[Gpdd] [RAINBOW BRIDGE] Red Dandy gave up his fight

[DebJonSara at aol.com]

It is with deep sadness that I have to announce that my daughter's precious  
piggie, Red Dandy, went to The Bridge in the early hours of this morning, in 
the  arms of one of the rodentologists in whose care I had left him. They rang 
me on  Saturday to tell me they didn't think he was going to make it, and they 
thought  he had other problems in addition to the dental ones they had been 
able to  solve.
 
Poor Red Dandy must be one of the world's most travelled guinea pigs. He  was 
born here in Northern France to Poivre, one of the 27 piggies I rescued in  
January 2003 from the breeder who became known on here as the "Crocodile Woman" 
 because she sold her surplus stock to be fed to crocodiles. His sister, 
Cherub,  was the adorable paraplegic piggie who broke our hearts when she died 
after just  5 weeks of life, and his other sister, Cayenne, was one of the 5 
piggies  murdered by dogs in May 2003. 
 
He moved with my daughter to Basingstoke in England in September last year,  
then in November moved to Worcester. In March he returned south to Liss, where 
 he stopped eating towards the end of September. He was seen by 6 
professionals,  including 3 rodentologists, one of whom was the founder of the Cambridge 
Cavy  Trust herself, and yet we still don't know what he died from. He crossed 
 the Channel in October to be nursed here, then went back under the Channel 
to  stay at Cavies Castle, experts in piggie dental care. They are going to 
bury him  alongside one of their own piggies, Jasper, who sadly died the same 
night.
 
Red Dandy was just over 2 years and 9 months old, and everyone who met him  
fell in love with him. He was a light golden brown with red eyes, and having  
always lived alone (though adjacent to Claude, in another cage), related very  
closely to humans. He loved a cuddle, and was a very vocal little chap until 
he  became ill, when he became sadly quiet. As I posted here only last week, he 
 seemed to have a tremendous will to live, and I was convinced it was just 
his  teeth that were the problem. It has been a terrible shock that he had some  
other, unknown problem as well. I have not asked for a post mortem, as it 
would  not bring him back. Bladderstones had been ruled out, and antibiotics had 
had no  effect. Are there any vets out there who could suggest what else the 
problem  might have been, and what tests and investigations could have been 
carried  out?
 
I had always known veterinary care for guinea pigs was virtually  
non-existent in this corner of France, but it has come as a real shock to me  that no one 
in Britain was able to give Red Dandy a proper diagnosis. What can  we do to 
increase knowledge and understanding of guinea pig health?
 
I wrote a song for Red Dandy today whilst I was out walking the dogs. I  will 
post it separately.
 
A very sad Debbie