As this is a longer story, I'm dividing it up between the two blogs. The first half is here, and there is a link to the second half at the end.
Part One: Athena (L) and Vicky (R)
"I have two adoption stories.
"The first was when I first heard about adoption. I found Victoria and Athena online through petfinder at the Brockton, MA shelter.
"I had recently lost a pair due to cysts and heart disease. I missed having pigs in my apartment. My future plans were somewhat in flux, so I decided it wasn't wise to take the commitment of a pair of young/baby pigs, so I opted to look for an older pair. At the time, Vicky and Athena were 2.5 and 3.5 years old. Turns out they'd been at the Brockton shelter for three months (probably passed over because of their age), and had been originally surrendered at another shelter, and moved to Brockton due to space constraints. Poor unloved pigs!
"I went just to look. I wasn't sure if I should adopt so close to the loss of Teddi. But I went, and fell in love. They were the wuzziest pair of pigs I had seen. I filled out the paperwork, said I'd come back for them, and they said, take them now! (I had figured they may have wanted to check my background, first). I honestly don't know who was more excited about this. I literally hopped up and down. And one of the girls at the front desk, discovering that the pair had finally been adopted, jumped up and down with me. She was thrilled they finally found a forever home.
"Best thing I ever did.
"The girls took 6 months or so to really settle in. Athena had picked up a habit of screeching loudly when being picked up - I think she developed this in the shelter so she wouldn't get picked up. They were terrified of floor time at first. But eventually they realized how good life was, and they really were a lovable pair.
"Athena, unfortunately, had some kind of mass in her lung cavity, that could not be operated on. She passed away quietly. Soon after, Vicky developed bad bladder sludge that stumped the vet and myself. She also was never quite the same after Athena passed. She really missed her cagemate. Vicky persevered for quite a while, but eventually passed away, too. I had them for roughly two years. Their passing was hard, simply because I had them for such a short time. I loved having adopted an older, laid back pair, but I don't know if I could do it again. I felt cheated of my time with them.
"Funny stories - I was warned when I adopted them that Vicky tipped over pellet dishes if they were over 1/2 full. Two seconds after putting her in their new cage, she runs over to the pellet dish, and dumps it. I nicknamed her Tricky Vicky with the Black Bandito mask."Click here for Part Two and two more guineas!
