Sudden Death?

[jordansucks]

Recently, my roommate bought 2 guniea pigs- the pet store told him that they were both males, however one of them turned out to be a female and they conceived 2 babies. (one female, one male) As soon as the kids were old enough to eat solid food, he returned the mother and daughter to the pet store. A month or so went by just fine with the remaining males, but recently when I came home I found the younger one dead? there was no signs of blood or missing body parts, he was just flat and stiff with the big one standing over him. These guniea pigs were not mine and I've never had any particular interest in guniea pigs, but it was just very surprising considering that there was no real reason for him to die? No predator invasions, no changes in temperature, plenty of food and water.. Sorry if this is a stupid question, but does anyone have any idea as to what could have happened? Did the bigger one kill him?

 

[HeatherRose]

It is unlikely that the bigger one killed him. If it is sudden like that it could be a heart problem or aneurism, the same kind of things that make humans suddenly die.

 

[Fantasimo]

I had a rescue pig (Peewee) with a heart condition. She just used to freeze every few minutes as if someone had pressed pause. You could pick her up, turn her around, do anything while she was frozen and then after about a minute she would carry on like nothing had happened (she was very happy) she made it to about eighteen months in the end, which was good because the rescue place I got her from threw her in as a freebie (not literally obviously) with another companion pig I was getting. I think the rescue lady saw me coming but she said there was no timeline for how long she might live, days, weeks, months etc.

Do you know if your roommate’s pig used to freeze or have blank moments like that at all?

 

[Wiebke]

Recently, my roommate bought 2 guniea pigs- the pet store told him that they were both males, however one of them turned out to be a female and they conceived 2 babies. (one female, one male) As soon as the kids were old enough to eat solid food, he returned the mother and daughter to the pet store. A month or so went by just fine with the remaining males, but recently when I came home I found the younger one dead? there was no signs of blood or missing body parts, he was just flat and stiff with the big one standing over him. These guniea pigs were not mine and I've never had any particular interest in guniea pigs, but it was just very surprising considering that there was no real reason for him to die? No predator invasions, no changes in temperature, plenty of food and water.. Sorry if this is a stupid question, but does anyone have any idea as to what could have happened? Did the bigger one kill him?

Hi!

Guinea pigs do not kill each other; most injuries in dead guinea pigs are actually caused by the remaining one desperately trying to wake up their dead mate or in very scared mother in extremely bad circumstances as an attempt to not alert any predators if she is unable to get away. Death in fights are actually rare and not intended; they happen only if a deep bite penetrates into a vital spot.

When you found the larger one standing over the other, it was by your description a fair number of hours after the death with rigor mortis in full swing and the body already sunk.

Guinea pigs can die out of the blue from strokes or heart attack/acute heart failure at any age if they have a genetic disposition.
They can even die from fright from a mouse or a predator from a rat upwards trying to get into a hutch.