Our family guinea pig, Furry, passed away a few days ago. She was the subject of one of my favorite posts from a few years back. There were some kid tears and a quiet backyard burial. The vet was unclear on the cause of death, but we believe she caught a glimpse of the Glenn Beck program and just gave up on this world.
Furry was a good progressive. Her caged French life partner, Oui Oui, has become a noticeably fat man hater since Furry left us.
The Blueweeds post "The Pigs On Fox" from April 24, 2007 is reprized here in her honor:
The Pigs On Fox. Man it felt good to write that headline.
The family guinea pig has been a little under the weather lately with some scratching and fur loss. "Daddy, Furry has sensitive skin just like me."
Which occasioned a trip to our vet. And here I need to paint a picture: a middle aged man loading a little pink carrying case with a quivering, peeing, gnawed on guinea pig into the passenger seat of an air conditioned Mercedes for a trip to the "exotics specialist" vet who is going to charge me some multiple of what it would cost to buy a whole herd of new pigs. For those of you tempted to stop reading here to post your silly comment ... whatever. Being a hero to my sweetie: priceless.
Our vet is smart, funny, gorgeous (in-a-non-mayor-way-if-you-like-that-sort-of-thing), very conservative daughter of a far right wing former congressman. Another image: Me, the town liberal, standing in front of this competent woman professional with my pink case, a squealing pig, tufts of animal hair floating about, and smelling distinctly of desperation and urine. No wonder Republicans hate us.
My reputation now clearly at issue I offer a diagnosis: "Tree pollen has been bad. Probably has skin allergies." "Hmmm. Not likely," says the only trained animal doctor in the room. "Guinea pigs are native to the rain forest ... they're almost never allergic to trees." "Are you sure?" I countered, pointing to the bare spots on the animal, "We've been rubbing her pretty hard against the bark." Polite chuckle.
"Sometimes the condition is related to stress. Have you changed anything in her environment lately?" asks the doctor. "Well," says I, "We did move her cage into a different room recently. I think she's been sneaking peeks at Fox News." Genuine laughter.
UPDATE: I'm sure it's a coincidence, but Furry has been doing much better during this "Turn Off TV" week at school. Damn those people at Fox.
