RIP Rocky Guinea Pig

[bunrab]

Rocky passed away during the night, apparently quite peacefully. We knew he was getting old - guinea pigs tend to get thinner when they get really old, even when they are still eating heartily. Which he was, yesterday, and wheeking and being scritched and nipping me when I was checking his teeth and nails. We have no idea how old he was - as with all our pets, he was a rescue, and in his case he was already an adult, and his previous owner had no clear idea of his age, when we got him. He is survived by his son Boots, age 3. Rocky was an abby-ruvian* mix of tortoiseshell colors, very cute looking. He was not the brightest headlight on the highway, but he was a sweet and gentle piggle who enjoyed running around, munching on hay and treats, and wibbling conversationally with Boots.

* for the non-cavy-cognoscenti out there, abysinnian is a breed with rosettes, or cowlicks, all over the body hair, and peruvian is a breed with long hair; the mixture produces an even sillier looking coat than abysinnian alone does.

We'll have to wait till the snow melts to find the appropriate spot for Rocky. His silly nose and floppy ears will be missed.

Comments

[o-jenny.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry. I'm glad he passed peacefully, though. He sounds like he was adorable.

[bunrab.livejournal.com]

He was adorable. Thanks.
The thing with small pets is, they're generally short-lived. Rats are much smarter than guinea pigs, but they live only 3 years, 4 is extraordinarily old for a rat, and they're not as cute. Guinea pigs are much stupider than rats - I love them, but I can't deny they're stupid - but they are so cute, and they do live 5 years, sometimes longer; the oldest we ever had lived to be just short of 9. So it's a little less painful having piggles than rats. The chinchillas are very long-lived, for rodents - there's an explanation for that partly in the fact that they're semi-arboreal - and cute (though not quite as cute as piggles) - and smart (though not quite as smart as rats) - but they are very expensive, and high maintenance. So it's really difficult to find an ideal small fuzzy critter. Our older chinchilla, Chili, is 14 years old next month - we got him as a rescue 9 years ago, and the person who surrendered him actually knew his birth date and all - and unfortunately, he's getting on in years too. Average lifespan for chinchillas is somewhere over 10 years, longer even than rabbits - exactly how long is different everywhere one looks, but one can pretty well expect 12 years, and 15 is not vanishingly rare, if not exactly common. So we have Chili at 14, Pickle Underfoot the cat is 16, Persephone GP and the 3 rabbits are age unknown, and Boots the GP is 3, because we got him when he was a month old so we know his age.

I tend to ramble when I start mulling over all the little critters that have crawled, hopped, and bounced into our lives...