[FoxtrotGolfXray 5.0]

As some of you may have seen previously in the pets folder, my daughter raises Guinea pigs and has been doing so for quite a few years now. As a result, we've seen a few runts struggle to survive and some even die.

One of my daughters mums gave birth to a litter of four late last week; one was a big boof but there was also a very tiny one. My daughter decided to hand rear this one, getting up through the last few nights to feed it at 3 to 4 hour intervals. As a result, she was getting very tired, so I offered to do the late feed so that she could get a decent block of sleep.

Well, the feed at 11 all went well. Put them in my daughters room and shuffled off to bed. Got woken up at 1230 by a distraught daughter saying the runt was not doing well. She died a few hours later. My daughter was so distraught she got no sleep last night. I only got a couple of hours myself.

My daughters such a softie that even after all her experience, she's still touched by the passing of a little critter. Wish I could have done more to save the little one so that I didn't have to see my daughter in that state.