Wiebke's Tribe: Sows and the City Boars

Truffolo said:
She is magnificent!
Click to expand...

She's quite a madam, but a very pretty madam! ❤️

Dryw is a rescue-born @The Potteries Guinea Pig Rescue baby from their Manchester intake of badly neglected sows. Her fosterer ( then forum member) wanted me to keep her baby name Wren. Dryw's litter brother sadly died at just 1 year of age. He had stayed on with the fosterer. So seeing her to celebrate this age was never a given.
She is a cutie but looks never tell the whole story.
@VickiA
 
Gosh! It really doesn’t seem that long ago since she arrived with you! Such a pretty girl 🥰
 
RIP Heilin
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I didn't want take away from Dryw's very special landmark birthday but yesterday started with a sad shock when I found Heilin dead in the cage not even two hours after she came out for her good morning pellets. She must have suffered an unexpected massive heart attack not long after, going by where and how she was lying.

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In May 2019, I adopted Heilin 'Generous' as a 3 months old baby lookalike to my recently deceased Heini 'Lively' after her companion Llawen could just not cope with being on her own but unable to settle with any available Tribe piggies. In the end I switched Llawen with her feuding sister Hapus, who took an immediate liking to the skittish youngster. It was the start to a very close and enduring friendship. The two sows continued to enjoy playing tag with each other until close to Hapus' death shortly before her 7th birthday in March 2023.

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Hapus and Heilin bonded with newly widowed Tudur in June 2022 and were joined by widowed Carys and Tegeirian in October of that year. Heilin returned to them after spending Hapus's last weeks just with her.

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After Tudur's unexpected death from a runaway thyroid cancer at the start of this year, Heilin and Carys bonded with Brangwyn, Beti and Begw, soon joined by Esme s well. When a bonding with widowed Melangell failed, Heilin and Esme joined her as a trio.
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Heilin always remained a very skittish piggy who didn't like being handled as well but she was also a very friendly and caring companion. She touched so many of the Tribe piggies in the 5 years here.
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I have laid her to rest this morning in the same burial planter with Hapus, Tegeirian and Tudur with a bouquet of lavender, honeysuckle and yellow buddleia for her loving side and marjoram, meadow cranesbill and perennial wallflower for her skittish side.

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There are days when sorrow and joy are just a bit too closely intermingled...
 
Sorry for your loss. Heilin was a beautiful piggy and lived a wonderful life with you and her tribe friends. Sleep tight Heilin x
 
I am so sorry for your sudden loss and send some hugs . It must have been such a shock for you, but a quick passing for her . She had the best life when she came to you and will be with her rb friends now. The burial flowers are a beautiful tribute to her
Sleep well little piggy 🌈
 
I'm so very sorry, so thoughtful of you to wait and allow Dryw's special day to be celebrated I'm sure Heilin was there too sending birthday wheeks and wishes and is popcorning happily over that Rainbow Bridge with all the other much loved friends she has made. Take care of yourself.
Stay happy Heilin 🌈
 
So sorry for your loss of Heilin, Wiebke. Sending lots of love ❤️
 
I'm sorry you lost your special little lady. Sleep well and popcorn high over the rainbow bridge Heilin ❤️🌈
 
Really sorry to hear this, she sounded like a lovely and important friend to her various pals and a very sweet girl who I’m sure will always be fondly remembered. Those choices seem like lovely and very fitting flowers to mark her life and her personality, and how lovely to lay her to rest in peace with such beauty and colour, just like her. Take care.
 
Such a lovely tribute for Heilin,
So very sorry for your loss.
Be gentle with yourself as you grieve your beautiful girl.
Hugs 🤗
 
RIP Maelona
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It is totally heartbreaking to write of a second, even more unforeseeable loss not even 48 hours after Heilin. I'd just finished Heilin's tribute when I found Maelona very apathetic, unable to eat, with laboured diaphragmic breathing and despite a warm room rather cold to the touch - despite tucking into her afternoon serving of grass, Maelona's body was closing down, whether it was from sudden acute heart failure or something else causing th heart to fail. She passed away in th early hourd of this morning, just days after her third birthday. Lona was a seemingly healthy, chunky sow in the prime of her life.

1722717165035.jpegI adopted her mother Manon 'Queen' and her rescue-born daughter Maelona 'Princess' via TEAS as companions for my recently widowed TEAS adoptee Macsen ('the Greatest'; Welsh name for the last Roman emperor on British soil, Maximus Magnus). It took two tries to allow Manon to settle down enough next to Macsen to bond Manon, Maelona and another young TEAS sow, Melangell (who soon after bonded with Brathlys and eventually ended up with Heilin) but it did work.

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Considering the physical strain and the emotional damage on Manon and through her on young Lona, giving them a stable, rather uneventful but happy life with their little family was they needed most. Lona was a shy and quiet sow who loved her food and who liked being wooed by the various Cornish lookalike boars through the bars. I had hoped that Maelona could at some point become Brangwyn's wife since she wasn't dominant but friendly.

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Her send-off bouquet consists of salmon rose and pelargonium blooms, yellow cinquefoil and variegated euonymus leaves as well as white marjoram blooms to sympbolise her sweetness and the steady love that have been present throughout her life.
Manon and Macsen are currently mourning her their baby and are rather withdrawn. I am sure that Heilin has been welcoming Lona at the Bridge; they are resting right next to each other.
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I am so very sorry that you have lost beautiful Maelona so soon after Heilin 😞 I can’t imagine what you are going through right now 😞

(((Hugs))) I am thinking of you

Sleep tight Maelona, you will be missed xx
 
Big hugs Wiebke. I’m very sorry you’re going through another loss so soon after Heilin. Bless your heart - Maelona sounded like such a sweetheart. ❤️
 
I’m so sad to hear of the loss of Heilin and Maelona - your tributes to these lovely piggies were so beautiful
They lived their best lives with you and your family and the piggy family.
Popcorn freely at RB sweet Heilin and Maelona
 
I am so sorry that you lost another of your precious piggies so soon 😞. Must be heartbreaking. Take care of yourself 🫂.

RIP little Maelona 🌈
 
I'm so sorry to read that you have lost both Heilin and Maelona unexpectedly and close together, sending hugs :hug: :hug:
I hope your piggies and you are finding things easier now the weather has cooled down a bit.xx
 
After all the sadness, there is also some happiness with several more known birthdays this month.

A very, very happy 6th birthday to my sweet Carys 'Love'!
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Since Carys (with her shorter summer coat) has been rather arthritic for over a year now and has become increasingly frail over the last few months, I had some serious concerns whether she would be able to make it through the summer and especially any weather extremes to celebrate her birthday. So I am extra grateful that she has made it.

I adopted rescue-born Carys as a baby companion for my gentle mainly black sheltie Gethin 'Dusky' and his remaining 7 1/2 years old wife Ffwlbri in September 2018. Friendly, sociable Carys has had a quite few sudden changes due to several unexpected deaths of her later companions (Cai, Tegeirian, Tudur and very recently recently Heilin) but Brangwyn, Beti and equally frail similaly aged Begw will hopefully see her safely out.



Happy 3rd birthday to Lleian 'Smew' and Llinos 'Linnet'!
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Rescue-born just 5 days apart (8th and 13th August) to a closely bonded pair of (most likely) sisters who each of them respectively is a lookalike of, both cousins have stopped growing at 6 months of age and only top the 600g mark on their best days. They are pair of little firecrackers and still have the odd sibling squabble. Boredom is not an option.

Llinos (with the red face) is very much Dryw's sidekick while Lleian (the one with the white nose) is my pocket rocket who loves zooming around the cage but will not do it in the roaming area. Handling and grooming them is like trying to keep hold of mercury.
For photoshoots you need ideally three hands, one for feeding treats, one for snapping away and a third hand to try and catch escapees before they jump off the chair... Sitting still and posing won't happen! :D

Because of their size and compromised background, I cherish every day with them and am tickled with every year longer they are still here.
 
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