We lost a Guinea pig, trying to figure out why he choked.

[nevak]

Apologies, for the graphic post. Please stop reading if you're struggling to process loss.

As the title suggests, I woke up around 6 to Bombur convulsing and struggling to breathe half consciously. I woke my partner immediately and we tried to do some emergency care. We cleared some debris from his mouth (woodchips) and deeper from his throat with tweezers. But the blockage seemed to be deeper. I tried using q-tips to reach further while doing a scooping out motion (outwards) but that may have been a mistake as it may have pushed the blockage further. We held him feet up throughout. At this point he was still half limp but he was trying to gag and his body was fighting to reject whatever was stuck in his throat. So we let him go through it. I also tried tapping his back behind the lungs and squeezing his abdomen in a desperate Heimlich maneuver. I doubt it helped. His little body stopped fighting soon after and we are still devastated, not knowing what else we could have done and why it happened. So I'm turning to you.

He always had this little coughs when drinking water or eating too fast, he would cough a couple of times and recover immediately. He also would curl up and sleep on his side, mouth and face next to the woodchip bedding.

Maybe he had some kind of an issue with his gag reflex which made him more prone to choking? Should I avoid using bedding as woodchip in the future because it may be a choking hazard? Did anyone have a similar experience?

Thank you.

 

[Janey]

I’m sorry for your loss.

 

[CTWC]

That must have terrifying for you all I am so sorry you all went through that and for Bombur.
I have no experience with anything like this but just wanted to offer my condolences.
Popcorn happily over The Rainbow Bridge Bombur

 

[Wheekallweek]

How traumatic, I'm so sorry
Do your piggies live indoors? Fleece liners may be an option. He may have inhaled the shavings secondary to something else, for example a seizure, as opposed to them being the sole cause of his passing, but switching would eliminate any risk of that and I think put your mind at ease a bit

 

[nevak]

How traumatic, I'm so sorry
Do your piggies live indoors? Fleece liners may be an option. He may have inhaled the shavings secondary to something else, for example a seizure, as opposed to them being the sole cause of his passing, but switching would eliminate any risk of that and I think put your mind at ease a bit

Thank you for your reply and kind thoughts. I will consider different types of lining especially since some litter brands around here come with a lot dust in the packaging. The fact that my guinea pig was getting older (6 years) also made me think that inhaled shavings may not be the only culprit. He had been developing some cataract in the right eye and had been losing weight recently but nothing to warrant a visit to the clinic (from our limited perspective). Maybe there was an underlying cause that made him inhale shavings in panic, because though some food and water got into his throat every once in a while I never saw him gagging because of shavings or while he's asleep.

 

[Wiebke]

Apologies, for the graphic post. Please stop reading if you're struggling to process loss.

As the title suggests, I woke up around 6 to Bombur convulsing and struggling to breathe half consciously. I woke my partner immediately and we tried to do some emergency care. We cleared some debris from his mouth (woodchips) and deeper from his throat with tweezers. But the blockage seemed to be deeper. I tried using q-tips to reach further while doing a scooping out motion (outwards) but that may have been a mistake as it may have pushed the blockage further. We held him feet up throughout. At this point he was still half limp but he was trying to gag and his body was fighting to reject whatever was stuck in his throat. So we let him go through it. I also tried tapping his back behind the lungs and squeezing his abdomen in a desperate Heimlich maneuver. I doubt it helped. His little body stopped fighting soon after and we are still devastated, not knowing what else we could have done and why it happened. So I'm turning to you.

He always had this little coughs when drinking water or eating too fast, he would cough a couple of times and recover immediately. He also would curl up and sleep on his side, mouth and face next to the woodchip bedding.

Maybe he had some kind of an issue with his gag reflex which made him more prone to choking? Should I avoid using bedding as woodchip in the future because it may be a choking hazard? Did anyone have a similar experience?

Thank you.

BIG HUGS

What a nightmare for you! I am so very sorry.

Guinea pigs should not eat wood chippings (and most actually won't; otherwise the bedding would not be sold); what has happened is actually rare.
But natural fibre based bedding can swell up when in contact with moisture and get stuck, which can unfortunately lead to fatal blockages when ingested, considering the small size of guinea pigs. There is always the one odd piggy who doesn't play by the rules and where something or other goes haywire...

You may want to look into fleece bedding instead if that helps you with creating a constructive action in order to prevent a repeat and to make you feel emotionally better in yourself. Please do not feel guilty or like a bad owner. You clearly love your pets and are looking after them as well as possible. This is just one of these horrible accidents that you can never foresee and therefore not prevent. Any of us long term owners has learned something or other the hard way.

What really counts is how you go from here. As humans, we can never prevent ourselves from making mistakes; life lessons are an important part of our learning process. But where we can grow ourselves is by how constructively we deal with the fallout. Be sad and upset but please don't feel like you are a failure.

The information in these links here can hopefully help you:
Bedding For Guinea Pigs - Overview
A Detailed Guide For Fleece Bedding

Human Bereavement: Grieving, Processing and Support Links for Guinea Pig Owners and Their Children
Pet Death: How To Tell The Children? (Tips and Resources)

 

[Merab]

So very sorry for your tragic loss.
Holding you in my heart

 

[nevak]

BIG HUGS

What a nightmare for you! I am so very sorry.

Guinea pigs should not eat wood chippings (and most actually won't; otherwise the bedding wouldn't be sold); what has happened is actually rare.
But natural fibre based bedding can swell up when in contact with moisture and get stuck, which can unfortunately lead to fatal blockages when ingested, considering the small size of guinea pigs. There is unfortunately always the one odd piggy who doesn't play by the rules and where something or other goes haywire...

You may want to look into fleece bedding instead if that helps you with creating a constructive action in order to prevent a repeat and to make you feel emotionally better in yourself. Please do not feel guilty or like a bad owner. You clearly love your pets and are looking after them as well as possible. This is just one of these horrible accidents that you can never foresee and therefore not prevent. Any of us long term owners has learned something or other the hard way.

What really counts is how you go from here. As humans, we can never prevent ourselves from making mistakes; life lessons are an important part of our learning process. But where we can grow ourselves is by how constructively we deal with the fallout. Be sad and upset but please don't feel like you are a failure.

The information in these links here can hopefully help you:
Bedding For Guinea Pigs - Overview
A Detailed Guide For Fleece Bedding

Human Bereavement: Grieving, Processing and Support Links for Guinea Pig Owners and Their Children
Pet Death: How To Tell The Children? (Tips and Resources)

Thank you so much for the reply. Thoughtful, informative and heartfelt responses like yours are the reason that I decided to give this forum a shot to learn more about guinea pigs.

 

[Wiebke]

Thank you so much for the reply. Thoughtful, informative and heartfelt responses like yours are the reason that I decided to give this forum a shot to learn more about guinea pigs.

I am glad if I could make you feel better in yourself.

Only an expensive post mortem examination can really establish the actual cause of death (finding exactly what has got stuck in the esophagus) but I hope that knowing that the death is not due to any obvious neglect or fault from your side will be enough to ease your natural upset.
PS: If your piggies had been fed something unsuitable by another family member, you would have found and reported traces of that, so I could exclude that.

It helps in situations like yours if we can find something we can actually do in order to prevent a repeat. Like with toddlers and children, there is always the unforeseeable and unpreventable. You cannot hedge your children and your pets around so much that they are unable to discover and to learn - and however safe we try to make their environment, there is always the unexpected.

 

[DavRz]

Very sorry for such a traumatic loss ..RIP Bombur.