A couple months ago, we celebrated Xaniya’s 6th birthday, and we surprised her by taking her to the pet store and getting her a guinea pig. We actually left the store with two guinea pigs because, apparently, they need a friend or they can get depressed. So, each girl left the store with a guinea pig. Xaniya named her’s Bumble bee, and Elisa named her’s Stort. (No, it’s not Stuart. She was very clear about that.)
Flash forward three weeks. Efraim and I were heading out the door for a two day trip, and I did one last check on the guinea pigs to make sure they had everything they needed. That’s when I noticed that Bumblebee didn’t look good at all. We finally found a vet that would see him, and she confirmed that he was very sick (pneumonia) and that he only had a 50/50 chance to make it if they tried everything they could.
Unfortunately, “everything they could” meant a large dollar amount to attempt to save an animal that cost us about $30 to buy. We told the vet that we would not move forward with the treatment and were fully prepared to euthanize him. Seriously, it’s just a guinea pig, and we only had it for 3 weeks.
Well….As soon as the nurse walked out of the room, I completely broke down. It wasn’t about the guinea pig. I just didn’t know how to tell Xaniya that her pet died without her getting a chance to say goodbye. Also, we had been having some emotional/behavioral issues with her lately, and I didn’t want to add trauma to the situation. Next thing I know, Efraim and I are telling the nurse to basically take “an arm and a leg” to try to save this thing. (The things we do for our kids) We left Bumblebee there feeling optimistic and fully confident in the choice we had made. A couple hours later, we got the call that he didn’t make it. So, in the end, we were still going to have to tell Xaniya that her pet died.
We could have just tried to replace him (nothing wrong with this), and a lot of people probably wondered why we didn’t, but I’ve always been very honest with the girls about everything, and I thought this would be a good opportunity for them to learn how to deal with loss in a healthy way. As we expected, she was devastated when we told her, and it was so difficult to see her so upset. We brought Bumblebee’s body home and gave the girls a chance to say goodbye to him before we buried him. If we could do it over, we would have done everything the same. I think if we shield kids from EVERYTHING, then they don’t learn how to deal with hardships as they come.
Once the girls were ready, we began the search for Stort’s new friend. This cutie pie above is the newest addition to our family. We found her at a local guinea pig rescue, and she is doing great and fitting in so well with Stort. Hopefully we can keep this one alive for much longer…fingers crossed.
Read below if you’re thinking of getting a guinea pig!!!
This whole process has been such a learning experience for my husband and I. The guinea pigs are SUPER cute, the girls love them and I think it’s a great starter pet for young kids to learn some pet responsibilities. However, do ALL the research. I thought I had done enough, but I definitely missed some important things. For example, guinea pigs are not as low maintenance as all of the websites make them sound. Second, in the long run, they are not as cheap. Third, if you do decide to purchase a guinea pig, DO NOT get them from large pet stores. Pet stores sell a lot of sick guinea pigs and also get the gender wrong. In our case, it was both. I kinda feel like a guinea pig pro now; so, if you have questions, please ask.
Steph On The Real 