Seasons Change...And So Do The Days of Our Lives

 

There was a pull and tug in my heart...
a darkness I could not describe,
nor understand. A darkness was
gathering in the skies, the water,
the sea, and in me...

 

It told me to find another guinea pig but
it didn't tell me why. So, every day for about
ten days, I asked the Pull & Tug to explain.
ONLY SILENCE.
Three days ago, I listened to my Heart.
Hearts don't give reasons, they whisper
only of Love.
I knew this had something to do with love
and that my friends would tell me how crazy
I am because I couldn't explain it.
I listened to Love anyway because
she has never been Wrong.

 

Yum-Yum had been doing poorly 
and I was worried for quite some time.
Guinea pigs live (if they are lucky)
an average lifespan of 5 -7 years.
Yum-Yum is between 5 - 6, I think.
He was the second rescue I ever got,
back when we still lived at the Wildlife
Refuge and PandaPig ADORED him.
But something didn't feel right.
It just seemed like he was fading,
losing interest in life. He has Ankylosing
Spondylitis (his spine is fusing and arthritic)
and his body is riddled with benign lymph 
tumors. He never complains, though I hear 
him cry out sometimes.  
Animals hide illness because
 in the wild a poorly pig would be 
fodder for a predator.
He has been courageous. Still, my heart ached.
 

Three days ago, I did the unthinkable.
Having read articles about how good guinea
pigs are as therapy animals for hospice
patients too weak for a dog or cat,
I thought "Why wouldn't a guinea pig
be a good therapy animal for a hospice
guinea pig?" and I found a squirrel and
brought him home. It was spontaneous
on one hand, but had also been percolating.
QUESTION WAS: Would Yum-Yum 
love him or try to eat him? It was a gamble.
Meet precocious "Squirrel."

 

 

 

 

 

LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT!
I made a little "barnyard" for
the two of them under the antique
drafting table i got at a thrift 
shop for drawing. 
They loved it!
Yum-Yum adores his baby 
squirrelly-pig and is no longer
lonely and despondent, like before. 
He has a protege pirate
to groom and bestow his Pirate
Powers upon. He is happy.
~*~
THE "WHY" REVEALED:
This morning, one day after moving
in together, Yum-Yum became sick 
and saw the vet this afternoon.
I couldn't believe it.


He and Squirrel were dining on
organic romaine lettuce leaves
when Yum-Yum began having what
looked like dry heaves, convulsions! Guinea pigs do not throw up. 
He kept convulsing. The vet 
didn't find out why. But she did
discover a small bladder stone,
blood in his urine, his temp was 
below normal, and he is ill.
You know what? 
Whatever happens now,
he has his Squirrel and us.
Yum-Yum is geriatric, ill, and has treatment to endure. But he is no longer alone, listless, lifeless, like before.
 He's happy in "the barnyard" with his special baby pirate who - at just five weeks - already sports that FINE 
"James Bond/Yum-Yum Swagger."
Whatever happens and for however 
long he remains in our lives,
Yum-Yum will receive all the 
love, care, compassion, and companionship we can gift him
 for the rest of his life.

As for those naughty Vampires and Werewolves?
Bhindi and Peter-Peanut, are spared
(for now) the "Snip-Snip."
...to be continued.
For Now, it is Good.
~*~