Distraught At Sudden Loss - Vet Baffled - Any Ideas?

[besacjo]

My sons and I are devastated at the sudden death today of our two guinea pigs- first time owners. One year old, happy and healthy, no issues, they were fine this morning when we went out to feed them. Away from the house today, when I went to check on them at 4pm, I found them in the bottom section of the cage (they never go down there as they have never liked the ramp!) - Salty was clearly dead and Fudgey was huddled next to her apparently in shock. I wondered whether Salty had fallen down the ramp and bumped her head maybe. I was then concerned about her sister Fudgey, who was sat right against the wire and had been in the Spring sunshine (the top half of the hutch is shaded) and was worried she might be hot (17.5 degrees here) so took her out and put a cool towel on her. She was not interested in taking any drink or nibbling any grass. After about 30 minutes, I took her to our local vets who took her temperature (normal), examined her, heart rate normal and declared it was probably just the shock and to keep an eye on her and bring her back tomorrow. I checked on her at regular intervals and about an hour after arriving home, found she had passed away. I did notice then that she had some white "tears" in her eyes - not sure if that is a post-mortem feature or relevant. So we are left baffled and distraught - does anyone have any possible answers? The vet said that guinea pigs don't really suffer viruses, nothing has changed in their routine or feed in the last few days. Is it possible to get a guinea pig post-mortem by an expert? Could it be that one died from a fall and her sistern quickly died of grief - it seems unlikely to me.

 

[CarnivalPiggy]

I'm so sorry for your loss could it have been a sudden infection? Not sure at the name is but a poor owner on here a bit ago found her pigs passing away one by one, I think it was something to do with something spreading. The only type of white around the eyes I know of is the fluid they produce to clean themself with or problem with the eye. Piggies can pass quite quickly from bereavement, giving themselves to an underlying medical issue from heartbreak or refusin

 

[CarnivalPiggy]

* refusing to eat, though I'm not sure how quickly that goes into action. Unfortunately like us piggies can pass out of the blue from things such as an aneurism (which my late Teddy, rip, passed from needing to be pts as it was quite bad), heart attack, sudden shock etc

 

[besacjo]

I am wondering if it could have been an infection... I am wondering whether the vet who saw Fudgey perhaps was not as clued up about guinea pigs as I would have hoped. It just seems odd that vital signs were apparently normal.

 

[Wiebke]

My sons and I are devastated at the sudden death today of our two guinea pigs- first time owners. One year old, happy and healthy, no issues, they were fine this morning when we went out to feed them. Away from the house today, when I went to check on them at 4pm, I found them in the bottom section of the cage (they never go down there as they have never liked the ramp!) - Salty was clearly dead and Fudgey was huddled next to her apparently in shock. I wondered whether Salty had fallen down the ramp and bumped her head maybe. I was then concerned about her sister Fudgey, who was sat right against the wire and had been in the Spring sunshine (the top half of the hutch is shaded) and was worried she might be hot (17.5 degrees here) so took her out and put a cool towel on her. She was not interested in taking any drink or nibbling any grass. After about 30 minutes, I took her to our local vets who took her temperature (normal), examined her, heart rate normal and declared it was probably just the shock and to keep an eye on her and bring her back tomorrow. I checked on her at regular intervals and about an hour after arriving home, found she had passed away. I did notice then that she had some white "tears" in her eyes - not sure if that is a post-mortem feature or relevant. So we are left baffled and distraught - does anyone have any possible answers? The vet said that guinea pigs don't really suffer viruses, nothing has changed in their routine or feed in the last few days. Is it possible to get a guinea pig post-mortem by an expert? Could it be that one died from a fall and her sistern quickly died of grief - it seems unlikely to me.

I am very sorry for your shock.

Guinea pigs can die from fright; considering that you have found them in an unusual spot, maybe something has spooked them really badly? Sadly you will never know the answer to that.

The white fluid you have noticed is just normal eye cleaning fluid since guinea pigs don't blink the way we do. Instead they secrete a milky thick fluid to wash any dust and dirt out. Watery fluid (like our own tears) it always a sign of an irritation or injury to the eye.

 

[besacjo]

Weird I have never noticed the milky fluid until today - thanks for that. I just wish we had a solid answer - afraid that if we get new piggies in the future, we might face the same scenario. It's so hard to hear your kids sobbing like that and wishing you could take away the pain.

 

[Wiebke]

Weird I have never noticed the milky fluid until today - thanks for that. I just wish we had a solid answer - afraid that if we get new piggies in the future, we might face the same scenario. It's so hard to hear your kids sobbing like that and wishing you could take away the pain.

I am very sorry for the upset for the whole family. You are welcome to post a tribute in our Rainbow Bridge section if you feel that it would help you and your children.

It is natural to crave answers, but it is near impossible to find them in these situations. Very likely a post mortem won't show up anything either. It doesn't sound like poisoning or a sudden illness, either. Nor is acute pining over a lost piggy that instant; it usually takes a few days with the pining companion very withdrawn and refusing to eat or drink.

 

[Wheekallweek]

So sorry you lost your piggies
It must have been a real shock and very unexpected! At least they are together now over the rainbow bridge and didn't suffer x

 

[Freela]

I am really sorry for your loss- that must have been a total shock. I have kids too and know how hard it is to watch them grieve the loss of a pet. Unfortunately there's no way to know exactly what happened... with sudden, back-to-back deaths, my guesses would be either some infectious process or something environmental (either some kind of scary trauma, some dramatic change in the environment like overheating, or something toxic that they ate or were exposed to.) Were there any changes in food? Any sudden temperature shifts? Any pesticides that may have contaminated the area, even from spraying outside and then tracking it in on shoes or hands? Unfortunately, you may never know for sure. The white eye fluid is not an indicator of a problem- these are normal tears/cleaning fluid secreted from the eyes. They often go unnoticed because they are mainly secreted during grooming and quickly wiped away.