Here I am. A grown, 35-year-old man, at the keyboard, sobbing. It's okay though, I am human after all.
My wife and I drove all the way up from Los Angeles to the CavySpirit rescue in San Mateo to get our two boys: Jackson and Splash (father and son). Once we saw their photos online, we were hooked. Well, I should say "they hooked us"!
They were both so instrumental in our healing recently. You see, we lost a baby preemie, Andrew, this year. Without them, there is no way we would be doing as well as we are. No question.
Last night, our piggie, Jackson, passed away after having intensive surgery to remove a bladder stone. There were some complications, and the stress was just too much for his little body.
I feel like I want to blame someone, but I can't. Our vet, who is a fantastic exotics doctor, really did
all he could. And we did all we could.
- We kept a Calcium:Phosphorous chart on our fridge.
- We made sure to clean your cage (and your butt!) every week.
- We trimmed your nails.
- We ordered the best hay (Kleenmama) for you.
- We gave you the best (organic) vegetables.
- We gave you the cleanest, freshest water we could.
- We built you a nice, big C&C cage to live in.
- We gave you your medicine.
- We fed you Critical Care when you started getting picky about eating.
- We spent thousands of dollars on you and your son at the vet, but we didn't care about the money.
- We drove you 60 miles to a cavy specialist when we couldn't figure out what was wrong.
We did the best we could.
So, I want to say "thank you". Thanks to Jackson, who was always there to greet us with a little grin and pink piggie lips. Thank you for enriching our lives and giving us a reason to try and be happy and go on, despite everything.
I will miss you every minute of every day until the time comes when I get to see you and Andrew again.
