Gingerbread

Penny informed me that Dear Gingerbread has left us as well.
Unfortunately being a group for older piggies it also means we have a lot of Ageing SCAMPS leaving us. Below you can find Penny's memories of Gingerbread as posted on the GPDD 7 April 2010

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We are all very sad here at Piggyfriends as we have had to say farewell to our dear friend Gingerbread.

I was hoping against hope that she would be able to attend the forthcoming birthday party and also celebrate her own 7th. birthday soon on the 1st. May but it was not to be.

For the last week she has worried me in that she has slept more and more and eaten less and less. There was nothing physically wrong with her but the years finally caught up with her in the small hours of this morning and she drifted off peacefully to join her family at the Rainbow Bridge.

Some of you will know her story and it is in the archives somewhere but I will repeat a short version of it here for newer members and in tribute to a wonderful old lady. She was the senior Piggyfriend, this position now being taken by SCAMP Roscoe ( as far as I know ). Many Piggyfriends arrive here as adults and I never know their true age.

Gingerbread and her sister Mayflower were born here on May 1st. 2003. I collected them in utero with mother Ginger and her other baby daughters, Diamond and Peridot. This was a back to back pregnancy for a five year old sow who had lived wild in a garden and whose "owners" had not even known that she was pregnant either time. For a five year old to give birth for the first time unaided and alone outdoors in winter was a miracle in itself so when the new babes were born, I was not surprised to greet two tiny runts. They were so tiny and wobbly that I never expected them to survive, especially when poor Ginger had no milk for them. They took to being hand reared and thrived, Ginger caring for them in every other way, their older sisters mothering them too and the five of them lived together happily for many years.

Gingerbread was the last of the "Ginger Girls" so another Piggyfriends chapter has come to an end.

All of the family were lovely cuddle pigs, always willing to be held by a visitor.

After so many years it is hard to believe that Gingerbread has gone although I will see her every morning as her pigture is the wallpaper on my computer, chosen for her bright white coat over which the icons are readily visible. I won't change it.

I had started to compose a Disneyworld birthday story in which she reminisced about her long life along with Janet's Lily but when Lily passed away, I scrapped it. Maybe they will meet up at the Rainbow Bridge and have a chat there.

Right now, I don't feel up to writing a Birthday story but I cannot wallow in grief as there is a host of Piggyfriends here needing my attention. Grief is the price we pay for caring for these wonderful little treasures. Gingerbread is buried amongst the daffodils under the big old oak tree that gives them all shade when they go out on the lawn in the summer.

There are pigtures of Gingerbread and some of her family on the SCAMPS page. Scroll down about three quarters of the page.

Farewell lovely Gingerbread, gone to join your dear family at the Rainbow Bridge, where there will never be a shortage of grass and clover such as we had during the last long, dark winter.

Penny and the sad Piggyfriends.

Sapphire and Barley Piggyfriend

Here you can see Casanova, Sapphire and Lavender. Sapphire is the Dutch piggy in the middle.

Sapphire and Barley have both been Piggyfriends for most of their lives, having been rescued from a dark and dingy garage, where they were living with their three sons all in one dirty little hutch. Barley and Sapphire came home with me that day accompanied by one of their sons, Rye, who will soon be a SCAMP himself. The "owners" wanted to keep two of the family and I could not persuade them otherwise but luckily, after a few months I was asked if I could take them too. I was so pleased to be able to bring them home to be with the rest of their family.

This is Barley, he is also an undercover Agent.

Read more about agent Badger here

Welcome to Barley and Sapphire, you found yourselves a good forever home :D

Masters to: Penny
Born: around June 2005

Roscoe Piggyfriend

Roscoe Piggyfriend celebrated his fifth birthday in June 2009. He came to live at Piggyfriends in August of 2004 as a tiny piglet along with his litter sister, the late Daisy, whom many of you will remember as the LAPS President. Unlike Daisy, he has never attained LAPS status but is just as cuddly.

Here is a pigture of him enjoying some time in the garden and another of him with his best friend Shadow, who is helping him celebrate his birthday with a plate of favourite nibbles.

Diamond left us.. :'(

Please find below Penny's account on another of our members going to the bridge: Diamond! Our heart goes out to her and other members we have recently lost

"It is with great sadness that we have lowered the Piggyfriend flag to half mast in honour of our dear Diamond, who has left us for the Rainbow Bridge. She was the eldest of the Piggyfriends.

She came to us in 2003 as a tiny piglet along with her litter sister, Peridot and her mother Ginger, carrying Gingerbread and Mayflower in utero.

Diamond was a wonderful little piggy, who celebrated her sixth birthday in February and I am glad that she stayed with us long enough for her younger sister, Gingerbread's, sixth on the 1st. May this year.

She enjoyed a long and happy life as a Piggyfriend, never suffering from any illness except for developing slight arthritis during the last year. This was kept under control by Potter's Tabritis tablets, which she adored and which enabled her to continue to do a little pirouette every time the veggies came around. She never had a proper "wheek" but sang a little "hoo,hoo" song when the food was in sight and also when I came down in the morning. I would hear her before I could see her as the "Ginger Girls" pen is round the corner from the others.

On her last morning, she was very quiet and just wanted to sleep, cuddled up to her fluffy sister, Gingerbread. I knew that her time was near and gave her some painkiller, just in case, but I do not think that she needed it. I picked her some of her favourite sow thistles from the garden. She nibbled a few and seemed to say that she was packing up to leave and wanted to rest. I was watching her sleep when she just stopped breathing and left us. Gingerbread nuzzled her as if to say her goodbyes.

I wish that all departures could be so peaceful. I miss her dreadfully, as I do all of the Piggyfriends past. With all the love and joy that piggies give us, it is impossibly sad when they leave.

There are some pigtures of her on the SCAMPS page, about half way down.

http://scamps-gpdd.blogspot.com/search/label/Piggyfriends

Gingerbread is now the last of the Ginger Girls. I have always had groups of sows, into which a bereaved one could be introduced but so many of the recent additions to the Piggyfriends herd have been boars that Gingerbread is still on her own. She is eating up well but has been with her family since the day that she was born and must be lonely. She is too old to move in with either of my two boisterous "sow plus one neutered boar" groups and that leaves Toffee and Crystal, who could eat for England and I am afraid that they would out compete Gingerbread for the veggies. At her age, she sleeps a lot and would miss out.

So I have moved her into a smaller pen, right next to Toffee and Crystal, so that she has their company without the competition. Buttons and Floyd have moved from there into the large Ginger Girls pen. At first the boys were unsure about the large open space and hid in their pigloo but it did not take long for greed to get the better of these two large fellows and they are now rushing out for food just as they did in their old pen. The exercise will do them good.

Farewell dear little Diamond, gone to meet up with your family at the Rainbow Bridge and to find friend Chester, the Jolly Rodent, who escorted her to the Piggy Olympics. She will finally get to hear his soliloquy from the Cavy Cavaret.

I still see her every morning as I have her pigture as the start icon on my laptop.

Penny and the Piggyfriends."

Sam Piggy Friend went to the bridge

Yet another of our SCAMPS has left us.

Please find below Penny's memories:
I am very sad to announce that my dear old Sam Pig has left us for the Rainbow Bridge.

I had resolved not to announce any more departures as, with such a large herd of piggies, these happen all too frequently here at Piggyfriends and I know that some members may find their stories as sad to read as I am to type them but Sam was a SCAMP and, as his story is on the SCAMPs blog, I feel that, this time, I should complete it.

You can see the story of how he became a Piggyfriend here http://scamps-gpdd.blogspot.com/search/label/Piggyfriends It is the last but one on the page.

We used to celebrate his birthday on May 1st. along with the Ginger Girls but I never really knew his age as he arrived as an adult in 2004 and he could well have been older than "almost 6".

Sam never got on with any other piggies, not even the group of sows with whom I first tried to introduce him although he loved to chat to the neighbours in the pens on either side of his. He was a real people pig and loved to have a cuddle.

He loved the finer things in life like cucumbers, tomatoes and dandelions. He had been failing for the last couple of weeks and I knew that time was catching up with him. He was not ill but just wanted to sleep more and more. I supplemented his diet with syringe feeding, which he was happy to take but always fell asleep in the Middle of it and I was not surprised to find one morning that he had passed away peacefully in the night.

There is another pigture of him on the LAPS site, although he never quite made it to LAPS weight. Here is the link http://www.flickr.com/photos/guineapigfancy/525763500/

Sam, you were a wondeful Piggyfriend and I will always love you. R.I.P. dear little man.

Gone to find the very many Piggyfriends past waiting at the Bridge. Maybe now you will get on with them all and be their friend.

Penny and the Piggyfriends.

Satin has left us for the bridge :'(

One of our SCAMPS has sadly left us for the bridge.
Please find below, Penny's memories of Satin:

"I am very sad to have to tell you all that our dear Satin Piggyfriend has left us. She was our oldest Piggyfriend, at six years plus.

She actually passed away just before we were due to go away on holiday but I was too upset to compose her obituary at the time. Now I feel that I can write objectively and give her the tribute that she so richly deserves.

She came to be a Piggyfriend in 2005 along with her friends, Ping and Truffle when they were left at Cavies' Castle, our Rodentologists, to be rehomed when their original Slave had too many health and domestic problems to be able to keep her piggies. There were three others, who had already been reserved on the day that I visited so Satin, Ping and Truffle came home with me.

Satin was a kind and gentle piggy, whose pigture can be seen on the lovely SCAMPS site http://scamps-gpdd.blogspot.com/ She is the first piggy on the site, in the "Older posts" section and, therefore, the final piggy on the Blog. Clicking on her name on the list of members gives the error message 404 File Not Found. I expect that this bit is still under construction.

When she sadly lost her best friend, Ping, to bone cancer, she was very lonely but very soon Hope and Halloween needed rescuing so Hope came to live with her. Hope was very hungry and scared, only ever having been housed with a huge rabbit and found security hiding behind plump and cuddly Satin. She sooned learned from Satin that she was in a safe place and became a very friendly piggy too. She is missing her friend and sits up close to the wire separating her pen from the neighbouring pens so that she can talk to the occupants. I have considered moving her into one of these pens. On one side live Lilac and Casanova. They are quiet gentle little piggies, whereas Hope is big and bouncy. On the other side are Minstrel, Lavender and Sapphire, who lost a lot of weight when she had to be syringe fed during a nasty throat infection. Hope could win a gold medal in an eating contest so it would not be fair to Sapphire to introduce too much competition at the moment but maybe later. Sapphire is doing well but I don't want to jeopardise her chances by introducing a piggy who could eat for England.

I have always had several pens of sows, into which a bereaved piggy could be introduced but so many of my recent rescues have been boars.

I am also going to have some piggies from the big Cavies' Castle rescue, when they are ready to be rehomed, so maybe a friend or two for Hope will be amongst them.

When I first took Satin home, my Rodentologists warned me about the possibility of her succumbing to Osteodystrophy, the scourge of the satin breed of piggy. I already knew of this disease but read up all about it at the time. As the years passed, I seriously began to believe that she could be the only satin in Europe that was free of this insidious illness.

Most satins are diagnosed with OD at around 12-18 months, some even earlier, so when she reached her sixth birthday it did seem possible that she was one of the lucky ones. Sadly, in June this year, she started to walk very stiffly, a symptom of OD. Hoping against hope that this was arthritis, I took her for a checkup only to have my worst fears confirmed. She had OD. She carried on as usual for the next three months. I gave her painkillers just in case she needed them but she continued to eat up really well. OD affects the jaw and makes eating difficult.

Then she began to find eating harder. She could eat strips of veggies and I was syringe feeding her ( which she loved ) until we were due to go away. I arranged for her to board at Cavies' Castle along with Sapphire, so that they could both be syringe fed without my son, the pigsitter, having to cope with this as well as looking after the rest of the Piggyfriends.

Then one morning, Sapphire decided that she could eat for herself, albeit slowly but Satin didn't want to eat at all, not even the syringe mix. She just wanted to sleep and I could see that her time had sadly come. She passed away very peacefully in her sleep.

I am so happy that she made it to a good old age and managed to stave off the OD for so long. She was a lovely, cuddly pig and is sadly missed by us all, as are all the departed Piggyfriends.

I have buried her in the garden next to her beloved Ping and Truffle, who came along with her but was an intact boar and had his own home. I have planted pink cyclamen over them all.

I was going to write a bit more about OD for anyone who might be interested or who might have a satin piggy and be unaware of the consequences. I don't know how widespread this disease is on other continents but there are very few piggies in England who are not affected by it. Our Rodentologists have many piggy patients who are sufferers but different strains of satins in other countries might be less susceptible to OD. As I have written too much already I am going to suggest that you look at this link
http://www.oginet.com/Cavies/satin.htm This is written by Desiree, a friend of our Janneke. She has studied OD extensively and is involved with research into the problem. Janneke's piggy, Yaya, also has OD so I fervently hope that future research is fruitful.

Goodbye lovely Satin. Such an adorable, kind and cuddly piggy. Reunited with Ping and Truffle again at the Rainbow Bridge.

Penny and the sad Piggyfriends."

Diamond and Gingerbread Piggyfriends

Hello piggy people,

We are Diamond and Gingerbread Piggyfriend. This is Diamond writing the story because I am the eldest and Gingerbread cannot type.

I came to live at Piggyfriends with my mother, Ginger and my sister, Peridot in April 2003. We were tiny piglets, who had been born out in a garden in the cold winter weather and our mother was pregnant again. On May 1st. she gave birth to our little sisters, Gingerbread and Mayflower and we all lived together. Our Slave always called us her Ginger Girls, although we were all sorts of colours and had different hairstyles.

I am the Peruvian piggy on the lawn and Gingerbread is the fluffy white one in these pigtures.



There is also a pigture of us with Mayflower on the day that we celebrated our 5th. birthday. I am really two months older but we always did everything together. Sadly Mayflower has passed on to the Rainbow Bridge but she did get to be a SCAMP along with us.

We have all had lots of adventures on the GPDD and have made piggy friends all over the world.

We love eating grass and are particularly fond of the weeds that Slave brings in from work. We just love sow thistles and are both cuddle pigs.


Masters to:Penny of the Piggyfriends
Born on:Diamond ?, Gingerbread ?

Sam Piggy Friend

Hello, My name is Sam and I celebrated my fifth birthday with my friends the Ginger Girls on May 1st. 2008.


In 2004, our Slave received a call from a lady who had 11 month old two piggies who, she said, were fighting. She had us both neutered ( ouch ) but we were still fighting ( what did she expect would happen? ) so she asked if our Slave could give a home to one of us. The other piggy stayed with her and she brought me here to Piggyfriends. I'm glad that she did because there are lots of wonderful piggies here, not to mention an enormous amount of food.

I used to be called Will but our Slave didn't like that and changed it to Sam after a character from her favourite book, Lord of the Rings.

My favourite foods are grass, cucumbers and tomatoes and I love to chat to my friends, Roscoe and Gulliver, who live in the next door pen.
Master to:Penny of the Piggyfriends
Born on:1rst of May, 2003?

Satin Piggy friend

Hello, My name is Satin, which is also my breed. My previous slave didn't have much imagination when it came to names but I don't mind.

I don't know exactly how old I am but in 2005, she could no longer look after her piggies and asked the kind Rodentologists at Cavies' Castle if they could find us all new forever homes. From their records, they knew that I was three then so I am certainly eligible to join this elite group.


Our Slave was visiting Cavies' Castle that day and brought three of us home to Piggyfriends, which is where I live with my best friend, Hope.

Our favourite pastime is, of course, eating but I do love a cuddle. Hope prefers to carry on eating.
Master to:Penny of the Piggyfriends
Born on:?