"Are you SURE she's not pregnant?" I asked the pet store clerk, as I selected the guinea pig for my daughter. "Oh yes" he assured me. Well, he was wrong. KP joined us one Christmas, and by February was the proud mom of four furry little guinea pigs. Guinea pig babies are about the size of hamsters at birth, and are born with all their fur and their eyes open. Although they nurse for a few weeks, they are also able to start on solid food right away. We found good homes for two girls and a boy, but my son wanted to keep this little one and named her Fireball. At first we tried keeping them in separate cages, one in his room, one in my daughter's room, but they would cry for each other constantly, so they ended up in a larger bunny cage together. They loved being put out on the lawn in the summer, with the cage top over them, supervised of course. I would tell the neighbours that we were cultivating the dandelions for our guinea pigs, dandelion leaves are very good for guinea pigs. KP and Fireball also travelled with us to the cottage for our summer vacations. At around the age of 6, KP started to lose weight, and one day passed away quietly. Fireball was never the same after her mom's passing and about 6 months later, she too died. They are buried beside each other, along with The Cat, Mickey and Emily.