Goodbye Harvey

I haven't looked at this blog for a long, long time. I was looking through and realized I had a draft from 4/19/19 titled "Goodbye Harvey". I think I was too sad to post at the time, but I want to give him a final post.

Harvey passed away last April. I found him peacefully lying down half-in his little pigloo. He died most likely of heart failure due to his pneumonia, the poor little guy. He was such a sweet pea, and I miss him. I'm glad, however, that he is at peace (by this year, he would be an extremely long-lived guinea pig!) with his brothers, Biscotti and Xabi. Thank you, Harvey, for being your cute, timid, curious, mischievous, little self. I miss you and your brothers, and will always remember the role you played in a critical point in my life. 💕

Here are some of my favorite photos of that little Harvey-Houdini:

Fresh veggies for the Harvster.

On a pignic at Fountain Park, our apartment complex in Indiana.

He loved his teepee!

This was the photo on his Craigslist ad.

Before I found out cardboard boxes can give piggies static lice. Oops!

This is the day after my mom and I drove up to Anderson, Indiana to pick up these three little pig, pig, pigs. Isn't he adorable?

Harvey's illness

Harvey had the sniffles so we took him to the vet. Luckily we were able to find an exotic vet much closer to home. I'm so glad we took him in because it turns out what I thought was just sniffles was actually pneumonia. After doing some research, pneumonia is the most common cause of death with guinea pigs. 

As you can see, his lungs are very gray. The vet said that there should really be more black. The gray means there is fluid in his lungs.

We have him on antibiotics and also probiotics (strawberry flavored Activia). I completely changed his environment so that hopefully he isn't surrounded by the bacteria that caused this in the first place/Biscotti's stuff.

Below is an X-Ray of Xabi. As you can see, his lungs show a lot more dark space (air). 

Happy Pigversary!

Three years ago yesterday we adopted the three little pig pig pigs. We celebrated with carrot cake for the humans, and a fresh piggy salad for the boys: green lettuce, cucumber, sweet red, orange, and yellow mini-peppers, carrots, fresh parsley, and cherry tomatoes.

I'm really missing Xabi, but it was fun to clean Scotti & Harvey's cages and hear them squeak and pip around before discovering their delicious salads. 

Happy pigversary!

Happy Thankspigging!

Pool Pigs

Xabi's Progress

I am VERY happy to report that Xabi is up to 1022 grams! He has not been in that weight range since June. He has gained 148 grams in 3 weeks! That's a 1/3 of a pound! Go Xabi boy! (Unfortunately, Harvey has also been packing on the weight, and is now in the 1300s, so we'll be scaling down his pellet portions.) And cute Biscotti is nice and athletic as always. :)

EDIT: He's back down. :( Not sure what's going on. Looks like another vet visit is in store.

Piggy Picnic...Pignic

My mom bought us this little pig-carrier that we can take to the vet, or, as I decided yesterday, on a picnic! The pigs were nervous-squeaking the whole walk (which is like 2 minutes) to the green area at the center of our apartment complex.

 

"IF YOU THINK I'M GOING TO COME OUT OF THIS CARRIER, YOU THOUGHT WRONG!"

"Oh, you brought parsley? You didn't mention that..."

"Um, excuse me? What incentives do I have here?"

"Oh, well, this is acceptable."

(I LOVE this photo! Hahaha!)

Here's Biscotti the Not-So-Brave. For all of his rumble-strutting, he is the most nervous in situations like this. He is cautiously testing the waters, here. 

Carrots make everything easier.

Isn't that right, Scotti boy?

Xabi Chops, being cute. (And in focus, for once!)

Eventually they all got out of the bag! Aren't they adorable?

Favorite Spot

Now that we have a loft, the pigs have found their new favorite spot. It is on top of a little bed that my mom made, that I put in the corner of the loft. 

Post-feast fatigue. "So...full...can't...move..."

 Xabi has a fiesty side-eye. Reminds me of Lucille

Biscotti, the bossiest of them all, taking a nap. Probably exhausted from all of his rumble-strutting.

 Isn't he so cute? This is before they spread hay everywhere. Here Biscotti is soaking up the morning sun on a weekend. (Although, to guinea pigs, every day is a weekend)

Harvey, settling down for a 15 minute interval of sleep before going back to the regularly schedule program (eating).

Cage Expansion...again

I recently made yet another expansion to the pig cage. It is something I'm both proud of and a little embarrassed by. I'm not sure how long it will last, because it's going to be a pain to clean, buuuuut, let's just let the illusion play itself out, shall we?

Ta-daa! A new loft! We'll see how long it lasts. They don't seem overly excited about a new ramp. I'm not entirely sure they know how to climb it yet. They can also run all the way around underneath the loft, and there is a little cubby with a bed, too. 

Fancy ramp with side walls.

Xabi, the forever black blur.

"Oh, you just spent hours expanding our cage to an even larger size and added on a new fancy loft? That's nice. I think I'll sleep in my tiny, shabby, old teepee instead. Night night!"

Fresh Cage

Yesterday the piggies got a nice, fresh, clean cage. They are always much more active and curious when this happens. I wish I started recording right when we put them in. I also wish the lighting was better, but oh well!

Fun with Hay

Nobody sees me!

Oh, how convenient. Someone put this trough out for me to sit in while I eat!

Now I'll poop in it, so it makes the hay stink and nobody else can eat it!

Nothing to see here!

Time for a little nap surrounded by my dinner.

Dinner Time!

Young Pigs

I found this video from back in July. Aren't they adorable!? They all look so young! Especially Harvard. 

Cuddle Time

 Aren't they cute? I love how Harvey does a little turn-around like cats and dogs do before laying down. Also, Xabi's ear twitch is adorable. He is practically asleep there! Biscotti was content staying in his little tunnel. (aka the arm sleeve of my robe)

Bath Time!

Look how beeeee-yooooo-tee-ful I am!

Phone

Guess who has a new phone that has a camera with FLAAA-AAAASH!?