[Gpdd] [Rainbow bridge]: Lotje

[Mieke Staaks]

Hi fellow guinea pig lovers,

It's with a sad heart that I have to let you know that Lotje, our beautiful
red and white rex piggie, died on the 4th of April.

My boyfriend Erwin and me were on a holiday in the south of the Netherlands.
On the 1st of April we already noticed she was not doing well.
So we took her to the vet, he thought she was a bit swollen and gave us
something for gas, advised us to start antibiotics again (this was actually
the 3rd time since last summer) and also gave us some salve for her paws
that looks red and had little scabs.
I think she got the scabs from lying to long and much in her own pee, since
she was not feeling okay a few days before.

This medicine we gave her did not seem to do a lot (usually when she had
gas, it worked great, and she'd be back to her happy self and eating
happily). So I had this bad feeling she might not make it, when we brought
her to my mom, who would pigsit her, Guiny and Dunya.

On friday evening we got the dreaded call from my mom that Lotje did not
make it. My mom took her to the vet, because she was also sneezing,
breathing hard, and her eye looked running. The vet said she was dying and
asked my mom if they should put her to sleep. She'd been having small
seizures, when they were at the vet. Apparently she held in there quite
long, the vet said she had a good strong heart. I'd like to think she wanted
to wait just a little bit longer, until we came home, so she could say
goodbye to us... My mom gave permission to put her to sleep, so she would
not have to suffer any longer.
I must say I'm sort of glad that I did not have to make that decision, I
know I would have found it very hard. I feel bad though that my mom had to
make that decision, because she was really feeling bad about Lotje dying
while staying at her place.
We  cried a lot, especially Erwin, who had this really special bond with
Lotje. She would let him do practically anything with and to her. Now when I
look at the cage with Lotje missing and Guiny being very quiet, i just feel
awful.
But we, and my mom, tried our best to keep Lotje healthy.

She was always a very happy piggie, always munching away, or other wise
relaxing in her little basket or underneath the hayrack (close to the food
of course!).
She reminded us of a little dog, she would come if you called her and could
beg for food like no other. Standing with her paws on the edge of the
basket, looking at you with her little beady eyes...

Lotje was loved by anyone who met her (except maybe be the non-guiny pig
people). You could always see on her little face what she was thinking.
She became Pet of the Day on the first of April in 2006:
http://petoftheday.com/archive/2006/April/01.html
She featured in the calendar of a shelter here in the netherlands (it a
shelter who had a lot of satin pigs), of course she always was in our
calendars (she was really photogenic), and she was 8th on the contest of
being cuddly last year. We still have the trophy and lots and lots of pretty
pigtures. We are going to pig one out to have it put on canvas, so we can
put it in our new house.

Lotje also features in a short movie Janneke made and put on youtube,
together with Dunya, who was trying to steal Lotjes food by pulling away the
foodbowl. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRhHgIdVIgY (if this link does not
work, go to youtube.com and search for: Dunya wants to eat too!

Lotje pigticipated in some virtual events, where she had lots of fun.

Lotje, we already miss you a lot!
Now you can eats lots of parsley at the rainbow bridge.
Say hi to Winky and Jan the boar for me.
Janneke, thanks for helping me raise Lot to a nice piggie of 4 years old!

Lotje, thanks for being in my life and getting Janneke just as hooked on
piggies as I am.

Sad wheeks,
Slaves Mikey and Erwin,
and the remaining Winky Girls: Sad Guiny and Dunya
Lotje for always in our hearts



-- 
pandameisje at gmail.com
pandameisje at hotmail.com
m.staaks at pecoma.nl

Blog: http://pandameisje.hyves.nl
Cavia's: http://winkysgirls.hyves.nl