Is it normal to cry for 4 solid hours over the death of a guinea pig?

[Mintyy]

... because that is what I have done this morning [hsad] [hsad] [hsad].

And the children too, and even dh had a little sniff.

We lost our beautiful Cookie and we already miss her so much.

Thank goodness I am working from home today, there is no way I could have gone in to work the state I'm in.

[DameMarghoulFountain]

i cried buckets when the hamster passed away last week

sorry your piggie has gone too

[Mintyy]

thank you marghoul

you've set me off again

[Astelia]

I am sorry to hear that Mintyy, so sad.

When I lost a piggie a few years ago I was prepared as she had been very poorly with a cancerous lump. However when we lost a bunny to a very sudden heart attack (while hopping around the vegetable garden) I was devastated and cried buckets for days.

I have a poorly six year old piggie today, she has been losing interest in her food over a couple of days. Today she isn't moving very well. I am starting to brace myself as it isn't looking good. I'll take her to the vet tomorrow and see what he thinks.

[DameMarghoulFountain]

i don't care what people say, they are part of the family and we should grieve. properly. we cared about them and this is what is meant to separate us from the rest of the mammals, isn't it?

it will pass, but go with it. {{hugs}}

[MissKeithLemon]

I cried on and off for a day when our rabbit was brutally murdered by a horrible horrible fox. Until that point I didn't even realise I was at all bothered one way or the other about the poor rabbit.

You are totally normal.

Fwiw, I think its wirse because WE (as in parents) are also upset for our children, iyswim?

RIP Cookie

[MissKeithLemon]

worse obvs.

[ChippingInLovesAutumn]

I'm sorry to hear about Cookie - you do get very attached to them and it hurts like hell when they go :(

[Mintyy]

Aww ... six is a great age for a piggie Astelia.

[nickeldaisical]

sorry to hear it :(

but yes, grief manifests in different ways. it doesn't matter what or who has died.

[Mintyy]

dd wrote the sweetest poem which we read at Cookie's funeral. Will see if I can find it ...

She was never very large
lengthways I mean
she had a big white bottom
like the moon, it seemed

Not quite as fat as Peggy
but didn't they love each other so?
they had a special friendship
like we could never know

They spent many happy days frolicking
round and round their run
but it often seemed that
eating was more their kind of fun

She had very soft ears
and a lovely little nose
and did I truly love her?
I loved her so, so, so

I know we all are very sad
that our sweet Cookie is gone
but I think she would like it very much
if we could sing her special song

[song "Cookieburra lives in the Cookie tree" to the tune of "Cookaburra lives in the old gum tree"]

[Notquite]

Lord yes, we have wept buckets over our pigs. I took a sick 6 yo boar to be pts earlier this year and was in bits in the surgery. We're also bracing ourselves as our last little old lady pig is looking increasingly frail.

Sorry about Cookie. If you really miss them it probably means they'll have had a great life with lots of attention.

[Myliferocks]

So sorry!

Our 5.5 yr old GP died on Saturday night. We buried him on Sunday and our DS1, who is 9, made a little headstone for him and it is still sat in the garden on his grave.

[DameMarghoulFountain]

aw Mintyy

that's set me off again now

that's so lovely

[Notquite]

Lovely poem!!

How is Peggy?

[Mintyy]

I should think Peggy is quite lonely. They have never been apart. She is only two and a half years old [hsad].

[70isaLimitNotaTarget]

Oh .Mintyy.
Not a bad thing to cry at all, they are amazing little animals and yes you'll miss her.

Another pig passing so (yes myliferocks it was your piglgie a couple of days back, I remember your thread)

6 is a good pig age. I think they know when they are loved and looked after and they give back 1000% of the care and love .

[guineapiglet]

Aaw, bless her and bless you too - when I lost my special girl I was inconsolable for days!! - I really missed her and still do, and have shed more than a tear on the passing of each, so yes, please cry and dont feel that you shouldnt. I thought your daughter's poem said it all - these pets are so important to them and they love them so much. My first guinea boy, when I was about 8, died in a shoe box snuggled in my bed, I have never forgotten it and how desolate I was, so I think she was brilliant to put it all in to words in such a lovely and meaningful way.

[OatyBeatie]

I'm sorry to hear about your gp. It is sad. I have a nearly-nine-year-old pet finch and it's starting to trouble me that he is so old he could die any time. He's a dear fat little thing and I will miss him.

[MummifiedBonkeyMollocks]

Sorry to hear this :(

R.I.P Cookie!

[mercibucket]

:( so sorry, poor Cookie, she sounds very loved. What a lovely, heartfelt poem

[mercibucket]

:( so sorry, poor Cookie, she sounds very loved. What a lovely, heartfelt poem

[GobblersKnob]

So sorry Mintyy, even the smallest of pets touch your hearts, I keep rats and cry buckets of tears at every loss, their little lives are much too short.

I find this is lovely for a good weep, yet a lovely thought, it's quite for kids too

You have chosen tears

The little boy with the smudge on his nose stopped.Behind him, piggies were playing, chasing each other and wrestling in the warm sunshine.It looked like so much fun, but in front of him, through the clear stillness of the pond's water, he could see his mommy. And she was crying. He pawed at the water, trying to get at her, and when that didn't work, he jumped into the shallow water. All that got him was wet and Mommy's image danced away in the ripples. "Mommy!" he cried. "Is something wrong?" The little boy turned
around.

A lady was standing at the edge of the pond, her eyes sad but filled with love. The little smudge boy sighed and walked out of the water. "There's been a mistake," he said. "I'm not supposed to be here."He looked back at the water. It was starting to still again and his mommy's image was coming back. "I'm just a baby. Mommy said it had to be a mistake. She said I wasn't
supposed to come here yet." The kind lady sighed and sat down on the grass. The little smudge boy climbed into her lap. It wasn't Mommy's lap, but it was almost as good. "I'm afraid there is no mistake. You are supposed to be
here and your mommy knows it deep down in her heart," the lady said. The little smudge boy sighed and laid his head on the lady's leg. "But she's so sad. It hurts me to see her cry." "But they knew right from the beginning this would happen." "That I was sick?"

That surprised the little smudge boy. No one had ever said anything and he had listened when they thought he was sleeping. All he had heard them talk about was how cute he was, or how fast he was or how big he was getting.
"No, not that you were sick," the lady said. "But you see, they chose tears."
"No, they didn't," the little smudge boy argued. Who would choose to cry? The lady gently brushed the top of his head with a kiss. It made him feel safe and loved and warm - but he still worried about his mommy.

"Let me tell you a story," the lady said. The little smudge boy looked up and saw other animals gathering around. They all lay down near the kind lady and looked up at her, waiting. She smiled at them and began:

A long long time ago, the Loving Ones went to the Angel in Charge. They were lonesome and asked the Angel to help them. The Angel took them to a wall of windows and let them look out the first window at all sorts of things - dolls and stuffed animals and cars and toys and sporting events. "Here are things you can love," the Angel said. "They will keep you from being lonesome." "Oh, thank you," the Loving Ones said. "These are just what we need." "You have chosen Pleasure," the Angel told them.

But after a time the Loving Ones came back to the Angel in Charge. "Things are okay to love," they said. "But they don't care that we love them."
The Angel in Charge led them over to the second window. It looked out at all sorts of wild animals. "Here are animals to love," he said. "They will know you love them." So the Loving Ones hurried out to care for the wild animals. "You have chosen Satisfaction," the Angel said.

Some of the Loving Ones worked at zoos and wild animal preserves, some just had bird feeders in their yards, but after a time they all came back to the Angel in Charge. "They know we love them," they told the Angel. "But they don't love us back. We want to be loved in return." So the Angel took them to the third window and showed them lots of people walking around, hurrying places. "Here are people for you to love," the Angel told them.
So the Loving Ones hurried off to find other people to love. "You have chosen Commitment," the Angel said.

But after a time a lot of Loving Ones came back to the Angel in Charge "People were okay to love," they said. "But sometimes they stopped loving us and left. They broke our hearts." The Angel just shook his head. "I cannot help you," he said. "You will have to be satisfied with the choices I gave you."

As the Loving Ones were leaving, someone saw a window off to one side and hurried to look out. Through it, they could see puppies and kittens and dogs
and cats and lizards and hamsters and rabbits and guinea pigs and ferrets.
The other Loving Ones hurried over. "What about these?" they asked. But the Angel just tried to shoo them away. "Those are Personal Empathy Trainers," he said. "But there's a problem with their system operations." "Would they know that we love them?" someone asked. "Yes," the Angel said.
"Would they love us back?" another asked. "Yes," the Angel said. "Will they stop loving us?" someone else asked. "No," the Angel admitted. "They will love you forever." "Then these are what we want," the Loving Ones said.
But the Angel was very upset.

"You don't understand," he told them. "You will have to feed these animals."
"That's all right," the Loving Ones said. "You will have to clean up after them and take care of them forever." "We don't care."The Loving Ones did not listen. They went down to where the Pets were and picked them up, seeing the love in their own hearts reflected in the animals' eyes.

"They were not programmed right," the Angel said. "We can't offer a
warranty. We don't know how durable they are. Some of their systems
malfunction very quickly, others last a long time."But the Loving Ones did not care. They were holding the warm little bodies and finding their hearts so filled
with love that they thought they would burst. "We will take our chances," they said. "You do not understand." The Angel tried one more time.
"They are so dependent on you that even the most well-made of them is
not designed to out live you. You are destined to suffer their loss."The Loving Ones looked at the sweetness in their arms and nodded. "That is how it should be. It is a fair trade for the love they offer."

The Angel just watched them all go, shaking his head. "You have chosen Tears," he whispered.

"So it is," the kind lady told the piggies. "And so each mommy and daddy knows. When they take a baby into their heart, they know that one day it will leave them and they will cry ."The little smudge boy sat up. "So why do they take us in?" he asked. "Because even a moment of your love is worth years of pain later." "Oh."

The little smudge boy got off the lady's lap and went back to the edge of the pond. His mommy was still there, and still crying. "Will she ever stop crying?" he asked the kind lady. She nodded. "You see, the Angel felt sorry for the
Loving Ones, knowing how much they would suffer. He couldn't take the tears away but he made them special."

She dipped her hand into the pond and let the water trickle off her fingers.
"He made them healing tears, formed from the special water here. Each tear holds bits of all the happy times and petting and shared love. And the promise of love once again.

As your mommy cries, she is healing. It may take a long while, but the tears will help her feel better. In time she will be less sad and she will smile when she thinks of you. And then she will open her heart again to another little baby." "But then she will cry again one day," the little smeeze
boy said.

The lady just smiled at him as she got to her feet. "No, she will love again. That is all she will think about."

"Look," she said. "The butterflies have come. Shall we go over to play?"
The other animals all ran ahead, but the little smudge boy wasn't ready to leave his mommy. "Will I ever get to be with her again? "The kind lady nodded.
"You'll be in the eyes of every piggy she looks at. Especially those with dirty smudges on their nose. And late at night, when she's fast asleep, your spirit will snuggle up close to her and you both will feel at peace.

One day soon, you can even send her a rainbow to tell her you're safe and waiting here for when it's her turn to come." "I would like that," the little smudge boy said and took one long look at his mommy. He saw her smile slightly through her tears and he knew she had remembered the time he almost fell off the top of the cage and she had almost fallen flat on her face to save him "I love you, Mommy," he whispered. "It's okay if you
cry."

He glanced over at the other pets, running and playing and laughing with the butterflies. "Uh, Mommy? I gotta go play now, okay? But I'll be around, I promise." Then he turned and raced after the others.

[Mintyy]

Ah bless you and thank you for that GobblersKnob .

It was the sight of her little lifeless body wrapped in the pink towel that the vet gave me that really tipped me over the edge.

Got to stay positive for Peggy now [hsad].

[bitsofmeworkjustfine]

my DD did that and more over a chicken called Toffee. some animals touch us in places that humans cant. that chicken was the world to my DD, she used to take her for walks and even took her down the slide! We have a wonderful photo of DD with Toffee in the basket of her bike!

friends are friends... it doesnt matter that they are different than us!