• Discussions taking place within this forum are intended for the purpose of assisting you in discussing options with your vet. Any other use of advice given here is done so at your risk, is solely your responsibility and not that of this forum or its owner. Before posting it is your responsibility you abide by this Statement

I Think We're Going To Lose Queenie

Status
Not open for further replies.
Katherine

Katherine

Soppiest Piggie Owner 2015
Teenage Guinea Pig
Joined
Jul 19, 2013
Messages
781
Reaction score
813
Points
525
Location
East Sussex
Went in the guinea pigs' room this evening to clean out their cages, and found Queenie suddenly taken ill - she'd gone a bit limp, felt cold, and her chin was wet with drool. I can't believe this has happened, as she seemed quite normal earlier on today. On reflection, maybe she was a little quieter than usual in the afternoon, and I probably should have picked up on that. She was fine at lunchtime though, and ate her food with the usual gusto. As soon as we saw what had happened, we were on the phone to the vets, and my husband has rushed her off there.

Poor Queenie's been through a lot lately; she had a spay operation, which went well, only she didn't pick up properly until we also found out that she had a jaw problem. However, once she had the medication for that, she gradually started eating really well again, and returned to her usual lively self. It's been so nice for the last few weeks, or maybe a couple of months (I've lost track of exactly how long now) not to be worrying about her all the time, now this happens. I can hardly believe that we might be going to lose her. Actually, I can't see how she can make it - can a guinea pig recover once they've started to go limp and cold? It doesn't seem possible to me.

It's like a horrible dream when this sort of thing happens. Queenie's only about 2 years old.
 
I'm so sorry Queenie is ill. I lost my beautiful mallow a couple days ago, 18 months old and also taken ill extremely suddenly. You'll be looking back, thinking u couldve picked up on something sooner- if you couldve, you wouldve done. I tortured myself with that too, and believe me it wont help anyone.

I am praying they find out what is wrong with queenie soon enough to treat her. I will be keeping an eye on here x
 
I've got everything crossed for Queenie. Sending Hugs to you and healing vibes to her.
 
Adelle said:
I'm so sorry Queenie is ill. I lost my beautiful mallow a couple days ago, 18 months old and also taken ill extremely suddenly. You'll be looking back, thinking you couldve picked up on something sooner- if you couldve, you wouldve done. I tortured myself with that too, and believe me it wont help anyone.

I am praying they find out what is wrong with queenie soon enough to treat her. I will be keeping an eye on here x
Click to expand...

Thank you! I was so sad to read about how you lost Mallow very suddenly. She was such a sweetie.

I keep thinking that I can't cope with carrying on having piggies, we've had our hearts broken so many times.
 
piggieminder said:
I've got everything crossed for Queenie. Sending Hugs to you and healing vibes to her.
Click to expand...

Thank you, that's so kind! I hope that somehow against the odds Queenie will make it. I wish I'd gone with my husband now, but everything happened in such a rush.
 
Katherine said:
Thank you! I was so sad to read about how you lost Mallow very suddenly. She was such a sweetie.

I keep thinking that I can't cope with carrying on having piggies, we've had our hearts broken so many times.
Click to expand...

I know that feeling, but dont focus on that yet. She may pull through and we're all rooting for her xx
 
Thinking of you and Queenie. Don't be too hard on yourself. You're only human and she may well pull through yet.

Sending hugs to you x
 
Thank you so much to everyone who sent us their good wishes, but Queenie passed away at the vets. My husband just rang - apparently it was heart failure. The one crumb of comfort is that there wasn't anything we could have done to have prevented it. He's on his way home now with her body.

My poor Queenie, she was so lovely - a big ginger splodge we used to call her.

I can't believe this has happened. It doesn't actually seem real yet.
 
HUGE hugs to you. It's heartbreaking to lose a piggy so suddenly. Rest assured you did all you could. Take time to grieve your loss. It's real and it hurts. I know because I lost 2 within 6 weeks of each other and I'm still grieving.
 
I am so very sorry :-(

The only advice i can give is cry when u want to- you'll feel like you'll never stop once you start, but you will.

Sleep tight queenie xx
 
Thank you everyone for your kind words.

Well, we've cleaned out their cages which never got done last night after all, and decided to show Queenie to her friend Cupcake. I was afraid that Cupcake might think that Queenie was coming back otherwise - as she has been on so many vet trips recently. I think Cupcake was a bit shocked, so I hope it was the right thing to do. We've moved her cage right next to Phoebe and Flora's.

My husband is about to go out and dig Queenie's grave. There's a lovely sort of wild area at the top of the garden, almost like a little bit of woodland,P1050425.webp and we want to put Queenie up there near the oak trees. It's a peaceful spot.

It's really beginning to hit me that Queenie's gone, especially now I've seen her body, and we're facing up to the reality of burying her. It hardly seemed real last night.

Here is a picture of her.
 
I'm really sorry... She was gorgeous.
I really like the grave's place you chose for her, I'm sure she'll have lots of popcorns in there.
Sending you lots of hugs x
 
I am so sorry for your loss. Sadly, acute heart failure/heart attacks (which it rather sounds like) can happen at any time in the life and there is usually not much warning. Some piggies sadly live with a hidden time bomb in their body. I have lost two of my younger piggies at a similar age to acute heart failure. One of them died at the vets; I was literally shaking like a leaf as soon as I was out, as it all happened so fast and unexpectedly. Ffion had been seen as an emergency within half an hour of me noticing any symptoms. :(

You were right in assuming that she was dying; it sounded like her body was closing down. It is such a shock and such a sinking feeling when all you can do is just give it a try and hope for a miracle. :(

The important thing is not how long a piggy lives or what it dies from - that we cannot control. But what we can do is give our piggies a happy life while they have it, so we can eventually let them go in peace. You sound like a very loving and caring owner, so take your comfort from having done exactly that and having made all the difference in your beautiful Queenie's life.

You are welcome to post a tribute to Queenie in our Rainbow Bridge section if and whenever it feels right for you. We grieve all differently, and differently again with each of our beloved piggies, so you are welcome to post (or not) as and when you think is appropriate.
 
I'm so sorry to hear this, I hope you're okay. That sounds like a wonderful spot for little Queenie to rest in, such a pretty girl. Thinking of you at this horrible time.
 
Sending you big hugs.
it's utterly heartbreaking losing a loved one. Even more so when you have no idea what happened to them. :(
 
Just wanted to say how much I appreciated everyones' sympathetic comments.

There's no doubt that it was a heart attack / heart failure that was the cause of Queenie's death. The vet said her heart was very slow, which was why she was so cold, and they gave her some sort of stimulant injection, and for a short while her heart rate improved, and she seemed to rally slightly, but then it slowed again, and the vet said "she's not going to make it". I think Queenie died fairly peacefully, and my husband was there with her. I'm grateful for Queenie's sake that it was all over fairly quickly. I made a mistake with Queenie's age when I said that she was 2 - she had actually had her 3rd birthday about a month ago. She was about a year old when we adopted her.

If it had happened a few hours later, it would have been during the night; we wouldn't have known what was happening, and would have just found her dead in the cage the next morning.

I'm glad we did take her to the vet, even though I felt it was hopeless really, as if we hadn't, I think we would have always been wondering "could something have been done after all?" Also, then we knew for sure it was her heart, and not, say, a sudden infection, which might have put our other guineas at risk.

Queenie's burial place is beautiful. We put some large pieces of sandstone rock on top, and this morning when I went out into the garden, the rays of the early morning sun were shining on them.

Sadly, Cupcake is on her own now, and she quite frequently bites the bars between her cage and next door's. We do want to find her another friend soon, and have contacted a local rescue, but they won't be able to see us for a while, as they are having a (well deserved) holiday. Waiting to see whether another rescue can see us any sooner, but if not, I think Cupcake will be alright for a while. She's not acutely pining, although she does miss her friend and obviously would rather not be on her own. She seems very pleased to see us when we go in the room, but she's eating well anyway.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top