Delores Consuela turns 6 years old!
My little miracle piglet is still trotting around like she owns the place with not a care in the world. She took that weeks-to-live prognosis we were given in late 2018 and she pee’d all over it. Chronic illness has never looked so cute.
My relationship with Delores is one of the best and most rewarding relationships I’ve ever had. It’s changed dramatically since 2018.
Delores wanted nothing to do with me for the first two years of our time together. She would sit still on my lap for all of thirty seconds at a time. She only had eyes for her sister, Popcorn. If Popcorn was out of sight, Delores would panic. She’d go so far as to do that incredibly rare guinea pig chirp (she also does it when it’s really dark so we think it’s her scared noise).
It was always Popcorn who rested and lay with me every day, not Delores. I tried to win her over with food – but even when she would eat out of our hands, she was never relaxed and always jumpy.
Popcorn heartbreakingly passed away in July 2018 and it seemed that I took over as key recipient of Delores’ affections.
In December 2018 though, we were told we had very, very little time left with Delores. And we were left to prepare ourselves for saying goodbye, or making the decision to say goodbye when it was clear she needed to leave us. Since mid 2018 she’s had ovarian cysts & bladder stones & tumours & all-sorts going on in that tiny little body of hers. She’s been under anaesthetic several times (very risky for guinea pigs) and been operated on. (Yes she is the most expensive guinea pig of all time.)
They say healthy pigs can live to be 6-8. Well , Delores isn’t healthy and yet here she is! Popcorn was 3 when she died.
The trust she has for me now is my humbling. After her second operation in late 2018 she allowed me to hold her frail little body up on her hind legs while she cleaned herself; not being well enough to stand up by herself. It’s still one of my most treasured memories.
Out of the two of our original duo, Delores was always the most spirited – remember that day we lost her for hours only to find she’d climbed the stairs and was pottering about under the spare bed!
I can’t stress enough how fast she would run away if we so much as reached down to stroke her. We could never even touch her unless she was cornered in the pen.
Whereas now, Delores will come and sit beside me if I’m resting on the floor. She trots over when she hears the lid coming off her medication. She purrs! Now she waits at our feet to be picked up.
I’m so proud of her.
Happy 6th Birthday our little miracle piglet. My little da’ling.
M.E. myself and I 