For #WorldAnimalDay2024 we respectively - in memoriam - acknowledge the contribution of our pigs to science. including regulation of access to (and use of) Mesquite and TNT laptops. #MrSqueekums #Knaagt #BareNakedCables #Friends

Really pleased @femke_holwerda visited @CDPROJEKTRED in Warsaw during the recent #PalGes2024 conference there. @CDPROJEKTRED are currently growing #Witcher4 the follow-up to Geralt. In similar news, it can be seen @femke_holwerda is also growing the #GeraltofAlberta follow-up💞

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"And here we are back where it all began. I'll see you in some other lifetime.On the other side of what we'll never know.Together we have walked a fine line.Now we go to face the universe alone.The universe alone.".

"In plain view, the mistakes we've made .But is there anything you'd really want to change .To win&lose then win again .To have it all then throw it all away. How beautiful the closing down.The fading out, it spins and goes around.With darkness and the heart of man. ".

"So shall we make a clan my friend.As if we have the chance to live it all again.I'll see you in some other lifetime.On the other side of what we'll never know.Together we have walked a fine line.Now we go to face the universe alone".

But he might have had the jump on Knaagt for communication in one final regard. After a tough night and a miserable Saturday, the phone hummed into life on its own, early Sunday morning, with this:. "It's beautiful, the dying sun.The end of everything and everyone"

Squeeks only really began vocalising after Knaagt died - it always felt like he didn't see the need while Knaagt was happily chirruping, exploring & generally commenting on the world. Indeed, it was something of a shock to us when the resolutely silent pig finally began to talk.

Squeeks died at 5 to 7 (same time as his brother, 9 months earlier) and we let Flo and Ro say their farewells as they snuggled a last time with him, not minding his cooling, suddenly much smaller body: at 882g, around half his peak weight.

We picked him up, his head went limp and he died there on Femke's lap, with us apologising for giving him the chance. I can't help think the 2 days that we lost with the vet closure matches the 2 days that he hadn't been eating by the time he died & could have made a difference.

An hour and a half later he was making biting motions, so I again tried to put food or water in his mouth. but there was no reaction. and I suddenly realised that these were rhythmic autonomic pulses, & his brain was dying in front of us. It seems he suffered a post-op embolism.

He tried to clean himself but settled back, seemingly still woozy. By half past 5 (note, vet now closed for the weekend), he still wasn't eating but seemed to be stretching his legs, almost rhythmically. This bothered me as something from med school, but couldn't quite remember.

We picked him up at the allotted time - vet assistant said he hadn't eaten anything yet, so we got on that. We unpacked him from the crate (noticing his penis weirdly out and stuck to his leg) & got him comfortable, but he really wasn't eating, even when food placed in his mouth.

At midday we got the happy call from the vet - the operation had gone well, stone removed, we could come pick him up at half two. But I was aware that this was going to be another dangerous weekend with the vet closed. .

In the morning, another snuggle in bed, while a lock of Knaagt's fur kept watch in his cage. I dropped him off at 10am, after dropping Ger at daycare (confusing those appointments could have been problematic as well as embarassing. ).

We booked the operation for the next morning, as we only had a week before we would be travelling, so had to get him under care as soon as possible. That night we once more subjected him to Flo & Ro, anticipating the worst for the next day.

I left the vets with him and took him to the park for what I feared might be the last time - but he chowed down heavily & happily on the undergrowth, feeling the sun on his fur as he regularly had in the garden in Drumheller.

But we knew we had to act fast, as he had not eaten for a day, and it was going to be touch and go to operate on him before he became too weak to survive the procedure. (picture from 13th)

(It also - somewhat distressingly - revealed signs of a healed leg fracture that we had no idea about, and the vet could not indicate how historical it was.).

Nonetheless, over the weekend, he dropped below a kilo for the first time, and we got another appointment for him for the next Thursday. This time he had lost enough weight that she could feel something - a x-ray confirmed a stone rather than inoperable malignant bladder tissue.

We were scheduled to leave on 23rd for Our 1 Big Conference of 2024 & as it was a pretty once-in-a-lifetime event at the Arctic Circle, cancelling was problematic but we still had no Cavia-carers of the awesome grade of Dan & @SammyKSampson to take care of sick pig while we gone.