[Gpdd] [ANNOUNCEMENT]Charo's gone to the bridge

[svtaylor1 at excite.com]

     It is with a heavy heart that I must inform the GPDD that my beloved Charo has died at age four years and five months.  You may remember her, the two flying Percherons and her plump GP friend Cally, from their virtual adventures at the Pig's Ear Bar opening celebration.  

     In real life, she was a remarkable piggy who came to me at a time when I needed a pet but was far too sick to care for a dog. I searched high and low for a calico Teddy piggy to keep me company. This I found in Cally, but I also got a special surprise: Charo, a lovely gray agouti Teddy with so much personality that she rapidly stole the show with her antics and often seemed more human than cavy. She knew to communicate by pointing at things with her little nose, like when she wanted floor time, or when there was something terribly wrong with her treat dish because it was empty.  With a clicker and hand signals, I taught her to stand up, get down and to walk forward and backwards in a little dance. At first, she was standoffish and seemed to feel that I was in the way, only necessary for bringing food. Things changed when she got a piece of chaff stuck in her eye and I took her to the doctor and made her all better. She KNEW that I had helped her and for the first time began to look me in the eye. It was at these moments that I had an eerie sense of the soul and wisdom inside her little piggy body. It was very humbling. 

     In April of this year, I was dismayed upon returning home, to find Charo dragging herself about the cage with very weak hind legs. With x-rays, ultrasound, cortisone, Baytril, and a lot of hand feeding and cajoling, she slowly became herself again and I had my cheerful piggy back for some months. Just this Friday, however, she went downhill rapidly. I took her to the vet and the situation was grim. Charo had a lowered body temperature (97 F), bloody urine, nystagmus (shifting eyes), weakness, she couldn't swallow, her breathing was difficult and an x-ray showed bowel obstruction and bloat. My poor piggy was in pain and dying so we sent her quietly and with dignity to the rainbow bridge. A post-mortem showed that she had many tumors and that her bladder was thickened and badly damaged so I believe (at least I keep telling myself) that I made the right decision.

     She is buried under a Juniper tree where I can visit when I like.  Her friend Cally was very quiet for a day but is now adapting to being an only pig. I will truly miss Charo. There will never be another like her.  

     Rod, a rainbow beside number 2430 please.

 --- Susan and Cally in New Mexico, USA, Remembering Charo









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