Hector died on Thursday.  He was the last of us who actually knew George, Fred and Hugo.  To me they are all legends.  Hector didn’t say much about them, apart from Hugo.  He was a big fan of Hugo.  He taught him (Hector) most of what he knew, about how to get on with piggies in a real home, that is.  And a few other things about Being A Pig.  Like standing up at the side of their cage and looking into ours.  Hugo did it to Fred and George, Hector did it to Victor and me and Dougall, and now Oscar does it to me and Dougall.

Humphrey and Hector

Humphrey, Hector and Hugo

Hector in the mood

Hector at 1320 gms

Hector and Colman

The new boys

Humph and Hec

Hector’s breakfast

Hector tucks in

Mellow Hectorfulness

Santa Hector

Hector in the sunshine

Humphrey, Victor and Hector share the cake

Wet Hector

Hector meets Midge

Hector’s veg

Hector, Humphrey and Vic

Hector at the bar

Mummy’s going to do a proper “Hector’s life” page which will go in the Tales from the Hutch section above, along with everyone else, so we never forget them, but Hector was really wild when he arrived with Mummy, and he didn’t stop biting her for years.  Fancy biting Mummy!  I did it once, by mistake, but I’ve never done it again.  Mummy says Hector taught her all she knows about avoiding having her fingers bitten by an angry pig.  Hector was a Very Angry Pig when he first arrived.

He was about six months old and had been ignored and then starved before being rescued by Auntie Sophie and Auntie Vikki.  He had survived by eating Humphrey’s hair.  Humphrey was always sad, Hector was always angry, until he finally decided that he didn’t have to be angry with Mummy.  That was after he’d fallen out with Humphrey though. Apparently he lived very happily with Humphrey until we arrived, then he grew up a bit and started bullying him.  Mummy didn’t realise that at first, so Humphrey got very scared of him.  About the time Colman and Kevin arrived, Mummy put Hector in a separate cage on his own, then Victor went in with Humphrey and we had the cage to ourselves.  We still met everyone on the floor and in the garden, but Hector had to come down on his own because he’d fight with everyone.  And then he saw he’d been silly and started to want to get to know everyone again, but it was too late and nobody wanted to be friends with him.

That’s when he started to be really nice to Mummy.  Wise choice.  And then he started to have teeth trouble, nearly as bad as George, but later, so Mummy took him down to see Auntie Shirley and Uncle Barry to have them done, and eventually she started doing them herself every month and just taking him to have an expert overhaul every six months or so.  Mummy told them what a loving pig he had become, because the first time she’d taken him she’d had to warn them he was a biter!  His teeth trouble probably lasted two years or more.

Mummy says Hector is the perfect example of an ill-treated animal who learns to love through being given patience and kindness, and she in turn learnt to love him.  Aw.  I think we’ll miss him more than we thought we would.  He was a funny pig, but he turned out good in the end.