I didn't even know your name.

[4boipigs]

I will make another post to explain further, but right now this is about the pig.

You were sold in a pet store. Some woman who never should have bought you purchased you for her kid. You suffered terribly for a variety of reasons, and by some twist of fate you just had to appear at the end of my work day today. Your 'owner' said she couldn't afford a vet bill and our vet was gone for the day. No one else could or would, so I took you to the ER to send you on your way. I didn't know who you were, and I don't remember seeing you in the store the other day. I held you as you struggled for breath as we drove to the ER and waited for the doctor. Your 'owners' and the kid you were brought for may have cried for you, but no one will love or care for you as much as I did. I'm so sorry that this had to happen and hate the industry that allowed you to live like this.

 

[Guinea Pig Papa]

@4boipigs

Bless you for who you are. I mean that wholeheartedly.

I don't think this needs an explanation. It's painfully clear already.

 

[4boipigs]

@4boipigs

Bless you for who you are. I mean that wholeheartedly.

I don't think this needs an explanation. It's painfully clear already.

Thanks for the kind words. I've been extremely stressed since this happened. I couldn't stop thinking about it yesterday and felt very sad at work today. I could only think about the anger of working in a pet store, and wanting to switch to a branch not in a pet store or find a new job entirely. It doesn't matter that he wasn't 'my pig' or that I only knew him for 45 minutes. I drove him to the ER in rush hour traffic, speeding and taking toll roads that I hate to pay. I held him, I paid for him, I waited for him, and I got his little paw prints to prove that he was someone. And believe me if I had somehow been able to save him, I absolutely would have kept him. I would have lied and said he'd died, just in order to have him. I have never been this stressed about an animal before. I don't care how much the owner stressed out or how much the kid cried - if they really wanted to do something, they would have listened to me and taken him to the ER instead of hitting me with 'I can't afford the vet'.

Talking to my coworkers today and showing my vet the video made me feel better. We really think this was trauma related. I complained to anyone who listened, but in the end I still feel quite badly. I have been dreading such an event, and I hope it will be the last one or I simply won't be present for the next.

Quite possibly it was all meant to happen? I was going to bring my dog to work, but decided not to. The day was super slow. The woman showed up right as we were closing. The ER even had an exotics vet on hand, and I was told they usually never do and the vet hadn't been there for a month. They don't even see exotics. I just wish she had decided to come earlier on a Saturday, and our vet could have dealt with this for us. I still would have been upset, but not like this.

 

[Guinea Pig Papa]

You did what needed to be done. You did what his family didn't do. You have done for your OTHER boys what their families didn't do. To me, this makes you a very special person. You care where others don't, can't, or won't.

Don't lose that. Don't let it get you down. You have a strength that in my experience, few possess.