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We Are Scared Witless We'll Lose Another :(

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FitzPiggy

FitzPiggy

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On 3/21/14 my daughter (who is 11 and has proven to be an excellent care giver/mother/guardian of her piggies), lost her first guinea pig. He couldn't have been more than 4-5months of age, and he was perfectly healthy, as far as we can tell, but sometime in the wee hours of Monday morning (3/21/14), he had a seizure. No noise was made, or my daughter would have woken up to it (light sleeper), we didn't even know until about 7:30am when she went to do her routine cuddle time before leaving school, that Brownie (the deceased) was not at all right. She picked him up, and he was "loose", that's the best I can describe it, he had limited motor function, meaning he could move around.. just not as well as he should. My husband and daughter took Brownie to the vet while I went to work, and we found out it was seizures then (he ended up having another on their way to the office). The only options we had was.. trial medications and hospitalization (with little to no success) or euthanasia, and the poor dear was in a lot of pain.

The vet, thankfully, made it clear to my daughter that euthanasia was probably the best bet, because of the lack of success rate to the other option, we'd only prolong Brownie's pain. So.. sadly, we chose euthanasia, and needless to say.. my daughter was devastated! She held him while he went, making sure he knew he wasn't alone.

The surviving piggy, Sunny, is who we are worried about now. We've had him for about the same amount of time, and he seems perfectly normal and healthy (well... minus his "Sparkle", though he's gained quite a bit of it back since we got the baby piggy, Patch), but Brownie seemed to have been perfectly healthy as well.

The vet couldn't tell us what caused the seizure, I can assume it wasn't due to diet or environmental causes.. otherwise something would be wrong with Sunny.. right?

Is there a way to tell if a Guinea Pig is sick or not? The way they hold their ears? Noses? Anything.. please.. any answer would be wonderful at this point! I've been praying since we lost Brownie for Sunny to stay safe, knowing my daughter would be that much more devastated if she lost Sunny too, and I don't think I can handle her heart being broken all over again.
 
Hi, I am so sorry for your loss of little Brownie, it couldn't of been an easy time for you and my deepest sympathies are sent to you and your daughter.

Seeing as Brownie passed away so suddenly at a young age I would say it may be due to a neurological/genetic issue or possibly a brain tumour of some sort. Obviously I'm not an expert but those are the things that first came to my mind.

As long as Sunny is acting ok then just keep a close eye on him, guinea pigs are good at hiding illness so you would know if there was something wrong when he started to show any concerning signs but for now I wouldn't worry. x
 
I am so sorry for your loss. Often guinea pigs from pet shops or breeders are unhealthy due to being inbred and kept in poor conditions. Maybe that explains your poor boy passing. I would advise you to go to a rescue for your next piggy. With a rescue you can be sure the guinea pig will be healthy,correctly sexed and not pregnant. They are already quarantined too so you do not have to do it yourself. My heart goes out to your poor daughter. We have a rainbow thread were you can make a post about Brownies passing. It may give some comfort.
 
FitzPiggy said:
The vet couldn't tell us what caused the seizure, I can assume it wasn't due to diet or environmental causes.. otherwise something would be wrong with Sunny.. right?

Is there a way to tell if a Guinea Pig is sick or not? The way they hold their ears? Noses? Anything.. please.. any answer would be wonderful at this point! I've been praying since we lost Brownie for Sunny to stay safe, knowing my daughter would be that much more devastated if she lost Sunny too, and I don't think I can handle her heart being broken all over again.
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Sorry to hear about Brownie - that must have been very distressing. As the vet did not know the cause of death it may have been a genetic issue as Leah's piggies suggested but the vet would be the best person to advise on that having seen the symptoms.

In terms of signs of illness, food is a big indicator. Piggies are herbivores who need to eat pretty much all day so if they stop eating or eat less then it usually means something is wrong. It is suggested that you weigh your piggies regularly and then you can spot weight loss or sudden weight increase which can be a cause for concern. I have a little spreadsheet to note the weights on and so can see any trends. A good vet will always check a piggies weight as one of the first things they do. Behaviour goes alongside this eg moving less, sitting in the corner or one spot - you know what is normal for Sunny to be doing so look out if activity levels drop.

Other signs of illness may be more specific to what they have eg skin problems, respiratory. You can have a search on the Health and illness forum to see threads about particular illnesses if you think Sunny is showing any symptoms. Hopefully Sunny is just fine but always see your vet if you are concerned. My vet knows that I go to him quite a lot but he prefers to see my piggies at the early stages of any problem as guinea pigs do hide illness as they are prey animals. Good luck with Sunny.
 
Really sorry to hear of the loss of Brownie, losing a pet s hard enough but when it is so unexpected you are left with a certain amount of shock too.

Piggies are prey animals by nature and are very good at hiding illness, something tell tale however such as URI or UTI's are more spotable than other illnesses due to breathing issues, coughing and sneezing in the case of URI's and squeaking when weeing or pooing in the case of UTI's.
It is impossible to say what the cause of death could have been without autopsy but my thoughts would possibly be a stroke, in which case there is no way you could have done anything.

As Lauraboara says above the best way of spotting illness is by weighing your piggies regular, this video below shows you how:


Also get used to the feel of them and have a 2 weekly check over for lumps and bumps, if you know what is normal with you piggy you will then spot any abnormalities.

Sparky will be grieving no less than we do, but piggies get on with surviving normally after a few days and having 'Patch' around will help him through the loss of his friend, is he now living with Patch?

We have more information on Helping a bereaved piggie here https://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/threads/looking-after-a-bereaved-piggy.109674/

Once again I am so sorry for your and your daughters loss, please don't beat yourselves up, there was nothing you could have done and you showed the greatest final act of love we can make for them in helping him across the bridge.
 
sending big hugs to you and your daughter .She sounds like an amazing girl, you must be very proud.Things like this happen. I lost the pig in my avatar when she was only about eight months old. You cant predict these things
 
@LeahsPiggies: Thank you for affirming what I was already thinking. I'm in the medical field myself, but for HUMANS.. not animals O.O but that was my first guess, especially after reading up on seizures in piggies.

@piggyfan: I'll have to do some research.. but I don't think there are any guinea pig rescues here in Utah.. like I said though.. I think I'll have to do more research on that one. Thankfully.. we didn't get them from smaller pet stores. We got Brownie, then Sunny from PetSmart, and now Patch from PetCo.. hopefully that makes a little bit of a difference? Still.. I'm more for adopting a rescue pet then going to a breeder or petstore to buy one. So I'll definitely be looking for a Rescue center.

@lauraboara and sportbilly: It has been an emotionally exhausting week for us here.. Thankfully I read early on abut the weighing the piggies in.. sadly.. it still didn't give us any clue for Brownie :( but it is a good exercise for other illness we can catch in time, including the lump/bump check (That one I hadn't considered, but since hubby and I both are quite interactive with these boys as much as our daughter, hopefully we'll have felt something before), but I'll make sure the both of us are more proactive in checking for that. And researching for what to do with a surviving piggy is actually what led me to this forum in the first place! It was so incredibly helpful, and searching the forum around more is what made me decided to join so I can interact with everyone around here and learn more about piggies from more experienced owners.

@Guinea pig slave: Thank you for the condolences.

@madguinealady: She is an amazing little girl with a huge heart and so much love that she's doing whatever she can to take care of these piggies.

She's still torn up about Brownie, and I think she and Sunny helped each other out big time starting the day of Brownie's death. As of last Thursday, we got Patch, and none too soon I think, since that morning Sunny had started crying very loudly, and wouldn't let up until he was in my daughter's arms. Alot of that sparkle has come back in just the last couple of days. He's wanting to explore again, before he was perfectly content to be held and just lay there, something he didn't do before the grieving process, so we were definitely able to tell he was grieving, but he is self sufficient enough that while he didn't stop eating altogether, his appetite did seem to go down a bit on Monday, and part of Tuesday, but was back starting Wednesday. My daughter asked me to name Patch and I named him such for two reasons, 1) he has a white bottom, and a black upper body with a white stripe down his nose, but a "patch" of red with the black :) and 2) I thought of him as being able to "patch" Sunny's sparkle back together :) Now to just get Patch used to his human family.. working on it.. and got him purring like crazy while I was holding him, so we're on our way with it.

Side note that I thought is absolutely adorable.. I was holding Sunny earlier and he was purring and chittering away while I was holding him (something else that is back to normal), and the silly boy ended up going straight down into my shirt and was perfectly content there, hahahaha! It sure is nice to have our Sunny back :) and getting to know Patch at the same time.
 
Aww how cute Sunny sounds! I hope you post pictures of Sunny and Patch.
 
BrownieandSunny_zps7387ae20.jpg

This is Sunny and Brownie.

20140329_094350_zpsbea93e4e.jpg


Sunny in the shirt this morning lol

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And not the best pic of Patch, but the silly boy wont stay still long enough to have his picture taken!
 
mine try to climb into my clothes. My avatar is fizz in my dressing gown. She climbed down into my sleeve and wouldnt come out so just took my dressing gown off and didnt have the heart to take her out of it as she looked so cosy.They are amazing animals. My daughter is 12 and piggy potty. We lost my mum new years day but on her last trip to town with me she bought me poppy as pebbles was missing fizz so much .She really helps my duaghter as she is struggling at the minute.
 
I'm really sorry for your loss! I have kids too (my oldest is also 11) and it's hard to see them so upset. We lost one of our pigs a few years ago and my kids were quite distressed... I'm not looking forward to going through that again, although I realize it will happen sometime. I agree with what others have said... a neurological issue like that at a young age is probably due to some inherited condition or weakness, a stroke, or something else sudden and not preventable. I wish you lots of luck with your new pain, and hope they live to ripe old ages!
 
So sorry to hear about the loss of your precious pig. If you are worried about his health you can schedule an appointment with the vet for a check up. Also one of the best sites about health is guinealynx.com. Careful though, it's easy to become a piggychondriac! As mentioned, weighing is crucial, as well as getting to know their normal demeanor. For example, if he is generally perky, but then you see him facing the corner looking puffed up and depressed, then there is a good chance he is unwell and a quick trip to the vet is in order! Also, lack of interest in food is an indicator, and also an emergency. Basically if you know what to look for, then you have a good chance of helping him recover.
 
Thank you again everyone for the condolences, those who put pics of their piggies, WAY CUTE! And those who have helped with the advice, thank you again! It is VERY much appreciated :)
 
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