Roos in pigtures (with some (friday) videos)

This message has been long overdue. Maybe a week before Easter, our gorgeous Roos was squeaking in pain. We gave her some pain meds, and she seemed to approve a bit, same thing the next day, as it was almost weekend (and vets would be closed) we took her to the vet. She had diarrhea so we got some Cisaral to keep the gut moving and some painkiller (Carprofen) - Both fall in the Piggy a-z for C? but I am not too sure how dutch these names are.. 

Roos can do it too (you hear me say well done Roos!) And will find the cucumber when pointed out to her #guineapigs #treats #TeachnTreat

A video posted by Mieke (@pandameisje) on May 30, 2014 at 1:42pm PDT

She seemed to be okay and the diarrhea cleared up, but something seemed not right to me. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention she kept getting very bloated, but it did not sound like gas, and felt more spongy. I got a message from my boyfriend who was home earlier then I was, that she was bloated again. This was just before the long Easter weekend. I called the vet hoping to get an appointment that evening. They had a spot, so Erwin (boyfriend) took her to the vet and I traveled to the vet as well... News was not good, she had a bladder stone and it was lodged in her urethra.

Roos' Xray you can see the stone lodged between the hip bones. :'(

A photo posted by Mieke (@pandameisje) on Mar 25, 2016 at 5:00am PDT

Diagnosis was not so good, and the vet was hesitant to operate, as this would very likely damage the nerves there and make her unable to hold up her pee... So we were left with the choice to either find a vet willing to operate (it was almost eight in the evening then) or have her put to sleep. It was a hard decision to make as up until recently she did not seem ill at all... But mostly because of the small chance of her healing up well (if surviving surgery at all, piggies are just so fragile), we decided to have her put to sleep. She went to sleep very fast, and we were sad, but also hoping we made the right choice in stopping her suffering.

Roos with her daddy @lordthunder666 in this pigture you can almost see how pretty her colour is in real life ;)

A photo posted by Mieke (@pandameisje) on Jun 8, 2014 at 12:16pm PDT

Roos was a gift from me to Erwin for his birthday 4 years ago. We had her for exactly 4 years, she was 4,5 years old, as she was put down the evening before Erwin's birthday. She was one of the sweetest piggies we have ever had. I remember the lady we got her from telling us, she was very tame. I wondered why she said that, because she seemed very afraid of us at first, not tame at all. However when she got used to us she was really a sweet thing. We could pet her in the cage, and she did the cutest thing. If you stopped petting her, usually she had lain down already enjoying the massage, she would lift up her head as if to say 'Don't stop!'. Towards the other piggies she could be quite strict, after Woopy left us, she was the new ruler, with a bit of an iron paw. But she could also be really sweet snuggling with Peaches (a lot!). This surprised me as well, because when we just got Peaches, Roos would chase her around endlessly...

Roos and peaches have a new hobby: #cuddle time #guineapigs Taken 14 November

A photo posted by Mieke (@pandameisje) on Nov 19, 2015 at 2:14am PST

Here's some more pigtures and video's of Roos... we miss ya!

More #sleeping Roos #guineapig

A photo posted by Mieke (@pandameisje) on Aug 6, 2014 at 10:57am PDT

#Roos having second breakfast, or third, fourth, fifth... Who knows? #guineapig #eating

A photo posted by Mieke (@pandameisje) on Aug 15, 2014 at 4:48am PDT

Piggies got to play outside! #guineapigs #grass #yum #tryingoutrun

A video posted by Mieke (@pandameisje) on Aug 9, 2015 at 3:52am PDT

An old line up: Lily, Roos (a few months old there), Daisy and Woopy

Diary of an old lady 27-30 March 2015

I am writing to you from a wonderful place called the rainbow bridge, I have just arrived there. It is lovely to see all my friends again that I have met in my long life only 17 days short of 7 years. The food here looks marvellous, Can't wait to dig in, and all piggies here are happy and pain free!

Last friday I did not want to eat anymore. I was taken to the vet and my lungs did not sound good. Antibiotics and a painkiller were prescribed.
As I was not eating a lot by myself I got some pellet mush from my daddy slave, yesterday I still let him know he was going to slowly feeding me, by tugging on the syringe with the mush.
The other piggies were very sweet taking care of me. They were taking turns lying close to me.
 Here you see Roos and me

RT @LordThunder666: Roos is keeping an eye on Woopy. @guinygirlz pic.twitter.com/Otb5Wx2CNa
— WoopyRoosPeach&Bérke (@Guinygirlz) March 28, 2015

And Peaches and me...

Wisseling van de wacht: Peaches looking after Woopy #guineapigs

A photo posted by Mieke (@pandameisje) on Mar 28, 2015 at 2:41pm PDT

Today when mommy slave (Mikey) came home from work she found me lying on my side, having convulsions and in obvious pain. My tummy was very swollen.
Slave rushed me to the vet, calling them on the way to the car, and texted dad she was taking me to the vet now. In the short car drive she told me we were going to the vet and he would help me with the pain. Both slaves were there when I left for the bridge. Dad must have cycled really hard to be there in time, but I was glad he was there too!

If I, as an old lady, can give you an advice: just keep munching! It worked very well for me.

Dear Spooky, I loved having you as my long-distance boarfriend. Thanks for all your sweet presents and words. I hope to see you someday here at this wonderful place, but take your time with your slaves and piggypals first, I will be waiting for you...

Love, to you all!
Woopy

9 March 8 PM: Peter Gurney Memorial

The Peter Gurney Annual Candle Lighting Memorial is almost here! Please
light a candle on March 9th at 8 p.m. in your time zone. For ten years,
candles have been our way to remember the remarkable Peter Gurney, who
was so generous in sharing his knowledge about guinea pigs. Many of us
have his books or continue to consult his webpages, and some of us here
were lucky enough to know or meet him. When you light your candle, it
will also be a memorial to all of the two- and four-footed friends we've
lost through the years. We like to think of our lights being visible at
the Rainbow Bridge and letting our loved ones know they remain in our
hearts always.

Please comment below, post the the GPDD (www.gpdd.org) digest
or let Audrey (agbmcmd@yahoo.com) know afterwards
where you lit your candle so she can compile the annual list
of how many places joined in. Feel free to tell others as well, so we
can have as much participation as possible!

(Text provided by Cindy on the GPDD)

Good News and Bad News

Here’s agent Zeppelin with bad but also with good news.

Pepper

 I’m very sorry to tell you that the lovely miss Pepper passed away last Wednesday. Since October she had painkillers and antibiotics to suppress an abcess in her chin. Three weeks ago the vet opened the abcess because she was in a lot of pain. Despite the hard work of D and mister B, they cleaned the wound two times a day, she felt worse every day. So D and mister B decided to help her cross the Rainbow bridge just before Christmas Eve.

Geny

 We miss the lovely girl very much but it’s not good to be alone too long, so after a few days I went to the Kuufke shelter where I (and Pepper) used to live. And there she was, a lovely white sheltie girl from around 3 years old with mysterious red eyes. It was love at first sight as you can see on the pigture. Her name is Geny and she will introduce herself later but for now she is still a bit shy.

Love at first sight?

 Bye miss Pepper, we will never forget you xx

Agent Chanel checking out

Coco smiling prettily for Mister R.

We're sorry to bring you bad news again. Our Coco left for the rainbow bridge today. She had been suffering from kidney failure for a while now, but today she was feeling so bad that we went to the vet and helped her make the final journey.

We might write more about the kidney failure and the diagnosis another day, but for today we would like to remember our little diva as she was (and we do mean 'diva' in the sweetest way possible. Every member of our household loved Coco and her antics, even Bo when nobody was looking).

This morning, while Coco, Bo and Ties were waiting for their cage to be cleaned, Coco was lying comfortably on a soft towel. Since she was obviously not feeling well, J wanted to make the cage as comfortable as possible for her. So she made her a nest of hay. In the other corner of the cage she put a wooden house, to make sure that Bo and Ties would leave her be and play with the house.

Huh? Where's Coco?

Coco was lowered into the nest and immediately started looking very annoyed. Next thing we knew, she was dragging her tiny body to the other side of the cage and then sat in front of the house. Every once in a while throwing J a dirty look.

Come on! I'm waiting..

Finally J caved, put a towel in the house, and little miss diva made herself comfortable. Needless to say, no cage mate was admitted into the house. Weak as she was, her pigsonality made up for that (she even got herself a tall, handsome bodyguard)

(Ties) nothing to see here, people. Please move along..

Coco sweetie, we'll miss you. Try to go easy on the other pigs at the rainbow bridge, there's plenty of chicory for everyone

Daisy :'(

Just to let you know: we found Daisy had crossed the bridge early on last monday morning... I am devastated as she was doing so well on saturday after a bladder stone surgery on friday. \Her belly was really swollen, we suspect her bowels were punctured when trying to get air out with a
needle... that caused fluids/air to leak in to her belly cavity and madeher belly make sloshing sounds...
The vet's assistant punctured her swollen belly when I took her body in on mondag, and said only blood was coming out. She suspects she had an internal bleeding.

She was pretty certain whatever it was that they could not have done much
about it, and she was impressed we got her through the weekend at all...

Hug all your piggies from me!
Mieke, Erwin and the remaining Woopy (almost 6,5!), Roos and Berke

P.S. I will post what happened in the upcoming days... (If you are on the GPDD you probably already read it...)

This is Daisy with her boyfriend Agent Zeppelin,
they met when we drove south to get Bérke

RIP Sjeuf

We get writer's block when one of our herd goes to the rainbow bridge. We absolutely hate it when it happens and prefer to sulk quietly in a corner and blink away a few tears. Then we move on, every now and then enjoying the memories we have. We are not good at writing long memorials, even though every pig who lived with us fully deserves one.

This is why we are so late in telling you guys that our Sjeuf passed away on Christmas morning. J found him face down in the cage. We are still not sure what happened.

Sjeuf, we love you and miss you. Happy popcorning at the bridge and say hi to our friends from us.

Shy boy

Rest in peace, sweetie

Coco, Bo and Janneke

No more piggy in the window - Lily

As some of you might know my Lily has been loosing weight lately.
Our vet was at a loss what could be causing this, only thing she found was a soft mass in Lily's tummy. She suggested an ultrasound to check it out, but wanted a good radiologist, because she wasn't sure she could tell what she was looking at...

So this morning we had an appointment at the vet in the middle of the country, this was at the university where animal medicine is taught.
However yesterday evening Lily started to show signs of distress. Her tummy was massive, seemed swollen with gas but the usual oil treatment did not make it better. She also refused to eat at some point...

I really hoped she would make it through the night so I could get her to the vet in the morning. She did make it and I told her to stay with me until we reached the vet, which was an hours drive.
She made it there and she was seen be a really nice vet and vet in training.

They felt a mass in her tummy, and suggested to do an ultrasound.
The results we're not good she had air in her belly cavity, so no longer just in her bowels... Which means more than just air could leave her bowels, like bacteria... And a big mass about 3 by 4 centimeters was visible near her liver.

There were two options either put her to sleep or try to operate with little chance of success. The latter did not sound appealing, at that point she was really in pain and if the tumor mass was bad it could have spread, depending on where the mass was exactly they might not be able to remove it, and of course there is the risk of anesthesia for even a healthy guinea pig. And lily wasn't healthy anymore.
So we chose for the option to have her put to sleep, which was a hard one...

As they are a teaching hospital the vet wanted to check what was wrong.
Turned out she had a big mass in and around her bowels, which also stuck to her belly, there was pus and poop in the cavity and internal bleedings already. She was in a much worse state as we and the vet would have expected, especially as she was still eating and active before yesterday evening. Quite amazing she kept going so long with all this... So though I will miss her a lot, especially this cute thing she would do standing in the window of the cage to beg for veggies, we made the right decision, the mass was inoperable...

Lily just after a bath

Luvya my little furry girl, say hi to Chico and all our other friends over the rainbow bridge... Lily was 3 year and 8 months old...

Mieke and the remaining guinygirlz Woopy, Daisy and Roos

Our guinea pig ~ Tonka RIP_2014

My name is Tonka. I died on Saturday January 11^th, 2014. I had a wonderful owner named Owen that would snuggle me every minute he could. I couldn’t wait for him to come back from school as I would wait anxiously to hear him walk through the front door and I would squeak like crazy.  I loved Owen feeding me snacks especially my favorite… carrots J  I loved resting on his chest watching him play his video games. I know Owen is very sad and misses me tremendously but I would like him to know that I am over the rainbow bridge now will all of my friends warm and happy. I will always be looking down on you Owen making sure you are alright. Please keep my brother Kiki safe. I had the best life a guinea pig could ever ask for. I will see you in your dreams.

I love you Owen!

Tonka

xoxo

Agent Valentino signing off

On valentine's day, exactly 3 years ago, Chico got to move in with his girlz.
at that time they were Dunya and Woopy, now they would be Woopy, Lily and Daisy.

Unfortunately Chico did not make it to this day :'(
Yesterday evening, only 30 minutes short of this small anniversary, he crossed the rainbow bridge...

As some of you know he was having diarrhea for the second time (ironically enough he had normal poops yesterday),
and inbetween he broke his front teeth. This probably caused a trama in which his jaws became misaligned.
This meant his front teeth didn't meet anymore, and as a result his lower incisors had grown very long already.

Last friday the vet corrected this, and then she noticed that his jaws were misaligned...
She said there was a possiblity that this would correct itself, but there was also a good chance that this wouldn't correct itself,
meaning monthly visits to the vet to have his teeth corrected...

He was a very strong boar, since the teeth correction friday, he kept going on, but loosing more and more weight,
as he couldn't really eat himself. We did of course feed him critical care and small strips of vegetable.
When I came home yesterday he was not looking good, but we spent about another 2 hours sitting with him.
I gave him some extra painkiller in case he was in pain, and we just tried to keep him comfortable.
He kept standing up, and would still stand on his paws for a very long time!
I took all my girlz (one by one) to see him for the last time, the girlz were not very happy with this.
There is something about cavies and knowing when time is up, and they just tend to keep away from them.
However when I took Lily to him (they were always very fond of each other) he lifted his head and tried to snuggle up to her!
After that he went downhill fast...

He was my first cavy that did not do the running in the end, though he was stamping his feet a lot,
which felt a lot like he was trying to stand up and walk away...

Sadly, Mieke, Erwin
and the guinygirlz Woopy, Lily and Daisy

Rainbow Bridge Punky Peruvian Piggysnap

Agent F has insisted that Diamond join in the Peruvian Piggysnaps to keep our secret project on track.

Diamond is at the rainbow bridge with her fellow peruvian piggysnap Agent Master of Disguise see 1st post.




"Diamond was a participant in many GPDD virtual adventures, latterly escorted by Alge's Jolly Rodent, Chester."