Guinea Pigs Galore! Part 2

That first night 3 of the 7 found new homes, leaving us with 4. The girls each get one of the solo ones so they each have their own cage to be responsible for. A and I fell in love with the two long-haired boys. Her with the red/white one pictured and myself with the black & white you can barely see in the background of the photo.

I came out in the morning to feed them all and freshen their water. They are in the garage for now until we can clear some space in the house for them. Not even thinking about it, I let the dogs follow me. They follow me everywhere, nothing new.

I opened the door to the long-haired boys' cage and put a handful of pellets in their dish. When I brought my hand out, the b&w boy came out to investigate and my dog grabbed him before I could blink. As soon as she grabbed him I yelled and she dropped him. There was no snap, no shake, no death squeal. The whole timespan was maybe 3 seconds. And it was already too late. She must have grabbed him just right to kill him instantly or gave the poor thing a heart attack.

I didn't realize he was dead right away. It was chaotic. Thank god D was home and happened to be right there. He got all the dogs into the house and I picked the lil boy up and saw blood and started crying. Then I realized he wasn't breathing. D took him from me and laid him on a towel. He started cleaning up the blood. I tried some chest compressions like I've seen my hero dad do a dozen times before and save a puppy, a chinchilla, a kitten... but it was too late. I bawled. I sobbed. I cursed the dog. For this Guinea pig that didn't even have a name yet. I had only had them a short time, but he was my favorite. My dog meant nothing by it, she has picked up our ferrets before out of curiosity and they survived the encounter. D says its just one of those freak accidents that happened and it's not my fault. But it is. As a small and large pet owner, I should have known better than to let the dogs out in the garage when I knew I would be opening the Guinea's cages. All my fault. Not the dog, me. I am still crying for that little guy that didn't even get a chance at a life with us. And for his cage mate, who witnessed it and was vocally grieving afterward and has barely touched his hay or water since. One stupid stupid error in judgment, early in the morning, made in my excitement to check on the piggies, has cost me one furbaby and potentially two more. Stupid stupid.

I have decided to name him Foster. He will be laid to rest in a cornfield. I never got to feed him any, but I have heard that they really enjoy it. I am giving his cage mate, who the kids have named Chewbacca, all the love I can. I hope he pulls through his broken heart.

After the chaos of that first morning, I just wasn't mentally prepared to get my day started. Then Neopolitan's mom stopped by. She had Neo out for a car ride! They had gone to the local farm supply store to get some essentials. As they were leaving, the traveling vet clinic came in. She got to talking to one of the vets and told her about how all these boys had been abandoned. The vet said to bring them all in for free nail clippings! So Neo's mama came and loaded up my 3 boys and took them all up there for me. Other than the nails, a knot on Chewbacca's butt, and a wart on a foot she said to watch & make sure baby boy doesn't chew on, they all look good! I would love to know the name of the vet that donated her services, but she was very adamant about not sharing her identity. She could be fired for doing what she did! That's just a shame. She should be rewarded in my eyes. Bless her heart though because now that the nails are gone...

I can cuddle with each boy! It took me a few tries to get the idea of how to approach and pick them up without them completing flipping out. Now that I can do it, they each let me hold them and cuddle them to my chest/neck. They have started talking back to me, and seem to really like it when I sing to them. At least I think, I have not mastered their language yet. Maybe they are booing me?

After they came back from their nail trimmings I cleaned each cage out & gave each boy fresh bedding, hay, food, water, and a snack. Add these guys to mix and taking care of the pets is now legit a full-time job! Oh hey did I mention there are 6 human kids too on top of all the furkids?

Chewbacca is the long haired red boy. He's absolutely gorgeous when you can get him out of his cage. Big Poppa is the largest, and for sure full grown, though we can't be sure of his age. Todd Earl Howard (don't ask lol) is the smallest boy. He is the one that came in the tub. I need to rectify that ASAP! I am kicking around some different ideas. Possibly building them an enclosure in the garage and never letting the dogs out there again. Maybe converting my walk-in closet into the guinea pig space. Or maybe moving my fish tanks and turning the fish room into a small critter room.

It's only looking up from here, hopefully. So I don't know if there will be any more guinea pig updates. Thanks for reading!