[Gpdd] [RAINBOW BRIDGE - PRINCE] - with apologies for the extreme length.

[Annette Kobus]

The long (of course) story of our Prince, the world-famous Guinea Pig
who lived to the ripe old age of 9 years and 7 months..

Before we get to the point where Prince joined our family, a quick
background:I have been a single parent for the past 15 years, meaning in
order to provide for my children I had to work very hard. Aside from
that, I'm allergic to dogs and cats. I knew that a cuddly puppy or
kitten would somewhat ease the burden of an absent father, but my health
would not allow it. 

In 1995/6, When my twin daughters Mindy and Cindy were 11 years old,
they started getting an 'allowance'. The 'allowance' was really 'lunch
money' but I always gave them a little more than they needed for lunch.
They saved the 'excess' for a long time. I think maybe they went without
lunch a few times in order to save more money. Mindy decided she wanted
a guinea pig and Cindy wanted a teddy bear hamster with their savings.
Now, I had no idea whether, being allergic to dogs and cats, I'd be
allergic to guinea pigs and hamsters.. but since they saved all that
money, I promised them they could have a guinea pig and a hamster. After
visiting the Petland in Highland Mall in Austin countless times (this
alone will bear witness to how old Prince really was, because that
Petland has been gone for years), Mindy FINALLY found a guinea pig. In
fact, Prince was the ONLY guinea pig in the store that day. 

He was in an octagonal "pen" on top of pine bedding, and I seemed to
remember he was in with rabbits but Mindy says he was in there all
alone. Maybe the rabbits were in that pen the time before. Hey, I'm much
older now and my memory has faded!! Anyway, Mindy picked up the only
guinea pig in the store, this little brown ball of wild looking fur,
with ears that looked like another animal had chewed them. The guy in
the pet store said this gp was a girl. We didn't know any better, we'd
never had guinea pigs - so the name "princess" was picked. Mindy plunked
down nearly $100 for the little brown GP called "Princess", and also got
a cage & kit which included a small bag of pine bedding, some basic GP
food, a heavy plastic food bowl and a water bottle. I later realized
she'd gotten ripped off because those 
items could have been purchased separately and would have cost less
money! hard to believe.. anyway, we had to get the hamster and its
furnishings at a separate pet store. 

We all arrived home from the pet stores at the duplex where we lived in
June 1996 and the girls made their new little furry ones at home.
Princess and "Mr. Cool" lived right alongside each other in the cozy
laundry room for about a year. They really didn't have much of a life,
there was no window in there and I sure didn't spend much time with
them, and as time faded, the girls turned 12, they got busy at school,
etc. Eventually I moved the cages 
into a hallway between the living and dining rooms. We would notice that
Princess" would jump straight up into the air and squeak. At the time we
did not appreciate that we had witnessed "popcorning". But it was
interesting, just the same. It seemed to happen usually at the same time
every day, about when we left the house for day, as if "She" was saying
goodbye. On cage-cleaning-day, Mr. Cool would go into the hamster ball
and roll around and "Princess" would follow it. When "Princess" was out
of the cage and Mr. Cool was in his, "Princess" would rise up on front
paws and visit with Mr. Cool inside his cage. Those must have been very
interesting conversations... That year when I made halloween costumes I
had some yellow jersey fabric left over and we cut it into small
squares. We got the idea that "Princess" might like a little "royal bed"
and put it into the cage. That was the cutest thing, "she" would act
like "she" was making "her" bed, with just the little nose and teeth
used to fold it 'just right' before laying down on it. One day the girls
even got to take their little furry friends to school.

Our rented duplex was being sold and the new owner decided to live in
the unit where we were living. Then we had to move. "Princess" and Mr.
Cool moved with us. This time their home was the pantry - with
"Princess" on the floor and Mr. Cool on the bottom shelf next to the
Campbell's soup. "Princess" seemed to like playing with those balls with
jingle bells like they sell for cats. We also got one of those giant
roly balls but "She" never liked it. Now I know why - they're not
supposed to be for guinea pigs! We were not very good "Slaves" back then
but the pets seemed okay and healthy. That winter we took a trip back to
the midwest to make my mom happy and spend christmas with her. Mr. Cool
and "Princess" stayed with my sister in Round Rock (Texas), with her dog
Odie (now at the Bridge after a long life of 15 years). My sister
jokingly referred to "Princess" and Mr. Cool as Odie's "Cousins" and
used to get a kick out of "Princess" and her "bad hair" because it
looked like a Guinea Pig Mohawk. One of the TV stations started
broadcasting a show called "Once Upon a Hamster", which I of course
taped every day. Some of you may remember this show. Besides the main
character "Hammy", it also featured a male Guinea Pig, called "GP", who
was into "Gadgets". It was a really cute program. I tried to
'littertrain' "Princess" but the darn litter pan took up 2/3 of the cage
space!so that was not successful. I have to say that somehow the little
GP "knew" not to pee or poo while we were having cuddle time (unless we
silly slaves ignored the squeaks and didn't put "her" back into the
cage). About 7 months after we moved, Mr. Cool got very swollen and
couldn't climb his ladder anymore so we took him to the vet who said he
probably had too much fluid and might get
better, might not. We decided that 18 months with us was a decent life
for a hamster and I didn't have lots of money to spend on treatment so
we decided to let him cross the Rainbow Bridge. Cindy and I left the vet
office in tears. She called a friend of hers who had several guinea pigs
and the friend had an extra cage. So off to another pet store we went,
on a frigid December day (with an old towel to wrap up the new pet) to
get "another" girl guinea pig, that I bought for Cindy. She was named
"Chiggles" because she made a lot of "chiggly" sounds and did a whole
lot of wheeking!!! "Princess" did some wheeking, particularly when the
refrigerator door was opened and the crinkly bag of carrots was opened.
"She" also could jump out of her cage (when the lid was off) onto a pile
of folded old towels and come over to the open refrigerator door and
pull up into the refrigerator, because "she" knew where the veggies were
kept... We noticed that "Princess" and Chiggles never really seemed to
like each other so we'd always separate them when they were out of their
cages. It's a good thing, otherwise I'd be a great-grandma slave now! We
never considered having either one of them "Altered" because, in our
ignorance, we thought both of them were girls. Chiggles had very long
hair and anyway, back then, I was not brave enough to look at their
"anatomy". Both of the GPs would greet me with expectant wheeks when I'd
come down to the kitchen each morning to make my coffee. By that time,
I'd discovered cavy cuisine was better for them than the "gourmet" brand
I had been spending a lot of money on, which contained a lot of fat and
(gulp) sunflower seeds!! Well, a couple of years later we found the
landlord telling us we had to move AGAIN. This time I was in a position
to finally buy a home, so I did and our little GPs now had a big house
to enjoy with us. It was about this time that I discovered the GPDD, I
can't remember exactly when I joined because that was two email
addresses and 3 computers ago.. Carlo might know but I didn't mark it on
my permanent calendar! 

The GP "Space" was in the kitchen under the big bay windows. I thought
it would be nice for them to see some sunshine and maybe look up at the
trees and birds while we were at work/school each day. One day we got
the bright idea to leave the 1/4 cup metal measuring cup on the floor
after dishing up the cavy cuisine, and "Princess" was out getting floor
time. "She" would grab it with her teeth and let it clang back down on
the vinyl tile floor.
Over and over. We jokingly called it "her" "Drum solo". We have a heavy
wood (pine) sofa bed and wouldn't you know it, the side bottom 'ledge'
was in just the right spot for guinea pigs to chew on and keep their
teeth worn down!! like so many baby cribs with marks as evidence of the
tot who was teething, I have a $1400 sofa with guinea pig teeth
marks..Just before Cindy and Mindy's 16th birthday, one morning when I
came downstairs to greet the 
piggies, I noticed Chiggles didn't want to eat. Then I noticed she
didn't want to drink, either. I consulted the archives of all things
Guinea Pig, the GPDD. I got some syringes from a vet and made slurry of
Cavy Cuisine. I could not even get her to eat carrots or parsley,
although she wheeked when I put them in her cage. She did everything she
usually did during the daily routine, including wheeking when I opened
the refrigerator or rattled any plastic bags, but not eating or
drinking.. On the day of the girls' birthday, I told Cindy we should
take some more pigtures because I didn't think she'd be with us much
longer, so we did that. I took Chiggles to the vet and got her the sub-Q
fluid & vitamins and ivermectin injections, but she never took another
bite or drink. I'm ashamed to say I let this go on way longer than it
should have, and about two weeks later, one day my husband and I came
home from work (oh yeah, I got remarried in Feb 2002) and she had
crossed the bridge. We wrapped her in a towel and grieved over her. Then
uncovered her and noticed thousands of white bugs exiting her little
furry body. She was covered in mites. I guess the ivermectin came too
late to save her. We got a white cardboard box and hundreds of colorful
stickers to go on the outside and had a little 'funeral' for her, with
the kids' friends. We intended to bury her in our yard, since we now had
our own home. Unfortunately for me, it was July in Texas and the ground
was impossible to break. So we left her wrapped in her towel in her
special box and had the vet cremate her. Cindy decided she didn't want
to go through acquiring another pet, she'd just love on "Princess". It
was about that time that we ordered "Carrot Wars" from Alyssa and sat,
with "Princess" on lap to watch Princess Lettuce and Hokey One Spumoni.
I really enjoyed reading the GPDD every day although back then I didn't
contribute much - I certainly wasn't qualified to offer any advice. 

Meanwhile, although they had always been in separate cages, the thought
of losing another pet to mites did not appeal to me so I took "Princess"
to the vet for a preventive ivermection shot. The vet said, "This guinea
pig is blind" and "this is clearly a BOY guinea pig". So, hoping his
pride had not been hurt too much, he got his shot and we went home with
the "Guinea Pig formerly known as Princess" (bad pun, I know, on a
certain musical artist's statement from years ago...) So here we are,
down to one furry pet, a 4 1/2 year old boy "blind" Guinea Pig (I didn't
believe that, he navigated for years from his cage to the kitchen and
knew when to wait for people to quit walking till he tried to cross to
the veggie source). He did get kicked (Accidentally) a couple of times
and once jumped out of my hands onto the floor because I didn't have
enough sense to hold him right. That night I had a nightmare that I was
in a hotel with an open atrium, about 4 stories up, carrying Prince, and
he jumped out of my hands and landed in a recliner on the ground floor.
He was okay. I was frightened when I woke but there he was, cheerful as
usual and ready for cavy cuisine and timothy hay. My new 
husband, observing what total guinea pig slaves we had become, made the
statement, "if there is such a thing as reincarnation and I die, I want
to come back as a guinea pig". After reading GPDD for so long I decided
that our little guy, who had already outlived many, many guinea pigs,
should have as good a life as possible. I had always only put filtered
water (from Brita pitcher) into the pet's water bottles, and had started
ordering Cavy Cuisine from Oxbow hay (sorry if I sound like a
commercial, but it has been requested that I post our routine which has
had obvious success, at least for us). Now I went to the pet store and
got a hay manger to mount on the side of his cage and ordered timothy
hay from oxbow. And, while I was at it, I got their Vit. C tablets too.
At first he would eat the tablets without ny trouble as long as I broke
them in half. HOWEVER, and I am embarrassed to say this too, every year
when we put poinsettias on the fireplace hearth and let him out of his
cage, where do you think that little guy could be found? over munching
on the poinsettias and leaves!! ACK! I'd always read they were poisonous
and we tried to keep him out of them, but he ate some of them year after
year. Maybe he was immune, or something.. That silly pig. One day my
husband and I were in a store and saw a little silver picture frame that
said "Prince" on the top. We had to get it. In that frame is a pigture
of Prince munching on a poinsettia, and it has a permanent place on the
fireplace mantel. 

To describe a typical day in the early life of Prince:
About 7 am, Annette slave comes downstairs and fills the food bowl with
1/4 cup of Kaytee Guinea Pig food (I now realize this was probably a bit
much, but in the beginning, that's ALL he got, besides water - read on).
Occasionally I would buy alfalfa cubes from a pet store and he seemed to
like them, but eventually I learned that timothy was better for him. And
I learned that the "premium" food didn't have such great nutrition. 

Later on, we started adding the early timothy hay from oxbow in the hay
manger and we quit buying alfalfa cubes. I learned how (by making a
mistake or two) to trim his toenails. It requires an old large towel,
which you basically make a hood with over their head, so they don't bite
you. If the GP has black toenails (like Prince's) you have to be careful
not to cut too closely. 

As he approached "middle age" (5-6 years old) we cut down the cavy
cuisine to a little under 1/4 cup per day. He'd munch on it all day long
and when we came home from work, well, that's when the wheeking
starts!!! We'd get out mini carrots, spinach or parsley, red pepper,
cilantro and just put a veritable salad on the floor in front of the
fridge. We'd scoop him out of his cage and he'd scurry along the
breakfast bar, being careful to look both ways for traffic (human!) and
"hoard" his little stash while munching. I'd put a Vit. C table, broken
in half, in the middle. He'd eat all AROUND that Vit. C tablet and look
at me funny. It's as if he was trying to tell me, "you know I'll eat
that, IF you give me a seedless green grape cut in half". So, like a
good slave, that's what I'd do and sure enough the Vit. C would be
eaten. The hay manger always had timothy hay. This was also the time
when we discovered we needed to do the daily "perineal sac" cleaning..
Meanwhile, my husband passed away, and remembering what he had said
about reincarnation, I decided not to take any chances and gave the
Prince even more attention. At the ripe old age of 7 1/2 years old,
Prince had a most coveted position at the Laying of the Last Poo - he
was the dapper "Greeter" and got to meet all the attendees of the
festivities. PigAir and Chopper Pilot Max treated him most wonderfully
and he was most grateful for the company of Wilson and Mr. Cooders. He
enjoyed the music, HS Betty and HB Beethoven. And earlier this year- at
the age of NINE YEARS, he had the Cucumber Cooler ice-cream stand at the
virtual Pignic! Wilson made a special trip to get him because he missed
the RV. He enjoyed visiting with Niles Cougar, Sundae, Mr. Cooders and
everyone else who gave him special attention.  

Then, late June, Prince started having extreme difficulty using his
right rear leg so we went to the vet, who said he had a small bladder
stone (only one!! how did we get so "lucky"?) and his little bones
looked like sponge on the x-ray. Dr. Judith gave us baytril in case he
had a bladder infection and metacam to ease inflammation. To our
surprise (and the vet), he perked up and started being his "old" self
again. Meaning, there's only so much a 9 year old guinea pig can do - he
could no longer jump in or out of his cage, we had to pick him up, but
none of us (including Prince) seemed to mind. But he was still able to
walk from his cage to the kitchen for veggies and back to lay on his
towel near the cage. 

And now we come to the sad part of this long story -- about two weeks
ago, Prince started just staring at the corner of his cage, even when I
was in the room. I've read about this before but didn't want to believe
it. He would respond if I went right over to the cage, and he would
still eat fresh veggies, and water if I held the bottle right into his
mouth. I noticed his urine looked sludgy again and called the vet, who
was surprised he was still with us after the June visit. They had no
problem mixing up more metacam and baytril, thinking that might at least
help him be more comfortable. He quit eating his cavy cuisine, even if I
made a slurry. He quit drinking from his bottle, so I would give him his
baytril, then syringe water, then metacam, then syringe water. Off I'd
go to work, come home and put out the veggies and get him out of his
cage and put him next to the veggies. He'd still eat 
pretty well and even walk back to his towel, but it was obvious he was
not enjoying life. I started coming home for lunch (which I don't
usually do) to check on him, give him more water in the syringe, etc.
After he'd been on the meds for a week with no improvement, I wrestled
with the decision I needed to make. I called the vet's office and when I
got the right answers to my questions we decided Wed. the 16th at 11:30
would be our official "sendoff" to the bridge for Prince. I requested
that I be allowed to watch the whole procedure (which I will describe
soon - fair warning!) I got some pages from photo albums from when he
was little, up to the present. I brought the paper crown his "mom" Mindy
made for him to celebrate MY birthday last year. I brought a ziploc bag
with mini carrots. I brought a square of fleece with "Winnie the Pooh"
characters to wrap him for the trip. 
Prince's "mom" Mindy and her twin sister Cindy and their boyfriends and
my boyfriend all gathered at the vet's office. I passed around the bag
of carrots and we all took one and had a toast to Prince's long and,
hopefully, happy life with our family. With a large "crunch" of the
carrots, we called the vet into the room and she put the little mask
over his face to make him sleep (he didn't like that too much), then
when he was all sleepy she put him on his side so we could pet him a
little bit more, and then rolled him on his back. As she gave him the
shot into his heart, I mumbled a tearful, "'bye, Prince". We rolled him
onto his side as if he were sleeping. A short while later, Dr. Judith
put the stethoscope to his chest and announced, "he's gone". We stayed
with him for quite a while, crying, laughing at his antics, thanking him
for being such a wonderful pet. Luita's email to me echoed what I was
thinking, "Now cracks a noble heart. Good night, sweet Prince, And
flights of angels sing thee to thy rest."