Mochi 10/02 – 01/10

After a month of soul-searching and long goodbyes, our guinea pig, Mochi, crossed the Rainbow Bridge Saturday afternoon.

We made the decision Friday night, after he looked a little worse for wear – again – and was having trouble using his hindquarters – again. We knew it was coming, but I think we’d been hoping he would go on his own. That little guy had a heart of steel, though, and no number of strokes were going to keep him down. Since Christmas though, he’d been less and less inclined to leave the vicinity of his water bottle, and would become impacted almost every other day. He was still eating (so long as his dish was within stretching distance) and drinking, but when I held him I could feel his little bones.

Early Saturday, Care woke up and held him for a while, cleaned out yet another impaction, fed him treats, gave him a bath (how he loved his baths!), cleaned his ears and trimmed what she could of his toenails. Once he was nearly completely dry, we made the phone call and set up the appointment.

We were with him while the vet anesthetized him into a peaceful sleep with the gas, but opted to leave the room while she injected the final intra-cardial shot. After a moment we returned to the room and she checked for the heartbeat. He was gone. We wrapped him in his towels and placed him in his orange box, and in spring he’ll be buried with Beulah under the apple tree in my mom’s back yard.

I’m sure the vet thought we were crazy, behaving like we did over a guinea pig, but he had been a very major part of our lives since Christmas of 2002. He was 7 and a half in our years, which apparently translates to something close to 100 in guinea pig years. He’d outlived his playmate (Jordan’s piggie, Beulah) by 2 years. He’d outlived every other piggie any of us could think of. I understand it’s rare for piggies to make it to his age, and I know he had a wonderfully happy life (except for that round of bumble foot and the constantly buggered up toenails) because even two weeks ago he was popcorning* when we’d talk to him. Well… trying to popcorn, anyway. We’re going to miss that little guy more than even we thought. Care went to feed him before school, and I nearly hollered at her for leaving the top door open on the cage. Rhia used to say goodnight and good morning to him every day (his cage is right by her bedroom door) and I caught her doing that this morning.

Mochi RIP

We’ll miss you, Mochi – aka Chinese Food aka Stroki. The house is so much quieter without your wheeks, chirrs and whistles*.

I will write about our new addition later on, once we have pictures to share.

*Popcorn – the twisty jump/hop that piggies do when they’re happy and playful. Wheeks, chirrs and whistles – the noises piggies make, of which Mochi seemed most fond of whistles. This video isn’t of Mochi, but the piggie does make noise and popcorn. Very cute!