I put my guinea pig to sleep today…

sarah4548

sarah4548

Junior Guinea Pig
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Feb 14, 2025
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Netherlands
I'm feeling physically sick right now. My sweet baby passed away this morning. Yesterday evening she had a stroke, and having already three other diagnoses, it was time to say goodbye. Her name was zira, and she was five years old… two months ago, I had to put another one of my guinea pigs to sleep. The only thing that gives me a sense of peace right now is that I see them together running around and eating all the grass they can. I miss them so much<3
 

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BIG HUGS

I am so very sorry for your losses.

Summer and high temperatures/high humidity cannot just cause an increase of human deaths in the elderlies but also the same in frailer/older guinea pigs. I've lost quite a number of my own oldies during or in the wake of sudden heat spikes or heatwaves even if I managed to keep temperatures within bearable limits in my piggy room and they were not plastered to any cooling elements.
Heart attacks and strokes are sadly not at all uncommon in this context, unless it is the overloaded immune system that is giving way to whatever bug can breach it.

Perhaps it helps you to put the stroke event into that added perspective and be a bit more at peace with it? When the chips are down despite their huge personalities, guinea pigs are just small animals with a much faster metabolism that can turn against them. :(

A sudden death/fatal event is generally very traumatic because you cannot brace for it. You have the shock to deal with as well as the pain the of the loss. However, you have done absolutely the right thing to spare your gorgeous Zira any further suffering and more strokes in quick succession; you have not failed her in any way. Your heart is in absolutely the right place. What has happened was simply not in your control and could not be prevented.

Please feel sad but try not to feel bad. You are clearly a very caring owner who has done their best. It has helped me as well on occasion to picture piggies that have died in very quick succession together at the Bridge and to mourn them together as a pair. They will always live as such in your heart and in your precious memories, even if it is too painful for you to go there right now.

Take good care of yourself and be kind with yourself in the coming days. It is OK not to be OK for a little while but please seek help if you struggle to sleep or function, or if you get trapped in one of the weird mind loops that can come with the onset of the grieving process since we humans are wired to reflect everything back onto ourselves and our soul-searching can take us to some strange places indeed.

Unfortunately, a new death can bring up previous ones that are still being processed themselves and add to the emotional load - especially when circumstances have been somewhat traumatic for you. That is not at all nice but normal, and something that only time can heal.

Here is the link to our Grieving guide for human owners that talks you through the grieving process but also contains plenty of practical tips of what you can do for yourself, so there is hopefully something for everybody that vibes with them: Human Bereavement: Grieving, Processing and Support Links for Guinea Pig Owners and Their Children
Try to take care of yourself.

Is Zira leaving a new companion?
 
Wiebke said:
BIG HUGS

I am so very sorry for your losses.

Summer and high temperatures/high humidity cannot just cause an increase of human deaths in the elderlies but also the same in frailer/older guinea pigs. I've lost quite a number of my own oldies during or in the wake of sudden heat spikes or heatwaves even if I managed to keep temperatures within bearable limits in my piggy room and they were not plastered to any cooling elements.
Heart attacks and strokes are sadly not at all uncommon in this context, unless it is the overloaded immune system that is giving way to whatever bug can breach it.

Perhaps it helps you to put the stroke event into that added perspective and be a bit more at peace with it? When the chips are down despite their huge personalities, guinea pigs are just small animals with a much faster metabolism that can turn against them. :(

A sudden death/fatal event is generally very traumatic because you cannot brace for it. You have the shock to deal with as well as the pain the of the loss. However, you have done absolutely the right thing to spare your gorgeous Zira any further suffering and more strokes in quick succession; you have not failed her in any way. Your heart is in absolutely the right place. What has happened was simply not in your control and could not be prevented.

Please feel sad but try not to feel bad. You are clearly a very caring owner who has done their best. It has helped me as well on occasion to picture piggies that have died in very quick succession together at the Bridge and to mourn them together as a pair. They will always live as such in your heart and in your precious memories, even if it is too painful for you to go there right now.

Take good care of yourself and be kind with yourself in the coming days. It is OK not to be OK for a little while but please seek help if you struggle to sleep or function, or if you get trapped in one of the weird mind loops that can come with the onset of the grieving process since we humans are wired to reflect everything back onto ourselves and our soul-searching can take us to some strange places indeed.

Unfortunately, a new death can bring up previous ones that are still being processed themselves and add to the emotional load - especially when circumstances have been somewhat traumatic for you. That is not at all nice but normal, and something that only time can heal.

Here is the link to our Grieving guide for human owners that talks you through the grieving process but also contains plenty of practical tips of what you can do for yourself, so there is hopefully something for everybody that vibes with them: Human Bereavement: Grieving, Processing and Support Links for Guinea Pig Owners and Their Children
Try to take care of yourself.

Is Zira leaving a new companion?
Click to expand...
Thank you so much <3 I live in the Netherlands and it hasn’t been so hot here, they also live in an air conditioned room, so heat wasn’t the cause. She had ovarian cysts, an abces in her molar and really bad artritis. So her body was just slowy giving up, and the final straw was a bleeding in her head… it was really bad. Her head was shaking, her eyes were shooting from left to right, she had and head tilt and couldn’t walk without falling and rolling over. Her spirit was still there, if I put food down in front of her, she would gladly eat it and she even gave kisses, which she had never done. But she couldn’t move around in the cage and her cagemates were ignoring her. The vet said she was probably feeling very dizzy and nauseous. So it was the right time, I just really miss her…. She had 5 cagemates so at least I don’t have to worry about a pig being all alone..
 
sarah4548 said:
Thank you so much <3 I live in the Netherlands and it hasn’t been so hot here, they also live in an air conditioned room, so heat wasn’t the cause. She had ovarian cysts, an abces in her molar and really bad artritis. So her body was just slowy giving up, and the final straw was a bleeding in her head… it was really bad. Her head was shaking, her eyes were shooting from left to right, she had and head tilt and couldn’t walk without falling and rolling over. Her spirit was still there, if I put food down in front of her, she would gladly eat it and she even gave kisses, which she had never done. But she couldn’t move around in the cage and her cagemates were ignoring her. The vet said she was probably feeling very dizzy and nauseous. So it was the right time, I just really miss her…. She had 5 cagemates so at least I don’t have to worry about a pig being all alone..
Click to expand...

HUGS

I am so very sorry. I find that watching a piggy come down with serious neurological issues and struggling to keep upright or walk straight (stroke or not) one of the more distressing ways to go for an owner. You did absolutely the right thing. It could have more likely been a brain tumour if the bleeding from inside the head was really bad.
My Carwyn had to be put to sleep with one after it started suddenly haemorrhaging overnight. He'd been vet checked before because he had been a bit off but the vet couldn't feel or see anything in the body - and neither could I. The only symptom was a bloody sneeze two months earlier that I happened to notice but that he's cleaned off again a quarter of an hour later.

Now I live with a brain tumour myself - apart from me feeling increasingly grotty, crucially, it didn't cause any distinct symptoms until it scrambled my left body side and I broke my hip when my left leg suddenly gave underneath me while trying to wake up my husband who'd already gone to bed. By the time I had reached the hospital sometime in the middle of the night, the fingers of my left hand had completely forgotten how to grip a glass of water, which I frankly found far more distressing than my broken hip.
You don't feel any distinct pain apart from very minor headaches in the run up until it suddenly short-circuits something in the body. Some of the symptoms you are mentioning do vibe more with my personal and brain tumour piggy than with my stroke piggy experiences.

It is just speculation but it may help you a bit more to make sense of the distressing symptoms you have witnessed?

Be kind with yourself and take time to absorb and process it all. It is a part of your own life that is gone with them, after all.
 
So sorry that you have lost your beautiful Zira and for your earlier loss.
Your love for your piggies shines through and they will leave a big hole in your heart.
Be gentle with yourself as you grieve
 
I am so sorry you have had to say a heartbreaking goodbye to your piggies. They would have known how much love you had for them and in time the happy memories will make you smile. They will be together now at the rainbow bridge and I hope you may find some comfort in that as you grieve. Sending hugs at this sad time.
Rest peacefully little ones 🌈 🌈
 
Wiebke said:
HUGS

I am so very sorry. I find that watching a piggy come down with serious neurological issues and struggling to keep upright or walk straight (stroke or not) one of the more distressing ways to go for an owner. You did absolutely the right thing. It could have more likely been a brain tumour if the bleeding from inside the head was really bad.
My Carwyn had to be put to sleep with one after it started suddenly haemorrhaging overnight. He'd been vet checked before because he had been a bit off but the vet couldn't feel or see anything in the body - and neither could I. The only symptom was a bloody sneeze two months earlier that I happened to notice but that he's cleaned off again a quarter of an hour later.

Now I live with a brain tumour myself - apart from me feeling increasingly grotty, crucially, it didn't cause any distinct symptoms until it scrambled my left body side and I broke my hip when my left leg suddenly gave underneath me while trying to wake up my husband who'd already gone to bed. By the time I had reached the hospital sometime in the middle of the night, the fingers of my left hand had completely forgotten how to grip a glass of water, which I frankly found far more distressing than my broken hip.
You don't feel any distinct pain apart from very minor headaches in the run up until it suddenly short-circuits something in the body. Some of the symptoms you are mentioning do vibe more with my personal and brain tumour piggy than with my stroke piggy experiences.

It is just speculation but it may help you a bit more to make sense of the distressing symptoms you have witnessed?

Be kind with yourself and take time to absorb and process it all. It is a part of your own life that is gone with them, after all.
Click to expand...
That sounds terrible to go through, hope your’re okay now. I don’t think she was in any pain cause of the high pain meds she got every day. It just sad because you hope you’re piggies dies peacefully in their sleep, not slowly and confused…. But I find that I’m not that sad by why or how, but more by the suddenness of it.
 
sarah4548 said:
That sounds terrible to go through, hope your’re okay now. I don’t think she was in any pain cause of the high pain meds she got every day. It just sad because you hope you’re piggies dies peacefully in their sleep, not slowly and confused…. But I find that I’m not that sad by why or how, but more by the suddenness of it.
Click to expand...

Hi

Thank you.

My inoperable brain tumour and the rest of my cancer is actually not really painful; the worst in that respect was the broken hip. Thank God for nerve blocks! Especially as Zira was already on painkillers, she would not have suffered in that respect.

Please try to take consolation that while she may have been confused and her brain would not have worked on all cylinders - you are kind of rather woozy with just one or two thoughts you cling to like to a life raft, going by my own experience.

But what has come as a shock to you also means that she has not suffered for very long, and you have kindly speeded up that journey. It is the most heart-breaking but also the kindest gift we can make a beloved one. There is nothing worse than to see somebody you love struggling and suffering and being unable to help them. :(

Give yourself the time to get over the unexpected shock of your devastating loss. That is going to take a little while but you will slowly feel less and less overwhelmed as you gradually absorb the shock and then the pain of the loss. It is not the species but the depth of our bond that dictates the strength of our feelings. Our pets are the ones we can love without reserve and our love is often the most honest one we can give. What you are currently experiencing is the downside of that precious gift - but it means that you have had it and will find it again in your heart in its forever form when the time right.

My piggies of old are still there for me for a cuddle or a romp through the garden when I go through a scan to elicit those important happiness hormones by revisiting precious shared moments. They are my life givers and life prolongers in my darkest moments. Zira and her friend will be there for you once you have come out on the other side of your grieving journey.

You are in my thoughts.
 
I am so very sorry that you have had to make this heartbreaking decision for your baby. It’s the toughest decision we are ever asked to make but shows how much you love them. Sending you a big hug. Sleep tight little one.🌈
 
Sorry for your losses. It is very hard when you lose them. Hope your remaining guinea pigs can help you in your grieving journey.
 
I’m so sorry you lost your gorgeous piggies. They are together forever popcorning high over the rainbow bridge.
 
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