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Sudden Death

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Miinnii9

New Born Pup
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This post is probably going to be long, but I just feel like a horrible person.

I found my piggie dead in his cage yesterday upon returning home from work. He was probably about six years old and he was bought from pet smart as a baby. I found him laying in the corner of his cage where he usually slept. He was on his side. I have this awful feeling in my gut that I contributed to his death somehow. It may just be anxiety, or something else.

Rigor mortis had already set in. I work ten hour days so it's possible he could have simply passed while I was work but I admit that the morning I left I wasn't really paying much attention. He could have passed overnight and I just didn't notice, but I would think rigor mortis would have passed by the time I found him.

I'm pretty sure I forgot to feed him the day before. I'm a pretty forgetful person normally. Piggy would normally not let me forget. He would squeak at me when he needed food or his water was low. I still live with my parents, and my mother said she had been feeding him recently too because he would yell at her about it as well.

He was a strange little guy. I think because he came from a pet store, he never really had any interest in veggies. So I did my best to mix up as many store bought treats into his diet as I could. He loved his hay. Would eat the heck out of it. The pellets he simply scattered and then foraged around his cage for.

He could hear a chip bag rustle and he would decide it was it time to eat some more.

I didn't realize it until after I found him, but he had been pretty quiet recently. I can't tell if that was because my mother had been feeding him, or if he had been sick and I had been too stuck up in my own life drama to notice. When I found him in his cage, he still had hay scattered around that he hadn't eaten. I definitely should have noticed that but I didn't.

It was maybe a few weeks ago too that one of my cats had knocked the cage off it's stand. Bedding was scattered everywhere and I found him just sitting in the middle of it. He seemed fine after the ordeal so I simply thanked my lucky stars that he was okay and put the cage back together like normal. It was a one time incidence after all. Years of having him and the cats together, nothing like that had ever happened before.

Now I think that may have been a factor too. Maybe there was some internal bleeding I didn't notice. Maybe I hadn't fed him enough. Maybe he was sick with something else I didn't notice if he had symptoms.

I feel awful. And guilty. I want my little guy back and I'm driving myself crazy over this. I'm pretty sure I will have a necropsy done sometime today, but it's driving me insane until then.

Help, advice, anything would be appreciated.
 
Miinnii9 said:
This post is probably going to be long, but I just feel like a horrible person.

I found my piggie dead in his cage yesterday upon returning home from work. He was probably about six years old and he was bought from pet smart as a baby. I found him laying in the corner of his cage where he usually slept. He was on his side. I have this awful feeling in my gut that I contributed to his death somehow. It may just be anxiety, or something else.

Rigor mortis had already set in. I work ten hour days so it's possible he could have simply passed while I was work but I admit that the morning I left I wasn't really paying much attention. He could have passed overnight and I just didn't notice, but I would think rigor mortis would have passed by the time I found him.

I'm pretty sure I forgot to feed him the day before. I'm a pretty forgetful person normally. Piggy would normally not let me forget. He would squeak at me when he needed food or his water was low. I still live with my parents, and my mother said she had been feeding him recently too because he would yell at her about it as well.

He was a strange little guy. I think because he came from a pet store, he never really had any interest in veggies. So I did my best to mix up as many store bought treats into his diet as I could. He loved his hay. Would eat the heck out of it. The pellets he simply scattered and then foraged around his cage for.

He could hear a chip bag rustle and he would decide it was it time to eat some more.

I didn't realize it until after I found him, but he had been pretty quiet recently. I can't tell if that was because my mother had been feeding him, or if he had been sick and I had been too stuck up in my own life drama to notice. When I found him in his cage, he still had hay scattered around that he hadn't eaten. I definitely should have noticed that but I didn't.

It was maybe a few weeks ago too that one of my cats had knocked the cage off it's stand. Bedding was scattered everywhere and I found him just sitting in the middle of it. He seemed fine after the ordeal so I simply thanked my lucky stars that he was okay and put the cage back together like normal. It was a one time incidence after all. Years of having him and the cats together, nothing like that had ever happened before.

Now I think that may have been a factor too. Maybe there was some internal bleeding I didn't notice. Maybe I hadn't fed him enough. Maybe he was sick with something else I didn't notice if he had symptoms.

I feel awful. And guilty. I want my little guy back and I'm driving myself crazy over this. I'm pretty sure I will have a necropsy done sometime today, but it's driving me insane until then.

Help, advice, anything would be appreciated.
Click to expand...
Guilt is a normal part of the grieving process so please don't be too hard on yourself
. It could've just been his time if you didn't notice him acting strangely or off his food recently. Big hugs to you xx
 
Miinnii9 said:
This post is probably going to be long, but I just feel like a horrible person.

I found my piggie dead in his cage yesterday upon returning home from work. He was probably about six years old and he was bought from pet smart as a baby. I found him laying in the corner of his cage where he usually slept. He was on his side. I have this awful feeling in my gut that I contributed to his death somehow. It may just be anxiety, or something else.

Rigor mortis had already set in. I work ten hour days so it's possible he could have simply passed while I was work but I admit that the morning I left I wasn't really paying much attention. He could have passed overnight and I just didn't notice, but I would think rigor mortis would have passed by the time I found him.

I'm pretty sure I forgot to feed him the day before. I'm a pretty forgetful person normally. Piggy would normally not let me forget. He would squeak at me when he needed food or his water was low. I still live with my parents, and my mother said she had been feeding him recently too because he would yell at her about it as well.

He was a strange little guy. I think because he came from a pet store, he never really had any interest in veggies. So I did my best to mix up as many store bought treats into his diet as I could. He loved his hay. Would eat the heck out of it. The pellets he simply scattered and then foraged around his cage for.

He could hear a chip bag rustle and he would decide it was it time to eat some more.

I didn't realize it until after I found him, but he had been pretty quiet recently. I can't tell if that was because my mother had been feeding him, or if he had been sick and I had been too stuck up in my own life drama to notice. When I found him in his cage, he still had hay scattered around that he hadn't eaten. I definitely should have noticed that but I didn't.

It was maybe a few weeks ago too that one of my cats had knocked the cage off it's stand. Bedding was scattered everywhere and I found him just sitting in the middle of it. He seemed fine after the ordeal so I simply thanked my lucky stars that he was okay and put the cage back together like normal. It was a one time incidence after all. Years of having him and the cats together, nothing like that had ever happened before.

Now I think that may have been a factor too. Maybe there was some internal bleeding I didn't notice. Maybe I hadn't fed him enough. Maybe he was sick with something else I didn't notice if he had symptoms.

I feel awful. And guilty. I want my little guy back and I'm driving myself crazy over this. I'm pretty sure I will have a necropsy done sometime today, but it's driving me insane until then.

Help, advice, anything would be appreciated.
Click to expand...

Hi!

I am ever so sorry for your loss! 6 years is a very good age.

Feelings of guilt are normal for the onset of the grieving process, especially after a sudden death when your mind is wired to seek the fault in yourself and your own actions, first and foremost.

It sounds rather like a potential stroke or heart attack - and there is nothing you can do about that as they happen out of the blue.
In the way of the heatwave/high humidity peaking in Southern England yesterday heat stroke or the heat as a trigger to an already underlying problem may also play a role. I have lost a number of frailer piggies during or in the wake of heat spikes despite my best efforts.
Hot Weather Management, Heat Strokes and Fly Strike

While a sudden death is very hard for us owners to make sense of and come to terms with, it is actually one of the kindest ways to die with minimal suffering and only very short discomfort. Try to find peace in that when the chips are down, wouldn't we rather our beloved pets would suffered less while we shouldered more of the pain involved?

Take your time to grieve and be kind to yourself. But also keep telling yourself that you haven't failed your beloved one in any way.

Please take the time to read our grieving guide and seek help if your guilt is overwhelming you. The best thing is somebody you can talk to and make use of the trained help that is out there for people suffering from pet bereavement.
For that reason we have included a number of resources and tips for what you can do for yourself in the coming days and weeks.
Here is the link: Human Bereavement: Grieving, Coping and Support Links for Guinea Pig Owners and Their Children

What you can do for any bereaved companion in the short and medium term: Looking After a Bereaved Guinea Pig
 
Thank both of you.
I always take the losses of pets hard, but this time just feels different to me. The last week or so saw me not giving the little guy as much attention as he needed.

The necropsy was done by a vet who is only kind of familiar with cavies as a favor to me. She said the intestines and such looks fine. They were filled with gas and some decomposition but she was fairly certain that was simply from post mortem causes. No signs of obstruction. No signs of tumors. She didn't want to cause any damage accessing the heart, but she said that a heart complication or attack were the most likely suspects.

For some reason, the guilt just won't go away, especially since I will never know for sure what the cause was.
 
Miinnii9 said:
Thank both of you.
I always take the losses of pets hard, but this time just feels different to me. The last week or so saw me not giving the little guy as much attention as he needed.

The necropsy was done by a vet who is only kind of familiar with cavies as a favor to me. She said the intestines and such looks fine. They were filled with gas and some decomposition but she was fairly certain that was simply from post mortem causes. No signs of obstruction. No signs of tumors. She didn't want to cause any damage accessing the heart, but she said that a heart complication or attack were the most likely suspects.

For some reason, the guilt just won't go away, especially since I will never know for sure what the cause was.
Click to expand...

I have lost several piggies in operations due to their heart giving up over the years; it is sadly always a bit of a risk.
Only one of those had been found to have a highly irregular heart beat in pre-emergency op assessment (blood filled fast growing mammary tumour that would have turned septic within two weeks and would have killed her that way). So it was the choice between certain or death or a high risk operation ramped up to make or break...

Any failed procedure that you have to give your explicit consent to is leaving you with bad feelings. You may find the chapter about regaining your piggy in the grieving guide helpful. In it I am dealing with my own experiences and how I found I way to cope with my own feelings of guilt in the way of losing old lady Hafina in an eye removal op. Perhaps that can help you?
Human Bereavement: Grieving, Coping and Support Links for Guinea Pig Owners and Their Children
 
I'm so sorry for such a sudden loss of your piggy. Be kind to yourself as you grieve. Popcorn free little piggy ❤️🌈
 
So sorry for your loss.
It’s normal to want a reason for a death but at 6 he was a good age.
Be gentle and patient with yourself as you grieve.
The guilt does pass as grief progresses.
We are here to support you
 
I'm sorry for your loss. Six is a normal lifespan for a piggie and it may just have been an old-age-related death. Pigs sometimes pass quickly from heart or other organ failure with minimal signs of illness. It can be hard not to know the cause of death, but this is often how it goes. Be kind to yourself, gentle ((HUGS)) to you.
 
I’m sorry sorry you lost your little piggie, please don’t feel guilty 6 is a very good age and he will have died of old age. I think when we suffer the loss of a much loved pet we always feel guilty and ask ourselves if we could have done more or noticed signs, but that’s all part of loss and grief x
 
You guys are all so kind.

I'm still driving myself crazy over the situation. Even harassed the doctor who did the necropsy to assure me yet again that she found no signs of scurvy or malnutrition. I've made my mother swear about a hundred times that she had been feeding him even when I forgot and that he seemed fine the night before.

I do have a question that maybe this website can shed some light on. When I went to clean the cage, I found some rather smallish round looking poops in the area he had passed in. They weren't particularly mushy and were normal colored, nor did I ever notice any signs of impaction beforehand. They were also kind of 'clumped' together. Could this have part of the death process in someway? Or a sign of a certain illness? I know older males sometimes have troubles with the muscles back there that can lead to irregular poops, but I have never noticed him having said issue before.
 
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