Andrew Jackson Phillips

We joke that Andrew was our million dollar guinea pig....but, he was a good pet. He was looking really sick last week with obvious weight loss and hair loss, so I took him into the vet. The Veterinarian came to the conclusion that since we have gone through several doses of antibiotics in the past year with Andrew that he must have some kind of internal bacterial/fungal infection that his body just can't fight off. He passed away on 1/15/11.

He was a cute little guy that loved the girls to talk to him, and I will miss his cute little squeak when he wanted to be fed. Abbie took it better than we thought she would, but Avery is our sensitive one who has had a few little crying spurts throughout the weekend. Abbie of course, being the activity planner that she is, planned a cute little funeral for him in our back yard. We were told at the vet that it was illegal to bury your dead animals in your yard which I found interesting.

So, we found a nice little rock to use as a headstone, but the vet will bury him somewhere nice by Lake Mead. Abbie placed the headstone in our yard so we will always remember him. We had a nice little service where we each had to talk about what we liked about Andrew which was nice for the girls to have closure.

You may have heard of funeral potatoes, but we apparently have funeral cookies at our house. Abbie made these cookies with a flag on them that read:

Andrew Jackson Phillips

We will always remember

You and love you forever

The girls have started a money jar to start saving for a new pet. I think I'm going to enjoy not feeding or caring for one for awhile...but, we'll see how long I can hold them off.