotions. Where do I start. My wife decided to get two little cavvies last year. After thorough research and looking around she finally found 2 babies - a black and a white girl we called them Kara and Alba. She even built them a house for our living room all nice and modern to go with our furniture. At the time I wanted to support her as I know how much she loves animals. We were also going through a rough patch in our lives and I thought they will help her. When she first got them I wasn't that interested. I liked them but I didn't really interact with them as much. As the time passed they slowly became part of our family. They developed their little personalities and I started to get more and more 'into' them. Also my wife's love for them somehow reflected on me. I hadn't experienced anything like that before as I never had pets before. I am a 33 year old man and such emotions were a bit uncommon for me. I know it may sound silly to some people but I think you guys might understand.

So, fast forward to March this year. My wife got pregnant - with twins! Wow. Won't get into that but i can say its amazing no doubt. We talked about hygiene issues and arranged that I'll clean the cage from that point. We made other arrangements. Time flew and the pregnancy progressed. Then one day a friend of ours came along and said that her sister is looking for guinea pigs to adopt and whether we thought of giving them away. At first my reaction was 'no way we are giving them away, they are part of our family'. But as time passed and we started learning more and more about babies and how we would care for them and the time and attention they would require, and the hygiene they need in the first month etc.. And we started worrying about it, and how we would not have time for our little cavvies and that we wouldn't be able to cuddle them much and not have time to clean them and that they would suffer, our babies needed to come first. Generally we started thinking that realistically we have to be strong and now that there is the opportunity and the people who would take them are friends and not strangers etc. etc..

So we gradually came to the decision that we would give them away. Painful as it was we had to. For their sake and for our babies sake. We arranged for the adoption and set a date. The countdown started and before we knew it the day came. We agreed that we would give them away with their little house and the people that took them were great, very kind, understanding.

Now I never expected it from myself but I miss them like hell. I miss every little aspect of them being there. Their personalities, their noises at night, the 'popping' when they had hey and food, they chirping, their little button eyes. You may think I'm nuts. As for my wife I don't even know where to start. She misses them so much. Its been 3 days now since we said goodbye and we are both still missing them. Our babies are due in November and I know that once they come along we will feel better. But how can we ever forget. They were our family. Our little girls. There are no two other guinea pigs like them and there won't be. We had them from babies. And I wanted our kids to meet them. Cavvies and kids really like each other... gosh I don't know.

Forgive me for ranting. We just don't know if we've made the right decision. Did we just cop out and abandon our girls? They were there when we needed them and now we just gave them away. They brought us luck... Maybe we actually would be able to cope and we are just scared of the unknown. It feels wrong. Empty. Maybe it will pass.

I don't know anymore. Maybe we should get them back. And now if we try to get them back we will hurt the people we gave them to. They were so excited to have them.

anyhow. forgive me all for ranting so long I just wanted to share it with people who will understand as it is the kind of thing you don't understand until you experience it. Does anyone have a similar experience. did we do the right thing?

hugs

vlado
 
Hi and welcome :)
Oh dear i do think you had all the right intentions, you just didn't realise how much your little precious furry balls had taken hold of your hearts x)
Is there some way you can have visiting rights to your piggies? Just a thought :)
Maybe once your twins (CONGRATULATIONS XXXXXXXXX) are born and then see if you've got the time to look after them?
Hope all goes well with the pregnancy and keep posting on here as to what happens about piggies too :)

Glynis, Velvet and Onyx x
 
My next door neighbour had a little boy piggie called Mocha. She had to give him away when her third daughter was born as she couldn't cope with looking after him and her new born. We didn't live here then, otherwise we would've had him!
I think you'll only know if you've done the right thing when your own babies arrive. You can also adopt some more from a rescue if you realistically think you have the time and energy (not to mention the financial aspect!) to look after them.
They do grab hold of your heart in a massive way. More than you could every imagine, until they're there, in your house, they're in your heart too! Same for Real Babies too though! Good luck what ever you decide.
 
Firstly congratulations on your twins :))

Is there a guinea pig rescue near you at all? I take it you're in America? Not sure about how many rescues you have over there. Perhaps you could talk to the people that you gave your girls to and tell them that you're missing them and think you may have made a mistake and offer to find them another pair of pigs as a swap for your girls?

Personally I don't think guineas would be that much work while you have your twins. They only need cleaning out 3 times a week and if you make their time a routine, like after the twins have gone to bed or something then you don't need to feel guilty about not giving them as much time.

Anyway, as Glynis says - perhaps you can visit them? Also you know they are in a good home and well looked after so no need to feel guilty about it. Hope you're ok xx
 
Congratulations on your twins! You will find that your life will be very busy once they have arrived!

Guinea pigs have a habit of grabbing your heart and taking over your life. It is very hard to give away any of yours, for whatever reasons. I couldn't keep my surprise babies from one of my first shop bought sows, and I still rue it to this day that I had to rehome them. Hopefully, you can stay in contact with the people who rehomed your girls.

It may not be a bad idea to come back to having guinea pigs again once your children are old enough - the piggies will be yours, anyway... ;)
 
Hello. Congratulations on your twins. Must have been a very difficult decision to give up your guinea pigs.

My brother and his partner have 2 year old twins. When they were born it turned everything upside down (they already have an older boy so thought they were ready for it all). It's an exciting, emotional and exhausting time. I think you've made a very brave decision to give up your much loved girls and once the babies come it will all fall into place. You will devote your every minute to your children without the guilt of feeling you do not have time for your guinea pigs. You've found a fabulous new home for them so you can rest assured that they are happy and healthy. :)
 
First of all congratulations! Iwas in a similar situation 9 years ago when i had my first child, i had 2 hamsters which i adored (mum was preg when i got her and i kept one of the babies). I loved them sooo much lol, but.....then i had my baby. Pets are great and I'm not trying to undermine anyones strong feelings for thier pet, but nothing will come close to how you will feel about your babies when they arrive! i can honestly say when my son was born i didnt give my hamsters much thought and thought it would be kinder to rehome them. I didnt look back and was so busy that i doubt i would have had time for them. Your twins will be so much hard work and of course they come first, you have done the right thing for yourselves and your piggies, you will miss them now but i can practically guarantee when you 'real' babies arrives you will be so absorbed in them you probably wont have time to think about the piggies.:)
 
Hi Vlado :)p

Everyone will have different opinions on this but it is a very personal decision - no right or wrong answer! Search your heart and do what you instinctively feel is right for YOUR family. Whatever you decide, your piggy girls will be well cared for so you have no need to ever feel guilty.

When I was pregnant with my son I had 6 cats and everyone kept telling me that I would need to get rid of them before the baby was born. I felt I could never do this as they were part of my family too and I've never regretted that decision. Don't get me wrong, in the first few months I was exhausted and the cats didn't get as much attention as they had been used to - your child always comes first - but they were never neglected and I don't think they suffered for it.

I wouldn't worry about it from a hygiene point of view. We grew up in a house full of animals and never had any problems, in fact I think children benefit in so many ways from having animals about. Many of my son's friends, who live in immaculate houses with no pets, suffer from asthma and all sorts of other allergies. Children need a bit of "dirt" around in order to build up their immune systems - at least that's what I tell my Mum when she complains about the state of my house! ;)

If it were me, I would speak to my friend and explain that I felt I'd made a terrible mistake and ask if she'd mind if I took the piggies back. Maybe offer to replace them with 2 piggies from a rescue! But that's just me, as I've said you need to do what's right for you!

And remember having twins will be the most amazing, wonderful and overwhelming experience but you will also be utterly exhausted so try to enlist as much support and help from family and friends as you can!

Good luck with whatever decision you make!
 
thank you all

Thanks everyone for being so understanding and so helpful. It feels a little less lonely now even though we're still split. I have this constant feeling on the back of my mind that I've done something wrong. My wife keeps finding little hairs from their coats in her clothes... I will discuss some of these things with her and maybe we will feel a bit better soon when babies arrive. I just don't want to upset our friend either. We didn't want to mess her about. She was so excited to have them. So maybe we chat with her and explain the situation. Maybe, just maybe we see if she would even consider giving them back in a few months. Like some sort of 'honeymoon period'. Maybe we visit them, she has offered that anyhow. I just don't want to put her through the pain we are going through by taking them back away from her. Gosh you must think I'm one confused individual. But like most of you said, they do take hold of your heart pretty quick the little fur balls ")

Just for info I'm not in the US I'm in Manchester, England England (like the song goes)...8)

Thanks all for your thoughts. Anyhow if there are more of you guys who may have some thoughts on this please do write. I really appreciate your help! :red

All my love.x>>I will keep you posted.
 
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