Emma the Wonderpig is no ordinary "therapy animal" and neither are Peter-Peanut, Bhindi, Vinny-Guinea, and - of course - Squirrel!
We actually have a new home, a real home, to move into on Feb. 27th, our first in a year…and to ensure the Piggies stay in it if management ever changes their current "pets included" policy we are getting a note from our doctor describing them as "THERAPY PIGS" so it'll never be an issue. It came up back in Bellingham so we see it as a "pre-emptive strike" since the apartments aren't even finished, yet our favorite leasing agent is already moving on to another job. Guinea Pig Magazine did a beautiful job in 2012 with their article on guinea pigs as Therapy Animals (as they are more appreciated in the U.K.) but increasingly, here in the U. S., they're proving themselves loveful, particularly with hospice patients too weak to handle even a small cat or dog.
We hope to become well enough to get the computer repaired (or learn how to use it!) and provide photographs of the wee lads again soon and are happy to report that Peter-Peanut has responded beautifully to the heart medications he'll be taking for the rest of his life.
For the moment, I am too weak to get out of bed (thank you friends who are paying for professional movers: we couldn't do it without you!) and the move is Feb. 27th, so - until I get my strength back - the herd and Sami the cat, who has treated them like her own kittens since "her" Chai passed away, will all live together with POI. Since so many memories of Chai remain at POI's, it will be especially comforting having the piggies along when they move back in to brighten things up, transforming the herd into "grief therapy animals" in that respect.
I am not currently strong enough to give them all the care they deserve and medication treatments, but their brand new "habitats" with all the bells and whistles arrive any day now, and soon our new apartment will belong to them again: As it should! We so look forward to that time…we've never been apart quite like this before but they've bonded so beautifully with POI that I'm the one feeling most left out! Despite surgery and post-op treatment, the infections have not yet cleared but soon I'll regain my strength - AND with it, THE PIGGIES - SO MUCH TO BE GRATEFUL FOR!
Hope you enjoyed this unusual news report because the extraordinary dispositions and personalities of guinea pigs is rarely appreciated in the U.S. but that perception is beginning to change, one pig at at time!
Thanks all of you for your prayers, love, cards, emails, and support. It's a New Beginning and we expect our reunion in our New Home in a wooded, quiet little hamlet just north of Seattle (but not IN SEATTLE) to be absolutely JOYOUS! So, here's to New Beginnings and HOPE! And gratitude for the unique healing power of guinea pigs: gentle, affectionate, kind, forever forgiving, and their very own unique brand of Wonderfulness!
God Bless ~
