Oliver was a black, short-haired piggy. I got him when he was about a month old from a pet store. He lived with me, illegally, in my dorm room for a year and a half until he was discovered by my evil Resident Advisor and was kicked out. After that he went to live with my family in Houston.  Oliver was such a good little guy. His favorite things to do were to eat, of course, and to sneak around my dorm room and chew up all the paper on the floor. When we let him out of his cage he would go first under our little couch and then he would set off to explore.  He liked to chew on shoe laces (and sometimes he chewed them off!) and he also liked to nibble on any toes he could happen to find. He loved to be rubbed under his chin and right behind his ears. All of my friends in the dorm just loved Oliver and they always stopped to pet him whenever he was out for one of his walks in the hallway. Everyone was sad to see him leave.

When I used to take Oliver home to visit my family for Christmas he loved to play in our yard. All of my cats took a great deal of interest in him, and he was curious about them too. The cats tended to be scared of him just because they'd never seen anything like him before. But Oliver was not scared of them one bit. In fact, he used to follow them around everywhere and try to nibble on their paws.  Maybe he thought they were other guinea pigs because they were black just like him. His favorite cat was Chloe, who once lived with him illegally in my dorm room too! Chloe and Oliver loved to play hide-and-go-seek with one another. Oliver always hid under the sofa and he would stick his little nose out and Chloe would "tag" it.

Oliver's favorite things to eat were alfalfa hay and peanuts. He was a very picky eater, though. Whenever I tried to give him fresh fruit or vegetables he just turned his little piggy nose up and went back to eating his pellets.

As you can tell by my use of the past tense in my letter, Oliver has died. In fact, he died earlier today. He was playing out in the yard while my mom and brother cleaned his cage and my brother found him dead under his favorite bush. We don't know how it happened, but I do know that I miss my little friend. I can't imagine going back home and him not being there. I hope that wherever he is he's happy and I hope he knows how much I loved him.