[Gpdd] [Announce] Brownie "Pumpkin Pig"

[Britt and Brownie Hageman]

It is with a heavy heart that I must announce the passing of one of the most
fiesty guinea pigs in the world.. Brownie "Pumpkin Pig"...

He was one of the whackiest piggies around.. constantly doing the "Piggie
500" and popcorning all over the place.. always always nibbling on his bars
despite us telling him to stop.. A constant wheeker when he heard any bag or
the refrigerator door open.. Brownie was 4 1/2 years young..

He had been fighting kidney failure since the beginning of January.. We
finally found a good vet that did blood work and found the root cause of his
inability to walk.. or stand up on his own.. We got some medicine and
critical care.. I fed him three times a day, meds twice and vitamin c once
daily.. As long as he was happy, it didn't matter how sleep deprived I got
to be.. I was going to keep going.. In the end..hoping that HE'D choose when
he wanted to go...

Last week I saw that he dropped some more weight.. He had been maintaining
1lb 6 oz, up to 1lb 8oz.. and for any normal pig, that'd be bad.. but for
him at this point in his life, it was good.. he dropped down to 1lb 4oz and
that was even after feedings.. I increased the food amount and took him back
to the vet to get his teeth checked to be sure that wasn't why he was losing
weight.. of course it wasn't.. his teeth were perfect..

He was doing very well.. eating lots of hay.. some pellets.. going to the
water bottle and even biting his bars again.. he was trying to wheeek
although his wheeker was broken.. if you stood right by the cage you could
hear him with the smallest little wheek with the biggest mouth open trying..
he was walking much better.. until yesterday.. His weight had been back down
to 1lb 4oz.. My mom watches my 10 month old son in the mornings at our house
because it was just too hard to get Brownie fed, me ready and the baby fed
and make it out of the house by 7.. many many mornings I have been mondo
late for work.. I knew things weren't right yesterday morning.. it was hard
to get him fed.. he'd been REALLY liking the critical care and going after
the syringe.. he was taking it but a lot of water was dribbling out of his
mouth.. he'd even spit some of the critical care out instead of inhaling it
and wanting more.. I got home from work and his afternoon feed was even
harder.. more of the same dribbling of the water and spitting out of the
CC.. He was even wobbling.. My mom had told me at lunch that Brownie had
laid down on his side and couldn't get back up.. I just knew it.. I knew
what was coming.. I then usually fall asleep with my son around 9 and then
he goes to bed.. I wake back up around midnight to do Brownie's night feed..
I woke up to a scratching sound.. it was the sound of his little feet
scratching against the side of the cage because he had wandered out of his
cozy and laid down and couldn't get back up.. he felt even lighter.. when I
tried to stand him up, he couldn't stand.. I tried again.. nope.. couldn't
stand.. I tried it several times.. I then realized that he was at the end..
I asked my husband if there was any point in even feeding him.. if he didn't
have the muscle control to stand, how was he going to have the muscle
control to swallow?  I didn't want to choke him to death.. I held him for a
few minutes and told him that I loved him.. I also told him again that it
was okay if he wanted to go.. As I tried to fall asleep last night... I
prayed that he would choose to go "home" to be with his brothers Jo-Jo,
Rumble, and Oreo.. If I would have had to wake up and make the "appointment"
to get things "taken care of" and make the 45 minute trip with him staring
at me the whole way.. I would have gone insane.. I pretty much knew he was
gone.. because in the two times I actually fell asleep last night.. one was
a dream that I had to take BPP to the vet to let him go "home".. The vet was
in tears as she handed him back to me after giving him the meds.. and I had
to hold him until he went.. which was a loonnnnggg time.. I'm glad it didn't
happen that way.. I sent my husband downstairs this morning to check on
him.. I didn't want to be the one to find him and no one else wanted to be
the one to tell me.. My husband came back upstairs in tears and I knew it
was all over.. We fought hard.. for weeks.. and he was a happy pig... in the
end.. it happened the way I had hoped.. with BPP chosing when he wanted to
go.. curled up in his cozy.. just going to sleep.. It's only in the single
digits here right now.. highs maybe around 20.. it's supposed to warm up to
almost 40 by next weekend.. so I'm going to get him "ready" and put him in
the freezer until next weekend when we can hopefully have a funeral for
him.. I'm keeping him in his cozy.. he loved those things sooo much..

I'm sorry that I have rambled.. if you have even made it to the bottom of
this message.. I'm going to go on lurker mode for a good while.. I sure hope
this list continues.. My heart has been broken so many times.. but the love
of the pig will always remain.. I'm going to take a few years "off" and
probably bring another piggie into my home once I've had all my babies and
they are more independent.. It's so hard with one infant.. let alone another
with a future toddler..

Thank you for being such great friends over the 10 years that I've been on
the digest.. I hope to keep in contact with you..

Leah - Honey.. please know that when it's BBear's turn to go.. Her man is
waiting at the other side for her.. He's been waiting an awfully long time
to be with her in person :)  I don't want that to happen for a long time
though.. keep her healthy.. you do a damned good job with her..

Piggie Hugs and Kisses,
Britt & the late Brownie "Pumpkin Pig"

Remembering at the Rainbow Bridge:
Oreo (4/26/00 - 9/15/02), Jo-Jo (1/24/99 - 5/17/00) and Rumble (1/24/99 -
12/31/00)..
My "Angel Piggies"

"A friend is someone who believes in you when you have ceased to believe in
yourself."