Freela
Senior Guinea Pig
I really never imagined I would be writing this this week, but we sadly and very suddenly lost Tomie on Halloween morning. She was 3.5 years old. She had an underlying thyroid condition that we were treating and were thankful that she was finally starting to gain some weight... on Saturday night I noticed her breathing was labored and got her to the vet first thing Sunday morning. She started on antibiotics and syringe feeding because her appetite was low, but within 24 hours her breathing had stabilized and I really thought we were through the worst. On Thursday morning, my husband saw her around 6 a.m. and she seemed fine... one of my kids gave them hay shortly thereafter and again, she seemed fine. A couple hours later I found her collapsed and very weak... she passed away soon afterwards. It was so abrupt and unexpected and I'm still in shock. All I can think is that her health must have been more precarious than we knew based on her underlying endocrine issues and even though she looked much better, the acute illness was just too much for her heart or lungs or body generally to recover from.
There's so much I can say about Tomie... she was always high strung, she liked nibbling people (even though we didn't always like being nibbled.) She learned to open the cage door and would just let herself and Misa out so we had to start pinning the door closed to keep her contained! She loved snacks... she always attacked the water bottle voraciously... she loved being outside eating the grass. She had some abyssinian or crested pig blood and had a single little crest that was off-center on her head, over above one eye. We always joked that she looked to the side on the guinea pig conveyer belt when she was being made and ended up with the crest in the wrong place as a result. She was always a lot meeker than her companions- Leela was often quite bossy, although Tomie always stuck to her like glue, and Misa was boisterous and would sometimes run right over her. But she always loved cuddling up next to her companions and sitting with the people. She had ears that half flopped and half stuck up and looked like a little hippo with her broad black nose. She had brown feet on one side and black feet on one side and it looked funny seeing her mismatched feet when she would run. She always wanted the food that other pigs were eating, even when she had the exact same thing. She was one of my daughter's favorites and I know my daughter will miss her badly. We all will. I'm so sorry she didn't get to grow old... it's been a long time since we had a piggie who died young. But I know that she piggies don't understand that they are meant to live a certain number of years. They just want happy days. And she had a lot of happy days. We got her as a tiny baby, she was loved every day of her life, and we will always remember her. RIP baby hippo... I hope you're eating clover with Leela right now, I know she will be so happy to see you at Rainbow Bridge. We miss you and love you always, sweetheart. Popcorn free and no more meds or vet visits for you. Rest easy and go with our love.
There's so much I can say about Tomie... she was always high strung, she liked nibbling people (even though we didn't always like being nibbled.) She learned to open the cage door and would just let herself and Misa out so we had to start pinning the door closed to keep her contained! She loved snacks... she always attacked the water bottle voraciously... she loved being outside eating the grass. She had some abyssinian or crested pig blood and had a single little crest that was off-center on her head, over above one eye. We always joked that she looked to the side on the guinea pig conveyer belt when she was being made and ended up with the crest in the wrong place as a result. She was always a lot meeker than her companions- Leela was often quite bossy, although Tomie always stuck to her like glue, and Misa was boisterous and would sometimes run right over her. But she always loved cuddling up next to her companions and sitting with the people. She had ears that half flopped and half stuck up and looked like a little hippo with her broad black nose. She had brown feet on one side and black feet on one side and it looked funny seeing her mismatched feet when she would run. She always wanted the food that other pigs were eating, even when she had the exact same thing. She was one of my daughter's favorites and I know my daughter will miss her badly. We all will. I'm so sorry she didn't get to grow old... it's been a long time since we had a piggie who died young. But I know that she piggies don't understand that they are meant to live a certain number of years. They just want happy days. And she had a lot of happy days. We got her as a tiny baby, she was loved every day of her life, and we will always remember her. RIP baby hippo... I hope you're eating clover with Leela right now, I know she will be so happy to see you at Rainbow Bridge. We miss you and love you always, sweetheart. Popcorn free and no more meds or vet visits for you. Rest easy and go with our love.
(((hugs))) she’ll be missed
