[Gpdd] [RAINBOW BRIDGE] Dolly Mixture Scoot

[Debbie Jones]

Some of you may remember how the gpdd community stopped the blizzards in
the Southern UK in February to allow slave Debbie to make it across the
English Channel from Lower Normandy to Cavies Castle in Hastings with
little Scoot, who had stopped eating. Debbie was sure he had a dental
problem, which rodentologist Tich would be able to fix. But in fact, when
his teeth were examined, there was very little wrong with them, but Scoot
was found to have an enlarged liver. Debbie left Scoot in the very
capable hands of these trusted rodentologists, who tried a course of
antibiotics, which reduced the swelling a little. But Scoot would still
hardly eat, and needed to be syringe fed to stay alive.

Debbie returned to France, but Scoot was lucky enough to be visited
fairly frequently by fellow gpdd-er Penny Piggyfriend, who very kindly
took him fresh grass, which he really enjoyed, and kept Debbie informed
of his progress in between text messages from the rodentologists. Further
tests showed Scoot to be anaemic, and in spite of Cavies Castle's valient
efforts, he gradually lost weight and ate less, in spite of being fed a
special new brand of baby food from a sachet, until finally, on the
morning of Monday, 20th April, he slipped quietly away to The Rainbow
Bridge.

Scoot would have been 2 years old on 10th May - still just a baby. We
acquired him after Zebra's brother and cagemate, Cannelletto, went to The
Bridge, so that Zebra need not be alone. Debbie will not give money to
breeders, and there are no shelters for piggies here, so she asked on the
Internet if anyone had a young male piggie surplus to requirements, and a
couple 2 hours away responded that they had bought 2 young female piggies
at a yard sale, both of whom had subsequently produced young. So on 2nd
June 2007, Debbie drove 2 hours in considerable heat to collect a tiny
little ginger piglet. She remembers his mum was white and had had 2
ginger piglets, and his aunt was ginger and had had 2 white piglets!

Zebra had been a lone pig (though with Fidget and Scrabble for
neighbours) all winter and spring, so as expected seemed quite pleased to
have a new piggie cagemate, and they lived outside happily together all
summer. The ginger piglet got his name because he was very nervous and
"scooted" everywhere - he never just walked, he whizzed! Then, when they
were moved indoors for the winter, Scoot started to bully Zebra, to such
an extent that eventually Zebra took up residence on top of his little
house and would not descend at all - he went to the bathroom there, he
ate there, we even had to set up a water bottle he could access from
there! So they had to be separated and became neighbours.

When Fidget went to The Bridge last winter, we did try Scoot in with
Scrabble for a while, but although there was no fighting, because
Scrabble was such a dear, gentle old man, we did feel Scoot was
dominating Scrabble,sometimes mounting him, so eventually they were
separated, and Zebra moved in with Scrabble. Scoot was always at the
wire, trying to get in with his neighbours, so Debbie put out another
appeal on the Internet and found someone whose husband had put the wrong
piggies together whilst she had been in hospital, resulting in a small
population explosion. Thus little Soturi joined the Dolly Mixtures, and
was introduced to Scoot, but Scoot was not at all impressed and attacked
him quite aggressively (yes, it was neutral territory and all that!), so
they had to become neighbours. Later Minstrel was acquired from the same
source as a companion for Soturi, but they are still only neighbours, as
they didn't really seem to get on, although a second attempt to pair them
will be made when they move outside for the summer.

So Scoot remained alone, apparently through his own choice, although he
was always chatting with the other boys through the bars. He was never a
really large pig, although his weight did reach 1045g in February 2008.
But from June 2008 onwards it started to drop steadily, although he
continued to eat well and appeared to enjoy his food. By the beginning of
February it had dropped to 730g, and that was when he stopped eating.
Debbie syringe fed him for a while, but knew that if it were a dental
problem, as she suspected, he would not survive unless it were corrected.
That was why she rushed him to the UK.

Throughout his illness, Scoot remained perky and alert, his coat shiny,
his eyes bright. We are so very grateful to Penny for having visited him
at Cavies Castle, giving him fresh grass and our love, and of course to
the two dedicated rodentologists, Chris and Tich, without whom he would
not have survived as long as he did. Apparently Chris had said to Penny
that, if Scoot had been a human, she would have suspected leukaemia, and
maybe that is what was wrong with him. It is always so frustrating when a
piggie is ill and no one knows what the cause is. He was not even two
years old yet - the four SCAMPs were sure he would outlive them. He was a
brave little soul, enduring that long ferry journey across the Channel,
and became very affectionate once he became dependent on human slaves to
sustain him through syringe feeding. He deserved a longer life, but at
least he slipped away knowing he was surrounded by love. He couldn't have
been in a better place than at Cavies Castle.

Run free, little Scoot, and may you find many piggie friends at The
Rainbow Bridge,

Debbie and 6 Dolly Mixtures

"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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