Hello, I'm looking for some advice. We have recently become the owners of 2 male guinea pigs (brothers from the same litter), they are 10 weeks old. We've had them for 4 days. We came home from work/school yesterday and my 10 year old daughter found one of them dead and is totally devastated. He was feeding fine in the morning and was bright eyed and playful so I'm at a loss as to why this happened. We've taken the other the the vet to get it checked and it seems fine and healthy, although he seems is very quiet. The vet tell what happened to the one who died - said it could have been a heart defect / stroke. I'm now so worried about the remaining boy guinea being lonely and want to know the best way to go about bonding him with a new male companion (and where to get it). I've contacted the breeder we got them from but she hasn't replied yet. My daughter is very worried now about going to feed and take care of the other one as she is terrified that he will also have died, so our pet ownership experience has got off to a challenging start. I did all the research before we bought them, them have a lovely big hutch and run with fresh grass and access to clean water, they have only been fed kale, carrot, cucumber and guinea pig pellets. I just don't know what to do next!
Sudden guinea pig death - new companion?
- Thread starter Jenny31
- Start date
Eviolus-
Teenage Guinea Pig
That is an unfortunate situation
I would recommend going to a rescue that could help rebond him to a new boar and find a good fit. I don't know much about strokes in guinea pigs but as far as I know they aren't common so its unlikely to happen twice.Have you put the body in the cage with your remaining boar so he can say goodbye? When I lost a pig it seemed to help them a little
That is an unfortunate situation
Have you put the body in the cage with your remaining boar so he can say goodbye? When I lost a pig it seemed to help them a little
Thank you for your reply Eviolus. Yes the body was in the cage for the whole afternoon with the other guinea pig before we found it when we came home - so sad.
Eviolus-
Teenage Guinea Pig
Oh I didn't think of that, have you got a response from the breeder yet?
Eviolus-
Teenage Guinea Pig
Is there a possibility that he choked on something?
No not yet, still waiting
So sorry for your loss, an awful experience for your daughter and for you.
Sadly they can die with no warning like any other pet or human.. take a look at the guides on here for more help and advice. If you can find a local rescue and set up a boar date that would be good for your remaining piggy..
Sadly they can die with no warning like any other pet or human.. take a look at the guides on here for more help and advice. If you can find a local rescue and set up a boar date that would be good for your remaining piggy..
I don't think so - can they choke on chunks of food, like carrot?
Hi and welcome!
I am very sorry for your unexpected loss. You are welcome to post a tribute to the boy you have lost in our Rainbow Bridge section.
Here are our tips on human grieving, including some tips and resources for helping your children through the loss of a pet, which you might helpful: Human Bereavement - Grieving, coping tips and support links for guinea pig owners and their children
Please bring your little boy indoors for the time being.
If you can, please contact any of our recommended rescues so he can be matched with a boar where there is mutual liking and character compatibility - the real key to any stable piggy bond. Unlike the long debunked breeder myth, an age difference is actually an advantage as that means that only one boy will hit a major hormone spike during the teenage months at any time and not both. Brothers can fall out just the same if their personalities don't balance out.
Recommended Guinea Pig Rescues
You will have the added bonus of adopting a fully quarantined/vet cared and healthy boar who is properly sexed and not coming with any problems. In addition you will also have the settling in support of the rescue and have the rescue to fall back on if you are running into real trouble during the life time of your adopted boar if you rehome from one of the listed vetted good standard rescues.
Like breeders, anybody can call themselves a rescue, so we can only guarantee for the listed rescues.
Here is what you can do for your little boy:
Looking After A Bereaved Guinea Pig (the link also contains lists of good rescues in some other countries than the UK)
A Comprehensive Guide to Guinea Pig Boars
Bonding and Interaction: Illustrated social behaviours and bonding dynamics (if you bond at home, this guide also contains chapters on boar and on baby bonding)
Eviolus-
Teenage Guinea Pig
I'm not sure, I assume it's a possibility but not a prevalent risk
Choking is a possibility, but frankly a very remote one. We haven't seen even a handful of suspected chocking cases in the dozen years of running this forum.
Unfortunately it is a lot more common that young piggies with a genetic defect can die from a heart attack, stroke or sudden acute heart failure at any age, even very young ones. They kind of live with a time bomb in their body that can basically go off any time, without an outward trigger or if something suddenly frightens them overnight (fox, rat mouse etc).
It is more common in breeder piggies or piggies from a large and very inbred batch of hoarder piggies multiplying uncontrolled (often starting with a mis-sexed pair or an already pregnant sow) as the interbreeding means that faulty genes can be inherited from both parents after a few generations. It is not necessarily only the pretty looks that get passed on; if there is a faulty gene somewhere then that can be also amplified by breeding from a fairly small gene pool, selective or uncontrolled.
I have lost a couple of youngsters to the third option within hours of noticing the first symptom and despite rushing them to the vets immediately as an emergency; one was part of a massive rescue from a neglect breeder where most of rescue born babies of Telyn's generation didn't just share the looks of the obviously dominant boar (one of four in the pen of sows), but also died young from heart problems.
Eviolus-
Teenage Guinea Pig
Hope the pigs mine gave birth to aren't too inbredChoking is a possibility, but frankly a very remote one. We haven't seen even a handful of suspected chocking cases in the dozen years of running this forum.
Unfortunately it is a lot more common that young piggies with a genetic defect can die from a heart attack, stroke or sudden acute heart failure at any age, even very young ones. They kind of live with a time bomb in their body that can basically go off any time, without an outward trigger or if something suddenly frightens them overnight (fox, rat mouse etc).
It is more common in breeder piggies or piggies from a large and very inbred batch of hoarder piggies multiplying uncontrolled (often starting with a mis-sexed pair or an already pregnant sow) as the interbreeding means that faulty genes can be inherited from both parents after a few generations. It is not necessarily only the pretty looks that get passed on; if there is a faulty gene somewhere, then that can be also amplified by breeding from a small gene pool, selective or uncontrolled.
I have lost a couple of youngsters to the third option within hours of noticing the first symptom and despite rushing them to the vets immediately as an emergency; one was part of a massive rescue from a neglect breeder and the other from a supposed hobby breeder.
Hope the pigs mine gave birth to aren't too inbred
The risk is not the inbreeding per se, but the presence of a major faulty gene in the mix. It usually takes 3-4 generations before recessive genes make an appearance on a larger scale. By the fifth generation, most babies will be affected.
Eviolus-
Teenage Guinea Pig
I'm not sure of how my pigs were bred but hopefully it wasn't that bad, I'll stick to rescues now anyway
Rescue piggies come from all kinds of situations and backgrounds; the majority are generally unwanted pet shop piggies.
As much as any of us crave an answer after a sudden loss when we all grapple with the demon of guilt and failure, all we can do is guess; and we have to keep aware that is as far as we can get.
Even a rather expensive post mortem examination at the vet's may not bring the answer depending on what has cause the death.
Thank you so much for everyone's advice, in particular the links to the guides posted by Wiebke. I have contacted a Rescue Centre and am hoping to set up a bonding date for our remaining boy with one of their guinea pigs at the weekend, so I'm hopeful we will have a new companion for Frosty very soon.
Bill & Ted
Forum Buddy
So sorry you lost your little piggie. Good luck bonding your other boy, it’s so good you are putting his needs first x
Hello again - our run for the guinea pigs has some moss in the grass as it's in a shaded position in the garden - I've read on your forum guide to putting guineas outside on the grass, that moss can be dangerous to them. When we first got them, we let both guineas out to play in the run for a while - it's a very safe covered run with plenty of tunnels to hide in etc. Now I'm worried that the one that died might have eaten moss?
In other news - we have a bonding date set up with the rescue centre on Saturday (they have two 6 week old boys to try our Frosty with) so hopefully we'll find him a new friend this weekend.
In other news - we have a bonding date set up with the rescue centre on Saturday (they have two 6 week old boys to try our Frosty with) so hopefully we'll find him a new friend this weekend.
All the best for the dating! I hope that he can choose the boy he clicks with best!
I highly doubt that moss has killed your boy. He would have had to eat quite a lot and would have shown signs of poisoning beforehand as it is not an instant killer. In my experience with my own piggies, moss doesn't taste good and they tend to avoid eating it as long as there is plenty of nice grass.
Guinea pigs have about double the number of tastebuds than humans and a multiple of that of cats; they don't eat large quantities of foul tasting stuff by mistake!
Just try to keep them off the worst patches if possible.
Here are our hot weather guides and also hot weather travelling advice:
Hot Weather Management and Heat Strokes
Travelling with guinea pigs
Hot Weather Management and Heat Strokes
Travelling with guinea pigs