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Mystery Solved... Carbon Monoxide

cvieira43075

cvieira43075

Junior Guinea Pig
Joined
Oct 9, 2017
Messages
35
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Points
200
Location
Fitchburg, MA USA
Hello,
So I adopted a pair of guinea pigs few weeks ago from a shelter. They had a clean bill of health, were two happy piggies. I got them home and settled, they were eating coming up to me and taking food from me, no problems what so ever. This was on a Saturday, Sunday morning when I went to go feed them noticed they both passed away. Oh no not again I thought, I called the shelter on Monday because they were closed on Sunday. They had me bring them in so they can find out what happened to them. Took a little while to hear back, but I finally did and it appears it could be from Carbon Monoxide.

My landlord never provided me with carbon monoxide detectors, so it never dawned on me. However, I've been tired a lot at home as well as experiencing headaches. I never thought this was the issue I was having until losing another pair of piggies. So I bought a detector and sure enough it was beeping like crazy. I reached out to my landlord right away of course and it's handling the situation.

I'm now relieved it wasn't anything I did wrong, but my environment not being the safest. I live in a Townhouse that was vacant for a while prior to me moving in, and it seems a few things were overlooked by my landlord. He's not a bad landlord, and does fix things immediately, just wish he looked a little better at this place prior to having me move in.

Now that I know what's been going on and it wasn't me or my luck the problem can be fixed. Once I see that the air in my townhouse is good to go the shelter is allowing me to adopt (waiving the fee) another pair. Just thought I'd share this because it's something I never thought of.

Sincerely,
Christine
 
I am glad that you have finally got your answer and that it is something you can address, but it wasn't your fault. Sadly still far too many places skimp on detectors. I hope that you will feel a lot better in yourself as a result, too!
 
So sorry to hear this. I don't know what the laws are in the US but here in the UK the landlord has to conduct a yearly gas safety check through a registered gas engineer and if anything happens and they don't have this cover then they can be held liable for personal injury or worse! It might be worth checking out your rights cos as the least it's worth asking for the cost of the tests to be reimbursed.

As a side landlords here do not have to provide carbon monoxide alarms. They just have to have the gas safety cert
 
What a dreadful thing for you and the piggies to go through!
Thank goodness the problem has been detected as youv'e obviously been suffering too.
As @Lady Kelly said check out your rights! a good landlord would have a detector in place!
 
By law here where I live in the US the landlord has to provide not only smoke detectors but carbon monoxide as well. Gas you can usually detect by smell, so I'm not sure the laws on that, but will look into it. Even though my poor piggies paid the ultimate price, they did in the end save my life. Once I have better air quality I do intend to rescue another pair. I loved my guinea pigs, even though I had them a very short time, but I'd love to give another pair a loving home when the time is right.
 
I remember your original thread. I'm happy you found out what happened and can at least have some sort of closure and comfort that it truly wasn't your fault. And I'm so sorry for your pair of girls. :hug:

You sound like a very caring person, and I'm sure any new piggies/pet you adopt would be lucky to have you.
 
That's scary... so sorry you had to go through these losses to figure it out, but definitely glad that you found out and can now make the place safe for both you and future pigs!
 
Scary! Thank goodness you figured out what was going on before it got you too! :eek: this has reminded me to check our co2 detector, make sure its still working. Our landlord sends someone out once a year to check our boiler but its older than I am..I dont trust it.

Sorry for your losses :(
 
Lady Kelly said:
So sorry to hear this. I don't know what the laws are in the US but here in the UK the landlord has to conduct a yearly gas safety check through a registered gas engineer and if anything happens and they don't have this cover then they can be held liable for personal injury or worse! It might be worth checking out your rights cos as the least it's worth asking for the cost of the tests to be reimbursed.

As a side landlords here do not have to provide carbon monoxide alarms. They just have to have the gas safety cert
Click to expand...

@Lady Kelly I don't know if the laws are different in Scotland and England, but I am a landlord, and I need to provide a smoke alarm,. I've always had one but it was recently made a legal requirement.

Insofar as the Guinea pigs are concerned, that is so sad that a landlord 's negligence has led to their death, and frankly, could have led to your own @cvieira43075. Please make sure your landlord repairs the appliance immediately and that it is made safe in the time being.
 
Reenie said:
@Lady Kelly I don't know if the laws are different in Scotland and England, but I am a landlord, and I need to provide a smoke alarm,. I've always had one but it was recently made a legal requirement.

Insofar as the Guinea pigs are concerned, that is so sad that a landlord 's negligence has led to their death, and frankly, could have led to your own @cvieira43075. Please make sure your landlord repairs the appliance immediately and that it is made safe in the time being.
Click to expand...

Nope it's the same here. New law is one on each floor. Previously I only had one so had to fit a second. Doesn't cover carbon monoxide unfortunately
 
I am so sorry to hear about your piggy's, that is so sad. What a horrible shock for you.

Under the UK 2015 law landlords have to suppy carbon monoxide alarms in every room that contains coal fires, log burners and gas fires etc. Gas boilers seem to be a gray area open to interpretation, the agents who found my tennants insisted I fit a co2 alarm near the boiler. I urge anyone who doesn't have an alarm to get one, you can get them for less than £20. Modern gas boilers are supposed to vent outside, my daughters went wrong and vented into her kitchen! Luckily she realised before any harm was done to her health. Not only can carbon monoxide kill it can cause brain damage.
 
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