Patches (December 2004 to July 2009)

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We welcomed in the 2005 New Year by visiting a local breeder to select a baby guinea pig. We saw about 20 babies and 40 adults, mostly teddies and some Himalayans. They were all adorable and I wanted to bring every baby home! However, after some family deliberation, we settled on a 3-week-old (born December 9) golden agouti and white one. With her adorable coloring, we decided to call her Patches. Since we got Patches at a breeder, she came complete with her own pedigree!

For a couple days, we kept Patches in a separate cage and just let her meet the other pigs for short periods of time. Then we put her in the big cage with Pippi and Patches. That first day together, Pepper, who had suddenly become a "middle child" chased Patches quite a bit all around the cage, but Pepper didn't seem to mind and probably thought she was just playing with her. In the meantime, Pippi played the role of protector and put herself between the other two a few times to stop the chasing. And it worked! Pippi stopped Pepper right in her tracks, nose to nose!

By Day 2, things had greatly settled down. And ever since, they have all been great buddies. Then along came pig number four....Pebbles!

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July 21, 2009 - Patches, a.k.a. "Skinny" in the past several months of her life, passed away suddenly and peacefully at the age of 4-1/2 years. She went to sleep and did not wake up. She had become thin in the last 3-6 months of her life, but she was always happy and quite spry up until the end. Patches was very photogenic and she liked to be bossy, except with Pippi who was the uber boss of the herd.