End of Pet Era

Well, our sweet little guinea pig Vanilla passed away yesterday. We are used to her squeaking when we go into the garage, and yesterday as I went out to get some food from the garage for her, there was no squeak to greet me. I peeked into her igloo and she was laying very flat and and didn't look good. I but down some lettuce for her and she didn't move for it (she usually is super excited for her romaine). I went back inside to get the kids off to school, with a plan to return to her after they left. When I did go back out, I pat her and could tell she was gone. She was still warm, but she was stiff. I rubbed her fur and told her I was sorry. She first got sick at the end of September, and she hasn't been eating well since. She'll eat all the fresh fruits and veggie treats but she was not eating her timothy hay. And they need to eat their hay. Mel still had some medicine food that the vet gave her and they would feed that to her, but she's still been feeling super thin and we've been worried. Melodie got Vanilla in 2016 the day that Medusa died. The vet said that she was old, but 2 years doesn't seem old to me, so I thought that was weird. We only had her over 2 years. We got Medusa in 2012 so she was with us for 4 years and I'm assuming she was a year or two old when we got her. We had 4 guinea pigs for a while, that was kinda crazy, not sure what I was thinking at the time. After 2 years of that though, with the kids getting busier and less interested in the pets, I was a little weary of these sweet creatures.

After Carmel disappeared in July, I've been feeling bad that Vanilla might be lonely (not that Carmel was very nice to her, she was kinda bossy). My small bit on knowledge on guinea pig needs told me that they are social animals and need a companion. But I did not want to get another one. The kids hardly play with them or seem to care about them, so I actually wanted to give them away this summer. They might just all be busy, but I am not interested in having pets that the kids don't totally love and aren't 100% engaged with taking care of. When I have to nag and remind them to put them on the grass or feed their cage, it's time for them to move on to new owners.

Anyway, so I told the kids we'd give them away before Park City this year, but Abi begged to keep them and she mostly did step it up - they've been her pets more than Mel's or anyone elses. So summer ended and we still had them, then Carmel left... I asked a neighbor who has one if she'd want to be co-pet owners and take Vanilla and we'd supply her food or something. Or they could keep the two of them for 2 weeks and then we'd take them for 2 weeks or something like that. But they voted as a family that 1 guinea pig was messy enough. And then Vanilla got sick and I've been worried to give her away thinking she'd just die on the new owner and that would be sad. So we've kept her, and she's been alone, so that's mostly why I told her little lifeless body that I was sorry. Now she's gone to a better place and I trust all is well with her little spirit. I left her in her cage, as an experiment to see if anyone would check on her or notice. When the kids got back from school the elementary kids didn't notice, but when Mel got back from school after dinner (little bit late cause of some after school commitments) she did notice and told me she didn't think Vanilla looked good. I said "Yeah, she's dead..." "She is? Oh! Why didn't you tell us?" Well, I didn't want to ruin your day at school. Once a kid heard the news, they passed it around to siblings and neighbors. They put her in the box. I had already dug a hole during the day for her in our pet cemetery in the backyard.

Everyone rallied to write her notes to put in her box before her burial.

Here is a picture of the funeral services.

I do still think guinea pigs are a perfect pet, if you want a pet. I, however, do not want any pets for a long while. If I do change my mind, it will be in our families post-toddler era, so atleast 5 years out. 

I put some links below showing a brief history of our life with Guinea Pigs -

Hello Oreo and Butterfinger 8 May 2012

Kids play with them May 2012

Hello Medusa and Eve 18 May 2012

Pigs To the Park - July 2012

Hello Brownie 15 Aug 2012

Hello Hamlet and Twix Aug 2012

1 Sep 2012 - Sold Eve and Brownie (according to a search in my inbox)

Sep 2012 Goodbye Butterfinger (inbox search)

Goodbye Oreo Oct 2012
 Guinea pig recipes - April 2014

Taking them to school for Pet Day (middle part of that long post) June 2014

Goodbye Medusa, Hello Vanilla May 2016

Goodbye Hamlet Oct 2016

I can't find a post relating to Carmel, so I don't think I blogged about when we got her, but we went to the Humane society and picked her up (apparently during a moment of weakness on my part) sometime shortly after Hamlet died in October 2016

Goodbye Carmel Jul 2018

Vanilla Sick Sep 2018