[Gpdd] CARE: Piggies over 5

[Luita Spangler]

Longish post here - my apologies.

My first guinea pig, adopted from a family moving away when I was 12
years old (MANY years ago) lived to be over five, in spite of my
appalling ignorance. With Dobben, I'm sure he just had good genes, and
also knew that he was adored, which probably helped. He was a very large
piggie, and very, very smart. He eventually came down with what I now
recognise as pneumonia, and was killed by a vet, who gave him a shot of
penicillin. He died in my arms on the ride home.

I've known several other long-lived piggies. Ginger lived to be almost
nine. She was a very thin piggie, more weasel-shaped than eggplant, and
not very person-centered until the very end. She recovered from a
stroke, but several months later just sort of faded away. What was
remarkable about her is that on her last day she absolutely refused to
die, fighting with all her diminished strength for every breath until we
told her it was okay to die. After that, she slipped away quite
peacefully. Luckily my partner was a nurse who had had many experiences
with death, and knew exactly what was going on - Ginger wasn't sure we
would be okay when she died, and needed to be told that it was all right
to go. 

Adelle, the piggie who moved from New Hampshire to Germany with me,
lived to be around five and a half. She had suffered a "childhood
pregnancy" (bought from an awful pet store) that I believe may have
compromised her health in the long run. She was, I think, very similar
to Brownie Bear in personality - very opinionated, very bossy, very
smart. She had mites once when she was four, completely recovered from
bumble foot when she was five, but died shortly thereafter from a weird
condition involving a growing mass on her shoulders, possibly bone
cancer, or come sort of calcium-growth problem. 

Amber and Cassandra were rescues and we were never sure how old they
were, but the vet here in Berlin (very guinea pig experienced) assured
us that they were very elderly, judging from the condition of their
feet. Cassandra had awful arthritis and couldn't move her back feet
during the last six months of her life, but was very bright and curious
up till the very end, dying at what we estimated was about six and a
half. Amber lived for several years after that - like Ginger, she was
thin, weasel-shaped and not very person-oriented until her last six
months. She grew very weak at the end, but was only content if she was
around us. We kept her right by one or the other of us as much as
possible, and she died peacefully in her sleep.

Right now Ernie is nearing five and a half, and Bert will be five next
March. They are both very healthy, although Ernie wheezes and coughs
sometimes. He has a special cough syrup that he gets on his "bad days".
Bert still popcorns sometimes. They, like the pigs before them, get
regular cucumber and apple slices in the morning, along with the
occasional pear and banana piece. They have free access to meadow hay,
fresh grass when I can harvest it, and get a food mixture that I must
admit has colored pieces in it, but they don't like anything else. In
fact, they always leave the pellets. Since the pellets are alfalfa
based, this is entirely okay with me. Each has about an hour of free-run
kitchen floor time a day (separate, since they'll fight). They usually
spend half of it running around finding cucumber and apple pieces I've
hidden, and then napping the other half.

I guess what I've noticed is that guinea pigs are much more
psychologically complex than the world gives them credit for, and have a
deep attachment to their humans, which shows itself particularly when
they know they are nearing their end. Age seems to be hugely gene-based,
and I suspect many guinea pigs die before five because of centuries of
poor breeding, particularly because of pet stores and their suppliers.
Hopefully as people's consciousness about and respect for "pets" grows,
paralleled by improved veterinary care, guinea pigs will gradually live
longer and healthier lives.

Luita
Bert and Ernie