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How Old Have Your Pigs Lived To Be?

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Freela

Freela

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Just curious to see how old the average guinea pigs on the board here have lived to be, since I feel like this is a good sample group of pigs getting good care and nutrition. I've read everything from 4 to 8 years as an average lifespan, but am curious as to real-world experience. The two I have now are 5.5 years (Linney) and 4 years next month (Sundae.) It's started to occur to me that Linney is getting up there in age now. :(
 
Harmony was 7.5years old when she had to be pts :-( and Liberty was 5.5 years old and died suddenly with phneumonia.
 
Connie died naturally at 18 months old after suffering from chronic bladder problems :(

Eleanor was pts at 4.5 years old with kidney tumour / failure :(

Erin was pts at 3 years old after she came down with two illnesses and wasn't strong enough to pull through them both :(

Ena was pts at 3 years old after having lymphoma :(

Eliza died naturally at 6.5 years old of old age :(
 
I lost peronel at four to cancer. Marble passed at two due to mrsa. Ehab passed suddenly at four.
 
My oldest pig was 9 years old and I found her in the forever sleep one morning. My youngest loss was under 2 years old and she died of pneumonia despite vet treatment and round the clock care. The others have lived between 6 and 8 years.
 
i've only lost one pig - my beautiful chesney, who passed from a tumour aged six. :(
 
Of my adulthood piggies, I've lost two piggies to sudden acute heart failure before or just after their second birthday; about eight 3-4 year olds to a range of medical problems (one botched operation and one piggy went downhill very quickly full reason unknown); and so far about three piggies aged 5 or over - but I have currently got another seven "golden oldies" piggies still going!

My first two piggies from pre-forum days might have lived longer or at least would have had a much better chance with the huge advances in medical knowledge and treatments that have happened in the intervening years. Considering that a fair number of my piggies are from very bad backgrounds, I don't expect all of them to live to a very old age.

One of my childhood piggies lived to nearly 10 years old and my first own piggy was 6 years old and still going strong when the neighbour's dog got through the fence and the covered run.

PS: The two piggies in my avatar are Telyn (the white aby), who died from sudden heart failure a week after her second birthday (from a very inbred background) and Hafina (the golden), age unknown, who had permanent eye problems due to an untreated infection before she was dumped on a doorstep and who sadly died during an eye removal operation a few months after Telyn in 2011.
 
Our first two girls in my avatar
Pitch (dental) 4yrs
Putt (old age) 5.5yrs

Guessing at our Rescue ages but trying to be accurate
Treacy Bum (lymphoma) 3yrs
Meggy Moo (bloat and Tummy Mass) 3-4 yrs - Hard to say as she was very interbred so was quite impossible to age when when Walsall rescue her. Just traced her story back through the forum posts all the way to when Vicky rescued her, I do miss Megan so much.
 
Thanks for the info! One of my pigs, Frenzy, died at around 18 months due to severe infection (she had a tooth abscess that spread into the bone and despite treatment did not pull though.) Having 'senior piggies' is new for me.
 
Freela said:
Having 'senior piggies' is new for me.
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I think they do get a little slower in their old age, however have an amazing turn of pace at the sound of the fridge opening :))
 
sport_billy said:
I think they do get a little slower in their old age, however have an amazing turn of pace at the sound of the fridge opening :))
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Yes, I have noticed that although Linney has slowed up a bit, she is still capable of a good burst of speed to get to the food dish ahead of her sister!
 
Freela said:
Yes, I have noticed that although Linney has slowed up a bit, she is still capable of a good burst of speed to get to the food dish ahead of her sister!
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Jet Rocket boots... :)
 
My two older pigs have passed away at around 6 1/2 years old. Doris had heart problems she had been battling and I'm not sure what caused Terry to pass away, possibly just old age as he got slower.
 
Reggie died suddenly at 4.5 years old (the tan colour piggy in my avatar) but his friend Eddie (the white one) is still going strong at the same age! We also have an approximtely 6 year old sow in the house who belongs to my housemates. She is stiff in her back legs and has a fat tummy (just fat balls, nothing bad) but otherwise is in great health! Her cagemate died at around 5.5-6 years of age.

I must mention that despite Eddie being 4.5 years old he clearly thinks he still only 6 months old when he is popcorning round the run... He is a funny boy!
 
My childhood pigs were 4, 5, 5.5 and another 5.5 as a rough approximation.

For the pigs I've had as an adult....

Dougal was 4.5 when he had to be pts due to an inner ear problem.
Zebadee was 5.5 when he had to be pts due to dental problems.

Mycroft was 4 years and 11 months old when he had to be pts due (again) to dental problems.
Moriarty (half brother to Mycroft - born three days apart to same Dad, their mothers were related too) is now 5 :), but he has the same dental problem as his half brother. He's on fighting form at present.

I've noticed a trend - all my boys came from the same place, and I think they need some new blood in the Animal Care Unit at the agricultural college I work at.
 
My oldest so far was 9 or could have been slightly over as I had him 7.5 years and was told was 2 when I had him, he was a rescue from a petting zoo that was packing up. The youngest I have had go is a year just found him asleep. Sadly with rescues no guarantee on background etc... or breeding so problems can be underlying but you don't know unless they exhibit symptoms etc...
 
I love hearing about guinea pigs who live to 9 or 10 years. My childhood guineapig died at 6 years old - but that was by accident (unfortunately caused by me still living that guilt). Alex had to be pts at 2years of age due to unknown illness ..
At present I have a 7 year old, two 4 year olds and one two year old.
 
I've had 3 die between 3 1/2-4 1/2 years old & one pass away just a month short of her 7th Birthday, I think she might have lived even longer than that but became ill very suddenly & died within 24 hours despite doing everything we could for her :( Currently we have 3 piggies, one 4 year old & 2 3 year olds. I am very aware they may be nearing the latter years of their lives & I know I will be devastated when the time comes & quite possibly these may be our last ones I'm sad to say, simply because I am not sure I can go through the heartbreak of losing them again :(
 
We have only had 1 piggie pass away so far, our little Poppy. She died just after her 1st birthday, I am presuming she had heart failure. She did undergo veterinary treatment and round the clock care but unfortunately it wasn't enough.

My 3 girls are all around 3 years old now. Pebbles and Pringles are 3 years and 4 months and we aren't exactly sure with Porche but she is of a similar age. Hopefully they will still have many more years with me :)
 
I've only lost 1 piggie young, the rest have lived to good ages. The one who died young had a persistent bladder problem/UTI and despite excellent vet care and syringe feeding round the clock she just gave up and I had her PTS. She was about 2. The oldest lived to about 8 and was a grumpy old girl, the others have generally lived to about 6 but ages are difficult to assess due to them being rescued.
 
Goth Mummy said:
My oldest pig was 9 years old and I found her in the forever sleep one morning. My youngest loss was under 2 years old and she died of pneumonia despite vet treatment and round the clock care. The others have lived between 6 and 8 years.
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Wow, 9 is a ripe old age to live to GothMummy! She must have been very well cared for and loved :love:

My George died at 5. He didn't appear ill at all. My mum just found him passed away one morning when he was staying with her.

I have three more boys, two are almost three years old and one just six months old. I hope they live as long as your piggies did GothMummy.
 
One of my first guinea pigs, Cinnamon, was around 5 years when he had to be PTS, due to a tumour. His sibling, Nutmeg, was around 8 (believe so, anyway) when he died of old age. Almond and Conker (second pair) were both around the 7.5 years mark when they passed.
 
Ive had four piggies pass on two girlies around 4-5 (cant be sure as rescues) and two boys around 5. I dont feel like pigs last very long these days...
 
Sheila was around 5 and passed at home from kidney/heart issues 04/04/13 :bye:
Olivia passed just before her 3rd birthday - refused to eat in the morning/evening and lost her the same evening very mysteriously followed by her lifelong buddy Amelia aged 3, she just began convulsing and nothing we could do...awful night of Friday 13th December, 2013 :no: :no: We had a very sad Christmas :(
We had to have Pink pts as she had possible tumours, booked in to be speyed but developed a nasty UTI, refused to eat and wouldn't take syringe, 21/01/14 :( Aged 3 yrs :bye:
Lily Lilac had a tumour removed, recovered from GA but went into shock 10 minutes before we were due to bring her home 19/03/14 :( Aged 3 yrs :bye:
Sally had a secondary cancerous mass discovered suddenly on 28/03/14 and had to be pts aged 3-4 yrs :bye:
Have Bruce who is still going strong aged 6 (Sheila's husboar) with his 3 lovely little wifey's whom I swear have given him a new lease of life :fog: :whistle:
Very very hard to deal with losing so many in a short time but these guys had a lovely life with us if not for long and that is a small comfort...we have our piggies cremated and have a small 'Rainbow/Memory Corner' in our lounge with plants, candles and little keepsakes, pictures etc. with their little caskets so feel they are still with us but the truth is, it stinks like heck when they pass :(
 
I've only had guinea pigs since 2012 & the 2 that have died both went prematurely. Madam was 18 months when she had to be pts the morning after having general anaesthetic the previous day when she had x-rays taken which showed a growth on her gut. Mousey died a week after having an abscess removed & seemingly getting over it but developed pneumonia like symptoms & died shortly after visit to the vets. I'm hoping the rest of my piggies live to old age. My oldest, Minnie is somewhere between 5 & 6 years old.
 
Gelert said:
One of my first guinea pigs, Cinnamon, was around 5 years when he had to be PTS, due to a tumour. His sibling, Nutmeg, was around 8 (believe so, anyway) when he died of old age. Almond and Conker (second pair) were both around the 7.5 years mark when they passed.
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I love the brindle piggy coat in your avatar picture... looks just like my Linney!
 
Stewybus said:
Mousey died a week after having an abscess removed & seemingly getting over it but developed pneumonia like symptoms & died shortly after visit to the vets. I'm hoping the rest of my piggies live to old age. .
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De Ja Vu - that's exactly what happened to Guiness, I'm hoping my other 5 live to their old age and die naturally- I sometimes wonder if we perhaps take them to the vets to quickly and give them antibiotics, - would they survive with out them ? I know humans can have an intolerance (is that a word?)
to some drugs and their little bodies are so much littler than ours are we killing them with our kindness?? I hope you all tell me I'm wrong, as you can tell I am still having guilt problems on giving Guiness two lots of antibiotics and painkillers:no:
 
Sara412 said:
De Ja Vu - that's exactly what happened to Guiness, I'm hoping my other 5 live to their old age and die naturally- I sometimes wonder if we perhaps take them to the vets to quickly and give them antibiotics, - would they survive with out them ? I know humans can have an intolerance (is that a word?)
to some drugs and their little bodies are so much littler than ours are we killing them with our kindness? I hope you all tell me I'm wrong, as you can tell I am still having guilt problems on giving Guiness two lots of antibiotics and painkillers:no:
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You're maybe right. I remember my wife had a couple of guinea pigs 10 to 15 years ago. They both lived in a hutch outside & lived to about 6 each without a visit to the vets & just basic dried food & a little veg & hay.
 
My 3 girls were 4 approx. , George was 4 approx, Dougal and Fergus I have no idea of their ages as they came with no information at all and were fully grown slow adults my eldest Peppa is 4.5 approx and has already had one lump removed and nearly passed with the GA so I wont be operating on him again so I have no idea how long he will be around for :-( Little Norbert is going to live with a friend after I neuter him when Peppa passes as she has 2 girls and space for him in her hutch and they're closer to his age, Peppa and Norbert are actually quite squabbly with one minor wound so far so Norbert may leave before Peppa passes too :-( I will end up pigless
 
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