[Gpdd] [RAINBOW BRIDGE] Brave soldier, SCAMP Scrabble

[Debbie Jones]

It is with a very heavy heart that I must inform everyone in this
wonderful gpdd community that I had to help my dear, brave old SCAMP,
Scrabble, to start his journey to The Rainbow Bridge last Tuesday
morning, 21st October. I so wish I could tell you that he slipped away
peacefully from my loving arms, but sadly that is not how it was. All my
worst fears about getting the local vet to help a piggie on its way were
confirmed, and I think in future I will stick to my tradition of allowing
the piggie to depart naturally, in its own time. The vet was running
late, so all the food I had taken for Scrabbywabs to be munching whilst
the needle went in was long eaten - I know, my fault for not taking
more, I was cursing myself. Then the first thing she did was look in a
book at her desk to see how to euthanase a guinea pig - filled me with
confidence, that did. I asked her if she had ever euthanased a piggie
before, to which the reply was no, but she had euthanased kittens - hmmm,
not much similarity there. Then she injected his back leg (as there was
nothing really left of his front ones), which hurt him and made him
squeal - he was lying on his back on her table, with me stroking his
little trusting head. Then we waited, whilst the anaesthetic supposedly
took effect, though of course as his eyes didn't close it was difficult
to tell, although the wimpering gradually stopped and his limbs did seem
to relax. Then out came the stethoscope to listen for his heart, at which
point I remembered another vet at the same practice once euthanising a
hen for me and saying the needle had to go straight into the heart and
sometimes it missed the first time. Of course, the tears and snot were
already pouring out of me. Then she plunged the needle into his poor
little body, and he squirmed and squealed - he definitely felt it, of
that I have no doubt. My poor little soldier, always so brave, always so
trusting. I only hope he could also feel that I was still there with him,
stroking him, and that I loved him so much. After he had gone, I asked
the vet to open up the one foot/leg which had become grossly deformed.
For about a week it had looked like he was wearing a jumper with no
sleeve and the arm was inside trying to find the sleeve opening. I didn't
think it was infected, there was no sign of pus or anything. So she did
cut it open, and we found that the bone had become deformed. I was right,
there was no pus, just these deformed bones which the vet said was bone
cancer. I don't rate her diagnostic skills very highly when it comes to
piggies, but it would make sense that it was cancer. Whether the
bumblefoot caused the cancer or the other way round we will never know,
nor would I want to know. But it did confirm to me that it was probably
right to help him to The Bridge. Scrabble was one of 5 piggies given to
me after 5 of my original rescues were massacred by dogs on 6th May 2003.
They were supposed to be 5 females, but it soon transpired that he,
"Pecan" as I had named him then, was a male, and so I gave him away to
Jack, to whom my partner had mistakenly given Fidget, Cherub's twin
brother, as a female some weeks previously. Jack named him Scrabble, and
he and Fidget became inseparable. When Jack had to move into an apartment
a couple of years later, he insisted that he wouldn't part with his
beloved piggies unless they returned to me, and so I got Fidget and
Scrabble back. Scrabble was always my heaviest pig, and a member of LAPS
- he will need a Rainbow Bridge sign over his name on that site now.
Eating was the main love of his life, though he also loved sunbathing,
and if he could be out eating lush green grass in the sunshine in his
summer run, that was his idea of a perfect occupation! He and Fidget were
always very close, and when Fidget went to The Bridge on 19th March 2008
I feel Scrabble sank into a depression, even though he still had Scoot
and Zebra in separate cages next door to him. I think he became less
active, and maybe comfort ate. On 20th April Scrabble's foot bled
profusely when I lifted him out of his cage and pulled off a wisp of hay
that was stuck to that foot - and I think that was the beginning of his
foot problems, although at the time it just stopped bleeding and there
was no swelling so I just carried on as normal. It wasn't until July that
I felt his front feet were so swollen he needed treatment, and I
contacted Chris and Tich at Cavies Castle, who said bumblefoot wasn't
really curable but wouldn't kill him unless he bled to death, but to try
Itrafungal. Thus started a long round of different treatments,
recommended first by them, then others recommended by a new French piggie
site, Cobaye Aventure, then more as advised by the local vets - and all
the time, the front feet continued to get more and more swollen,
developing huge great open sores. With the benefit of hindsight, I fear
the twice daily bathing the French site and then the vet got me doing was
doing more harm than good, stopping the sores from scabbing over, and
eventually I stopped this bathing. But it was too late. At the beginning
of summer, I tried putting Scrabble out in the same run as Scoot, and
they seemed to get on OK, but after a while I noticed Scoot would
sometimes mount Scrabble and try to dominate him. Scrabble didn't seem to
object, and never showed any aggression, but I felt he deserved better,
so tried putting Zebra in with him. This partnership seemd to work fine,
with them snuggling in their house together as Scrabble had done with
Fidget. But then on 3rd October, as you know, Zebra went very
unexpectedly to The Bridge after a short bout of diarrhoea, and Scrabble
was once again left alone. Throughout his treatment, Scrabble was always
patient and courageous. He continued eating really well, and taking his
medicines. He reached a point where he really couldn't walk, but he just
"scrabbled" along somehow to get to and from his food and bed. I started
to find him sometimes on his side, stranded and unable to right himself,
and he would just call weakly to me, knowing I would sort him out. He was
also suffering from anal impaction, which was exacerbated by his reduced
mobility, I think. It was a beautifully warm, sunny day here last Sunday,
19th October, so although Scrabble had been living indoors since 29th
September, I decided to let him make the most of the remains of summer
and put him out in the run. He immediately started chomping the grass in
the sunshine, though of course I had to stay beside him for when he fell
over. I took photos and video of him - in some he looked so well, but I
also took video of when he fell over. The next morning he developed
diarrhoea - and no, the run was not on the same grass as it had been on
when Zebra had developed the diarrhoea, it had been moved, and the girls
had been out in it the day before, with no ill effects. But Scrabble also
started making that wimpering noise, like a tiny puppy, which was made by
my Bafreur, Scruff and Muscade when they were about to leave for The
Bridge. Have other slaves heard this? So I knew his time had come. My
usual vet wasn't there, so I made an appointment for the next morning,
and to be honest I hoped that he would slip away by himself overnight.
But he didn't, and next morning he was chomping away at his food with his
usual enthusiasm. But he still had the diarrhoea, in spite of a dose of
liquid Imodium, and he started the whining again. I sang him my special
song as I drove him to the vet's, about how it was his time to go to the
Rainbow Bridge and he would see all his old friends again, especially
Fidget and Zebra. He chomped away on all the food I'd put in the box for
him. I hoped I was doing the right thing. Scrabble's body is buried in
our piggie graveyard, beside Fidget and Zebra. But his spirit is
popcorning around that Rainbow Meadow in the sunshine with his friends,
and he is free from pain at last. I can't believe how bravely he
tolerated that long three months during which his feet just got steadily
worse, and I was bathing them and dosing him up twice a day. I am about
to undergo some medical intervention myself, and if I can be even half as
brave as Scrabble was, I shall feel very proud of myself. Scrabble is
featured on the SCAMPS website, including one of the photos I took a week
ago of him in the sunshine - many thanks to Mieke for that. Of course I
will always wonder whether that last little sortie caused the diarrhoea
somehow, but actually, even if it did, I think it was worth it, as Scrabs
so loved the sun, and I think he was ready to go. Sorry this is so long -
but he was a BIG pig, he deserves a BIG sendoff. One very heavy-hearted
Debbie, with only 9 Dolly Mixtures left now

"We patronize them for their incompleteness, 
for their tragic fate of having taken a form so far below ourselves. 
And therein we err, and greatly err. 
For the animal shall not be measured by man. 
In a world older and more complete than ours 
they move finished and complete, gifted 
with extensions of the senses we have lost or never attained, 
living by voices we shall never hear. 
They are not brethren, they are not underlings; 
they are other nations, caught with ourselves 
in the net of life and time, fellow prisoners 
of the splendour and travail of the earth". 
Henry Beston

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