[Gpdd] [RAINBOW BRIDGE] Faith

[ME]

I'm sorry to hear that Faith is gone.  I lost my Faith 4.5 years ago  
after I had only had her for a few days ... I actually lost most of  
the rest of that group already ... Charity a few years ago and  
Liberty in November ... the only one left is Providence.  Originally,  
I had Faith and Charity (June 2005) ... but after Faith died, I found  
Liberty (July) ... Providence (also in July) came a few weeks later,  
quite by accident.  I still have my Hope and Grace (they've both just  
turned 6).  It's kind of interesting that we chose the same names.

There are always plenty of "if onlys" you can come up with.  All the  
procedures I do now are a result from "if onlys" ... regular  
weighings ... daily and weekly exams ... hand feeding procedures ...  
the list goes on.  Sometimes I think about the pigs long gone and  
feel a little guilty about what I learned from them at their expense  
(i.e. I used my guinea pigs as "guinea pigs") ... but the only thing  
we can do is learn from our experiences.  I don't think of them as  
mistakes ... since I think most of them are just because of  
inexperience ... and alot of what I tried early on were suggestions  
from my vet.  But since he's not had much experience with long term  
care with pigs, I had to learn on my own ... finding out what works  
best to keep pigs healthy and how to lessen the effects of illness on  
them.

Take your time before getting a new pig if that's what you need to  
do.  I couldn't imagine my life without at least a few pigs ... and  
since I've had between 4-8 pigs for over ten years and don't plan to  
change that in the near future, I don't have to worry about not  
having pigs.  I find having a bunch helps me grieve a loss.  But I do  
know losing a bunch at a time is a real bummer.  I lost four in the  
space of 5-6 months ... that was a horrible time for me ... but my  
little fuzzies did help me get through it.