[Gpdd] Misc.: Re: Bonded Piggies

[guineapigfilms at aol.com]

Corrinne,

I agree completely with you that animals (and not just human animals) often 
grieve deeply for their deceased companions. Coyotes howl their grief for 
days after the death of a mate.

We had a mother/daughter guinea pig pair. The mother got sick, and even 
though we and our vet did everything we could to heal her, she died. The 
daughter then stopped eating, moped around, and less than three days later, she 
was also dead, even though the vet had examined her and found nothing wrong. 
Nothing physical was wrong, that is. We think that she died of a broken 
heart. And she had cages of other piggies around her. (This was in the days that 
Alyssa was making her movies, and she had lots of cast members.) But she was 
missing just one piggy, her mother.

We learned from that experience. When our older Yorkie died, his younger 
brother was confused and upset. He grieved so deeply that he stopped eating. 
Because we'd had to take his brother away in the middle of the night to the 
emergency vet and then we never brought him back, the younger one would race 
to the door every time the doorbell rang, then fall back, obviously very 
disappointed and unhappy. He was waiting for his brother to come home. We 
decided that we needed to get him another "sibling" and adopted a female Westie 
puppy. Well, his depression abated sharply and turned into rage!!!! He hated 
the Westie! 

It has taken a lot of patience and training to get the Yorkie to accept his 
Westie "sister." He will probably never love her, but he accepts he now, 
and will sometimes even play with her.

Corrinne, I do believe that Truffles could be grieving. And her grief might 
be helped by getting her another companion. 

Love and WHeeeeeeeeps,

Nancy & Alyssa & Otto the Very Vocal Guinea Pig