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Bert - Looking For Answers

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Aimee&Chrispigs

Aimee&Chrispigs

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I'm not sure if I should post this in here but I am trying to understand what happened to Bert. we have been having issues with Bart & Bibi recently both have had URI's and we have been nursing them back to health away from our other pigs. After a conversation with the vet where we expressed concern that Bart & Bibi seemed depressed away from the others the vet advised us that there shouldn't be a problem introducing them back in with the others which we did on Sunday. on Monday we went shopping for a few hours and when we returned we went to check on Bart & Bibi and immediately noticed that Bert was collapsed on his side barely breathing and every so often he would take a deep breath and his whole mouth would open up like he was yawning. we immediately got him out of the run and into a blanket and into the house (they live in an insulated/heated shed) and called my mum who brought her stethoscope over. she listened to his heartbeat and said she could barely hear it, he was all floppy and she felt his paws which she said were stone cold and she said there was a lot of fluid built up around his stomach, he lasted about another 10 minutes or so cuddled up to us then he was gone. The question I keep asking myself is whether this was linked to the others URI's and that I had missed the symptoms as I was concentrating on the other two, or it was just his time as he was 4 and a half years old? he was running around the run when we fed them in the morning wheeking for food and attention and in a matter of hours he was gone so its just hard for me to get my head round it.

thanks in advance
 
I am really sorry about Bert, I saw your Rainbow bridge post the other day.

Unfortunately it is impossible to know what caused Bert's passing without an autopsy. Try not to beat yourself up, what if's and questions after you lose a pet are natural and part of grief as is the guilt that you may have missed something, you are very on the ball with your piggies health you would have spotted any issues. Guinea Pigs are prey animals and as such hide any illness very well as it can be a sign of weakness. Or as in this case things can suddenly just happen, we have seen it in our own piggies, one minute they are wheeking for food the next they are crossing the bridge.

You are a great owner ,try not to second guess yourself, be kind to yourself while you are grieving.
 
Thanks for your kind words, it was all a bit sudden for me just felt useless that I was unable to help him :(
 
Sudden loss is such a difficult thing to go through, but never let yourself think that you didn't help him.
You gave him a wonderful life, and were there with him at the end.
Whatever caused Bert to cross the bridge, at least he did it knowing how much he was loved.
 
Guinea pigs can leave us very quickly. I have had quite a few piggies who have been fine, eating and running about in the morning, and gone in the afternoon, Lulu most recently. It's particularly hard if you are there when it happens. I doubt very much that it had anything to do with the other's URIs, or anything you may or may not have done. RIP Bert - he will be popcorning over the bridge, I'm sure. xx
 
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