Hello
This is my first time posting and if the spelling is off you may understand why.
I’m currently deeper grieving for my much loved and missed guinea pig iggle.
Suddenly leaving this life on Saturday and I’m beyond myself in tears and grief.
I don’t know which way to turn and I’m forever in tears.
I’m sure a lot of you understand this.
I’ve had pets before but the bond and love I had for such an amazing guinea pig has left me distraught and very lost.
What am I do do, there’s signs of him everywhere and I’m struggling.
Alan
Hi and welcome
BIG HUGS
I am very sorry. An unexpected, sudden death can really throw you badly because you have no time to brace for it and have to deal with the shock of being faced with a death and the pain of the loss at the same time. Not knowing what has happened also won't help.
Whether you find a piggy passed away or have to watch them going into organ failure and downhill, it is a very scary experience.
That is a lot emotional trauma all at once, and it can feel like being swept away by a tsunami wave.
The best thing you can do right now is to talk, so you can let some of that pressure off and start to make a bit more sense of the jumble of very strong but conflicting emotions that is currently tossing you around.
Pet bereavement can catch out anybody, totally out of the blue when the circumstances conspire and you have a very strong bond.
I would strongly recommend that you contact the free Blue Cross platforms tomorrow, which are manned by trained volunteers and which are confidential. All of our members who have given feedback have said that it has helped them.
Pet Loss Support
We can give you ongoing understanding community support from people who have comparable experiences and fully 'get' you but none of us is specifically trained, and getting some of initial force of feeling overwhelmed out of the way where you are in safe hands can help us to support you in the following days as you go through the process, often with practical tips.
What you can do in terms of reminders depends very much on your situation and we would like to have a bit more of an idea what you are dealing with so we can find your worst triggers and help you find a constructive way of working with them.
- Does Iggy have a companion or is he your only one?
- Is the cage still there, needed or have you dismantled it but are haunted by the gap where it should be?
Once we know more, we can then give you various tips to try out and see what works for you and what not. We are all unique and each bond is unique so this is always a bit of a trial and error process. But knowing more on that front allows to help you in a more targeted way.
We have got a Rainbow Bridge section for tributes for those members for who it feels right at whatever stage of the grieving process. There is no right or wrong; and there is no wrong if it is too painful for you to go there.
But you can also find a section with poems at the top if you are struggling for words to express your pain. Sometimes it can help to find a passage that for you absolutely nails it.
Permanent Thread for Rainbow Bridge Poems (now open for new additions)
We have also pinned a little video at the top, which works for all ages when you feel too overwhelmed and raw. You may find it helpful for going to sleep or when you have another crying fit. I know that it is cheesy but it's helped me on one or two occasions when I had to deal with too many losses in quick succession. It has a very effective in soothing you down.
Rainbow bridge video I made, I hope it can bring some comfort to others
I hope that this helps you to get a foot back on deck again.
My heart and my thoughts are with you.
Sleep softly over the bridge little one 
Sudden loss is quite a shock, pretty hard to bear 
If you can put a blanket over the cage for a day or two that might help (if there is no other guinea pig in the cage). An empty cuddle cup is a difficult thing to see. Sending wishes for comfort 
