Eriathwen
Adult Guinea Pig
It both seems like yesterday and an eternity ago all at the same time, that we first got Forrest and Silver.
Usually when looking for adoptable piggies I search within a 50 mile radius of where I am. For some reason, this time, I decided to remove the filter and just see who was looking for a home, nationwide. I saw an advert for two little white babies, they looked suspiciously like lethals so when I read the description and it said that they walked in circles and were deaf blind.. I knew I had to go and bring you home.
And so began the journey from Worcestershire, down to Surrey..I think it took us about 6 hours there and back, with a couple of stops along the way.
I arrived and was taken into a back garden, 3 double tier hutches surrounded by a cloud of flies, packed with guinea pigs sat to the side. I was shown your family, mother, aunts, sisters, brothers, uncles, father, cousins and who knows what else, adults to newborns.. I was shown another little lethal she was keeping because he had stopped growing, all crowded together in dirty hutches, barely any hay, one bowl for the entire 20+ pigs in each hutch. I have always kicked myself for not trying harder to convince her to let me take him too.. but you both awaited me in a little box and I wanted to get you away from there ASAP. We transfered you into the carrier I brought along and whisked you back to the car.
You were both good as gold on the way home, eating your hay and sleeping. Once home I checked you both over and initially you seemed to have faired better than your brother, escaping the bite wounds and you weren't quite as emaciated.
You were brave, and loud, and fierce
making checking your teeth a nightmare! Some things never change..
I remember sitting by your cage, completely overwhelmed but how much I already loved you both and wanted to protect you. I have never been a particularly maternal person but that first few weeks were probably the closest I've ever felt to it, you were both so helpless and reliant on my help, while at the same time being completely oblivious to the precariousness of your health and tried to be independent.
You grew quickly, into a chunky, happy boy, you still seemed to be the healthier of the pair, happily accompanying Silver to his appointments and extra dental appointments. You fought bravely against the dental burr, probably giving our vet more grey hairs than he wanted, given that he called you a shark
You were the livelier of the pair, much to your brothers annoyance when, while he wanted to nap, you would boistrously charge around the cage, squealing, snorting and jumping around, using Silver as a hurdle!
You quickly learned the vibration of my footsteps, and my smell, whenever I would come in the room and would stand at the bars screaming loudly for food, or a fuss. Granted you sometimes didn't get the right side of the cage.. loudly shouting into the curtains behind the cage rather than into the room, but you still managed to make your point quite well. You trained me to know I was absolutely not allowed to go to bed, no matter how quietly I tried to sneak in due to illness or tiredness, without first filling your bowl with critical care, oats or wheatbran
If you were asleep.. you could always be found squeezed as closely to your brother as possible, never apart in the entire 3.5 years you had together. You came as a pair, always.
This year you began showing signs of problems, nothing obvious.. something only a mother would notice. A little quieter here and there, not quite as much bounce. Bloodwork (which was fun to get!) showed you had developed an infection somewhere and you were given antibiotics which thankfully perked you up. Unfortunately you never seemed to return to 100%, soft poops, less energy, increased thirst.. there was always something but nothing ever concrete to go off.
But you bimbled on happily, taking your "treats" (gabapentin and metacam) twice daily not causing a fuss, until Sunday and you appeared limp, luckily with extra pain meds, bio lapis and emeprid you turned around and seemed to be improving..until you weren't. You didn't even want your soaked pellets or fresh grass anymore and you passed gently, with Silver beside you earlier today. I know you probably won't have gone very far, you never did go too far from Silver, but I promise to look after him for you.
Thankyou for all the laughs, all the lovebites and sore fingers because you just had to chew everything, all the time
the house is incredibly quiet without your raucous squealing making sure you hadn't missed a snack.
Sleep well, little Forrest, it's been an honour to care for you, I dont have the words to sum up how missed you are going to be, by an awful lot of people.
Usually when looking for adoptable piggies I search within a 50 mile radius of where I am. For some reason, this time, I decided to remove the filter and just see who was looking for a home, nationwide. I saw an advert for two little white babies, they looked suspiciously like lethals so when I read the description and it said that they walked in circles and were deaf blind.. I knew I had to go and bring you home.
And so began the journey from Worcestershire, down to Surrey..I think it took us about 6 hours there and back, with a couple of stops along the way.
I arrived and was taken into a back garden, 3 double tier hutches surrounded by a cloud of flies, packed with guinea pigs sat to the side. I was shown your family, mother, aunts, sisters, brothers, uncles, father, cousins and who knows what else, adults to newborns.. I was shown another little lethal she was keeping because he had stopped growing, all crowded together in dirty hutches, barely any hay, one bowl for the entire 20+ pigs in each hutch. I have always kicked myself for not trying harder to convince her to let me take him too.. but you both awaited me in a little box and I wanted to get you away from there ASAP. We transfered you into the carrier I brought along and whisked you back to the car.
You were both good as gold on the way home, eating your hay and sleeping. Once home I checked you both over and initially you seemed to have faired better than your brother, escaping the bite wounds and you weren't quite as emaciated.
You were brave, and loud, and fierce
making checking your teeth a nightmare! Some things never change.. I remember sitting by your cage, completely overwhelmed but how much I already loved you both and wanted to protect you. I have never been a particularly maternal person but that first few weeks were probably the closest I've ever felt to it, you were both so helpless and reliant on my help, while at the same time being completely oblivious to the precariousness of your health and tried to be independent.
You grew quickly, into a chunky, happy boy, you still seemed to be the healthier of the pair, happily accompanying Silver to his appointments and extra dental appointments. You fought bravely against the dental burr, probably giving our vet more grey hairs than he wanted, given that he called you a shark
You were the livelier of the pair, much to your brothers annoyance when, while he wanted to nap, you would boistrously charge around the cage, squealing, snorting and jumping around, using Silver as a hurdle!
You quickly learned the vibration of my footsteps, and my smell, whenever I would come in the room and would stand at the bars screaming loudly for food, or a fuss. Granted you sometimes didn't get the right side of the cage.. loudly shouting into the curtains behind the cage rather than into the room, but you still managed to make your point quite well. You trained me to know I was absolutely not allowed to go to bed, no matter how quietly I tried to sneak in due to illness or tiredness, without first filling your bowl with critical care, oats or wheatbran
If you were asleep.. you could always be found squeezed as closely to your brother as possible, never apart in the entire 3.5 years you had together. You came as a pair, always.
This year you began showing signs of problems, nothing obvious.. something only a mother would notice. A little quieter here and there, not quite as much bounce. Bloodwork (which was fun to get!) showed you had developed an infection somewhere and you were given antibiotics which thankfully perked you up. Unfortunately you never seemed to return to 100%, soft poops, less energy, increased thirst.. there was always something but nothing ever concrete to go off.
But you bimbled on happily, taking your "treats" (gabapentin and metacam) twice daily not causing a fuss, until Sunday and you appeared limp, luckily with extra pain meds, bio lapis and emeprid you turned around and seemed to be improving..until you weren't. You didn't even want your soaked pellets or fresh grass anymore and you passed gently, with Silver beside you earlier today. I know you probably won't have gone very far, you never did go too far from Silver, but I promise to look after him for you.
Thankyou for all the laughs, all the lovebites and sore fingers because you just had to chew everything, all the time
the house is incredibly quiet without your raucous squealing making sure you hadn't missed a snack. Sleep well, little Forrest, it's been an honour to care for you, I dont have the words to sum up how missed you are going to be, by an awful lot of people.
You gave him a lovely life.
we all love you sweetheart 
Him and Silver were very lucky to find a home with you 
