Our guinea pig Piggy died Monday morning. I held him on my lap and told Amanda and Abby Comforting Things I had very recently told them about Fuzzy and Wuzzy Rats, only this time it was Piggy.
Joy the Puppy walked up to us sideways, wagging her tail. She kissed Abby on the arm, kissed Piggy on the head, kissed the DVD case next to Abby, kissed Abby again and settled in to be sad with us. I would take Joy the Puppy over a smart dog any day. She is one of a kind.
And I would take Piggy over a smart guinea pig any day. He too was one of a kind. (Are there smart guinea pigs? Does anyone know?) He was sweet and gentle, goofy and fun. Piggy and I spent almost every morning together these past six plus years.
I found some of my favorite pictures of Piggy. Some are photographs I took, and some are drawings given to me by the kids at Camp Kindness in the summer of 2008, when Piggy came to help Fuzzy and Wuzzy Rats and me. A few have fun stories that go with them, and if so, I linked the stories to the photo captions.

Piggy Kissing a Purple Hippo

Piggy as the Zero-Zero Domino, Halloween 2010
(The three black dogs were all Dominoes too, but they were big enough for dots!)

Piggy Eating Cat Grass in the Garden He Shared with Max the Cat
My first (and still favorite) species-specific “pet care” article was inspired by Piggy:
Taking Care of Your Exotic Pet, For Example, Your Guinea Pig, Which is Not Really All That Exotic

We will miss you Piggy. You were the sweetest, cutest guinea pig I have ever known.
Piggy Finch
May 1, 2004 – January 17, 2010

This is a card my brother Dave made for me several years ago, even after he said “But I don’t make greeting cards!” Isn’t it awesome? I still use it all the time when I want someone to know I am REALLY REALLY grateful. I know some of you have gotten one from me! Dave included his Great Dane Riley (yup, same Riley), his cat Abaye and Piggy.
This next set is the pictures kids drew of Piggy when he went to Camp Kindness at Nebraska Humane Society with me. How many ways are there to draw a black egg-shaped pet? (Apparently, as many ways as there are great kids writing thank you cards.) I like the green pig too – apparently drawing black pets is as difficult as photographing them…a box of crayons gives you more wiggle room than a camera. Thank you kids…looking through these again cheered me a little. And thank you Friends, for all of your kind words and love. You have cheered me up quite a bit.











And one by Abby…

And one by Amanda…

And this last one did not include a drawing of Piggy, but it is my favorite thank you card I have ever received from Camp Kindness…

Piggy, you touched a lot of hearts, but you really got to mine. We will miss you buddy.
