Turns out he came as a package deal with his partner Sunset, who was bigger and brown, and also very cute. We got them that day, for 5 bucks each and 10 dollars for a big cage. This would probably have cost 150 bucks at petsmart, another point for saving animals! We loved them very much, spazzy little buggers that they were. We renamed the black one Stanley (after a long lost stray I took care of named Stanley Springer), and the brown one Mo for the mohawk she sported on her back. They were already pretty old, 4 years, but they were active, especially Stanley, who would scamper around the room if let loose, pooping where ever he dang well pleased! They made me very happy, being my first animals, it was so fun to just sit and watch them run around and scarf down greens.
A year and a half later, after many heads of lettuce, bags of cedar, and piles of hay, my spazzy Stanley died. He was just fine one day, and the next day very sick. It was a weekend and by the time I got the guinea pig doctor at the emergency vet on the phone, little Stanley had died in my hands. It was the first time one of my, not the whole family's, animals had ever died in my life. Even those animals I grew up with did not die until after I had moved out, so I guess it was new for me. He was 5 and a half when he died, most guinea pigs only live until 5 or 6. It was very hard, of course, but I had a wonderful friend to help me through that day.
I missed Stanley very much, then. And as you always do, I wished I had spent more time with him. So La Puerca Aburrida got a lot of attention after that. Guinea pigs live as pairs, and after Stanley died, I was sure that Mo didn't have long. I continued to be sure of this for months and months, but she just kept going, happy as ever, inhaling her parsley like a furry little wood chipper and tribbling whenever I walked into the room with a plastic bag. Eventually I became convinced that Mo would outlive us all, she just had too sweet a deal to be done yet. Moey lived through the death of her friend, through some manner of kidney problem that was never fully understood, through a weird bald patch that appeared and disappeared completely inexplicably, through a tumor she had to have removed, she just kept going.
I got pretty used to the idea that Mo would just always be there, to be honest. I got a cat when I moved, then another, then a dog, and a couple temporary guests in between. But Moey was the first, she was sort of a constant. But for the last couple weeks, it seemed indefatigable Moey had finally begun slowing down. Old animals always get a little creaky, and she was no exception, but once she stopped being able or willing to walk around and feed herself, it was obvious something was wrong. I've been feeding her by putting food under her face, and making sure she gets water by pushing it into her mouth (and getting nibbled in the process! Ungrateful!) I'm afraid I did not accept this change very well, she had been becoming more sedentary for a long time, so it wasn't that dramatic a change to my eyes. But when I brought her to the vet, it was so sad, they looked at her as if there was no hope, they knew her fate just by looking at her. I couldn't take that, right then, and I brought her home with me anyway. I don't know if that was selfish, but I wanted a few more days with her, a few more days to make sure she wouldn't rebound yet again, a few more days before I could believe the Unsinkable Moey Brown could be leaving me.
Moey lived to be almost 8 and a half years old. The vet said she was the oldest guinea pig he's ever seen. I know I've given her as long and good a life as I could have, but today, on July 26th, Moey couldn't go any longer. She had trouble breathing yesterday, I had a final appointment at the vet for her tomorrow, but when I got home from work, she was dead. I believe she lasted as long as she could, she was still very warm and had not yet become stiff, which happened quickly w/ Stanley. I wish I had come home just 5 minutes earlier to be with her at the end. I know I did my best, I spent all my time that I wasn't sleeping or working with her the past 3 days, but I wish she didn't have to be alone. Hug your animals extra long tonight.
Here's one last picture to remember my guinea pigs by, hideous buck toothed monsters that they were, clamoring for food! I will miss you, my handsome little Stanley and beautiful little Mo.
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