What do you think this is?

[Alicia]

My 6 year old sow Spicy died earlier this evening, and I know no-one can diagnose anything over the internet but any help would be very much appreciated. I went to see her at about 7pm because I'd been out for the day. I picked her up and she went floppy in my hands, like couldn't hold her front end up. I took her inside and Mum told me to keep her warm and we'd take her to the vets tommorow. I didn't realize it was serious enough for her to die from it otherwise I would have taken her to the emergency vets. I sat outside with her for a bit, and she laid on my lap, and I tried giving her some dandelions but she wouldn't eat then she stopped moving or making any noise. I thought she'd died so I laid her on the grass just so I could see if she was alive or not) she still laid there but wheeked very quietly. I took her inside to my Dad who felt around her a bit and thought she'd broken a rib. I felt it too and part of it was seperate from the rest of the bone (though tbh neither of us know much about guinea-pig bodies so it could have been a seperate bone) about 10 minutes later she sadly died. We kept her warm but it wasn't enough Dad thought it was old age but guinea-pigs don't die of old age in the same condition that Spicy was in. What does this sound like? If it was a broken bone I don't know how she could have broken it and I'm now worried there's something wrong in her hutch or something? I feel like I've failed her for not getting her to the vets sooner but she just went downhill so quickly 8...

 

[Wiebke]

I am sorry for your loss; you must feel rather terrible right right now!

It sounds rather like a heart attack or a stroke to me; and in this case there is not much you could have done even if you rushed her to the vets.

However, your "broken rib" has me puzzled, unless she there was a place she could have fallen in her hutch when she had her attack?

 

[Alicia]

Ok thank you, I hadn't thought about a heart attack or a stroke. She may not have had a broken rib, I don't know anything really about guinea-pigs body's so it might have just been the way she was laying we thought we could feel something.

 

[mojules]

so sorry for your loss Alicia

Rest in peace little lady xx

 

[petcrazy]

was her hutch in the sun ? could be heatstroke, or as wiebke said a stroke
sorry for your loss sounds like spicey waited to be with you x

 

[Alicia]

Thank you everyone, at least I got to have one last hug with her before she died. The way I think of it, all the guinea-pigs I've had before all meet up together, so I feel a little bit better thinking she's not alone. Her hutch wasn't really in the sun, it was next to a big bush in our garden that probably shaded about 80% of her hutch, and she had tarpaulin over part of the run.

 

[jojowelsh]

So sorry for your loss ....RIP xxxxxxx

 

[petcrazy]

The way I think of it, all the guinea-pigs I've had before all meet up together, so I feel a little bit better thinking she's not alone.

Thats a lovely way to think x

 

[katiepops]

So sorry for your loss.

 

[flintstones]

So sorry for your loss Alicia, Adleast she's not in any pain now. RIP little one, gone but never forgotten xx

 

[missy]

The way I think of it, all the guinea-pigs I've had before all meet up together, so I feel a little bit better thinking she's not alone.

Thats a lovely way to think x

I agree. It's a lovely thought and it's good to at least find some consolation at such a sad time. Sorry for your loss x

 

[Laura-CCC4]

I'm very sorry for your loss Alicia. *Hugs*

I'd be inclined to suspect heart failure/heart attack, for her to take such a sudden turn for the worse and to become limp/floppy then slowly fade away. Of course we can only 'speculate', the only chance for a conclusive result on the cause of her death is a post-mortem, but this can be expensive, has to be carried out quite soon after death, and may still be inconclusive.

Either way it sounds like you couldn't have done anything for her, and I hope it is of some comfort to know that she won't have been aware of what was happening as she slipped away.