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Re: average age in piggies

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Mizzpigz

Mizzpigz

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I know this thread will come up with so many answers as you will all have piggies that lived very short lives and some that have lived very long ones. I just wondered what is your experience of the average life span of piggies and does it differ amongst breeds?
 
I believe the average life used to be four to seven years but I think seven is really the top end (yes some do live longer but this is on average)

I have lost piggies younger and my eldest is Nibbles who is six and a half (he's my avi pigture if you are interested!) and still going strong. Bless him.

Amy
x
 
I lost Georgie at about 3.5yrs, I still have Rosie her cage mate. Like Amy's Nibbles is still going strong at 6.5 nearly 7.
Kayleigh
 
The oldest I've had is 9 yrs and 7.5 yrs. If I lose one under 5 yrs I feel it is far too soon. I would say the normal lifespan is 5-6 yrs. Though I do know of 4 pigs that made it to 11 in recent years.

The only breed I know that has a shorter life expectancy (this is based on many pigs passing at a young age) are skinny (hairless) guinea pigs. They seem to pop off at around 3 yrs, a few make it to 4-5yrs, many are lost by two years old.
 
i agree with suzy, under 5 seems far too soon , so sad when this happens. i have several elderly piggies, four of them are now 7. the oldest piggy i have had lived to be 8 :)
oh poor skinnies i didn't know they have such short lives :(
 
This may be as a result of the breeding carried out to create the breed. As with dogs, the more you go for purity in the breed the more you increase the medical conditions they suffer from.
 
Claire W said:
I lost my Connie at 18 months old after a long battle with stubborn UTI's and bladder problems :(
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that is very sad :( i think there will always be some we lose young despite our best efforts. i think of all the medical knowledge available for people and a lot of us still don't make it to old age. R.I.P. Connie
 
Our eldest was one of Mums as I was younger Fudge she lived until 10 years old. Others seem to have averaged 5 -6 years but I've lost some at 12 months - but I didn't have the knowledge I have now and the local vet was awful - told Mum to have a poorly guinea PTS as they were so cheap save treating it - Mum gave him a piece of her mind over that. That surgery is now run by a great vet.

Our first ever guineas were a very unhealthy pair from a pet shop when I was about 5 - one died within 3 days the other Mum managed to save - she had awful mites Mum says and Mum refused to give her back to the pet shop and she lived for about 4 years with Mums care. The one who died so quickly would of only been a few months old, was very sad.
 
Pound Shilling & Pig said:
that is very sad :( i think there will always be some we lose young despite our best efforts. i think of all the medical knowledge available for people and a lot of us still don't make it to old age. R.I.P. Connie
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Thank you. It was and she was my first guinea pig but as she was given to us by someone who's kids had lost interest, we new nothing of her background. The last 5 months of her life were horrible but at least I know we did all we could for her. She just gave up the fight in the end.
 
alisont said:
Our eldest was one of Mums as I was younger Fudge she lived until 10 years old. Others seem to have averaged 5 -6 years but I've lost some at 12 months - but I didn't have the knowledge I have now and the local vet was awful - told Mum to have a poorly guinea PTS as they were so cheap save treating it - Mum gave him a piece of her mind over that. That surgery is now run by a great vet.

Our first ever guineas were a very unhealthy pair from a pet shop when I was about 5 - one died within 3 days the other Mum managed to save - she had awful mites Mum says and Mum refused to give her back to the pet shop and she lived for about 4 years with Mums care. The one who died so quickly would of only been a few months old, was very sad.
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That is sad :( But it sounds like your mum did a wonderful job.
 
Wow amazing, I didn't realise that some piggies had lived that long!

i have to say, although sometimes it does just happen and we lose them young, I have been on a massive learning curve since having my first piggies and finding this forum years ago. I think it does really matter how we look after them and what we feed them. Some people are so clueless and think you just buy a pig and put it in a cage and throw it a cabbage now and then. One of my rescue pigs had been through this left in a cage without bedding OUTSIDE and was in such poor condition at the age of 3. He came to live with me and I got him to 6 years old before he went over the rainbow bridge. He is the oldest pig of mine yet. I do wish they could stay with us so much longer, but our ittle time with them is such joy x
 
my oldest at the moment is molly. she about 5 but as i rescued her i don't know her exact age. the youngest i have lost was lily - she died 8/10/12 at just under 7 months old from suspected lymphoma. another one that died very young was lily's brother who went to live at my uncles. he was just under 12 weeks old. a complete shock as he was perfectly fine when he was seen on the evening and had died by morning. the vet suspects a heart attack - probably caused by a weakness due to the interbreeding (before i had blossom their mom):(
 
It's been nice to hear your old age stories and sad to hear the ones when piggys don't live that long x
 
I got 3 guineas when I was about 7 and those girls died at 8, 8 and 9 years old...they were from p@h as well, shock horror! I hope my latest two will stay with me for just as long if not longer :)
 
There is a real limit to what we can do treatment wise for a lot of health problems in guinea pigs such as heart problems, kidney disease and cancer that might be treatable in middle age in people. So some will pass away at quite a young age. Ive lost a couple at 2-3 that went downhill very fast. If they can avoid these problems then they can make great old age.

Most of mine have made about 5 years, but Stella is 7 now although she's clearly very elderly now, but she's still pootling around and hassling for food. Her sister made 6 1/2 - she had an abcess and I thnk some people might have made a decision to put her through the operation to remove it, but her survival chances weren't good and I didn't want to put her through the pain. I'm hugely pragmatic and always consider quality of life over length of life.

Paula
 
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