[Gpdd] [RAINBOW BRIDGE]: Windex

[marielles at earthlink.net]

Dear GPDD,

We're very sad to post that early Friday morning, July 15, just before 5am
we lost our sweet little Windex.  Windex was 4-1/2 years old and was the
light of our lives.  She was the smartest and most outgoing guinea pig,
loved her chard and cherry tomatoes and was a sweet friend to my husband,
her piggie buddy Widget, and myself.  Windex was the only piggie who really
interacted with our bunnies, and she loved to cuddle on my chest at night,
where she sometimes even fell asleep.  She loved to have her cheeks rubbed,
and would stretch out one of her little pink legs when she was stroked just
the right way on her back.  She was such a happy, smiley piggie.

Earlier that week, we took her to Dr. Jeffrey Jenkins, in San Diego, who is
one of the top exotics vets in the country and who has performed hundreds of
surgeries on guinea pigs, because our local vet thought she had ovarian
cysts that had gotten big enough that we should be concerned.  Dr. Jenkins
said that even more worrisome was a tumor he felt inside there, so he
recommended taking all the reproductive organs out.  The surgery went really
well, and it seemed that they removed everything, but Windex never managed
to recover to the point of eating on her own (we were syringe feeding her
and giving her sub-cutaneous fluids - at the vets, and then here at our
home), and she passed away Friday morning.  Last week the biopsy came back
indicating a particularly agressive and deadly type of cancer - and
apparently, they found that the cancer had passed beyond the muscle tissue.
So we still don't know the actual cause of death, but the cancer could still
have been the reason.  Windex had been feeling increasingly uncomfortable
the past few weeks, and for the past few months, she constantly had the
feeling that she had to pee (she did so very frequently), and ate and drank
constantly - I guess to feed the tumor.  We're glad she's not suffering
anymore, but we miss her so so much.  

We're trying to introduce Widget to the other pair of piggies, Schocki, a
neutered boy, and Trudy, an "unaltered" girl.  Widget and Schocki didn't get
along when they were little, so we separated them, but they seem to be doing
fine when we put them together now in neutral territory.  I'd appreciate any
input on other slaves' experience introducing adult piggies (2 neutered boys
and a girl who isn't fixed).

Marielle, Russell, Widget, Schocki and Trudy
and Mr. Big, Jackie, Rhumba and Wolfgang (the bunz)