I'm truly devastated and feeling so sad at the moment
I have lost my lovely little Ginger
one of the three gorgeous boys I got from Chris last August.
The boys settled so well into their new aviary home here in the beautiful Welsh countryside and I was soooooo happy that at last I had finally got my very own Chipmunks to care for and enjoy, they got on sooooo well together too
We had a long spell of very cold icy snowy weather over winter here with temperatures down to lows of minus 19.8 degrees on a regular basis
I was worried sick as to whether the little chippies would make it through the winter but didn't want to poke in or disturb them during their sleepy time, just added lots and lots more fluffy bedding and draped a blanket cover around their box to give them a little more protection from the elements. It was such a relief when things began to eventually warm up and all three emerged safely from the sleeping box ... how they survived I'll never know, tough little cookies obviously
Over a couple of weeks I noticed that Ginger was spending a bit more time back in the box than the other two and started to look a bit more closely at him on the occassions he did come out. He was a good weight, was eating and his coat was very shiny and healthy. The thing I did notice tho' was his breathing! he looked as tho' he was kind of panting, his sides were going in and out quicker than the other two boys. I rang the vets to ask and although they have never had a Chipmunk visit the surgery before (more likely to get lambs, pigs, goats, etc round here!) they said to bring him in and they would have a look at him (vet thought it sounded like perhaps he had a respiratory infection?).
So I carefully picked him out of the sleeping box to put him into a carrier and he just took his last breath and died there and then in my hand
presumably his heart gave in? I feel so guilty that he died when I picked him out of his box and keep blaming myself
I've been through all the "what if's" and "if only's" possible which doesn't help and I know underneath it was probably just one of those things and he couldn't have been saved anyway but it's so hard to accept
Hope you're sleeping tight little fella, I'll never forget you, neither will your best pals Rusty n Woody and we'll always love you Ginger
xxx
