Sadly over the years, a number of pets have gone to reside over the Rainbow Bridge. They are gone but not forgotten.

Zeta

Zeta was born 28th September 1995 and came to live with us in August 1998, having given birth to a litter of puppies a few months earlier. Her favourite place to be was sitting on Leigh's lap. 

We lost Zeta in July 2009 following a short illness. She would have been 14 in a few weeks time. 

Her page can be found here

Sheba 

Sheba was born in the spring of 1987, and moved from Newcastle to London and back again. 

We lost Sheba in August 2008. She had been ill for a few months, but prior to that had been fit and healthy until a thyroid condition was detected in 2007, which responded well to medication. Her coat remained glossy to the end. She outlived her siblings by at least 7 years.

An only pet for many years she was joined by Maisie the miniature schnauzer in January 1997. She quickly established herself as the boss. She much preferred Zeta, who arrived a year later.

In 1999, she was joined by the two kittens, Satin & Lace, and again she made quite sure they knew that it was her house. Satin always looked up to Sheba, her role model!

Sheba did not come from a strong line, and we know she was not properly weaned onto kitten food. We believe that this led to periodic vomiting - which normally included the day we returned from holiday. It seemed to cause her no distress and certainly she remained hungry afterwards. Whilst her coat remained glossy and she seemed fit she did have a few problems in her teens. She had poor teeth and so we gave her senior biscuits. She had also had ear irritation which caused her to scratch her head, sometimes breaking the skin. Basically the problem was a build up of wax, and periodically her ears were overproducing wax. She had her ears cleaned by the vet, but this was a temporary measure only. Although effective for a time, we were concerned that this treatment requires a general anesthetic. Ear cleaning at home can also be effective in the short term, but, as I'm sure anyone who has had to administer ear drops will know, this can stress both cat and owner! As Sheba's ear canal became thickened, it was possible to operate to alleviate the problem. We considered this, but saw it as a last resort - which thankfully we didn't need to do. Instead we successfully used a homeopathic remedy. We used Hepar sulfuris 6c to reduce the inflammation and pain, followed by Psorinum 30c to help cut down on the waxy discharge,. For about 8 years we gaven her tablets for a couple of weeks whenever the tell tale scratching appears.  It worked well, and luckily she would accept the small tablet with food.  

The Guinea Pigs

All of our guinea pigs are now residents of Rainbow Bridge. After Muffin & Nutmeg, we had a family of 5 guinea pigs. This was not a deliberate decision, we bought two young females Lucy and Sophie who gave birth to 3 babies 5 & 7 weeks later. Lucy had George and Gina, and Sophie had Rose. Despite a poor start in life, and presumably quite inbred, all lived to beyond their 6th birthday. Cavy Capers tells their tales.