For all the love he returned to me, I could always tell he was confused by most everything. I always got a laugh if he thought he smelled girl guinea pig on me and he would just continually rub his nose in one spot, making teeny, interested squeaks. There was also the time when he met one of my pigs from the girl "herd," Roxie, and I covered her bum with a towel so he couldn't do anything unwanted to her. He couldn't figure out where she was! He looked at her and kept sniffing the air, walked around, rumblestrutted in the opposite direction of her, and looked at me as if he was saying, "Where did you put her? I know you're hiding a Girl!" It was so cute, he always looked at me for an answer when he couldn't figure something out.

When I walked into the room and went up to him, all I would have to do was hold out my hand in front of him and he would climb onto me. He would snuggle right into my arms and sniff the air, looking about with unbridled curiosity.

One time, in March of this year (2018), he was dealing with a bad case of bloat and had to be taken to an ER vet. At our regular vet they take the temperature behind closed doors, but they just did it right in front of me that time. Poor little Cal was so shocked to have a thermometer up his bum, he leaped into the crook of my arm and buried his face in my elbow. I felt so sorry for him, but it was so precious that he was hiding on /me/ instead of running into his travel box. Thankfully he recovered from his bloat, and it didn't come back.

His last few months were filled with vet visits, and all the staff loved him because of how sweet and well-behaved he was. There was never a time when he wouldn't cooperate with the vet and technicians, and he was always willing to be pet by the staff. Every morning he would be eagerly awaiting his heart medications and would chew on the bars until he got them.

One time he saw a non-exotics vet from the same office his usual vet works at, and his medicine refill was accidentally put in as meat flavoured! He always ran up to me, eager to gnaw on the oral syringes, but with the new med he opened his mouth and reached up to bite the syringe, backed up and sneered at it as if saying "eww!" and walked away. It was so funny, but I had to use a treat to entice him to just take the medicine anyway. It worked, and he never made faces at his meds again. :)

With strangers he would give them a sniff and let them pet him, he never bit anyone or "went" on people he didn't know. If someone else was holding him but he heard me talking, he would try to crawl off the other person towards my voice. He wouldn't even let my dad hold him if I was around, and my dad is usually the one that gives the pigs their vegetables!

Cal, Roxie, Velvet, and Guinea all got so excited for carrots. Roxie would always start wheeking loudly, followed by Velvet and eventually Cal. His squeak was so tiny and precious, it sounded like he was questioning what was going on, "wheek? uWheeeek?" And he never did it loudly, he just wanted to participate with the girls.

He loved bananas and carrots, and for such a small pig he would put away so much food!

When he was about a year old, he started climbing on top of his pigloo and twig tunnel to get a peek at the girls' cage. It was so cute, he would be chilling there for up to an hour some days! Sometimes he would end up flipping his house over doing that, and he later picked up the habit of just flipping his pigloo for fun. I got tired of fixing his house multiple times a day, so eventually I would put hay in it. This got Cal so hyped up he would climb right into the upside down house and perch inside it like it was a ship, but the house would tip over because he put all his weight on the side of it! He would then walk out with a face covered in hay and step back into his house, happily munching away while I cleaned his face of the hay (he didn't like that part much)!

He was never a particularly healthy pig, and I suspect he was a runt when he was a baby. Despite being an American shorthair and a male, he was never bigger than Roxie, my adult crested female pig, a naturally smaller breed. There was this habit he had picked up as a baby where he would stretch out his back legs right behind him and just leave them there. When I first adopted him from my sister in-law he couldn't use his hind legs, but being only a few months old at the time he had loads of energy, so he ended up dragging himself around his cage and stretching lots. I would help him move his legs when I held him, and he soon started running laps around his cage and popcorning! He would even start popcorning as soon as he heard me talking to him. It was just like asking a dog if they want to go for a walk, getting more hyper and running about, staring at you obediently. Sometimes he would end up flopping on his side when he leaped about!

I loved him more than any other pig I've had before, and I haven't cried this much for a pet before. I hope he had a happy and fulfilling life, even with his heart disease cutting it painfully short. He was such a big support for me, and none of my other pets ever provided me with the same love and affection he did. His passing hurt more than any emotional pain I've felt before.

Cal, your missing presence in my life is so painful. I keep expecting to hear your teeth on the cage bars or see you eating hay, but you're just not there anymore. Every moment of these first two days without you I think of checking on you, but remember there's no one to check on or give meds to. Your cute little face providing me comfort, your warm and squooshy belly, and your tiny little feet, I'd give anything just to see you move around and snuggle me again. I'm sorry your last moments were spent in pain, I really tried everything to help you through it, but you had places to go. At least you're no longer suffering, and I'm glad to have spent time with you.

29/12/2018

My sweet little Cal, I'm considering adopting another guinea pig. The only remaining piggy in our home is Roxie, and she's getting on in years and it would be awful for her to spend her time with no other pigs. This is of course not to replace you, but to help me heal from grieving. If I do decide to adopt one, I'll be sure to give them as much love as I gave to you. You will always remain in my heart as my special baby boy, and that will never change. Hopefully you're enjoying your days in the rainbow bridge with Guinea and Velvet, and maybe you even met some of my other piggies from before your time! You never met him, but you and Cody would have gotten along very well, and Nibbler would have treated you like a son. :)

7/12/2019

It's been almost a whole year since your passing, and while the pain has faded a bit, there isn't a day that goes by where you're not in my thoughts. 6 months after you passed I placed two carnations on your grave; it's not carrots or banana, but I hope you appreciated the thought.

Early in January I did adopt a friend for Roxie. Her name is Cosette, she's nothing like you at all, but man does she make me laugh! I think Roxie has been enjoying having another girl in the house, and I even saw her licking Cosette's ear after having a bath! She never met you, but I bet you would have gotten along well. After all, you're both goofballs! She also had a rough start, but in a different way. You opened up my heart and showed me I need to help piggies in need, so I adopted her from a rescue. She had 5 babies in 2 separate litters, having a back-to-back pregnancy starting at about 2 months old. When I adopted her she had just weaned her second litter of pups, and man they were the cutest! Her only son, Nicolas, had a face similar to yours, but her and her babies are all spiky Abyssinian breeds. If you were still around I probably would have adopted him to give you a friend, he was such a sweet little boy when I held him. He's quite the talker!

Cal, I hope you're enjoying your time in Rainbow Bridge. Everyone still misses you, but if you're feeling better now that would help ease the pain. You're the sweetest little soul I've ever met, so I'm sure you've made friends. I love and miss you so much, little buddy.