Zachary Binks

User avatar
ItsaZoo
Supporter in 2023

Post   » Sat Jan 28, 2023 3:45 am


My condolences on the loss of your dad, Renonvsparky. It’s hard to lose parent because it feels like you lose a part of your past as well. Take care of yourself.

Bookfan
For the Love of Pigs

Post   » Tue Feb 07, 2023 4:36 pm


I'm so sorry you lost your dad. "His heart broke when Mom passed. You could see it on his face and hear it in his voice. He tried to move on, but he just couldn't." We had the same experience. Your dad's at peace.

User avatar
Renonvsparky

Post   » Tue Feb 07, 2023 9:00 pm


Thank you everyone. Just got back from Colorado (hopefully for the last time). We picked up the car I inherited and the ATV my brother gave me. The car is a 2015 Kia Optima. It was very well cared for and it has very low mileage. We gave it to our son, who had to get rid of his to move here with us. The ATV doesn't run, but once I get it fixed, it will come in handy around the farm.

The house is mostly emptied out. There's an estate sale company coming over this week to get everything out. Then the cleaners go and do their thing, then the realtor takes over and hopefully sells it quickly. My part is done. My brother is handling the rest. Should be over by March. Then we can all move on.

User avatar
Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Tue Feb 07, 2023 10:58 pm


I think it is hard emptying a family home. I still miss my family's home and it was sold many years ago (my mother died and my father moved into an apartment in a community of older, able-bodied seniors - until he also died).

User avatar
Renonvsparky

Post   » Wed Feb 08, 2023 1:51 pm


Being a military brat, we were never endeared to one house since we moved a lot. Even after I left on my own and my dad retired, they bought and sold several houses in Washington State until they wound up in Colorado too old and too frail to move around. They barely unpacked enough to function in their house. Cooking and eating utensils, clothes, bedding and towels was about all they unpacked. They furniture, TV, computer, etc were all set up because my brother did all of that in addition to setting up his 4 bedroom house down the street. There wasn't even any pictures on the walls and my mother had literally a ton of Home Interiors and other home decor still brand new in the packaging. She had over 200 porcelain dolls that she never unpacked and displayed.

I'm rambling on here and this isn't even the right thread for it. I guess my point is that giving up the house is the easy part. It's all of the personal belongings we couldn't take that were so hard to give up. I got what I could and so did my siblings, but there's still a lot of stuff that will go to the highest bidder.

User avatar
Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Wed Feb 08, 2023 9:40 pm


In contrast, after my parents bought a house perhaps 3 years after I was born, it was the only family home I knew. It was spacious, old, and cool. It held a lot of meaning for me.

Sorry you could not take the meaningful personal belongings.

User avatar
Renonvsparky

Post   » Mon Mar 06, 2023 3:49 am


Poor Zachary Binks. He was fine this morning. He showed his usual excitement and greeted me for his food. I usually give him a piece of his veggies before opening his cage because it gets him down off of the door so that I can open it without risking him falling or jumping out. He took it like he always does and he ate everything. He took his carrot treat a few hours later with his usual zeal. I went to give the night time veggies and found him in the corner under his hammock and he had only eaten about a quarter of his baby carrot from earlier. He was somewhat lethargic too.

I picked him up to examine him and found a large amount of compacted feces stuck in his rectum. It was right at the opening so when I spread open the sac to see how large it is, most of it came out. It was very smelly. What little was left in there came out with very little effort. He passed another large lump followed by a normal poop about half an hour after I got the compacted stuff out.

He's still a little bit lethargic sitting in his hammock, but he nibbles at his lettuce. I imagine that it might take a bit for him to feel better after the compaction was removed like it did when Mr Bubbles had it years ago. I'm keeping my eye on him and if he doesn't improve, I'll have to get him to the vet tomorrow. I'll start a medical thread if this draws out past tonight. In the meantime, please wish him well.

User avatar
daisymay
Supporter 2016-2021

Post   » Mon Mar 06, 2023 4:16 am


Hope all goes well for him! I dread this happening to the 3 boy babies that I have as never had to do it before. Keep us posted. Gentle hugs and well wishes from us down under.

User avatar
Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Mon Mar 06, 2023 7:42 am


Definitely wishing him well!

This comment is for other readers who have boars - long ago I read a recommendation to do this when picking up a boar (I added the tip to the bottom of the impaction page):

"Whenever you pick up a boar, rest your hand under his rump so that you can feel the testicles, if he is starting to get impacted you should feel a hardness within the pouch.

"Gently separate the testicles so that the inside of the pouch is visible, if the boar is impacted, a firm dark lump of matter can be seen. If not, the inside of the pouch will be lined with the natural whitish paste called cecum."

Bookfan
For the Love of Pigs

Post   » Mon Mar 06, 2023 10:53 am


I hope the boy is felling better tomorrow.

User avatar
Renonvsparky

Post   » Mon Mar 06, 2023 7:43 pm


Sad to report that Zachary Binks passed away this afternoon. He was worse this morning, so I made him a vet appointment. The soonest I could get him in was 3:30. By the time I got him to the vet, he was in very bad shape. He passed away while they were trying to figure out what was wrong with him.

I'm totally stumped on this one. He hadn't lost any weight. His teeth were in great shape. No noticeable masses or lumps in his abdomen. Up until around 8 pm last night, he was his usual self. He was peeing and pooping too until the compaction. He had one normal dropping after that. Nose, ears and eyes were clear. Maybe he was bitten by a spider or insect? I looked careful on his body and around his cage, but I didn't find anything. The vet suggested that he might have been quite a bit older than we estimated and it was just his time. We really have no idea how old he was. Could've been 2 years, could've been 6 or something in-between. Without a thorough autopsy, there's no way to know.

I'm having him cremated and I'll be building his urn. I'll put together a final tribute soon.

User avatar
Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Mon Mar 06, 2023 8:35 pm


I am so sorry to hear you lost him. The vet is right that "without a thorough autopsy, there's no way to know." Sometimes a necropsy (what your vet meant or said) doesn't provide answers but often can. It may have been related to his impaction but I do not recall another guinea pig taking such a serious turn as a result of an impaction.

Post Reply