Took my 3 year old rescue piggie to the vets for a health check and nails trimmed today. Health check seemed OK but when the vet took her out to clip her nails, she died. Vet said all was well then she just flopped over and died. Couldn't be revived with CPR or adrenaline. Any ideas what might be the cause of her sudden death. She was an indoor piggie and was well looked after in the 2 years I had her- had regular visits to the vet. Vet always said she was well cared for.
Hi! I am very sorry for your upset. I have come out of the clinic literally shaking like a leaf when it happened to a piggy of mine.
It is very likely that your piggy had a weak heart without showing any signs of heart disease. The added stress of the vet visit was the trigger. It would have likely happened anyway at the next suitable occasion, so please do not blame yourself for doing what any good owner should do.
There are sadly seemingly healthy piggies that live with a genetic bomb in their heart that can and will go off at some point right out of the blue. There is nothing you can do to prevent it or to brace for it and there is nothing that your vet will find. Even human medicine is still struggling on that score and you hear regularly of it in the news, usually when it is a young sportsperson.
If it is any consolation to you, I have lost younger piggies to sudden acute heart failure within hours of them showing the first symptoms and despite rushing them to the vets as an emergency within half an hour. One died like yours at the vets during her examination. Others died during an operation when their heart suddenly gave out. It is just cosmic bad luck that they have drawn one of the genetic short straws. Others of mine have died from a sudden heart attack, one simply pitching forward even with hay still in their mouth.
As deaths go, it is one of the kinder and easier ways to go without much suffering. But by its very nature it is so much harder on the companions and on us as we have to deal with both the shock and the pain of the loss at the same time without having the grace of being able to brace ourselves.
Guinea pigs don't measure their lives in how long they live, but they have a concept for good and happy days. As long as you have made your piggy's days as happy as you could, you have not failed it in any way, however long or short its life. We can never choose when and what from a beloved one dies. But we can make sure that they are well looked after and happy as long as they live!
Here are tips for what you can do for any companion:
Looking After A Bereaved Guinea Pig
