• PLEASE NOTE - the TEAS facebook page has been hacked, take extreme care when visiting the page, for further information visit here
  • 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

Poor Little Piggy Passed Away

Status
Not open for further replies.
N

nickyt88

New Born Pup
Joined
Oct 18, 2011
Messages
10
Reaction score
4
Points
95
Went away for the weekend, leaving our two 3 year old piggies at home with sister in law popping into feed them while we were away. They were both their usual selves, but seems one took turn for the worse over the weekend, wasn't herself and just wanting to lie in the house. Came home last night and tried to cuddle her but she wasn't comfortable and wanting to rest her head to the side, so took the hard decision to take her to the emergency vets where she was put to rest.. Absolutely gutted and guilty we went away! Will have to give her a funeral this evening after work ;( Vet said she had a lot of fluid in her abdomen so would assume she had something longterm wrong with her.. Now worried I fed her too much of the wrong thing or perhaps her love of chewing the cage caused a blockage or something..

We have another piggie who is very happy in herself, very vocal when food appears etc. But she's now on her own and I don't know how she is going to react. I don't really want to get into the cycle of always having one pig if we got her a companion and she passed away but don't want her to be miserable on her own either.

She is quite large and has sponginess infront of her back legs. I've wondered if she is just large or also has bloat or something similar. She is happy so I don't want to do something to cause her harm but aware our other one was very happy before taking a turn.

We live in Hampshire, UK but don't know of any guinea experts we could get her a checkup with, also without costing an arm and a leg but wanting to make sure she is healthy and happy.

Thanks
 
I am ever so sorry for your loss! These things are unfortunately more likely to happen as your stand-in is not so attuned to the very subtle signs of illness - and sometimes a guinea pig can go down very quickly, seemingly out of the blue. I have lost a couple of young piggies to sudden acute heart failure within hours of them showing the first symptoms and despite rushing them to the vets as an emergency.
You are most welcome to post a tribute in our Rainbow Bridge section anytime it feels right for you!

The sponginess is likely to be just fat. Bloat is causing the belly to tighten, not to go splodgy. I would recommend to keep a good eye on your girl and to continue to weigh her weekly; anytime you are worried, switch to daily at the same time to minimise the variance of a fully belly/bladder that can make up to 30g.
We have got a piggy savvy vets locator (but not one for cheap vets, I am sorry to say) as well as a good standard and practice guinea pig locator

At three years old, your girl is only about halfway through a normal piggy lifespan and would really profit from having new company. Would you consider adopting another adult piggy of a similar age from a good rescue as company to keep the see-saw minimal? it could be either a neutered boar or another sow of her liking. I have gone down both ways with bereaved sows of mine of the same age, and always got a very loving relationship out of taking my own piggy to date a new friend of her liking under expert supervision at a knowledgeable rescue with mandatory quarantine and pregnancy watch. If you can get as far as Piggy Palace Guinea Pig Rescue in Crawley, you would be in very safe hands.
 
I'm so sorry. That must have been a horrible shock to come back to x
 
I'm really sorry for your loss. I wish I had more advice for you! It never hurts to get a checkup if you're at all in doubt about the health of your other pig. As for getting a friend, I understand the concern about having pigs where the ages don't match up. I'm in that situation myself (I initially got a pair, had one of them pass away unexpectedly around 18 months, so now have a 6-year-old pig and a 4-year-old pig. And yes, I wonder what to do when one of them passes away because of the age difference.) However, at age three your pig could easily live another three or more years, which is a long time to be alone. Is there anywhere you could find a similar-aged pig to adopt if getting a young one doesn't seem like what you want to do?
 
Hi all,

Thanks for your messages. It was horrible to come home to see her in pain, I think when we next go away, I will look into possibly boarding her with someone who knows guinea pigs well - I'm sure the outcome wouldn't have been any different but she may have been able to have been put out of her misery earlier..

I am currently messaging some rescues locally and Piggie Palace to enquire about finding her a companion. Hopefully can pair her with a nice neutured male to keep her company :)

Thanks
 
Sorry for your loss. Hope all goes well with your remaining girl and she finds a new friend.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top