This is Gopher, our pet guinea pig. Actually, she’s “officially” Girl2’s pet. Insofar as any pet ever “belongs” to a child and not, in reality, to the mother.

our pet guinea pig

We adopted Gopher a little over a year ago. Gopher was free. Gopher came with a name (Gopher), a cage, a bag of shavings and a bag of guinea pig pellet food. The only instructions Gopher came with were not to feed her iceberg lettuce. Gopher also came with the assurance – verified by the vet, we were told – that Gopher was a female guinea pig.

For the record, it didn’t matter to us one bit if Gopher was male or female. But Gopher’s previous owners told us she was a she.

And despite my initial (serious) reservations, Gopher turned out to be a really okay pet. The kids adore her, and all she does is pretty much look (and sound) cute in her cage. She doesn’t need to be walked. She doesn’t make a big mess. Overall, I’ve been impressed with Gopher’s mom-friendly status as a pet.

But lately, Gopher just hasn’t been her usual self. She’s been rather lethargic, and has lost her appetite. She hasn’t been making her cute little guinea pig vocalizations (they really do make very cute sounds), and she has not pooped in a few days (a mean feat for a guinea pig, let me tell ya). So today I made the trip down to the Avian and Exotic Pet Clinic to have her examined, and for the $70 examination fee I learned a lot about our little Gopher. Read the rest of this entry »