Endings & Beginnings (An Image-Heavy Update)

When we came home from the rescue on Sunday, we found our little old Pandora curled up as if asleep. Unfortunately, she would never wake up again. Our Pandy passed away sometime between late Saturday afternoon and early Sunday evening. Here's a photo of her from her first day home.

It broke our hearts, but I think Chris took it a bit harder as the girls are his babies. He decided he wanted to adopt the hamster we are fostering. So sorry to see you go so soon Pandy. We'll miss you, and were glad to finally give you a permanent home filled with love and care. Good night sweetie.

My good news is that I've decided to start fostering guinea pigs for the rescue. This weekend we picked up two boys to help Carla out. Their names are Walter and Logan. If you're interested in either of these two adorable boys, contact Carla of the North Jersey Guinea Pig and Hamster Rescue for an application.

Walter is friendly and affectionate 1.5 year old chocolate, beige, and white American. His family gave him up after deciding on getting a dog. They felt that there would be no room for their guinea pigs once they did. I have my opinions on that, but I'll just be polite for once and keep them to myself.

Anyway, our wonderful Walter has taken to begging for attention and treats, which is just too adorable. He's going to make such a great little friend for someone.

Logan is our resident tough guy. He's a black, gold, and white American Crested. At six months, he doesn't weigh much more than our little Bobby, but he's got a lot of courage. He's a curious boy and likes to sniff around for adventures.

Lo-lo and Bobby often call out to each other, while Walter and Phin seem to talk among themselves from their respective cages. It's funny to see the young bucks and older boys forming little piggy cliques. I've never heard of such a thing.


I woke up at 05:13 this morning with an idea for a name for the baby (I didn't want to wait on Chris anymore). So the baby is now called Ursa.
The idea hit me when I remembered the day we picked her up from the shelter; as I held her she began to roar at me. I thought of calling her Leona, but then thought better of it. I gave the task of naming her to Chris, but we were still calling her the baby.

Aside from her little roar, I thought about the ad Chris found in one of his old comics about hamsters which referred to them as "little bears." So Ursa seemed perfect when I thought about her little roar.

As for the boys and Amora, they're all doing well. I'll end the entry with photos of them taken earlier this week.




An amazed Amora poses for the camera.








A fattened Phin after a snack of strawberries, sitting in his favorite place in the world -- his pigloo.










A bigger Bobby, safe and snug in the back of his cozie.

The Beginning, 05/25/07 - 05/27/07

My boyfriend I discussed adopting a guinea pig last week. The next day, I set out to find a local shelter that carried and cared for the critters were were seeking. While browsing through Petfinder, I stumbled across two of the most handsome boys I've ever seen. Despite still feeling the ache that the death of our beloved Noah brought in April, the house just wasn't the same without a piggy presence. When I saw these two, it felt as though they were supposed to be with me.

I filled out the application, and received notice that same day that I was approved! We were happy to hear this, of course, so you can imagine our surprise when we were bringing them home Sunday afternoon. They were called Snowball and Sooty -- very generic names for guinea pigs. This wouldn't do. These boys were unique, fun, inquisitive, and their names should reflect that somehow. They were renamed Phineas Q. Butterfat and Robert O. Goren.

Because the process went so quickly, the Bear (my boyfriend) and I couldn't get everything we wanted to on time -- a lovely C&C cage, Oxbow products, etc. They had the basics though -- two water bottles filled with fresh water, pellets, and fresh veggies. I made it my business to schedule an appointment with a local vet on a day off, and socialized with our new family members.

So one chapter has ended and a new one has begun. It's the beginning of our new life together, our little adventures. I can't wait to see what happens.