First post here. I'm struggling with the death of my guinea pig & all of my closest friends are out of town, so I thought I'd go here where people might "get it" & at least offer me someone to talk to.
My babydoll, Artica, was put down yesterday.
She was about eight years old (We got her September 14th, 2001 at a pet store, and she was "six to eight weeks old" at the time)
And she was also my best friend. The only living thing that never snapped at me for anything, and the only friend I had that I didn't lose at least for a time at some point for petty highschool-middleschool-gradeschool drama.
She was my ninth birthday present, and has been such a huge part of my life since then, always. The knowledge that my family might not know how to take care of her properly the way I did stopped me from a suicide attempt.
I was so impressed that she'd lived as long as she had.
She had cancer two falls ago, which she miraculously survived, after a surgery (She was six at the time). What took her in the end was horrible, horrible, arthritis which left her with ~10-40% mobility in the majority of her leg joints, so we thought that letting her go would be the best thing for her, since she couldn't walk anymore and seemed to be in a lot of pain, despite the medication we gave her.
It's so hard for me to process because she was so healthy even in May - running around on the floor and just being her usual lovable self (as she was in until the end). Every morning when I came downstairs into the kitchen she'd greet me with her wheeks, as she would each day when I came home from school. She relished in all the attention my family and friends would always give her, and she was probably one of the world's most spoiled guinea pigs as a result. I remember one summer I came home from camp after a couple of weeks, and the second she heard my voice coming through the door she started gurgling (the happy kind) louder than we've ever heard her gurgle before... and my family took very good care of her while I was gone, I'm sure.
I love her now, & will love her always. And I don't know what I'm going to do with myself now... I miss her so much.
So now I'm going to flood you with links to pictures =]
Her Face Her Outside Two Summers Ago My Sixteenth Birthday, Her Seventh Her And A Chipmunk, Summer 2005
Me Holding Her In May
Artica "Babydoll"
September 14, 2001 - July 18, 2009
RIP Honey