[Gpdd] Rainbow Bridge - Paddington

[Julia Kennedy]

I rarely post, just lurk, usually only posting when I
have a passing to announce and today is no different. 
It is with heavy heart that I announce my beloved boy,
Paddington, has gone to the bridge.

7 weeks ago, he had bloat and with a lot of work from
me, and a lot of advice from the CCT, he made a full
recovery.  However, this week it came back.  I thought
I'd discovered it early enough, and treated him with
all the right drugs, but I guess it was just his time.
 He actually got better towards the end of the week
and he looked a lot more "Paddington-like" - I got up
at 6am on Saturday to give him a couple of syringes
and he seemed a lot better, in fact, when I put him
back with his friends, he even went and had a look in
the bowls for some food.  My heart soared.  However,
when I got up 3 hours later, he looked dreadful - he
wasn't moving and when I put him on the floor to see
if he could move, he just sat.  I rushed him to the
vet, but when he took him out, he lay on the table and
rolled to the side and didn't make any attempt to
right himself.  My vet said that he didn't think I was
going to win this time and that I should help him over
the bridge - I wasn't surprised, so, yesterday
morning, 05 May, he left me.  It was hard, but I know
it was the right decision, I couldn't let him suffer. 
We think he must have had a stroke sometime between 6
and 9.

Paddington came to me on September 19 2004, the same
day that Butterscotch arrived with Leah - as everyone
else on the digest, we were always amused with
Butterscotch's antics, but we always thought extra
fondly of him as he arrived on the same day as
Paddington.

Fate brought Pad to me - I had always wanted a silver
guinea pig, but never saw any.  Until one day, I was
away at a friend's wedding, and popped in to a pet
shop to get some hay.  There was a beautiful silver
pig - I asked what sex it was, and found out he was a
boar.  I had lost my boar, Timothy, a couple of months
before and needed a new one to keep the peace with all
my girls, but had been biding my time as I was selling
my flat and didn't want 2 cages in it while showing
people round and had resisted the temptation.  But how
could I resist the first silver pig I had ever seen?? 
I couldn't!!  So, he came home with me.  As he was a
baby, he had to live by himself for 7 months until he
was big enough to be neutered and then safe to go in
with my girls.  We did a lot of bonding during those 7
months, and he was my little baby.

He had such a large personality, and was the most
friendly boy - he used to lick me on the lips, and
loved snuggling down for a cuddle.  Friday night was
always Pad night, and we would sit on the sofa
together watching rubbish.

There is a log cabin in their cage, and he loved
nothing more than standing on his hind legs and eating
the roof - we always joked that he should go outside
and sort the roof of our house out, but he just used
to look at us as if to say "get real, I'm a guinea
pig".

He was never the most healthy boy, I almost lost him a
few times before now - he would always start off well
with syringe feeding, but would get fed up with it.  I
knew this because he would pull the syringe out of my
hand and throw it on the floor.  What a boy!

I could go on and on, as we all could, about our
darlings, but this is getting long enough already.  I
still have 5 girls left, which is a huge comfort to
me, but there is a huge Paddington shaped hole in my
heart.  All the girls are subdued, but seem to be
doing OK.  We buried him in the garden today beside
Belinda and Iolanthe, both of whom he knew.  But he
has left his special friend, Persephone, behind.  She
is being given extra special care at the moment.

Goodbye, my handsome boy, thank you for all the love
and laughter you gave me over the past 2 and a half
years - it was too soon for you to leave, but you'll
never leave my heart.

Julia, Cordelia, Persephone, Emily, Bearlette and
Phoebe
xx

Remembering Tabitha, Charlotte, Perdita, Ophelia,
Delilah, Timothy, Belinda, Iolanthe and now
Paddington, at the bridge.

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