Farewell Dear Florence
Recently we said a fond farewell to the lovely Florence. She died just a month short of her 9th birthday.
Flo was a lively, nosey, feisty, “in your face” sow who captured the heart of everyone who met her – there was just something magical about her. She had a zest for life, right up to her last day. Flo was always optimistic that some extra food or a nose rub would be coming her way whenever anyone came to see her:)
Flo was already 3 when I adopted her and spent 6 happy years being a Gorgeous Guinea. She lived a life of luxury with her “toyboy” Marbles who turned 6 last month. Flo will always have a special place in my heart because without her, Gorgeous Guineas would never have come into being.
In the next few weeks we will be making a special shampoo in memory of Florence. All profits from the sale of this shampoo will be donated to Reading Guinea Pig Rescue, so watch out for an announcement.
Here is Florence’s story, written by Karen at Reading Guinea Pig Rescue…..
23 September 2008: tonight there is a new star on Planet Guinea. It is three shades and almost moves towards you with expectation. All the stars are special, but this one is important too.
Florence arrived as a guest here at Reading Guinea Pig Rescue after being surrendered along with her rabbit hutchmate who was also being terrorised by the family dog. Said rabbit went to the rabbit fosterer and Florence stayed here to find her Forever Home. Florence wasn’t proving to be the easiest sow to find a friend for so we asked for an experienced home for her – this fitted perfectly with the fact that she was long haired. Her pigture in the paper sparked a number of enquiries and her new Human was eventually found. Chrissie, her new Human, offered to build Reading Guinea Pig Rescue a website in order that more guinea pigs in Reading could be rehomed. In 2002, computers were quite new to me and I appreciated this offer very much.
This was just the beginning though….not long afterwards I had a group of 15 fungal pigs admitted to the rescue. Chrissie was able to foster 2 for me and the rest stayed here for treatment. Chrissie is a qualified (human) Aromatherapist and said that she would very much like to help these sows with some shampoo and oils that she had made. As all the Veterinary treatment was failing, I gave her the go ahead and her 2 semi-long haired crested sows became 2 gorgous Coronets. This was just the start of many skincare products to come for many rescue and privately owned guinea pigs. Dear Florence, I am eternally grateful that you introduced us:)
Karen (Planet Guinea, where all the stars are special)
hi i just wanted to say that i have got a guinea pig and tommorow
is bonfire night so i will not be going outside but cuddling my guinea pig