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| Name: |
Dixi
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Age: |
One and a half years old
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| Gender: |
Female
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Kind: |
Short Haired Guinea Pig
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| Home: |
Ohio, USA
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On
December 24, 2010, my mother surprised me with a great gift. I had been
wanting a female guinea pig, hoping to breed and have beautiful little fluff
balls. I fell in love, yet again, with the outcast of a litter ... and this is
where the story starts.
She was a biter, bit more then any pig the breeder had ever seen. But, for
some strange reason, I loved her. Dixi, she quickly became known as to follow
my suit of Civil War names, was different. She was a 'red head', I joked. A
little witch when she wanted to be, and literally was red in color. We had
tried to breed her once, but she didn't let that get anywhere. She was the one
that chased the male ... and pinned him. Boys didn't mess with her, it seemed.
They were scared of her!
Dixi is my little girl, and as I write this, she is my entry in 4H. We had
placed Reserve Champion in showmanship as well as Skillathon. She no longer
bites, but she does have her moments where she is still a red head, and has an
attitude that nearly matches my own. Last year, during fair on September 3,
2011 while checking her over at the fair, I discovered something that pulled
on my heartstrings. My little girl's eyes are seemed to be going, blindness
setting into her right eye. On ground vets looked at her and pronounced her
with cataracts.
I won't lie. I did take it hard when people looked her over and said she was
going blind. I cried. I was scared to death for her. What would life be in
total darkness? I am sure it would scare her with no one to explain to her
what was happening. I tried, but the language barrier seemed to be a problem.
My gentle hands and lots of love are all I can offer... along with carrots and
other tasty treats, of course. But, over and over throughout the last week of
fair, I was told one thing over and over: "If this were anyone else's guinea
pig, she wouldn't have the same fate. She would die."
Many breeders don't want blind guinea pigs, they are too much of a hassle when
it comes down to it, they think. She, along with my pea eyed pig Yankee and
poor conformation one Rebel, very well may have been tossed in a bag and
drowned, simple as that. But everything happens for a reason, and this I am
starting to see is true. They have all found their way to me for a reason, and
I love them all for what they are, not what they have or don't. I'm not saying
that I'm the only one that does this, but I am one that will still love my
'babies' after they have long gotten too old, or too blind, or too disfigured
by genetics to be shown or bred or paraded around.
I love them because they are family. They are part of me. We all have our
faults, and I have many more then many I am sure, but I can honestly say that
one of them is not that of not loving and giving the time to a creature many
would have brushed off in a heartbeat.
Not too long after fair, her vision returned, something that our vet
considered a miracle, but something I am so very happy to see, and I am
pleased to announce that Miss Dixi is running the roost again, and is back to
her chipper and happy self. Out of my three guinea pigs, she is still the most
talkative and most lively, but is always the first I go to for cuddles and
tons of love.
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