When Thor passed, Loki went into himself and that’s never good for a guinea pig. So, we quickly got him a new friend - Ragnarok - who sadly passed just a few days afterwards. Since we already knew that Loki had to have a cage mate, we went looking for another one; and somehow ended up with two. Cupid and Magni.

Magni was a rescue pig. His previous owners had given him up for adoption citing “lack of personality” though more likely, as he was a long haired piggy, was lack of effort on his owners. He was in need of a haircut and a bath when we got him; bathtime being something he came to love!

We had almost three years with him. Throughout that time we pretty much came to the conclusion he had a few things wrong with him. He was deaf, to begin with. When fireworks were let off, both Loki and Cupid would hide, whereas Magni would bounce about - obviously feeling the rumblings in the floor and enjoying that - and hearing nothing of the explosions. He may have also been partially sighted as he very much relied on sniffing your hand to know who you were. If you were feeding him, you had to make sure he sniffed your hand, or you’d give him a bit of a shock when he turned round and sensed your hand there. Finally, he likely had heart problems, as there would be occaisions of him “hooting” … though typically, would stop when we went to check on him.

Contrary to his adoption reason, he was full of character. Much like Thor, Magni did things in his own little way. He would pile up the hay and then proceed to dive through it, frequently being found in the morning underneath a large pile of it. Being a long hair, he needed a haircut every now and then… he wasn’t too pleased at this in the beginning, but grew to accept it - especially since he usually had a bath first. Of all our piggies, Magni was the only one that throughly enjoyed the bath. He’d even attempt to swim in the basin, all smiles and chirps.

We have no idea what happened to him. The night before he passed, we noticed he was making a strange sound and was drooling a lot - thinking he’d chipped a tooth from his over eager drinking from his bottle ( he never quite figured it out properly, and would always chew it to bits ) so were going to take him to the vets in the morning to see about getting it fixed. We cleaned him up and he got a bit of a blow dry - smiling all the time and loving the hot air as usual. Unfortunately, as morning came, he was hiding in his pigloo, and couldn’t move. When I picked him up, he felt so limp and fragile. While we rushed him to the vets as quick as we could, we had already known by that point there wasn’t anything that could be done. So we had to say our goodbyes.

For a guinea pig with a “lack of personality”, Magni did pretty well for himself. He had a few issues, but took them in his stride up to the very end. Always having a cheeky face, and sometimes being a bit of a mad possessed mop when needing a haircut. Whether his heart problems finally caught up with him, we don’t know. But he’s at peace now, and likely with Thor and Ragna, and having all the baths he wants.

Magni's Bathtime