Stories from May
May 2026
Hello, I hope you are all doing well!
What’s been going on:
So much has been going on, I don’t know where to start! You may know that Juniper passed away: I’ll dive into more details in the next section. I want to give a huge thank you for all your messages and support; it means the world to us!❤️
My husband and I went on a little break – our yearly visit to Sweden to visit family. It was great to see them, spend time together, and watch Eurovision with lots of snacks and betting how long the kids last before falling asleep :D We also made doughnuts – a tradition we started 3 years ago. They were delicious! Nutella and cinnamon sugar rings, and rhubarb jam-filled doughnuts – freshly made jam with freshly harvested rhubarb, mmmm so gooood! We also got to meet the newest member of the family: Tessy, a beautiful lady hamster 🥰
The short break was really good for us.
My Sassy Ladies’ Corner:
We lost our little Juniper Berry.💔 It’s been so difficult to process, she was young and healthy.
After her surgery, Juniper came home, ate vegetables, everything looked great, but she wasn’t eating hay. When we picked her up for critical care feeding, one of her wounds started leaking swelling fluids, so the feeding was challenging as we couldn’t move her too much. She was getting more uncomfortable and didn’t want to eat. Thankfully in the morning the wound was clean and cool to touch. Juniper’s appetite wasn’t good, although she ate some veggies. The poops were not coming and throughout the day she was getting more uncomfortable. We decided to take her to an emergency clinic (it was Sunday). Her gut was slower and she was in a lot of pain. They did a glucose test which was able to tell them if she was in gut stasis and her pain levels (amazing!). Juni received some gut-stimulant injections with strong painkillers, and we took more digestive-stimulating medication to take home. She started pooping at the vet, which was a huge relief.
We fed her every 3-4 hours and encouraged her to take a little walk to keep the gut moving. On Monday the pain medication wore off and we had to go to the vet again to get something else (Paracetamol) to give alongside Metacam. She was checked again and all looked and sounded good. On Wednesday we had a post-surgery check-up, Juni’s poops were still not regular and she struggled, her appetite was up and down. At this point she was on four different medications. We asked for something else to help with her gut as the Cisapride didn’t seem to do much anymore. We got Emeprid and that had a better effect. We continued with feeding round the clock and she was doing so well! It was a slow recovery, but there was progress. On Saturday we had another check up with our exotic vet and he wasn’t worried, she just needed more time to recover. We mentioned that her breathing becomes a bit heavier every now and then, and he gave her a good listen, all sounded fine.
Juniper was getting better. On Sunday morning we were sure she was on the final stretch to full recovery. She was eating, being active. And then late afternoon, she stopped eating, her breathing became very laboured. It was so sudden. We rushed to the emergency vet and in triage her heart rate dropped so low that they had to prompt it to keep beating. She was put on oxygen and we were given two options: try to stabilise her to be able to run tests or let her go. The chances of her being stabilised and surviving the night were low. My husband and I, we didn’t know what to do, we asked the vet in charge so many questions, she was so kind and understanding. We were running the options between us and a friend who is a brilliant veterinarian; every part of us wanted to fight for Juniper, try to save her, but there was this little voice asking – how much is she going to suffer whilst we try to get her back?
When we were saying our goodbyes, having the last cuddles with our Juni Berry, her breathing was so slow, so difficult, that we knew we were making the right decision for her, even if it was breaking us into a billion pieces. This was the right decision for Juniper.
Juniper was such a loving, brave piggy. She helped us heal after we lost Pumpkin, and supported us through Ozzie’s passing. She really was such a special little piggy. We wish we had more time and cuddles with her, she was so soft and fluffy. We will always cherish the time we had with her❤️❤️❤️
There’s one more thing I’d like to address. I had a few comments on social media asking why I would put her through spaying surgery, with claims that guinea pigs “never” survive them. The “NO” survival claim is incorrect, obviously Lumi made it just fine. I want to address the “why?”. Juniper had a very large ovarian cyst that was pressing on her organs, I could wrap my hand around the cyst, that’s how big it was. This was something that would need intervention within the next few months, and given that Juni was already 3 years old, we didn’t want to wait until she was older where the chances of complications were even higher. We wouldn’t put her through surgery unless it was necessary and in Juniper’s case, this was going to improve the quality of her life.
New creations:
I’ve been working on some Personalised Mini Piggies and Halloween Piggies!🎃 Two Halloween figurines are ready to photograph! I’m really happy with how they turned out! Here’s a little sneak-peek of the sculpture:
I’m planning on making 5 in total. I’m already thinking about the next Winter design, I have a really cute idea, but I’m not sure it will fit on my usual 10cm bases.
I hope the heatwave eases a bit, it’s impossible to work with clay in these temperatures!
Thanks so much for reading! Make sure to follow me on Facebook & Instagram for regular updates.
Have a great month ahead!💐
Aleks
