Hi,
I am new to the forum. I must say, I really struggled with registration. I had to remove two links that were linked around the registration form, so of course when I clicked, it went to the link.
My piggy aptly named Pig was born into this world at the time when I was about 15-years-old. I am now 21-years-old. Sadly, this morning before work I had to witness my beloved furry friend go through the process of slipping away.
In less than 24 hours ago, I did not notice anything odd about him. He was quite happily jumping around, eating, drinking water, and throwing his hay and straw around.
Last night, I noticed that he started to become lethargic in that he would not lay still and kept moving and laying down on its stomach (pancake). He would not respond to my presence and just laid there. While I was watching him, I noticed he tried to grab onto the bottle nozzle and get some water, but it appeared he did not even have the energy to stand up and drink from it.
With that, I tried to feed him manually by placing the nozzle next to his mouth while he was lying down to see if he would try and drink it. Instead, he got up and casually went into his hut. I thought it was best to leave him and see how he was in the morning.
I was not aware of when he stopped drinking water or eating his food, but I do recall it took two beans from me and ate them, but left the other four, when I came back from work before I started he started to develop this behaviour.
I woke up at around 7am that morning and found him laying on his side. He appeared to be dehydrated as his coat was puffy and did not have like a fluffy feel to it. Again, I tried to feed him, but he was not taking it. At this point, I accepted the inevitable, and just tried to keep it calm while I stroked him and said my good byes.
He was gasping for air, and kept putting his head up as if he was trying to move or get up. I tried to entice him with a bean, and as I did that, he kicked his legs as if he was trying to run. He would run to the edge of the cage and pull itself up and poke his head over the cage when I had treats for him.
I continued to try and keep him calm by stroking and talking to him, while he slipped away.
I am absolutely devastated that he has gone, and I just want to know if this is normal or natural in that he was simply dying. I wish I could have gotten him to a vet, but unfortunately, I was not in a position to do this and felt terrible for letting him suffer like that.
I just keep thinking maybe he was not ready to go yet, and just how long he took to pass was because he was clinging onto life and waiting for me to do something to try and save him, but I was absolutely clueless and had no access to the Internet at the time, or any way of getting veterinary assistance.
Given how I have described his death, was this natural? I just need some closure.
Thanks in advance, and here is a picture of my furry friend affectionately named Pig:
RIP my furry friend. I hope there is an endless supply of beans up there!
I am new to the forum. I must say, I really struggled with registration. I had to remove two links that were linked around the registration form, so of course when I clicked, it went to the link.
My piggy aptly named Pig was born into this world at the time when I was about 15-years-old. I am now 21-years-old. Sadly, this morning before work I had to witness my beloved furry friend go through the process of slipping away.
In less than 24 hours ago, I did not notice anything odd about him. He was quite happily jumping around, eating, drinking water, and throwing his hay and straw around.
Last night, I noticed that he started to become lethargic in that he would not lay still and kept moving and laying down on its stomach (pancake). He would not respond to my presence and just laid there. While I was watching him, I noticed he tried to grab onto the bottle nozzle and get some water, but it appeared he did not even have the energy to stand up and drink from it.
With that, I tried to feed him manually by placing the nozzle next to his mouth while he was lying down to see if he would try and drink it. Instead, he got up and casually went into his hut. I thought it was best to leave him and see how he was in the morning.
I was not aware of when he stopped drinking water or eating his food, but I do recall it took two beans from me and ate them, but left the other four, when I came back from work before I started he started to develop this behaviour.
I woke up at around 7am that morning and found him laying on his side. He appeared to be dehydrated as his coat was puffy and did not have like a fluffy feel to it. Again, I tried to feed him, but he was not taking it. At this point, I accepted the inevitable, and just tried to keep it calm while I stroked him and said my good byes.
He was gasping for air, and kept putting his head up as if he was trying to move or get up. I tried to entice him with a bean, and as I did that, he kicked his legs as if he was trying to run. He would run to the edge of the cage and pull itself up and poke his head over the cage when I had treats for him.
I continued to try and keep him calm by stroking and talking to him, while he slipped away.
I am absolutely devastated that he has gone, and I just want to know if this is normal or natural in that he was simply dying. I wish I could have gotten him to a vet, but unfortunately, I was not in a position to do this and felt terrible for letting him suffer like that.
I just keep thinking maybe he was not ready to go yet, and just how long he took to pass was because he was clinging onto life and waiting for me to do something to try and save him, but I was absolutely clueless and had no access to the Internet at the time, or any way of getting veterinary assistance.
Given how I have described his death, was this natural? I just need some closure.
Thanks in advance, and here is a picture of my furry friend affectionately named Pig:
RIP my furry friend. I hope there is an endless supply of beans up there!
.
