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Can anyone shed some light?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Emmas24
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Emmas24

Hi,

I have woken this morning to find my Guinea Pig Fatso has passed away :( I got him about a year ago as an adult and therefore I do not know his age etc. He has always lived with his rabbit friend Sassy and they have continued to live together as I took them both in. The two had always lived together and Fatso was very fond of the rabbit so they stayed together despite my reservations about keeping both species together.

When I got Fatso he was very overweight (I suspect he was having the rabbits share of food as well as his own previously). Over the year I have had him he had lost weight but was still overweight, but otherwise seemed perfectly healthy. The pair were upgraded to a mansion hutch accomodation in the back garden about 3 months ago so had plenty of space, weather dependant they had a run they were put into most days.

I have posted on this forum basically to ask if anyone can shed any light to why I have woken to find my very much loved furry friend has passed away. My knowledge of Guinea pigs has been what I have learnt from having my furry friend for the past year and from books I have read, so I have never lost a Guinea pig before.

The hutch that he lived in was in my back garden. It is a two tier hutch with two sections on the top which consisted of a sleeping compartment and an open compartment with his food, water bottle and ramp to the downstairs. Downstairs is one big open compartment where there is a hay rack and some toys and things for him to chew etc. I found Fatso on the bottom level lying by the mesh at the front of the cage (the ramp is on the far side to where I found him).

I am giving all this info in the hope that I can paint a picture so that you might be able to shed some light into his death. The rabbit is a uncastrated male and has recently been getting very frisky with Fatso trying to mount him. Fatso was a descent size so it didn't seem to be too much of a problem, he squealed a little but ran away so the rabbit would give up. The irony is that I was in the process of making a box that would go in the cage that Fatso could use to get away from the rabbit if he needed a break, which obviously I will no longer need.

Fatso seemed fine yesterday. He went out in his run but it was a little chilly compared to the recent sun so both him and the rabbit stayed in the sheltered compartment. I put Fatso in a smaller hutch every day to allow the rabbit to get a good feed and so that Fatso didn't eat more than his fair share. So as usual Fatso went into his smaller hutch with his portion of Guniea pig museli, a carrot and some dandelions and the rabbit went into the big hutch. I put Fatso back in with the rabbit before I went to bed, Fatso hadn't eaten his food but this wasn't too unusual because he only used to eat when he was in with the rabbit (he'd sulk when he was away from him friend). Fatso's guniea pig food went into the hutch with him together with his fresh food. I heard a few Guinea squeals where the rabbit was trying to mount him again but apart form that everything seemed fine. I have a tarpauline sheet that drapes over their cage at night to stop the weather getting in.

Any ideas what happened to my furry friend? I'm hoping with the wealth of experience of you all, you might be able to give me a little insight into why I have lost my beautiful Guinea pig so unexpectantly.

Thank you in advance,

Emma :(
 
First of all welcome from us in OZ :)
RIP Fatso run free little man at the bridge :'( :'( :'(

There's no way anyone could tell what has happened :'( sadly it does seem like he may have had a terrible scare of some sort :'( Guinea Pigs are sensitive little furbabies and he might have been hiding his pain from you :( :-\
I hope his Bunny friend does not pine too much :'( Good luck :)
 
Thank you for your reply.

It's extremely hard to deal with losing him but even worse is the thought that he may have suffered. I just hope for my little boys sake that he didn't. It's hard not knowing why he was taken so suddenly. :(

Thank you again,

Emma.
 
You are going to have to take solace that where he is now, is pain free and that he's got lots of little friends to play with....
I too hope he didn't suffer, but we just sometimes don't know :-\ :-\ :-\
Sounds like you absolutely adored him, i'm sure he knew that and that will always be with him :smitten: :smitten:
 
Sorry to hear about Fatso :'( :'(
I'm not able to help as I'm new to piggies myself.
Hope bun is ok :)
 
I'm so sorry to hear of your loss :( poor fatso, RIP. I'm sorry i can't help with how he died, i have no idea :( my thoughts are with you.
Love Emma x
 
It would be almost impossible to tell. I am sorry for your loss :(
You could ask yourself a hundred questions, but you may never know. Guineas are very good at hiding illnesses and it is possible the bun got too frisky and hurt him whilst mounting him, but equally it could be something else. As I am sure you already know, if you do get any more guineas, get two and keep them together :)
Sorry we cant be any more help but you loved him to pieces, so dont feel guilty :)
 
Thank you all for your replies. I think I already knew that Fatso's death would remian a mystery, I thought it was worth a try to ask just in case.

I'm really glad I did ask though because all of your words give me a little comfort. I can see this is a lovely community of Guinea pig lovers, keep up the good work.

Thanks again.

Emma and recently departed Fatso RIP
 
Hi Emma,

Coming to this late but wanted to say how sorry I was to hear about Fatso!

Take care,

Louise
x
 
Hi Emma

I am so sorry you have lost Fatso like this.It is awful to find a piggie has died overnight,especially when they were o.k.the previous evening.This does happen fairly often I am afraid,has happened to me several times.When pigs die suddenly like this it is almost always down to a heart attack.The good news is that the piggies die very quickly without pain.

As Fatso was overweight he may have had a condition for some time ,and possibly the stress of the rabbit jumping on him could have brought the attack on.However,with a heart condition he would have died soon anyway and as he was used to the rabbit and bonded with it,it would have been stressful for both of them to be seperated anyway

Hugs from The Epsom Mob
 
Thank you all so very much for your well wishes.

I hope it was a quick and painfree passing for my beautiful guinea pig.

RIP Fatso.

We all miss you Fatso, especially your good friend Sassy the bunny. :'( :(
 
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