This article may have outdated information.
The HappyCavy webcams and Guinea Pig Treat Machine went offline on April 8, 2024.
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Hammy the Rainbow Guinea Pig
The title says it all. Hammy the guinea pig, the longest member of the HappyCavy Family, passed away at approximately 3:00 a.m. Pacific Time today, Monday, December 29, 2014. Her cause of death is unknown. However, a usual suspect — lymphoma — is considered the culprit. Details on her health at her time of passing will be made available once necropsy results are received.
Friends: Last night, at about 3 a.m. Pacific Time, Hammy the #guineapig passed away. Details will be posted later to http://t.co/W2jTa3emqe
— HappyCavy (@happycavy) December 29, 2014
Cause of Death
Update: 12/30/2014 7:37 p.m. Pacific Time
The necropsy showed no signs of cancer. Hammy died from a bacterial infection and possible pneumonia. Naturally, this news is distressing.
Hammy had been battling a bacterial infection since early in the year and was on long courses of antibiotics. Her health seemed to improve, and The Humans concluded that the last course of antibiotics had cleared it up. Clearly, it did not.
But, aside from some slight breathing difficulty, which prompted The Humans to make her an appointment for the day she passed away, Hammy wasn’t displaying any noticeable signs of pneumonia at her time of death. That makes it all the more painful for the Humans to accept.
Hammy left for the Rainbow Bridge with her sisters, Feebee and Buttercup, by her side. Moments after her passing, Buttercup and Feebee sniffed Hammy and began to grieve. Buttercup being the closest of friends to Hammy continued to prod and poke her sister, even going so far as to lick areas of her face she would normally lick to show affection. After Buttercup realized her friend was gone, she retreated to a corner and began making a sobbing, whiny noise. Did you know guinea pigs can “cry”? Neither did we. It’s a sound called chirping, and can sometimes be heard more when a pig is missing a cage-mate. It’s really a heart-breaking noise.
Hammy was the head spokes-pig for HappyCavy and herself wrote 168 articles for the Guinea Pig Blog. She has thousands of friends and fans across multiple social channels and brought joy to many with her antics on the cavy webcams.
Hammy now joins a growing list of those who have passed on to the Rainbow Bridge from our home: Piglet, Bitsy, and Dot.
To honor Hammy’s memory, and to allow the Humans and the Herd time to grieve, the webcams will be offline. Regular broadcasts will resume on January 9, 2015.
For Hammy, with Love
Read the love letter to Hammy and her friends written by HappyCavy fan Miriam Ruff at “For Hammy, with Love“.
To help cheer you up after this depressing news, take a look back at Hammy’s long life with us. You can view her Flickr photostream, watch videos of her on YouTube, and see her Facebook photo album, and catch up on the “Hammy” tag on the guinea pig blog.
And, best of all, you can listen to her wheek!
Wheek on, little Ham. We were so loved and will be deeply missed.
I’m so sorry for your loss. Hammy will be greatly missed by many. xo Jennifer (and Rufus)
Dear Hammy,
We will miss you every day. Your videos made our mom get into videography. Your parents were very supportive when our Delphi died. You and your sisters cheered our mom up when she was mourning. We love you and will remember you,
Little Miss Porcinette and Minou
I am sorry for your loss.
Hi, I’m very sorry to hear that Hammy passed recently. I to lost my guinea pig, Nabby on Jan 10th from the very same illness as Hammy.
Dear Happycavy,
I’m sorry for your loss of Hammy. She was a lovely guinea pig and all US viewers loved her.
Once again sorry for your loss
From Tweetcoco
Thank you, friend. It’s difficult to lose such a sweet guinea pig 🙁
I miss your wheeking Hammy ;(
I’m so sorry, I’m new to this site, but I have two piggies myself, and I came here looking for a place to find out about the piggies, so I want Hammy to know, she made the happiness of two young guinea pigs possible, I hope up in Heaven, she can play on the rainbow bridge with Piglet, Bitsy, and Dot, eat all she wants and squeak to her heart’s content, I’m so sorry, even after 9 months it still must be hard to look at your pigs and think, “Where’s Hammy???” then, you realize but I’m so sorry, she seemed like such an amazing animal, friend, and sister. I hope that she has found happiness on the Rainbow Bridge.
She made such a difference.
Sincerely,
Donovan Eady.
Thank you, Donovan. That means a lot 🙂