[Gpdd] [RAINBOW BRIDGE] RIP Beloved Boulotte

DebJonSara at aol.com DebJonSara at aol.com
Tue Nov 13 01:42:31 EST 2007


It is with a very heavy heart that I must announce the departure to The  
Rainbow Bridge of our beloved Boulotte. I don't want to dwell on the manner of  
her death, because it was due largely to my own negligence. I had been  feeding 
her separately on the dining room table for several weeks, because she  had 
been losing weight, and on this occasion I went to the toilet and when I  
returned she was sitting on the floor, having obviously fallen, first onto a  
cushion on a chair, then with the cushion to the floor. 2.95lbs July 2004
 
I had been taking Boulotte (and indeed Scarecrow, my lightest piggie) out  of 
the cage they shared with good eaters Soulage and Cherry and putting them  
with extra big helpings of veggies on a towel on the dining table (the cage is  
on the dining table). Usually Boulotte would just sit there munching, and  
Scarecrow would munch until she'd had enough then go raid the fruit bowl for  
apples or chew on the cage bars to tell be she wanted back in. When Boulotte  
finished eating, I would pick up the few grass stems they"d missed and feed  
these to her one by one, then put her back in the cage.
 
However, that evening I nipped to the toilet whilst Boulotte was still  
feeding, and when I got back, she was no longer on the table - she had  apparently 
fallen onto a cushion on a chair, then with the cushion onto the  carpeted 
floor. Of course I panicked and picked her up, and although she still  ate some 
grass I offered, I could see she was even more "wobbly" than she had  been 
before - and she had been getting progressively more wobbly on her feet  over the 
past few weeks. Now whether it was the increased wobbliness that caused  the 
fall, or the fall that caused the increased wobbliness, I will never know  and 
always torture myself over. The fact is that, when I returned her to the  
cage, she had difficulty standing upright, and by bedtime she was lying on her  
side. I gave her a warm pad and put a towel over her, and prayed that she would  
not suffer long. I debated whether I should take her up to lie on my pillow, 
but  though she loved a cuddle, she was always really a "pigs' pig", and I 
felt she  would be more at ease surrounded by her cagemates. She had left for the 
Bridge  by next morning.
 
Boulotte's name meant "Tubby" in French slang, and she did used to be a  
tubby pig. I rescued her as a teenager in January 2003, and rehomed her shortly  
afterwards, along with Soulage, Sable and Argentée. They were all returned to 
me  shortly after the Dog Massacre of 6 May 2003, and by then Boulotte was 
already  tubby. Her front legs bent outwards, and I was never sure whether they 
were like  this because of her weight, or whether she was tubby because the 
deformity  caused reduced mobility. At her heaviest, in August 2004, she would 
have been  eligible for LAPS, weighing in at 2.95lbs, but I don"t think LAPS 
existed then.  By her last weigh-in, she had diminished to 785g, and her bones 
protruded from  her back. I knew the local vet would be useless, so just had her 
on hospice  care, like Claude had been.
 
Boulotte was a wonderfully gentle, placid piggie. She was the one I would  
give suitably seated children to hold, because I knew she would just sit there  
and lap up the strokes. I knew she was not frightened as she would always eat  
when being cuddled. When I had a poorly pig, for example Red Dandy, I would  
always give them Boulotte for company in their hospital cage, because she was  
always gentle and snuggly - I never saw her rumblestrut. She wasn't really a  
wheeker, but her claim to fame was to tip up the heavy food bowl to sift 
through  to find her favourite bits. She did this until the day she passed away. 
 
There is a photo of Boulotte on the _Serendipity at Blinkz.com_ 
(mailto:Serendipity at Blinkz.com)  website, and I  believe she also features in one of the 
photos I submitted for next year's  calendar. I am certain she knew how much she 
was loved. I sang her my special  songs about The Rainbow Bridge that night when 
I knew she was packing up her  memories ready to leave, and she is now 
reunited with Harem Master Claude and  many other Dolly Mixtures waiting in that 
Rainbow Meadow. She is free from pain  and can eat all day and night if she wants 
without getting any tubbier. 
 
In sadness
 
Debbie (and the dozen grieving Dolly Mixtures)
 



   


More information about the Gpdd mailing list