Calendar Piggies: July 2013

Our Oz Granny Glynis tells us about her lovely girls! Unfortunately Velvet left us earlier this year ;'(




Well Velvet RIP was a beautiful gentle sweet natured baby girl. She adored her food and when little she and Onyx would roar around their house and look for treats that i'd hidden. When she lost her sight she'd still manage to zoom around but not quite as much, but she sure knew where all the food bowls were!!
Velvet loved nothing more than a chinny rub first thing in the morning when i'd greet them both with " goooooooooood morning good morning my beautiful babies" and she'd often be sitting out in the open (totally unawares of course being blind) and i'd tap the ground near her and speak softly and say 'chinny chinny' and she'd raise her head and let me scritch that beautiful chinnie of hers. Being a long haired girlie she had to be groomed, this was not a favourite thing, but if some lettuce was on offering when having to go thru the humility of yet another butt bath and nail trim she'd be happy as a little piggie :-)
Her quiff was an amazing lilac/grey with under skirt being tan. She had black nails. Her eyes used to be deep pools of black, but then sadly became blue opaque. Her blindness never hindered her, i kept up the routine of morning feeds in the house, but would remove Onyx cause if Velvet missed some food (as it might be hidden under her volumous quiff LOL) cheeky Onyx would zoom over and nick it!!
When she was ill with her cancer Onyx did take care of her, but once she started to improve after her big op she would shoo Onyx away. When her time was coming, the last few days, Onyx was allowed to groom her and sit very very close, just like they used to when small piggies. I think she found this very comforting knowing her sister was looking after her.
Velvet Duchess was one of a kind, a diabetic and blind little girl who never complained and was so good about taking her medications.


now Onyx

Onyx was always the one first to the bowl and the first to run away! It took me way longer for her to calm down and allow me to do chinnie chinnies with her LOL As you all know Onyx has black nails except for ONE her 'tan glove' She is silky black with undertones of tan. She was always the slimmer of them both. So when she got ill and i nearly lost her it was really hard to get her back up to a reasonable weight again.
Onyx adored to reach up and try to pinch the parsley and the cucumber from the hanging treat bar. She could and still can to this day do 'standing piggie' :-) she loves to get up on her hind haunches and reach up for a treat. She is also very clever and can do 'up up' when i put my hand in and she will come and reach up and stand on my hand so i can get her out and put her into her house for dinner.
She too doesn't like butt washes or nail trims. Luckily she doesn't need too many cause of having short hair, tho she does have a cute little 'tail' when it's winter as she gets whisps that grow long on her bottom and on her ears.
Onyx is also blind in one eye cause of cataracts, her diet had to change also when Velvet got the diabetes. I used to sneak her bits of corn but then Velvet would come up and sniff her mouth, which didn't impress Onyx. Tho if Velvet was eating Onyx would go right up and sniff her mouth and try to pinch her food.
When Velvet went to the bridge, Onyx was bereft...... i was very very worried and she lost a lot of weight. I had already had a little stuffed sock toy in with the girls and thought this might help but no way she didn't want it in there anymore. It took about a month before she would move around the whole house again...... even months later one day i saw her run up the ramp and brrrrrrrr like she used to cause Velvet would be sleeping upstairs...... then Onyx realised she wasn't there so she just came back down stairs, so i hurriedly gave her a little snack to brighten her up again.

I'm blessed to have these two little girls in my life.