[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)
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