Death of Guinea Pigs

[udayvanjila]

Hello All,
I've brought 3 guinea pigs from a local pet store, all little ones, maybe 2 month old.
One after another all the 3 have died in similar circumstances with a week's gap between each.
The following happened in sequence (D=Day of death)
1) Super healthy, energetic and fully active till D-2
2) On D-1, the energy drops and it becomes pluffy with hair raised like a turkey
3) On the morning of D, it falls on its side, unable to walk and eat and struggling for breath. Minutes before death they start gasping for breath with mouth mimicking like a fish
4) At around the same time tiny white Lice start moving on its hair and couple of minutes later the guinea pig dies

Couldn't do anything but hope it'll become alright as there are no Vets around.
Tried giving a CPR but unfortunately couldn't save them.
Does anyone know what could have caused the deaths
Attaching a video taken minutes before death

 

[Piggies&buns]

I’m so sorry to hear this.

It sounds as if they may have come to you already with health problems. Lice can sadly kill weakened piggies.
I'm so sorry for your losses.

 

[Claire W]

I’m so sorry for your losses Sadly, it does appear that they were already poorly before coming to you. As Piggies&buns has mentioned, lice can unfortunately kill piggies with an already weakened immune system x

 

[Wiebke]

Hello All,
I've brought 3 guinea pigs from a local pet store, all little ones, maybe 2 month old.
One after another all the 3 have died in similar circumstances with a week's gap between each.
The following happened in sequence (D=Day of death)
1) Super healthy, energetic and fully active till D-2
2) On D-1, the energy drops and it becomes pluffy with hair raised like a turkey
3) On the morning of D, it falls on its side, unable to walk and eat and struggling for breath. Minutes before death they start gasping for breath with mouth mimicking like a fish
4) At around the same time tiny white Lice start moving on its hair and couple of minutes later the guinea pig dies

Couldn't do anything but hope it'll become alright as there are no Vets around.
Tried giving a CPR but unfortunately couldn't save them.
Does anyone know what could have caused the deaths
Attaching a video taken minutes before death

Hi!

HUGS

I am very sorry about your deaths. What an upsetting experience for you! Poor babies...

Have you checked whether you could have high gas (monoxide) levels in your house or other potentially poisonous substances? Guinea pigs are more sensitive than humans. It sounds very much like an environmental poison angle to me. The choking/gasping at the end with every single piggy makes me suspicious that it could have been something that affects especially the airways/breathing.
Monoxide poisoning symptoms are lethargy/loss of appetite as the need breathe increasingly overtakes all other needs. They are often too vague and missed but we have seen a handful cases over the years. Youngsters, especially already weakened ones, will react much more quickly. Stronger ones will often last a few days longer before succumbing and the process is slower in larger piggies. Of course, the gas concentration also plays a role. it could of course be another poisonous substance in the room.

The lice are skin parasites, typical for neglect breeding, which will have arrived together with your guinea pigs but since they live on sucking blood from the skin, they will have been disturbed when their food supply (i.e. the blood circulation) suddenly stopped - hence why suddenly noticed them when your piggies died.
Lice can kill; but in order to do that, they have to literally overrun an already weakened body, with noticeable and wide spread loss of hair, so I am excluding that option since you haven't noticed that. They only are not an instant killer of guinea pigs, succeeding only if they can weaken further an already very weakened body whose immune system is only starting up or not fully working. It is a slower process than the one you describe and more in the nature of an additional contributing factor to the speed of the death rather than the primary source of death.
New Guinea Pig Problems: Sexing & Pregnancy; URI, Ringworm & Parasites; Vet Checks & Customer Rights (see more information on lice in this link).
For symptoms of a natural dying process (part of which you noticed): A Practical and Sensitive Guide to Dying, Terminal Illness and Euthanasia in Guinea Pigs

 

[weepweeps]

I’m so very sorry for your losses.

 

[metalhead]

I am very sorry for your losses and what a terrible experience. It sounds to me like some sort of poisoning/ respiratory compromise, similar to anaphylactic shock in humans. You would have seen the lice before death for them to be enough of them to cause it. My thought are with you x

 

[Merab]

So very sorry for your losses.
Be gentle with yourself as you grieve