Goodnight Bea, Mouse and Meep

[PiggyPack]

Well here it goes. As most of you will be aware, me and my boyfriend travelled up to Rutland House to see the incredible Dr Varga and Craig to say goodnight to our wonderful girls Bea (5.5), Mouse (5.5) and Meep (2.5) this afternoon. My parents, best friend and brother also came over to say goodbye as they were so popular and truly beautiful and unique pigs.

It’s been 3 months of a very very hard slog to say the least and we all fought so so hard. It’s been over a month now of syringe feeding 3x a day for three pigs and over 3 months of prolonged illness and their lives were 80% of the time having things shoved down their throat, which unfortunately didn’t seem to be working anymore. We really did try absolutely everything, it’s been Baytril, Sulfatrim, Zithromax, Marbocyl, Ronaxan, Bizolvon, Emeprid, Ventipulman Syrup, f10 Nebulising, Fibreplex, Poop Soup, Low Calcium diet and a Diuretic for Bea. They were on 4 or 5 meds until today.

I’ll never forget them for as long as I live and will certainly be a tough act to follow. They tought me so much and I feel a part of me is now gone, you couldn’t have a conversation without me mentioning them at some point.

Saying goodbye was hard, but bitter sweet, seeing them gently fall asleep on out laps, as Bea was already struggling and so weak she was out like a light, Mouse shortly followed her lifelong companion, but Meep being the 1200g teddy she was, right til the end lasted an extra 3 minutes more than her companions and licked my nose constantly, one final slow kiss right before she flopped over, it was perfect.

I think I described it best to Molly, it was as you envision death as a child, they just gently nodded off in their sleep. It was almost fairytale like. She made sure they all went together, never apart, without distress or pain, they were put first and weren’t just ‘some guinea pigs’.

I hope I meet them again some day. And making tribute pictures and giving them a huge feast was so much fun. I really did play a very good game with the terrible cards I was dealt.

Thank you all for all your support, I truly am forever grateful to this amazing community of selfless piggy lovers, you make the world that bit brighter.

If you all have a moment, please send a picture of your pigs with a treat from me to this thread! It’ll make my day :,)

 

[weepweeps]

Oh no. I’m so sorry. How heart breaking for you. I have tears in my eyes. You really did try your very best. Sometimes the call to the bridge is just too strong. You will definitely be reunited with them one day.

Here’s a picture of my rainbow piggy Percy. He was such a gentle piggy. I hope he meets your girls over there.



Here’s Pepper and Pebble with their treats

 

[Wiebke]

BIG HUGS

I am so sad that nothing worked for your precious girls; you couldn't have done any more or taken them any further.
It is bitter but it is also a blessing to have such a perfect goodbye and a peaceful journey all together.

Take your time to grieve and to adjust to their physical absence, which will be the harder bit. Your girls will always remain with you in your heart and in your thoughts and in the precious memories you can warm your soul's hands on when it is all dark and cold around you.


Since you have been asking, here are some treasured pictures from me giving my still most special of all piggies out of the around 90 that have come into my life one last perfect afternoon romp through her beloved garden with a snack of her favourite, fresh grass - allowing well-named Minx to do what she loved best before setting her off on her own journey to the Bridge when it became clear that the damage to her bladder after two extremely scratchy stones was just too great.
Minx's large speaking eyes looking straight at me captured me from the shop cage and were the reason I why restarted with guinea pigs again after my marriage and emigration to the UK.






The memory of those magical, timeless few hours on a warm and sunny autumn afternoon will always remain with me as will the perfect goodbye with your girls. It didn't take away from the actual grieving process which took me much harder than I could ever imagine but they have contributed to eventually making peace with my far too early loss.
Here is a little tribute I have written for my most special of all pre-forum piggies on the 10th anniversary of her passing: Minx: It Is 10 Years Today...

I hope that my own experience can help you.

 

[Merab]

I was privileged to meet your beautiful girls, albeit briefly, and I know how much they were loved and you couldn’t have done any more for them.
Be gentle with yourself as you grieve and hold on to the happy memories.

 

[Bill & Ted]

I’m so sorry you had to say farewell to your beautiful Mouse, Bea and Meep You did everything you could have done and they will have known just how much you all cared and loved them. Take care as you grieve x

Popcorn high little friends

Here are my rainbow boys Bill and Ted enjoying their 4th Birthday tea

 

[PiggyPack]

Here’s a nice tribute I made for them. I hope it doesn’t seem too odd me keeping their fur, but it’s nice to have part of them with my physically forever

 

[piggieminder]

I am so sorry you had to say goodbye.

Caspy.

 

[Bill & Ted]

Here’s a nice tribute I made for them. I hope it doesn’t seem too odd me keeping their fur, but it’s nice to have part of them with my physically forever

Not odd at all, it’s a lovely tribute to them x

 

[VickiA]

I’m so sorry that you had to say goodbye to your lovely piggies. Your tribute is beautiful. Huge hugs to you.

 

[eileen]

I'm so sorry for your loss.it must be very hard.I

 

[piggl]

Lovely girls. I hope they have all the veg and grass they could hope for over the bridge

I also have a decoration of my boys feet. One of them alive, one of them gone.
I only looked into piggie keepsakes with my Digby, and I am forever grateful I did.

 

[Qualcast&Flymo]

I am so sorry you had to say goodbye to your lovely girls. Popcorn free, Mouse, Meep, and Bea
Sending hugs

I don't really have many good photos of my past piggies, or any keepsakes sadly. My best picture is this one that I took for the forum Advent calendar in 2017, of my lovely old boar Zebedee (the one at the front in my avatar).

I nursed Zebedee for 3 months, several meds a day and syringe food, before his little body had had enough and even his huge will to live couldn't fight any more. I still think of him often. This photo is in a Christmas bauble courtesy of the forum at the Potteries' Christmas Fair 2017, and it hangs in the kitchen where I can see it every day

 

[PiggyPack]

This morning is a bit harder than I thought it would be as my body has woken me up as I would to nurse them. And its so bizarre that I don’t have to, it still feels like they’re in their hutch downstairs waiting for me. The nebuliser box is looking very empty and all their meds are gone.

Looking back at photos and videos is painful but beautiful at the same time, one of my favourite things about owning guinea pigs for me, though it may be different for you guys, is when I look at pictures of them, I can feel the sensation of brushing their coat and the indevidual textures of their fur, all the way to the guinea pigs I had when I was 5, I still feel them with me.

Music always gets me with death, I’m always completely stoic the whole funeral until the last song, I feel it just encapsulate’s a lost one’s esscence without words or images, each pig had a special song, Meep’s was Linger by the Cranberries, and it is so special to think back to her last moments as she was still licking my face about 5 minutes after the other two had drifted off, even when she went limp, I would hold her to my nose and this tiny pink tongue would still keep going. She truly did ‘Let it Linger’ right until the very end and I have never felt love like that before.

They were all so full of love and joy, constantly kissing and loving eachother and just enjoying eachother’s compqny even in their last few days, I’m glad Molly’s expertise and compassion allowed them to leave at the same time, with no pain, no confusion and no fear, I’ve said it before but it truly was perfect.

I’m a fine art student so today I’m going to be painting a picture of Mouse I started, I’ll be doing each pig and I’ll let you know how it goes.

Thank you all again for your support and the beautiful photos of your past pigs, especially the ones like Zebedee and Minx who’s stories made me feel like I wasn’t alone in their illness and neither were they. I hope you don’t mind me using this thread as a little diary almost, it really helps.

 

[PiggyPack]

P.S I’d love to give Molly and Craig some presents when I go to pick up their ashes, have you any ideas what I could get.

My idea for Craig is a cool spider or reptile ring, as he’s a very decked out alternative guy so I think he would like that.

I thought possibly and orchid or some jewellery for Molly? As well as a card with pictures of them on, although I wouldn’t shut up about how amazing I thought she was to her, I just desperately want to show my gratitude and that she really does make a difference, even in the most negative of times, as I know vets go through a lot.

 

[PiggyPack]

I have been extra hard on myself with Meep’s death, as she was only 2 1/2 and that’s a fairly short life for a guinea pig as you’ll know, but thinking about all the time I have known them took me right back to seeing the picture of her as a tiny pup right on the Facebook of the pet shop. I remember the day like it was yesterday, me and my dad got up at the crack of dawn, and were the first ones there before the doors even opened and I saw her and got her.

But the thing that helps me the most, is even though I don’t encourage shopping for pets (I didn’t know about bonding schemes and wanted to get Bea and Mouse another companion asap after Pablo passed) and will always adopt for now on, a family of four with two children, one a toddler and one about 7 came in after us and bought a pig and I think that even though Meep’s life was fairly short it was a happy one, all my research in to guinea care and enrichment, I made sure she had a wonderful happy life with loving companions even though it was small, if that family had gotten her (the parents may have been excellent guinea owners I’m not sure of course) she may have lived for years more, but she may not have been cared for correctly or been happy and would likely have lived alone.

Moving foreword, I will be taking a page out of their book, their lives revolved around being kind to themselves eating their most beloved veggies and food, kissing and loving their most treasured loved ones and always being kind, happy and loving even in the darkest of times, and if I embody their spirit, I feel as though I am honouring them forever.

 

[lottie guineapigqueen]

So sorry to hear this; by the sound of it they were well-loved and cared for piggies. Just an idea, this is what I did for my boys, Sausage and Chips; I buried their ashes together (as they were brothers), but buried them in a nice pot, so that when we eventually move house (we rent our current house), we can have them with us. We planted some parsley above them, a favourite snack, but also so that the boys can share treats with my current piggies and future piggies to come! I got a beautiful stone piggy memorial from my Nan for Christmas a couple of years ago, two months after Sausage died, but when Chips passed too, we decided they should be buried together with the statue to represent both of them. x

 

[PiggyPack]

So sorry to hear this; by the sound of it they were well-loved and cared for piggies. Just an idea, this is what I did for my boys, Sausage and Chips; I buried their ashes together (as they were brothers), but buried them in a nice pot, so that when we eventually move house (we rent our current house), we can have them with us. We planted some parsley above them, a favourite snack, but also so that the boys can share treats with my current piggies and future piggies to come! I got a beautiful stone piggy memorial from my Nan for Christmas a couple of years ago, two months after Sausage died, but when Chips passed too, we decided they should be buried together with the statue to represent both of them. x View attachment 226981

Oh my gosh that is the most amazing idea, I will for sure do this when I move house and get a garden

 

[piggl]

You clearly have a very lovely heart.
I am sure Molly and Craig would be very pleased to receive such a thoughtful card, let alone a gift.

 

[piggieminder]

I think it's a lovely idea to give Molly and Craig a small gift. I know vets get attached to animals and feel concern for owners when the outcome is not as anyone would hope. I had a similar situation to you last year and the vet who put Caspy to sleep had tears in her eyes when she and I decided we could do no more for him.
I couldn't say yesterday when I posted Caspy's picture (I was to emotional), the reason I chose him out of all my present and past piggies was because he was PTS after a long fight with a respiratory infection that we couldn't win. I have found your story so touching knowing how you felt, the exhaustion, worry and now the feeling of being lost because your not rushing around medicating and feeding piggies. 4 out of my 5 did eventually get rid of the infection.
I hope you feel ready to be a piggy mum again soon, you are such a very good one. Your girls had a wonderful life with you.

 

[h_and_piggies]

Sorry for your losses. It sounds like Bea, Mouse and Meep had wonderful care and love right to the end and you couldn’t have done any more. Sleep tight Bea, Mouse and Meep x

 

[PiggyPack]

I think it's a lovely idea to give Molly and Craig a small gift. I know vets get attached to animals and feel concern for owners when the outcome is not as anyone would hope. I had a similar situation to you last year and the vet who put Caspy to sleep had tears in her eyes when she and I decided we could do no more for him.
I couldn't say yesterday when I posted Caspy's picture (I was to emotional), the reason I chose him out of all my present and past piggies was because he was PTS after a long fight with a respiratory infection that we couldn't win. I have found your story so touching knowing how you felt, the exhaustion, worry and now the feeling of being lost because your not rushing around medicating and feeding piggies. 4 out of my 5 did eventually get rid of the infection.
I hope you feel ready to be a piggy mum again soon, you are such a very good one. Your girls had a wonderful life with you.

Thank you so much and it’s so touching you shared your struggles with URI’s aswell, they truly are the worst and I’m glad so many recovered.

 

[Merab]

I think using this thread as a sort of diary is an excellent idea.
It’s what we’re here for - to enable each other to grieve amongst people who understand.