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Please advise my guinea pig died tonight!

  • Thread starter Thread starter charlenegfrank
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charlenegfrank

I had a 1 and half year old coronet boar, who recently died. I am wanting to know if my other piggies will become ill. The boar started to have a rapid heavy thud, thud, thud to his heart beat, along with this he struggled to breath, he kept his mouth open and sat in a corner, moving around as if he was not comfy. This started yesterday about 2 in the afternoon, before that he seemed fine. To the end of the night he seemed to have calmed down a little as his heart beat was not as rapid. Throughout today he stayed the same as previous, un-able to breath fully, he also made whimpering when I picked him up. About 4 today I rang the vets but they was not very helpful. And then later on he got worse and by 8pm he had fallen over on his side and his heart started to slow. I tried giving him a heart massage and lifting his head up so he could get more air, but he got worse and worse in seconds. His heart stopped, I tried again to bring him back, but he died. How could he just pass away like that? and will my others get it? I have cleaned everything to stop infection spreading, but I am still worried and very upset he went like that. I felt helpless! He was also kept indoors, but he was not warm or over heating. I have had a lot of experience with guinea pigs, but this has me stumped! I do believe he was in pain and it happened within 24hrs. Before he was the same as he had been since I had him.
If any of you would shed light on this, please do.
 
Welcome to the forum, I'm so sorry for your loss. To me it sounds like heart failure something your other pigs can't catch. Someone with more knowledge will hopefully advise but to me it does sound like a cardiac problem.

So sorry, coronets are lovely you must be so upset. :'(

Hugs to you,

Louise
x
 
thank you for your reply! I guess I think it some disease due to the fact it happened so fast and without warning. I have heard of a guinea disease spreading about and that it has killed other peoples stock, so I was worried due to this. But I keep all mine indoor and as pets!

Thank you,

Charlene.
 
So sorry to hear about your boy, what an awful experience for you. I know what it's like when you have unexplained deaths, we had two of ours die suddenly with identical symptoms, and you worry constantly about the others getting it if it's contagious.

Fingers crossed none of your other pigs will show the same symptoms.

I'm sure someone with more experience will be along soon.

Julie
 
sounds to me like he had a heart problem maybe?
I lost a six month old sow to exactly the same thing as you mention, and I believe she had an underlying heart problem.
Although she had been under anasthetic several weeks earlier but was never right afterwards, so it may have been connected to that somehow.
 
I was thinking along the lines of a respiratory infection? but cannot explain how he got that, he ate and slept on all the same things as the rest. If it was his heart would he not of shown signs before? also he was not young and not old. Thank you all again! I do hope the rest are fine, one of my sows is pregnant and shes my baby! I only got her pregnant due to her being over sexed!
 
This was almost #certainly chronic heart failure.A vet may have been able to administer a cardiac stimulant and give oxygen,but it would have had to have been a vet with knowledge of gps.The prognosis would not have been very good anyway. Do not worry about the other pig,cardiac conditions are not catching. The only problem would be if the other piggy is a sibling and they have been interbred.
 
Was your pig making "hooting" noises at all? Like others have said, it does sound like a heart problem.

In heart problem pigs the guinea pigs heart begins to enlarge and press onto its breathing pipe making breathing difficult. They have been noted to become extremely lethargic and lose weight for no apparent reason and respond poorly to anashetic and many make an odd hooting noise while breathing. The treatment for this is a heart medication provided by the vet, but it's not a widely known problem as of yet. I have a friend who has a heart pig and getting the medication her girl required was a horrible week-long battle that was only won in a life-or-die emergency situation where an on-call vet just gave her the medication she needed.

*hugs* Your other pigs won't be able to catch this, but you were right to take precautions in scrubbing the cage so quickly after the emergency.

I'm really sorry for your loss *hugs* it's horrible that guinea pig specialists in the UK are so damned far and few between, my vet is as frustrating as yours seems to be.
 
am truly sorry for you lost, you did try to save him. :smitten: :smitten: :smitten:
teadragon said:
I'm really sorry for your loss *hugs* it's horrible that guinea pig specialists in the UK are so damned far and few between, my vet is as frustrating as yours seems to be.
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here is oz, you are lucky to find a GP savy vet in one out of 1000 vets. i have lost many guinea pigs due to lack of vet knowledge. luckily i found his forum and maryh and her vet. her vet emailed my vet here in oz and between them they planned my zoe's treatment and surgery. :smitten: :smitten: :smitten:
it does sound like your piggy had a heart problem as his symptoms sound a lot like what my father had before he passed away. 0:) 0:) 0:) may your little angel find peace and roam free and popcorn in paradise. 0:) 0:) 0:) think of the good times and he'll always be with with you. good luck with the mother to be. :smitten: :smitten: :smitten:
 
Thank you all for your kind words. I guess I was just shocked how fast it all happened. He kept his mouth really wide through all of it and he could not stand to be picked up when I examined him, he only made sounds then, very deem ones which sounded like little un-happy moans. Not sure if hooting describes that, but I understand what you mean. I barried him in a nice field today, bless him, I miss his fat face and happy mumbles and his daft purring at his soft toy bear. All I can say is that he slept a lot, but I have a sheltie and shes very lazy, but not related! I know its their nature laid back!
I got him off a friend, I did question her when I 1st got him home, as he seemed a little under weight for me, although she said not. Also he had a few times when he seemed down. But besides this he was full of beans and his heart never looked or sounded bad. He used to live in a shed in a cage with many piggies, he spent a few months with me in paradise getting food non stop and being loved on his cushion. He was loved and I was so upset when he was gasping for air and then eventually went limp in my fingers. I did all I could, but I still feel useless. Still hope to get more replies on this.

Thank you all!

All the other piggies are fine and honey the mum to be is greedy and grumpy as usual!
 
Sorry you lost your lovely piggy. I would agree with the others about heart failure and not much you could have done. Might be a good idea to ask around the forum if anyone knows a good piggy savvy vet in your area though as a bad vet is possibly worse than no vet at all :(
 
so sorry you lost your piggy, i lost my 4mth old girl 2 weeks ago... she was fine and then i found her dead, was a real shock, the kind peeps omn here and esp mary h explained to me about heart failure. I'm very sorry x
 
Wendi at Thistle Cavies guinea pig rescue has experience with heart-problem piggies, perhaps you could e-mail her. She'll be able to answer any questions you may have, her vet in Scotland is the best we have!

You can find her e-mail address via her rescue web site if you're interested, it may help to discuss it with someone else who has first hand experience with heart problem pigs: www.thistlecaviesrescue.co.uk
 
Hi,

I just had ago at loading that page but it will not load, could you check it for me.

:-\
 
Hi there and welcome to the forum from us in OZ as well :)
RIP Piggie 0:) 0:) 0:) run free at the bridge, no more pain just little friends to play with and lots of lovely green grass :-* :-* :-* :-*
((((((((((HUGS)))))))) for you and all the greiving piggies :smitten: :smitten: :smitten:

I'm so sorry for your loss, please let us know how the little pregnant mummy goes :smitten:
 
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