On Wednesday night my mom sent me an email to tell me my oldest guinea pig, Furball, had passed away. I was really hoping that, despite his age (4 years and 2 months, quite elderly for a guinea pig), that he would make it through the 8 months that I’d be away, and I would be able to see him again once I got back. In the months before I left for Japan, he had been very sick at one point, and had lost a lot of weight, but in the past weeks he had been gaining it back and was acting very healthy, playful, and energetic. Furball always had fun in his tank by burrowing into the piles of hay we would give him, and then sleeping in it. He also loved to run around on the floor, with his favorite hiding place being underneath my futon in the living room, specifically behind the piles of blankets he would find under them. In the later part of his life he became a very sweet and mellow fellow, contrary to the ‘George Tirebiter’ that he was when I first got him. I will miss him very much.

Here is the last picture that my sister took of him before he died: