Andie the guinea pig

It is with guilt and excitement that I introduce Andie. 

Like I mentioned yesterday, our guinea pig, Honey, died right after surgery to remover her mammary tumor.
My heart was broken, and so, it would seem, was Chewy's - Honey's friend and our other pet guinea pig.
Chewy didn't touch her food the day Honey was in surgery or all day yesterday. Guinea pigs are supposed to be kept with other guinea pigs - they are not solitary animals.

I knew that we would get another guinea pig, but after seeing Chewy's reaction to being alone, it seemed that sooner rather than later would be best.

So yesterday late afternoon, I called IFAs and pet stores within a 30 mile radius of me, and I found one place with a female guinea pig (I called 8 places!) so I asked them to hold it for me for an hour and I dashed up to get her.

She is a cute little thing, about 3 months old. Last night I took pictures of her and sat and looked at her trying to decide what to name her. She has a cute dark spot around her eye, so I was thinking about Dot, and then I noticed that the spot looked like a comma. The grammar nerd in me thought of my guilt about getting another guinea pig and how disloyal it feels to "replace" Honey so quickly, and my mind turned to the grammar rule that says that you can put two complete sentences together with a comma followed by and, so I thought of Andie -
Honey was so loved and valued, and this little guinea pig will never replace her but will bring her own personality and love to our home. So, she is Andie. 

She won't be able to be with Chewy for the next few weeks - she has to be isolated in her own cage for the first week to make sure she isn't bringing any sickness from the pet store with her, then the second week we will put there cages close-by each other so that they can get used to each other from afar, they will be introduced to each other in a neutral territory, and then placed in a cage together.

I am happy to say that Chewy started eating when she heard Andie's little squeaks and running around her cage. She seems happy to have another guinea pig around.

Welcome home, Andie!

♥ Melody

RIP Honey the Guinea Pig

Honey the guinea pig died yesterday (below is Honey in front and Chewy in the background).

Last Friday, she was diagnosed with a very large mammary tumor and given a 50/50 chance that it was benign.  Surgery was scheduled for Tuesday May 18th (yesterday.)

On Tuesday, I dropped off Honey at the vet in the morning and her surgery was scheduled for later in the afternoon. 

The vet told me that Honey would need to be kept separate from Chewy until she was healed better, so Josh and I decided to go to Petsmart  to get a few things for a convalescing cage for Honey before she was released to go home later in the evening.

The vet called while I was pumping gas at gas station, preparing to drive to Petsmart.
She said that Honey's tumor had created many blood vessels, so there was a lot of "oozing" and cauterizing that happened during surgery, but that she had gotten through surgery. She said that Honey was still pretty out of it, so the vet wanted to keep her a little while longer. She mentioned that if she had any concerns, she may like to keep her overnight if that was okay with me. I wholeheartedly agreed - if something went wrong, I'd feel much better if it happened when a doctor could be around to take care of her.

At Petsmart we got a hay manger and an igloo/castle hide away for Honey, and while I was looking at fish - I wanted a betta since mine had died last year -  the vet called and said that she was very sorry and they had done all they could, but Honey had quit breathing and died. They tried resuscitating her, but Honey didn't revive.

I was heartbroken. I am very attached to Honey - she was such a sweet piggy. 
I put back the igloo/castle hide away and the hay manger, bought three snails on a whim, the betta fish, and catfood and left. 

Josh and I stopped at the vet and retrieved Honey's body that had been placed in a little box and the carry bag that I'd taken her in that morning and went home.

I kept the candle lit for her through the night and during the day today. This afternoon after the grandkids went home, I took a shovel and the little box with Honey in it and went out the garden to by where Beth (our lab dog) is buried and dug a grave close by for Honey and gave her a very simple burial ceremony.

RIP Honey. You are very loved by all of us and will be very missed.

♥ Melody