Devastating Morning And Looking For Answers :(

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Gwinyypig123

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Hiya all I'm new to the page. I've just joined after fidining it and trying to find answers as to why I found my little girl like I did. I cannot explain how heartbroken, and how sick I feel. I don't know what to do. I had 2 girls, Holly a 3year old and Blossom who will have only been 17 weeks - bonded at 5 weeks old. Holly bonded to her straight away and I'd never seen any dominant behavior between them, they seemed perfectly happy living together. They recently had a wooden house made which i put in their home.
This morning, I couldn't find blossom in her cage at first.
If you've still got to here reading I'm warning you its not nice :'(
When I did find her she was tucked behind the house and I realised she was dead, and seemed to have been for some time. The worst part is that her head was not attached to her body :( I've managed to remove her from the cage. There was no obvious signs of blood but after closer inspection I have noticed a little bit on the wooden house she was behind, but not much. I couldn't find any marks on the rest of her body. And no blood or marks or anything on holly. I'm at loss as to what has happened and can't express how upset and shocked I am. I'm in tears typing this. I don't know what to say to my family when they are home from work/school either. :'( has the other guinea pig done this to her?
 
Hello and welcome to the forum. I am so sorry to hear what has happened, you must be devastated. I'm afraid I can't help with what might have happened to Blossom but I am tagging in @Wiebke as she is a forum guru on many thing including guinea pig behaviour and may be able to give some insights.

Are you guinea pigs kept inside or outside? Could something else have got into the cage - another animal?
 
Dorothy&Coco said:
Hello and welcome to the forum. I am so sorry to hear what has happened, you must be devastated. I'm afraid I can't help with what might have happened to Blossom but I am tagging in @Wiebke as she is a forum guru on many thing including guinea pig behaviour and may be able to give some insights.

Are you guinea pigs kept inside or outside? Could something else have got into the cage - another animal?
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Thank you. They're kept outside but in a shed. I can't see how another animal could get in as the bars on the cage are small. Xx
 
Hi! I am extremely sorry about what has happened. What a nasty shock for you!

My suspicion would be a rat or a small predator, as guinea pigs do not kill each other like that, but a rat will kill a guinea pig anytime it can get at them, and it sounds like your piggy may have been dragged into that gap. The worst that guinea pigs do is gnaw on a suddenly passed away one in a desperate attempt to wake it up, but I have never heard of a clinical decapitation.

Please thoroughly check the hutch and bring your remaining piggy inside; she will be totally frightened and traumatised. Mice and rats can squeeze through amazingly small gaps, and rats can gnaw through metal.

Looking After A Bereaved Guinea Pig
 
I'm so sorry for your loss, especially in the shocking way that is has happened. Could you bring your other pig inside?
 
Thank you guys. Yes I'll be bringing her inside. I feel so so sorry for her, I adopted her and her 6 year old friend. She eventually died of old age and now she's lost her new best friend too :'(

I would have thought that they'd be loads of blood with the way she has died. :(
 
She was still v v small (like 8 weeks old size) so I guess she wouldn't stand a chance against a rat :( my family are going to s devastated as me, our pets are family too xx
 
I'm glad you are able to bring your girl inside, she'll feel better for your company too. Sometimes these awful things happen and we never get a full answer. I'd check your shed for any signs of rats getting in like Wiebke suggested, knawing spots and rat poo are the usual signs.
 
Gwinyypig123 said:
She was still v v small (like 8 weeks old size) so I guess she wouldn't stand a chance against a rat :( my family are going to s devastated as me, our pets are family too xx
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Yes, please bring her mate inside.

It is near impossible to reconstruct the event - there is a possibility that your girl could have died suddenly and that the head was somehow detached later on well after he death by her friend in an attempt to wake her up, especially if it the neck was broken in an accident.
But she would in any case not have been killed by her mate!
 
Oh gosh I'm so sorry that must have been awful for you and her friend, i have no words of advice that others haven't already given but i just wanted you to know I'm thinking of you and sending some hugs if ok from me Noel and Liam:hug::hug: (*(*(*hugs*)*)*) :hug:
 
I'm so so sorry, what a horrible shock for you all.
 
I am very sorry for your loss. An absolutely devastating thing for anyone to see. I am very sorry

Sleep well little Blossom
 
I'm deeply sorry for your loss... What a shock it must have been for you... Sending you tons of hugs x
Sleep tight Blossom x
 
Hiya all, just wanted to update that Holly is doing fine. I did notice upon further inspection a cut behind her ear- it's scabbard over though and healing nicely.
Thanks again
 
You poor thing, finding your pig like that. I agree about the rat, I bet that's what it was, they are horrible when they are on the rampage.
Best wishes to you and your remaining piggy.
 
Oh how devastating.

I'm not sure about the rat as it depends on your cage bars. A rat only needs to be able to squeeze it's skull through a gap, they have a collapsable rib cage which allows them to squeeze thru very small spaces. So if the bar spacing is large enough for a rats very slender face then yes they can get in... it's amazing HOW small a space they can push thru.

It might have been that the baby piggy got trapped and died with the head coming off as part of the "gnawing from grief" from the older one but like Wiebke said, never heard of gnawing so crazy that it lead to decapitation, although Blossom was a very small piggy so perhaps with her being so young and small it is not so far fetched.

I feel so bad for you to have discovered this and to have to explain it to children. I think the worst one I ever saw was with hamsters. A friends mother hamster for no apparent reason decided to eat all her babies and just left the heads, a gruesome find for my friends son.

I am glad it was not the children who discovered this, at least you have the chance of making a slightly less graphic story of Blossom passing away for them.

Lots of hugs.
 
Oh no! I am so sorry! This happened to a few of my khaki ducks last summer, their heads were not attached to their bodies when I found them. I suspect it was a small predator of some sort, because my larger breeds of ducks and my other waterfowl were fine. it is devestating to find an animal like that. I hope you can get a new friend for your piggy soon :(

hugs to you and your kids!
 
I had to come back as I've been thinking about this, and just wanted to say that if there wasn't much blood then it's likely that your little piggy had died before the decapitation. If the heart was still going there would have been more blood around IMO. So it's quite likely that Blossom knew nothing about it, she'd probably passed away already.
Hope you and Holly are doing OK.
 
I am so, so sorry that you've had this happen. What a terrible shock for you. Popcorn free little Blossom. x
 
I'm so very sorry,what a horrible shock for you.:(
Sending a big HUG to you and a gentle nose rub for little Holly.
Popcorn free Blossom.xx
 
I'm really sorry for your loss. That must have been awful. Your remaining guinea pig will not have killed her, although it's possible that the damage could have been done postmortem (either in an attempt to figure out what happened or in an attempt at self-protection- many species do not want a deceased body present, as in nature that will draw predators that may pose a risk to them as well.) Or it's possible that a predator was able to fit through the bars and attacked her, or that a predator like a mouse or rat was able to get in after she had passed naturally and attacked the body (the lack of blood makes me wonder if the damage was postmortem.) At any rate, I'm so sorry, that must have been terrible. ((HUGS)) to you.
 
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