Inspiration...

Today I am taking inspiration from my pet guinea pig; Ralph! Look at that little face… Isn’t he a beaut? There are many things that can provide us with inspiration. A piece of art, a song, a photograph or even a smile, so why a guinea pig? Seems a bit odd right? Well maybe it is, but at just over 5 months old, my little Ralph has quite a story. I warn you, it’s not for the particularly squeamish!

To cut a long story short, Ralph was a friendly face for what should have been my other male guinea pig. Turns out, said pig was female and I had one very horny guy on my hands. Typical male right!? On the advice of a professional we decided to get him neutered. Two weeks later he developed an abscess. We rushed him to the vets where he had to have his tummy cut open, his abscess drained and was prescribed a long list of medicines I had to force down his neck with a syringe. On his return check-up it was apparent that the infection had spread and Ralph had to go under the knife again, this time to have two incisions and further draining. It turns out his internal stitches were the cause of the problems and so these had to be removed. I hoped that would be the end of it; however we weren’t that lucky and the infection came back a few days later. Yet another operation and yet more draining followed. I can’t tell you how guilty I felt and still feel at having put him through all this. Fingers crossed this will be the last operation he has to have and I’m praying that it’s all uphill from here. So what’s so inspiring about that? I don’t know about you, but I can’t help but think that if I were Ralph and his problems were mine, I would spend my days curled up in a ball, no doubt feeling very sorry for myself! Not my Ralph though! Every day he squeaks for his veggies, flirts with the girl pig and scoffs more hay then any guinea pig I've known. You have to admire his enthusiasm! He bounds around his cage full of life and chatters happily when he gets his cuddles. Life has thrown a massive curve ball at him and yet he picks himself back up every time and just gets on with things. Maybe we could all take a leaf out of Ralphy’s book now and again. No matter what shitty stick you get dealt, pick yourself up, brush yourself down and give your problems the middle finger.

Kirsty xx (and Ralph)