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Squirt passed away last night at roughly 9.31 P.M. at the age of nine months old.

I am not going to go too much into how she died. Basically, she left us as soon as I reached home, allowing me to carry her one last time. She was still breathing lightly when my mum thrust her into my hands, wrapped in a towel. It was as if she was waiting for me to come home before she let herself go. Eventually, the breathing stopped.

October 2009 – May 6th 2010.

Squirt fell sick previously in March 2010 with multiple ailments, but made a miraculous recovery eventually thanks to the dedicated force-feeding of food, fluid and medication by virtually almost every member of the household. The vet was amazed, so were friends who heard her survival story – because like what everyone says, guinea pigs go very fast when they are sick.

She remained happily active for one month plus until a heatwave decided to descend on Singapore again. The excessively hot weather led to her developing with a (dangerously) high fever of 41.3 degrees celsius earlier this week. She remained relatively stable but deteriorated sharply yesterday evening out of the blue.

I will really miss my little Squirtypoo and her hilarious little antics.

1) The way she wheeks for food as soon as I step out of the bathroom (she made such a connection because I usually feed her after my bath at night) or head in the direction of the kitchen – wheeking even louder, practically jumping all over the cage when she hears the refrigerator door slam.

2) The way she puts her paw in my hand when I cuddle her.

3) The way she tries to kiss me on my nose each time she wants food. (I trained her to kiss me at one point and rewarded her with her favourite veggies. Since then, she always tries to kiss me in the hope of getting some food in return.)

Back in December 2009 when I was still training her to kiss me. (:

4) The way she is able to listen to orders – she jumps onto her litter tray each time I say ‘pee pan‘ or point in the direction of the litter tray.

5) The way she runs to the entrance of the cage to greet me whenever she sees me approaching.

6) The way she gives me a ‘high five’ upon request during our regular cudding sessions. (Or she’ll put her paw in my hand when I ask her to hold my hand.)

Squirt’s still so loving even when she was still getting over
her first bout of illness. (Pardon my high-pitched coo-ey voice!)

7) The way she starts to fidget and wheek quietly when she needs to pee/poop when I’m cuddling her, as if warning me to “put me back in the cage so that I can do my business or else I’ll pee on you.” (Although so far, she hasn’t had any accidents.)

8) When her cage used to be on the floor back in the earlier days, she used to fling herself against the closed entrance of the cage indicating that she wanted to go in. Seeing how it was dangerous, I eventually left the cage door open all the time whenever she comes out to play so that she can return ‘home’ anytime she feels like it.

9) The way she mutters in contentment whenever she settles on her favourite spot on the staircase – leaning against the wall at the same time.

10) The times we spent together at my desk watching videos and television show-reruns on my computer. (Yes, she is the piggy with the amazing attention-span. She actually watches the videos I play for her.)

11) The way she kisses (and occasionally, nibbles) my hand out of affection when I’m carrying her.

12) The loud ‘clang clang clang‘ noises from her water bottle when she drinks her water. (I woke up to those noises many a time. I used to find it annoying, but ever since her first bout of sickness, I deemed it the most amazing noise I’ve ever heard.)

13) The way she is so affectionate to everyone in the house. She recognizes everyone’s footsteps and voices and responds accordingly when she hears any of us approaching.

14) The way she irritates me with the continuous (and extremely loud) wheeking each time I heard to the kitchen to grab a drink of water. (I always cave in and give her food eventually, and she knows I have that weakness.)

15) The way she always looks at me for reassurance when she hears strange noises or sudden, loud noises – and eventually settles back, relaxing on my lap when I stroke her and assure her that everything’s okay.

16) The way she growls when the doorbell or telephone rings.

17) How I’d stop along grass patches on the way home to pick the longest and juiciest fresh grass for her, eliciting strange stares from the people living nearby.

18) The way she puts on that oh-so innocent, pitiful-looking face whenever an unrecognizable person (any of my friends) carries her, as if begging me to take her back.

19) The way she lies down on her belly to relax when she sees me putting my hand into her cage – because she knows she’s going to get petted or stroked. (Aww.)

20) The way she growls at my dad whenever he tries to scare her with err … all sorts of strange noises. (My little feisty girl will always be my little feisty girl.)

21) The way I ask her to join me in my room and she gives me this o.O look, looking at me as if I’ve just propositioned her.

22) The way she runs all over the cage when I reach in to pick her droppings from all over the fleece in her cage, and eventually lands in the haystack. That is when she gives me this little guilty expression because she’s fully aware she’s not allowed to sit in there.

23) The way she shifts her butt out of her litter tray (when she’s sitting on it) to do her business when she’s supposed to be doing her business in her litter tray.

24) The way she backs into a corner of the cage to pee or poo. (In fact, it needn’t even be a corner. She sorta’ ‘reverses’ or take a few steps backwards – which is a clear indication to me that nature is calling. I find it absolutely adorable.

(I can go on and on and on but I think I should stop here for now. Will append as and when I recall something else – want to log everything now while it’s still fresh in my mind.)

She was my little pampered piggy, who had her own personal electric fan, a cooling pad, all the food she wanted in the world (her favourites were long beans, carrots, tomatoes and sio pek chye), with a family whose hearts have been completely won over by her adorable looks and loving nature.

As of now, I like to think that Squirt has become a little immortal, angel piggy looking out for me the way I looked after her (albeit from somewhere far away).

Oh, and I should write about the vet who looked after her so awesomely as well. Perhaps a later post.