Baby Guinea Pig Died

[Paul C]

Hi
I'm relatively new to guinea pig care, having first bought a pair of females last summer. A few weeks ago I bought a 12 week old female to go with them. Unfortunately my baby one died today, and I'm unsure as to why. I wonder, if I describe the situation, any members may be able to shed light on cause of death, as it's a bit of a mystery.

The 2 older ones seem to be getting on fairly well with the younger one, so I don't think it's an integration issue. When changing the bedding, I noticed the baby moving fairly normally, but a little slower. It seemed like she was just a little tired. I left the house for an hour and when I came back, she was on her side and breathing slowly, but still alive. I managed to get an emergency appointment an hour later, but by the time I got her to the vets, she had died. It did not look like there was any injury as she was not hobbling, just gradually moving slower, and I don't think she choked as she would have died quicker. She was also eating and drinking very well and had put on a fair bit of weight over the 2 weeks. From her moving a little slower to her dying was a gradual process over the course of around 1.5 hours.

If anyone may have any insight/experience of this situation, let me know what possible causes you found. Also, if it's something I'm doing incorrectly I'd need to know in case the other guineas are harmed. In the meantime, I'll google away, but thought this may also be a good resource for finding answers. I appreciate I haven't given detailed information as I didn't want this entry to go on too long, but if you want to know any further information, let me know.

Any help would be much appreciated

 

[madguinealady]

Just to say how sorry I am.Huge hugs.Sometimes it just happens.I would try not to worry too much, just keep an eye on the other two

 

[Wiebke]

Hi
I'm relatively new to guinea pig care, having first bought a pair of females last summer. A few weeks ago I bought a 12 week old female to go with them. Unfortunately my baby one died today, and I'm unsure as to why. I wonder, if I describe the situation, any members may be able to shed light on cause of death, as it's a bit of a mystery.

The 2 older ones seem to be getting on fairly well with the younger one, so I don't think it's an integration issue. When changing the bedding, I noticed the baby moving fairly normally, but a little slower. It seemed like she was just a little tired. I left the house for an hour and when I came back, she was on her side and breathing slowly, but still alive. I managed to get an emergency appointment an hour later, but by the time I got her to the vets, she had died. It did not look like there was any injury as she was not hobbling, just gradually moving slower, and I don't think she choked as she would have died quicker. She was also eating and drinking very well and had put on a fair bit of weight over the 2 weeks. From her moving a little slower to her dying was a gradual process over the course of around 1.5 hours.

If anyone may have any insight/experience of this situation, let me know what possible causes you found. Also, if it's something I'm doing incorrectly I'd need to know in case the other guineas are harmed. In the meantime, I'll google away, but thought this may also be a good resource for finding answers. I appreciate I haven't given detailed information as I didn't want this entry to go on too long, but if you want to know any further information, let me know.

Any help would be much appreciated

Hi and welcome!

"A little bit slower" sounds to me like she could have gone into acute heart failure rather than a stroke or a full-out heart attack, which tends to strike within a minute; the deep breathing from the spleen is another indicator of the heart failing. Sadly, any of these can hit at any age totally out of the blue. It is like living with a ticking time bomb in the body.
I have lost young guinea pigs like that; even despite rushing them to the vets as an emergency as soon as I noticed the signs. However, unless you opt for a (rather expensive) post mortem at the vets, you will never know for sure.

I am very sorry; you haven't done anything wrong. There is virtually nothing you can do once the body is starting to close down.

Sudden unexpected deaths, especially in a young guinea pig whack you really hard. You do have to deal with the shock as well as the loss. The typical feelings of having failed a guinea pig that characterise the onset of the grieving process take the form of needing to know what as happened so you can make sense of it in order to be able to then being able to start digesting it all.

Here are tips on what you can do for the other two: Looking After A Bereaved Guinea Pig
You are welcome to post a tribute to your little one in our Rainbow Bridge section if and whenever it feels right for you.

 

[piggieminder]

I am so sorry you lost you're little one.

 

[artcasper]

sorry for your loss of the little baby x

 

[VickiA]

So sorry that you lost your little one. Sometimes they just don't make it. I agree with Wiebke that it sounds like heart failure. It's heartbreaking but it can happen at any age. I lost one like that myself several years ago.

 

[Veggies Galore]

so sorry for your loss

 

[Paul C]

Thank you all for your comments/advice. I do have a mourning one, and the advice section on this website is helping. I'm not sure if it matters, but I recently changed the bedding from chippings to straw - not sure if anyone has opinions on straw as a bedding but just in case I'm going to be switching back to chippings.

 

[jeffnsweep]

So sorry for your loss, we too lost a very young guinea pig, we had him for 3 weeks, one day he just went downhill very quickly within a couple of hours he went from looking fine to slowly going downhill he started fitting and then he just lay on his side unable to move, we managed to get an emergency vets appointment and the vet felt his tummy. Unfortunately he had a massive growth internally in his tummy. Its part and parcel of the grieving process to try and figure out why but as long as you know you did everything right for your piggy then take comfort you cared for him, unfortunately most cases of.sudden death aren't known and as above unless you pay for a p/m u will never find out but don't blame yourself xx