Albert...

is no longer with us.

He has moved on to the great food bowl in the sky.




Albert in Aug 2009


We didn't think guinea pigs lived that long but Hayley calculates he lived in our backyard for 7 years. The first few months of his life he had a cage and a special water bottle and was fed guinea pig food. But after he survived the first night of not being put back in he stayed out.

Not content with guinea pig food he would get into the chicken enclosure to feast on their scraps and layer pellets and grew to be enormous. He ate the dogs kiblets straight out of her bowl, and any good plant that he could reach (all my plants are in hanging baskets or in pots stacked higher than his teeth). He even ate my straw broom and some homework papers that Erin left on the outdoor table that blew off for him to munch on. He drank water from the dogs bowl and steadfastly refused to eat the weeds in the back. Sometimes he would come right up to the back door and squeak loudly to be given vegie off cuts.

I was a bit concerned for the dog when he would bunk in with her in her kennel, we always joked that it was lucky the dog had been spayed, so I got a trampoline bed for her to sleep in where he couldn't reach her. Our dog is a lovely miniature fox terrier and was very patient and kind to him, sharing her food, water and bedding. Sometimes she would curl up her lip and growl at him if he got into the kiblets before her but she never harmed him.

Previously I had wondered how he had survived the heat waves, the frigid frosty winters, flooding rains and  the odd cat that would invade our yard but he kept on keeping on. He was pretty tough and now the dog is wandering around looking a little lost and it seems quiet out there without him.

The 'Dinner Pig' era is over