[Gpdd] Rainbow Bridge: Shipwreck Sam made his final Voyage

[Sandra Oliver-Poore]

Hi Everyone. It’s my turn to write THAT letter. Sammy died very peacefully
the evening of July first. It was 5 ½ years since I bought him and he was
still a baby then. He insisted I was to take him home with me; there was no
denying him, I had no intention of ever buying a piggy. We had a great time
together but he had started to slow and he was getting grey around his
muzzle. He never sick a day in his life until the last.  

I believe he may have had a stone block the outlet for his bladder. I have
little evidence. The only sign of a possible stone problem was a spot of
blood several months ago. It was tiny and didn’t recur so I thought he
passed it successfully. Then a few days ago I picked him up and his bottom
was completely wet, but not foul looking. I gave him a quick butt bath with
baby soap, he had no scald or injury, or any sign anything was wrong. I have
no sense of smell so maybe that’s why I missed a sign. Sammy hangs out under
the water bottle a lot and that’s where I found him wet. The bottle seemed
emptier than it should have been, so I thought he was too lazy to get up
when the water bottle failed. I watched him closely for three days and he
still hung out under the water bottle. The paper and bedding seemed
unusually wet and dirty so I just started changing his bedding twice or
three times a day. Third day I noticed the water bottle definitely dripping
so I took it apart, put in a new washer and everything went back to normal,
in retrospect too normal, the bedding too clean.  Looking back I don’t think
the problem was a leaking water bottle. 

Sammy’s appetite seemed a little down so I sprinkled a little Critical Care
on his romaine. He only ate half; he hates critical care so I brought a new
leaf of really nice lettuce. An hour later I came back, he hadn’t eaten it,
and he looked droopy. I picked him up and turned him over; at this point I
knew he was irretrievably ill. I wrapped him up and we spent a couple hours
together talking about all his adventures with his piggy friends sailing the
seas, his girlfriends, and the many friends who would greet him at the
bridge. I asked him to meet me there. We sang some lullabies. He grumbled a
bit after a while so I put him back into his cage and he went for his
pigloo. I stuffed it with hay to keep him warm and went off to fix a snack.
When I came back 15 minutes later he had just gone. I think he was one of
the piggies that wanted to leave privately. I miss him with all my heart
almost every second. I cleaned up his cage and things, and spent half the
night vacuuming hay and re-arranging furniture. I just didn’t want things to
look the same because they aren’t and won’t ever be. This morning when I got
up, I knew it would be the first time in a very long time there would be no
one to greet me and that I would be making breakfast for one. I thought if I
worked hard cleaning up it would sink in better, so  far I think it has
helped. So many times today, that same thing happened; I walk into a room
expecting something but it’s so quiet; I make a meal and start to make his.
He insisted we eat together and  if I fed him first that didn’t count he had
to get more when I sat down. He was a wonderful companion.

Goodbye my friend, My incomparable Sammy. See ya on the flip side.

Sandy and Ar.   

 



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