RJ's Story: The One Neglect Wouldn't Let Him Tell

Some of you already know that I rescue Guinea Pigs. I suppose what I have is an in-home program. I've seen the heart-breaking cases that most rescues deal with, and I've debated sharing the worst that I've seen with you all. So far, the only people who know of it are the people responsible, and the people involved. Don't continue reading unless you have a box of tissue nearby. RJ's story, needs to be told. It may help you to question judgement if it ever comes time to find your pigs to find new homes.

Ralphie, the pig from the previous (now pinned) thread, died taking everything about him with him. Or so I thought.

Shortly after he died, I noticed that my sister's guinea pig, Layla, was gaining weight. Somehow, Ralphie had gotten her pregnant before he died. I assumed it had happened during their floor time - the only time they were unsupervised.

I pleaded with my parents to let me keep one of the babies. Because every one of those babies had half of Ralphie in them. I messed up with him, and I missed him terribly. Having a part of him with me again, would help me to forgive myself.

Two months later, the litter arrived. I sat next to the cage somewhat afraid for momma and her babies. I dreaded anything bad happening to them.

Perched on the floor, I counted the babies one by one as they appeared from beneath Layla. So far there were four. I could tell there was one more. The first four looked much like her - brown and white, with smooth fur. One looked a bit more gold.

I waited anxiously for number five. I began to worry when Layla showed signs of exhaustion. She laid in the corner of the cage for nearly ten minutes, not moving. Fortunately, her breathing began to calm and she stood up again. I watched and waited. And soon, about twenty minutes after the last of the first four were born, number five appeared.

He was much smaller than the others, possibly indicating that he was a runt. But I didn't even notice. My mind was too distracted by the fact that he was the spitting image of my beloved Ralphie.

I named him RJ. Ralphie Junior. And had to bottlefeed him a few times because he wasnt getting enough of his mother's milk. He ate other foods, but didn't seem to be gaining any weight.

Unfortunately, my parents wouldn't let me keep one of the babies. One by one they all disappeard as people answered our ad in the local newspaper for baby guinea pigs "Two dollars each". I think RJ's feelings would have been hurt if he were able to understand that no one wanted him because he was the runt. Everyone could tell he was still much smaller than the others even at almost five weeks of age, and they all must have assumed he would die. He was the only one who didnt have a home.

But one day, my elementary school called. My fifth grade teacher at the time, told me she saw my ad and wondered if there were any babies left.

"Well, there's only one left. He's the runt, but I swear his heart is the biggest," I said to her.

"Would he make a good classroom pet, you think?" she asked me.

I was ecstatic. If she made RJ the classroom pet, all the kids would want to spend more time with me and want to hold him and know all about him. I didn't have any friends that year, and I know now, that she wanted to see me make some friends. It was pretty crafty of her to do what she did.

"Okay, we'll take him. I'll have the kids roam the campus to collect cans for the money. And once we have it, we'll bring him in. That okay?"

I know now that my teacher was doing a wonderful thing. She wanted to teach her students responsibility and at the same time, make me some friends. She was such a beautiful person.

The next day at school, she announced something slightly different than what we had discussed.

"Class, Kayla and I have a surprise for you all," she began, "Since you all have been doing so well, we've teamed up to reward you with something that will take teamwork to keep."

All heads turned to me. I wanted to shrink in my seat. But I didn't, because some of those faces were smiling with excitement. They were smiling at me, and whispering, and murmering.

"Miss Kayla has a baby guinea pig for us. We'd like to buy him and keep him here as a classroom pet. I've made this list of what we need to do in order to buy him and on the back is a chore list." She spoke as she passed out the lists. "Each of you will be assigned a chore that will help us to take care of this guinea pig. If you don't want to participate, that is perfectly fine, but you won't be able to hold or play with him. Now, let me see, by a show of hands, how many of you want to make this work."

33 hands went up that day. Kids came up to me thanking me, and asking me if I wanted to join them with various activities. I couldn't believe all the attention I was getting and the pig wasn't even there yet. Soon the saving began.

And we did it. We scrimped and saved every can and bottle that the sixth graders carelessly dropped on school grounds. And two bags later, we had made our two dollars. The following day, I had company as I walked on my way to school. RJ ran around excitedly in his box. I heard the bell ring, and I was the last to enter into my class. All the students cheered when they saw the box and were eager to get out of their seats. My teacher let me walk the box around the room to each student so they could meet and pet RJ. After the last student had met him, I walked to the front of the room with the box to let the teacher hold him. Soon, the whole class had fallen in love. And I had made my first friends.

About a month later, as I sat in my desk listening to the teacher talk, I laughed when she was interrupted.

"No, RJ, you cannot help with the fractions," she smiled at him when he interrupted the class lesson with some squealing. Everyone laughed. On days when he was really obnoxious, the teacher would allow our "piggy president" (whoever was assigned the role) to hold him during the lesson. And I'm positive that he peed on every single student in that class. But none of them cared. They loved him.

We all worked together to clean his cage every three days. Changed his water before and after class. hand fed him at recess under the supervision of the teacher. RJ was the talk of the whole school. Kids in other grades loved him. Even the sixth graders took to him. the jungle gyms became very lonely at lunch and recess. Everyone wanted more of that perky little piggy.

After sixth grade, I left to attend middle school. I visisted RJ, as often as I could. He made more and more fifth grade friends every year. And because of him, I had a normal social life. I had so many friends and people who finally got to know me because of him. But time with RJ grew scarce because classes got harder. Homework increased. Then there were dances, and boys, and soon, it had been a whole six years since I'd seen RJ.

When I thought about him one day, I called my old fifth grade teacher to ask about him. "Well, sweetheart, I don't think you'd recognize him," my teacher said to me. "We've renamed him Godzilla. Why don't you come visit him this weekend. I'll be in my class decorating for the holiday." I agreed.

And when I walked in my old class and saw him, I couldn't believe my eyes. That little runt that I carried to school in a pepsi box could no longer fit in a pepsi box. He had grown so big that they had to save more cans to buy him a bigger cage. And I understood why the class had decided to rename him Godzilla. Holding him nearly made me cry. When my teacher was away, I held him close and thanked him.

"RJ, I couldn't thank you enough for bringing so much happiness and love into my life. I know you're just a pig and you don't understand, but I stand firm on the belief that Ralphie left you here to save me. If it weren't for you, school would probably still be miserable for me. Thank you baby."

But what really tugged my heart was what I think might have been a kiss. Yep, honest to God, that pig lifted his head up and licked me right on the lips with his little tongue, just like Ralphie did. EXACTLY like Ralphie did...

I cried.

And tried hard to explain to my teacher, who finally saw me, that everything was okay, I just missed him. She wouldn't have understood the truth. I thanked her too, before I left.

"Mrs. Pargett, I didn't know then, but I know now what you did all those years ago. And I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for giving those kids a reason to get to know me. Because of you, my personality has bloomed, and.. I just don't know how to thank you."

She simply nodded and smiled, and I left after a goodbye.

Doesn't sound cruel, does it? That's because it wasnt. At least not while RJ was living with my fifth grade class. Not too long after my visit, the elementary school board cast a vote about RJ. "He's too distracting for the children," some of them said. "His cage smells, and some of the children have allergies," others claimed. The verdict? RJ was banished. They gave my teacher a time limit to find him a home. And when she had no luck, she called me.

Unfortunately, could only keep RJ for a short time, because I'd be moving soon. Then I, too, heartbroken and sorry, had to find him a home. I wanted to keep him so bad because it felt so much like having Ralphie back again... but it just wouldn't work. I was woorking full time and going to college soon with my older sister. He'd have to get another home.

After asking around, my grandmother mentioned her neighbors were looking for a guinea pig. When I stopped by with RJ, they fell in love. And I found myself driving back home without him. After talking with them, I was pretty positive that they knew what they were doing and that they would be responsible owners for RJ. SO I kissed him goodbye, and he kissed back, just like Ralphie, and I handed him to his new owners. They already had a cage, a big house, and just the three of them living there.

This time I'm old enough to know it wasn't my fault. How was I supposed to know they'd mistreat him. After six months of college, I had a break and drove back to my hometown to visit him.

I knocked on the door and someone with a beer in their hand answered.

"What do you want?" the guy said. I felt very threatened by him, and tried not to show it.

"I'm here to see the guinea pig," I replied.

"And if I say no?" he slurred.

"Then I'd be happy to call Laurie, the pig's owner, and the same lady who garunteed me visiting rights, to explain your rudeness to her." I said firmly.

He didn't say anything, he just walked away and left the door open. I assumed that was my okay to come in. The house was like one of those houses you see on clean sweep only worse. There were now seven people living in the house. Children were running around screaming and I didn't know who to ask about the pig.

"Who are YOU?" one of the little boys asked me.

I tried to smile as I said, "Could you please show me where the guinea pig is?" The boy told me to follow him and I did, up some stairs, down a hallway and into a room.

"In here," he said. Then he brushed passed me and ran back downstairs.

I could hear my heartbeat. There was no cage. Only boxes and HUGE piles of clothing and garbage everywhere. I could see a washing machine in one corner and a mattress on the floor in another. I was really scared.The house smelled of pet feces and mildew.

"God, how could I have left him here...?" I thought.

I began to pick up some articles of clothing, watching closely where I stepped in case he was free-roaming in the room underneith everything. When I got to the biggest clothing pile, I looked closer and saw some wiring. I moved all the clothes and I couldn't believe what I saw.

A cage...
And a pig...

that wasn't moving...
alive, but not moving... like Ralphie was on his last day.

It had been wired shut, and I had to break the plastic on the bottom to get to him.

I was careful not to touch the maggots that infested the cage and the clothing too. My beautiful RJ was skin and bones... No food. An empty water bottle... I was so angry I could feel the blood cells racing for first place in my veins. I pulled out my phone and began taking pictures of the cage and the pig.

"There's no WAY these guys are getting away with this..." I said through tears.

When I was done I picked RJ up. He was weak, but tried to move when he saw me. I cry now just remembering... the diagnosis.

RJ had two broken back legs... it looked like one of the dogs had gotten to him. He had to drag himself around with his front feet because his back legs were useless and scabbed. There was goo coming out of his eyes and noes. and from his chest down was soaked with urine and old feces from no cleaned cage. I brushed off the maggots and looked desperately around the room for some guinea pig food... only empty beer bottles.

As I sat on the floor, I cried so very hard and held my poor baby gently against my chest, even though I was wearing a white shirt and I could feel the yucky moist from his fur bleeding through it and touching my skin. He breathed heavily and I just cried probably the hardest I've ever cried. Finally I found a small pile of food underneith a red shirt. It must have been spilled. I grabbed some and offered it to RJ, who weakly ate it from my fingers. Finally I stopped crying. It was all anger now...

I wrapped him in the cleanest towel I could find, and headed out the door. At the bottom of the stairs, the same guy who answered the door confronted me.

"Where do you think you're going with him?" he said. "That's my kid's hamster."

"I'm taking him AWAY from here!" I said back with hatred in my voice.

"I don't think so, put him back."

"Oh okay, where?" I replied, sarcastically, "Would you like me to put him back in the maggots or in the dirty clothes? Take your pick..."

I think that was when he knew I meant business.

"This poor GUINEA PIG, NOT HAMSTER needs a vet.. you gonna pay for it?" I asked. "I'm sure you could trade a few beers to cover the bill.. but you probably arent willing to do that are you?" He just stood there with his arms crossed, looking down.

"That's what I thought..." then I brushed past him, and just before shutting the door behind me, I said, "By the way; this is animal creulty, and YOU are going to court... Better hope they'll accept beer if you don't want to go to jail!" then I slammed the door and placed RJ in my car seat. (To this day, I'm still proud of myself for that statement).

I cried all the way to the emergency vetrinary hospital. They took him as soon as I walked in the door and I began signing all the paperwork. I waited for an hour with my hands folded in silent prayer that RJ was going to be okay. When I was done praying, I pulled out my phone and called the police. They directed me to the people I needed to talk to and I was told there were going to be people contacting me to collect the evidence I gathered with my phone.

Soon RJ was carried out in a fresh veterinary towel. He was clean now, and had a carrot in his mouth. It made me feel so much better to see that he was doing even a little better. I didn't know the Vet very well there. But I trusted her. She greeted me and we shook hands.

"Well, Kayla, he's got a dim future," she said to me.

My heart sank...

"He could make it, but the rest of his life will be miserable. He has nerve damage in his spine that isn't repairable. His left hip is dislocated and both legs are broken in more than one spot."

It was so much I had to sit down.

"In addition to that, he has two tumors. One looks to be cancerous. And all of his muscles from his front legs down are atrophed. In other words, useless or paralyzed. He can't even use his rectal muscles so he has a horrible anal infection. He's suffering, and I think it's best to put him down."

She handed him to me. And I cried. If only sooner, if only this, if only that... my mind went on but I knew I had to stop. This wasn't my fault. The vet waited for my answer. I cried and kissed RJ on the face.

"I have the injection ready... he won't feel a thing and it will be best for him..." she encouraged.

I shook my head. I knew she was right... "Okay," I sighed, nearly choked to death by the tears that wanted so badly to fall. The vet disappeared and returned with one more paper to sign and a needle. I signed it, and she administered the shot. Rj couldn't even feel it, he was paralyzed.

"I'll leave you with him. He won't be gone for another minute and a half. Savor it honey," she told me.. and then hugged me gently and sat next to me to wait.

"I love you... Go be with Ralphie," was the only thing I could bring myself to whisper to him as his muscles stopped tensing, his breathing slowed, and his gentle voice stopped the light squeaking.


That time it was easier. I wasn't a child. I knew that what happened was not my fault. And the day I received a card from that vet apologizing for my loss, was the same day that I got a phone call. I was informed that the vet's and my written testimony and photographs of RJ was enough to put Laurie in jail for a year. She was also heavily fined.

Rumor has it that she lost her house. ALl the animals at her house were siezed because apparently they, too, were being neglected in some way. I was proud. I think I did Ralphie proud.

This all happened before Dolly's rescue. I'll never forget it. Any of it. Its only one more story that propels me on my voyage to save guinea pigs, everywhere.

No matter what.