Hi everyone. Last Monday my guinea pig bandit was diagnosed with lymphoma cancer. Since then she has been unable to eat or drink so I've syringe fed her through mouth. She has gone blind in one eye and trouble breathing. She returned to the vets on Friday 25th October 2026 and was put to sleep. I'm so devastated. I keep crying all the time. Her little face when she looked at me . I'm a 55 year old man, so I know it sounds silly but I miss her so much. I don't think I'm going to get over it.
BIG HUGS
Lymphoma is one of the nastiest and most painful illnesses that guinea pigs can come down with. It's incurable, ranging in life span from a few days to a few months after diagnosis, depending on how aggressive and advanced it is. The most aggressive form can come up frighteningly quickly and kill within a matter of days, not giving you time to come to grips with the shock before the loss follows closely after. Your helplessness in stemming the process despite your best efforts is one of the most lowering experiences you can have. Sadly, Bandit seems to have came down with one of the more aggressive forms.
Please take comfort in that you have given Bandit all your love and care, and that you have given her the most loving but also most heart-breaking gift we have - to spare her any further suffering. Because of your love you have been able to be strong for her but you are now paying the emotional price for it - but if you had to make the decision again, would you not choose the same because you'd rather pay the price than Bandit?
The wings of this your love have truly carried Bandit during her journey to the Bridge since she truly could not have been loved any more.
I am sure that you have a little new furry guardian angel who is currently busy working out her new wings in order to give some of this great love you shared with your little beauty back. It is just a visualisation that I find personally helpful at that stage of grieving because in my heart and my life, my piggies never leave me, even though I can no longer see or touch them. But our bond of love and all those precious memories remain with me forever.
It is totally normal and totally OK to not be OK at this stage. We all go through it, but the emotional tsunami that is swamping you is the greater the more you love and the more traumatic the circumstances have been.
Please give yourself the space and the time to grieve so you can give room to those emotions in order to process them and to let them out.
Some kind physical activity does help but the best way is to talk. I would strongly recommend that you contact the free pet bereavement platforms of the Blue Cross (UK only animal charity) for a confidential talk. All our members who have given us feedback have said that it has helped them.
Pet Loss Support
We will remain here for you to give you our understanding community support for as long as you wish. It would be good if you please bookmarked this thread so you can pick it up easily again. It helps us to keep each case together, especially in cases that run for longer and it helps us to remind ourselves of what has gone on before so we can tailor our support without repeating ourselves.
You may find our practical grieving guide for owners helpful, which talks you through the different stages of the grieving process in a practical way and also contains a chapter on what you can do.
Right now, I would recommend that you place a picture of her or some object in her cage so you are not confronted by the sheer emptiness quite so badly whenever you look there or go there. The absence takes unfortunately quite some time to get used to because of the many little unthinking ties that connect you. Try to send her a loving thought whenever it hits you again. I have found that this helps me. You cannot hurry the grieving process on - it is the other side of your love.
You have to grieve as much as you have loved, but right now, there is the added trauma of her cancer diagnosis and the speed with which she has deteriorated.
And one thing more that is about as cheesy as it gets but that I find really comforting and soothing is this little video song. It works for any age.
Rainbow bridge video I made, I hope it can bring some comfort to others
We also have a collection of poems at the top of our Rainbow Bridge section. It can help to put into words how you feel and make you feel better that way since we often struggle to express the strength and power of a maelstrom of very different emotions that we are tossed about in:
Permanent Thread for Rainbow Bridge Poems (now open for new additions)
I sincerely hope that this helps you as an instant weekend plug.
I am holding you in my thoughts. I am an over 60 year old woman with stage 4 cancer, having said goodbye to around 80 piggies over several decades and now having my remaining lot all within the wider range of the average life expectancy, never to be replaced.
But who says that I am mad for continuing to comfort others facing death and loss in whatever form? We are both (and so are the others on this forum) first and foremost people who love and it is that love for small vulnerable but oh so personable pet that connects us.
Age, gender and all the rest of our personal life baggage is irrelevant. And no, you are not the only man on this forum and posting in this section, so welcome to the club.
PS: I have changed the month from October to September in your post as you have obviously lost your precious little lady yesterday.
I always say my piggies are my furry family, they mean so much to me. Sleep tight over the rainbow bridge Bandit 
It sounds like it was quite a fast developing illness and did not leave you much time to prepare for the loss of your lovely piggy. They are charming and affectionate pets. Although losing her is very sad, she must have been tired and weak. Possibly she was close to the stage where she was spending most of her time sleeping. There is not much else you can do at this stage but if there is a possibility of severe pain then letting her go was definitely the best option. She loved you and was saying goodbye in her own way. Perhaps she knew she would be leaving soon. I hope you can gain peace of mind 
Rest easy over the bridge little Bandit 