My daughter was given 2 guinea pigs for her birthday on November 6th already named strawberry and Cream, they were clearly fully grown adults who had apparently originally come from a breeder. (I have a pub and it was a gift from a customer)
Anyway, 9 year old Hannah became very close to them very quickly, they had lovely tempraments and were happy to be held and loved by her, every morning before school she changed their water and food bowls, she cleaned them regularly and constantly spent time with them. She fed them fresh veggies and grass and filled their house with hay, I must admit I was most impressed! Sadly just over a week ago Hannah went to check on her piggies (only the 4th check that day lol) and found Cream laying on her side dead. Strawberry was hidding under a pile of hay and we were relieved to find she was fine.
Cream had no marks or injuries, she was still warm so had recently passed and we were very confused as to why. The evening before she'd been running around the pub eating carrots and playing with Hannah happily as usual.
I must offer thanks to all the forums and websites out there on guinea pigs as this has been a great comfort to us, it appears that the most likely cause was heart failure and has meant I can reassure Hannah that she did nothing wrong.
We now have another 2 babies (their all females) and with hardly any effort Strawberry has accepted them and they all live together in their indoor cage (starting to get very cold now outside). Strawberry seems perfectly healthy, she loves her food and tolerates the little ones well, in fact they often sleep curled up to her as she's a rather large lady!
Hannah still misses Cream very much but has her new baby piggies to keep her occupied, she's still a fantastic owner who spends all her spare time caring for her piggies. The info on sites such as this is invaluable in insuring that we always do the best for our little piggie family.
Jo
Anyway, 9 year old Hannah became very close to them very quickly, they had lovely tempraments and were happy to be held and loved by her, every morning before school she changed their water and food bowls, she cleaned them regularly and constantly spent time with them. She fed them fresh veggies and grass and filled their house with hay, I must admit I was most impressed! Sadly just over a week ago Hannah went to check on her piggies (only the 4th check that day lol) and found Cream laying on her side dead. Strawberry was hidding under a pile of hay and we were relieved to find she was fine.
Cream had no marks or injuries, she was still warm so had recently passed and we were very confused as to why. The evening before she'd been running around the pub eating carrots and playing with Hannah happily as usual.
I must offer thanks to all the forums and websites out there on guinea pigs as this has been a great comfort to us, it appears that the most likely cause was heart failure and has meant I can reassure Hannah that she did nothing wrong.
We now have another 2 babies (their all females) and with hardly any effort Strawberry has accepted them and they all live together in their indoor cage (starting to get very cold now outside). Strawberry seems perfectly healthy, she loves her food and tolerates the little ones well, in fact they often sleep curled up to her as she's a rather large lady!
Hannah still misses Cream very much but has her new baby piggies to keep her occupied, she's still a fantastic owner who spends all her spare time caring for her piggies. The info on sites such as this is invaluable in insuring that we always do the best for our little piggie family.
Jo
It is lovely you have been able to bond the babies with strawberry so well. Your daughter sounds like a wonderful piggy mum. It would be lovely to see photos of them all. 
