Showing posts with label Mikey's Winky girls. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mikey's Winky girls. Show all posts

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Guiny joined her friends Lotje, Suus and Tea

Below you will find my (Mieke's) memories of Guiny and Suus.
Eventhough Suus was not a SCAMPS yet i would like to remember her as well,
she did become a LAPS piggie though!

"Hi fellow guinea pig lovers,

It is with a very sad heart that i have to let you know, my oldy Guiny and my sister Janneke's Suus went over the bridge.

I am currently pig sitting Janneke's piggies. We noticed that Suus was a bit quiet and did not eat her chicory very well. On saturday evening the 24th of october, I was going to clean the cages, and we noticed Suus was weak.
She was breathing heavily and did not respond very much to her surroundings.

We thought it might be gas so gave her some medicine for that and we tried to syringe feed her some Critical care. She might have swallowed some of the first CC, but did not do that for the
second feeding. So all signs went red for us, having experienced this with Toby. Though she
did not seem in such a bad condition, as when Toby died.
I called the vet (they have an evening an weekend emergency phone number),
and had to convince the vet to let us come over. The vet said I did a good thing by bringing Suus to her. She took her in and Suus stayed overnight.
The vet heard fluids on her lungs, which according to her could be either lung troubles or heart problems. They gave Suus some antibiotics and something to get rid of the fluids, Suus was having trouble breathing and was put in an oxygen pen. Unfortunately she did not make it to the next morning. I felt very bad, but was told by vet this was the best I could have done for Suus.

I have known Suus since she was a little girl, she has lived together with my girls Lotje and Guiny. So it felt and still feels like losing one of my own.

Then 2 days later, on the 27th of October, Guiny left us for the bridge. I have to say she was already 5,5 years old, and she was slowly loosing weight. But until half an hour before she died she was still eating and active and seemed happy. My boyfriend Erwin went to give all the piggies, I had 6 then: My Guiny, Dunya, Woopy and Chico, and Janneke's Igor and Yaya, their evening veggies.He noticed at once though Guiny came to get her carrot, that something was
wrong. She had taken 2 bites and then left the carrot. She was breathing heavily, and Erwin picked her up from the cage. We knew at once it was bad, having seen Suus get worse on saturday.
I held her in my arms and told her it was okay to go. We told her we loved her, and I told her about the rainbow bridge. I told her to say hi to Lotje, and tell Suus that we and Janneke miss her. and to say hi to all the other piggies. I also told her she would hear perfectly again when she was there (she was hard hearing). And told her Peter and Debbie would be there to take care of her if she needed it. I also told her to teach the other piggies over the bridge her smart tricks, she was the one who knew how to open a door, when it was slightly open. She once sat next to Lotje who was eating a carrot and started gnawing the carrot, right next to where Lotje was gnawing. She eventually ran away with the biggest piece of the carrot she had munched
her way through. She was gone within half an hour...
I still feel sad about my precious lady Guinyvere leaving us, but she had a good and pretty long life with me and later with me and Erwin. Since she was gradually loosing weight this did not come totally unexpected. And I feel, eventhough i did not like loosing her, this was the best way to part with my precious girl. She knew she was loved, and we had a chance to tell her that and tried to comfort her and tell her it was okay...

We have buried them in my mom's garden last sunday. They are buried together, and near to where Lotje was buried.

I'm sure the girls, will be partners in crime over the bridge. I remember the one time when i was going to eat a sandwich in the living room. The girls were having floortime, and I had to get something, so i put my sandwiches on the mattress that was on the floor. When I did that I even thought 'I should not do this, but hey I'll be back really fast'. When I came back Suus and Guiny had stolen my sandwich, and were hiding under a chair, munching on my sandwich...
I will miss you girls!!

Mikey,
and the remaining Winky girls: Dunya and Woopy
my valentine: Chico
And Janneke's piggies currently staying over: Yaya and Igor."

And my sister Janneke's memories of Guiny and Suus:
"Hi Gpdders,

My sister wrote a beautiful tribute yesterday, so I guess I finally have to face the music and write my tribute to 2 of my favorite pigs ever. They do deserve that.. I've been putting it off because not writing it down makes it feel less real (I'm sort of on a holiday and Yaya and Igor are still at mieke's house, so there's no empty space in a cage..)

Guiny..
When mieke decided to go to the czech republic, I agreed to look after Guiny and Lotje for 6 months. I never had a guinea pig addiction before, but oh boy, did these 2 girls get me addicted. I soon noticed guiny was quite clever and I really enjoyed (as did she) ' inventing' new puzzles and games for her (many of the games in Igor's PLAY's were invented for guiny; http://www.guinygirlz.nl and yes.. that adress wat named after her; just like my own gmailadress). Guiny also really enjoyed it when I was belly dancing (she would put up her paws against the edge of the cage and watch me with a smile), I think she thought that it was my way of popcorning and running in circles. The funny thing was that she liked shakira's music the best. I never knew pigs had musical preferences until then. What I loved most about her was the big smile she could give me when she saw me (even when mieke and the pigs moved to erwin's house she still remembered me). I know she was not my pig but she sure felt like it.

Suus..
When guiny and lotje went back to mieke after her stay in the czech republic (she returned shortly afterwards with her pigs) I felt really lonely without guiny and lotje. I was going through a rough time back then, having broken up with a rather abusive boyfriend a few months before and I was sometimes so scared out of my brains when I heard sounds or whatever (before that I just thought, aaw.. that's just guiny or lotje). Then one day a girl I knew through my ex (and had become a friend) phoned me and told me she had a pig for me. The little pig had siblings, but according to my friend, this pig was so sweet, that she really wanted me to have her because she thought were were meant to be together (suss = german for sweet; the friend was german; i'm dutch).

I think she was right. Suus was my girl all the way. More than any of my pigs ever were. In the beginning we were both so scared that we bonded very strongly. Suus wasnt a cuddle pig, but when I felt bad she would wheek until I would pick her up and she would put her nose firmly in my neck and lick the tears away. Suus was always a very active, lively, vocal pig and lots of fun. Maybe not cuddly, but she did enjoy human interaction a lot. She was never sick. I would always call her 'hollands glory' which is an expression in dutch to say that someone's very wholesome/healthy. I never expected her to leave so soon, although i know she is 4 years old. She was just always so healthy. I still cannot believe that she is gone, and to be honest, I dont feel like that either (which is weird because when Jan the Boar died I cried my eyes out) I guess that blow will come when I have Yaya and Igor back with me... I don't know... I lost a little, yet significant part of me, she would always comfort me, but she is not there anymore..

Janneke"

Thursday, April 16, 2009

Guiny is now officially a SCAMPS!


Part of the reason for me to start this website (blog) is that my Guiny would hopefully turn five in not to long a time.
Well, she made it there, healthy as she is :D

My account on Guiny reaching SCAMPS age was posted to the GPDD on 26 March 2009:
I'm very happy to announce that Guiny has reached the respectable age of 5 years old!!
I remember getting her years ago in April 2004, My mother bought her for me, to join my other little girl (who I had from my mothers boyfriend after my boar Winky died on the 5th of March that year) Lotje. She had bought her, because they thought she was so pretty, and because she suspected i'd wanted a companion for Lotje. And they were right, eventhough Guiny was 'just' a smoothhaired piggie (I got a weak spot for rexes and teddies), she was and still is gorgeous.
And that lovely smile of hers makes her even more amiable. (see her as Pet of the day: http://petoftheday.com/archive/2008/October/12.html )

At first she was the little one, being overpowered by Lotje. Lotje even once stuck her nose under Guiny's tummy and threw her of my bed...
But they soon got attached to each other, and when one was not around the other would go looking for her. Guiny soon become boss, and with that she became the heaviest. But eventhough Lotje was not boss, she would make sure nothing would happen to her (lotje) that she did not like.

Whereas Lotje seemed to be a simple soul, and would just about do anything to get food. Guiny turned out to be smart piggie. We first noticed that when we gave the girls one carrot. Lotje started eating it on one end, and Guiny sat next to her as close as possible, and gnawed through the carrot, and ran away with that big piece!! She would also come for a piece of cucumber, run to her house, and come back again for another piece!
She understands how a door works, She seems to look at a door evaluating what to do, and they will take the appropriate action to open a door that is open a bit.

Guiny likes special foods, she likes sandwiches and toast (the other eat it because she does), and all kinds of toast. I currently have an improved kind of pellets for the girls and Science selective. All piggies love science, but Guiny apparently prefers the improved pellets. Eventhough all the piggies at the shelter are not huge fans and the guy at the pet shop told me the retailer said it was not liked by most piggies!

Later on when I lived with my sister Janneke, Suus was added. Guiny and Suus needed some time to get adjusted to each other, whereas Lotje turned out to be a natural mother (even more for Janneke's second addition Yaya).
Guiny and Suus, would roam the living room together and stole my sandwich from the matress in the living room once.
She also did that once when she was on the table with my sandwich, she looked so proud of herself.
Suus and Guiny once got in a real fight, from which Guiny ended up with a big scar on her nose (which healed perfectly)...
Since they have not been living together for such a long time, they cannot have floortime together anymore, but still like to chat through the bars when together.
Jan the boar, loved Guiny. Guiny would actually treat him like crap, but for some reason he stil adored her!
I guess Igor never really got anything to do with Guiny, i don't think we could put them together without them having a fight...
Getting Guiny and Dunya to get along was also pretty hard. I remember Dunya wanting to be with the girls, but whenever I put them in the run together, Guiny would 'attack', chattering and having puffs of white Dunya hair in her mouth! Luckily they got along after a while.
When Lotje died (almost a year ago now), Guiny was very upset and Guiny and Dunya get more attached to each other, though real hierarchy/roles was/were hard to determine...
When we added Woopy that changed the group dynamics for the better. Woopy had little trouble getting accepted. Guiny did chatter at Woopy and tried to bite her once, so we put Guiny in a separate cage (from which she could see Dunya and Woopy) for one night. After that she never been unkind to Woopy again. To me that proves, Guiny understood why I put her in the cage alone... She is a smart piggy!
Here's a link of them all playing in our kitchen: http://picasaweb.google.com/pandameisje/PettingZooGuinyDunyaWoopyChicoTobySuusYayaIgor?feat=directlink

Guiny used to be a very scared piggy, from that she turned into this independant bossy piggy who did not like to be cuddled.
It seems that with the years she has gotten softer/sweeter and even loves to cuddle now! She has also lost some weight, and we expect she is not the alpha piggy anymore. But she still seem to be a healthy piggy, her biggest problems were ovarian cysts and a few months ago the discovery of some lumps on her tummy.
Luckily the Ovarian cysts ceased to bother her, and the lumps were just fatty lumps!

I will add Guiny to the SCAMPS site when I have the time, If anyone else likes to add their SCAMPS piggies of 5 years and older (living or deceased) to the site, let me know.
Please send me an email about your piggy and if you have it attach a pigture! See the site at: http://scamps-gpdd.blogspot.com/
(so if you'd like to have Midnight added let me know! I could post a pigture of him as well)

Well I guess this is long enough. Guiny is my first piggy to have reached the magical age of five. I hope she will stay around a lot longer...
and of course I hope my other piggies reach this age as well!

Best wishes to you all, and have an extra carrot, all the piggies over the world!
Slave Mikey
the Winky girls:
the birthday girl: Guiny
Dunya and Woopy
and my valentines: Chico (nearing LAPS weight!) and Toby


Master to:
Mikey
Born on: March 2004