RIP Boots Guinea Pig

[bunrab]

Boots passed away this evening, around midnight. He was a little over 4 years old. Long-haired guinea pigs tend not to live as long as short-haired ones, and Boots was a Silkie - a Himalayan Silkie at that. He was gorgeous. Dumb, but cute enough to get away with having no brains. Himalayans have chocolate "points" like Siamese cats, except of course for the tail, and otherwise pure white fur (rather than the cream/tan that Siamese cats have). Silkies have hair that doesn't quite grow as long as Peruvians, and it doesn't grow forward over their eyes; instead, it grows back in a sort of sweep, with a clear part down the middle. Guinea pigs tend to get old very suddenly - no long old age; they're middle-aged until one day suddenly they start sleeping more (although they're still active when awake), eating less, and losing weight fast, and it's usually only a few days to, at most, a few weeks, before they pass. (I had one guinea pig who got arthritis, and lived for a couple more years after that anyway, but other than arthritis, he didn't exhibit any signs of old age until the end. I miss Rover.) Anyway, Boots followed that pattern - he just slowed down and only ate a little bit at Sunday evening's snack, and then slowed down more.

We'll miss him; he was shy, but once he got picked up, he was fun to pet. He didn't wheek as loudly as Persephone does, but he always made sure that he didn't get ignored when the treats were being handed out. He was one of those piggies who can lose a treat just by dropping it, but he always eventually found them again. He was, in short, a very piggly piggle.

Sleep well, Boots.