It’s probably going to happen again and if not this way then eventually, another way, another time. Chai is rounding up on 6 years old. I contacted her originally daddy after the vet visit today and prognosis.

She’s losing her spunkiness and has recently shown sudden drops in weight and then a small rise back up, after an overall weight drop this year since I started recording them in the spring. My DVM, Dr. Kevin Wright, came in for the house call today and says he felt a solid mass on palpation. At her age, as I did with Callie, I’m not going to spend a ton of money on tests and diagnostics and we’re going to go in for surgery on Tuesday this week.

I don’t really feel it can be coined “exploratory surgery” as it was in the old days because we definitely know something is going on. I just don’t want to know what it looks like until we can touch it. It’s going to be like with Cal that either he can remove it safely or that it’s spread and is about 45 days inevitable, relying on medication for pain management and handfeedings. I’m not running hospice and letting them waste away like how I found out my dear Mr Emerson was being eaten away inside until I had to put him down as he was nearly lifeless.

So, I told her original daddy about her situation and he is probably going to spend some time with her tomorrow. I told her she looks funny because I shaved her down to treat her scurfy skin, but she’s not looking like an invalid in that scary, uncomfortable kind of way.

I’m not good with anything again right now. I just made the cage smaller after Callie left us but I don’t plan on changing it if Chai does not come home. Eventually I would have been down to two guinea pigs at some point; I don’t want to face it. At one point I have a bad ass little guinea pig herd in a massive pig pen in my dining room and many more supplies. I was just talking to Dismal about how I hadn’t found a feeding pattern yet for this small group since Mu-Xi is grown and not eating as much but still maintaining a 1000 gram physique. At my herd’s original glory, I was buying 50 lbs of hay and 50 lbs of pellets every 2 months. Now, I’m not sure.

Who would I be with 2 guinea pigs?

I think the plan would be the same as it were when my rats were dwindling in numbers. When Chai goes, next it will be someone else (eventually) and then as I did with Jane, got a companion that was of comparable age and disposition through adoption and then let fate decide who the last companion would be.

I really would like to let go of my pain and confusion.
It’s really sweet right now watching Mu-Xi doing so much rumble-strutting and trying to assert herself as a big girl now.