hi so um i’m very new to this site, just joined now because i really don’t know where else to go. my guinea pig cookie passed away on the 5th on Jan this year. And i know that loads of people probably think ‘oh she was just a guinea pig, try losing a dog or a cat’. But can i just say that Cookie was way more than a guinea pig. She has been there for me durin go some of the worst years of my life, when my mental health was just so low and i really didn’t know if life was worth it anymore. Cookie was so loving and kind, she always put everyone else before her. It was around lockdown when i noticed she was losing weight. We took her to the vet in November and she said it was due to her teeth falling out. After that i started feeding her grated vegetables to help her out. Only now do i know that guinea pigs can survive without veg, it’s the lack of hay that probably caused her to go into organ failure. During that last month of december i was very busy with my own problems like self esteem and exams. I just didn’t spend as much time with her. It was on that Tuesday that i woke up and found her lying on her side. After rushing her to the vet we decided that it would be the kindest thing to let cookie go and put her to sleep peacefully. The worst part is that i was nagging my parents to take her to the vet since around Jan 1st. But we were so busy and ended up deciding to call on that tuesday cookie passed. I just feel so horrible, my laziness to not call the vet sooner took away Cookies chance to live a longer happier life. After 2 1/2 weeks of googling what could have happened to her, i now know how i could have saved her and how all the symptoms were there FOR A WHOLE MONTH. And i was just too stupid to realise that my poor piggy was dying right in front of me. I cant let go of the guilt, i know that she is free of pain now but i just keep thinking back to her last few months with me where i would see her all hunched up in a corner and think ‘oh i need to take her to the vet soon’. I just didn’t think she would die. The day before she passed she was eating a lot better and i really thought she was getting better. But i guess i was wrong. I know Cookie had a good loving life but it’s just her last month that i think is going to haunt me. Cookie was more than a guinea pig, she was part of the family and now she’s gone. And i could have prevented it. We went back to the vet yesterday for a checkup for my other piggy. While i was in the car thinking about cookie, i looked across outside the window and there was a huge rainbow. And i truly believe that it was a sign from her, telling me that she’s ok now. It’s just the guilt that i can’t let go of, she really helped me and when she needed me the most, i wasn’t there. I just wish i could go back, even just a few days
