Does anyone know why my pig died?

[Lindsey7618]

Hi everyone. Unfortunately Buttercup passed the rainbow bridge a few days ago I'm still in shock and confused. I'm wondering what signs I missed.

I got a call from my mom saying my brother found him in between his cage and his hideout and they thought he was dying. I went home and he looked awful. Attached pictures are when he was still alive. His eyes were sunk in, his stomach was almost like....deflated and squishy, like he looked so sick. He was struggling to breath I think and wouldn't eat or drink. I called all the vets in our area and unfortunately he didn't make it in time. A few days before this, he had jumped out of the cage onto the floor which was a pretty steep drop for a guinea pig.

My family said he seemed okay and was completely normal a few hours before his death. I don't know how he went from 0-100 so quickly and I'm just wondering if anyone has any idea what happened. I dont want anything like this to ever happen again. I ruled out heatstroke, although he was very similar to my guinea pig that had heatstroke last year (Unfortunately someone turned the AC off because it was dripping while I was on vacation and he overheated- at least I think. All the other pigs were fine except him, including his cage mate).I miss him so much.

 

[weepweeps]

I’m so very sorry you have lost Buttercup.

Unfortunately no one can say for sure why he has passed away. It may have been the fall or it may have been something unrelated. They do hide their illnesses so well that they can be really ill by the time you notice.

Popcorn high over the bridge gorgeous Buttercup.

 

[Engel]

I'm so sorry to hear about Buttercup. Unfortunately as weepweeps has said, they do hide things very well. Mystery illnesses and injuries can happen at any age. Some are just genetic ticking time bombs. The only way to know for sure is by having a necropsy done.

Do you have any other piggies or animals in the house? Are any of them showing signs of illness?

 

[Merab]

So very sorry for your loss.
It’s very hard when we lose a piggy for no apparent reason.
Be gentle with yourself as you grieve.

 

[Lindsey7618]

I'm so sorry to hear about Buttercup. Unfortunately as weepweeps has said, they do hide things very well. Mystery illnesses and injuries can happen at any age. Some are just genetic ticking time bombs. The only way to know for sure is by having a necropsy done.

Do you have any other piggies or animals in the house? Are any of them showing signs of illness?

Thankfully none of the others are showing any signs of being sick. They all seem healthy and were told so at the last vet visit. Thanks everyone xx

 

[Wiebke]

Hi everyone. Unfortunately Buttercup passed the rainbow bridge a few days ago I'm still in shock and confused. I'm wondering what signs I missed.

I got a call from my mom saying my brother found him in between his cage and his hideout and they thought he was dying. I went home and he looked awful. Attached pictures are when he was still alive. His eyes were sunk in, his stomach was almost like....deflated and squishy, like he looked so sick. He was struggling to breath I think and wouldn't eat or drink. I called all the vets in our area and unfortunately he didn't make it in time. A few days before this, he had jumped out of the cage onto the floor which was a pretty steep drop for a guinea pig.

My family said he seemed okay and was completely normal a few hours before his death. I don't know how he went from 0-100 so quickly and I'm just wondering if anyone has any idea what happened. I dont want anything like this to ever happen again. I ruled out heatstroke, although he was very similar to my guinea pig that had heatstroke last year (Unfortunately someone turned the AC off because it was dripping while I was on vacation and he overheated- at least I think. All the other pigs were fine except him, including his cage mate).I miss him so much.

HUGS
I am very sorry. You haven't missed anything and it is not your fault at all. Death/dying in guinea pigs can happen very suddenly out of nowhere.
It is impossible to say what exactly has happened that had your piggy suddenly close down and whether there is a connection with the jump or not - likely not, but it is our own urge to make sense that has us connecting dots that are not necessarily connected.

Piggies often crawl instinctively into a very small space away from their mates when they suddenly feel really badly and are going into organ failure for some reason. By the time you found Buttercup, he was already well into multiple organ failure (the official name for the natural dying process).
If it is any consolation to you, something similar happened with my Cai in October; he was perfectly fine at dinner time but on my bedtime check I found him wedged in between the cage grids and the hay tray, very disorientated and not able to walk straight anymore; something in his head had obviously gone wrong. He passed away a few hours later but continued to try and crawl into whatever cranny he could, so that was clearly not the cause but an instinctive response to whatever went wrong.
The heavy breathing is generally a sign that the heart is struggling badly; what it cannot tell you whether it is the first organ to go or whether it is just one more domino tile as the organs shut down one by one with a healthy heart putting up a fight against being shut down by the rest of the body failing.
Dying is unfortunately very often much more physical and can be very upsetting to watch when you have never experienced death before and have that vague concept of peacefully drifting away in one's sleep (sadly the latter applies only to very few cases). Piggies can also blind walk/jump over a edge because they are no longer fully with it and aware of their surroundings in the later stages of dying when oxygen supply to the brain is no longer working properly.

The links below may help to answer some of your questions about what you have experienced and put your observations into a bit more of a perspective and also help you make sense of your strong and often unexpected feelings if you have never encountered death before.
Unfortunately, you will never find anybody who can tell you the exact why or what happened. A sudden death out of the blue is sadly not at all uncommon in guinea pigs and it always knocks you for six.

A Practical and Sensitive Guide to Dying, Terminal Illness and Euthanasia in Guinea Pigs (see chapter 3)
Human Bereavement: Grieving, Processing and Support Links for Guinea Pig Owners and Their Children (for yourself)
Looking After a Bereaved Guinea Pig (Helpful tips if your piggy has a companion)

 

[Freela]

I'm so sorry for your loss. Unfortunately, it's hard to say exactly what happened or what was the cause. In my experience, most of my pigs have declined really quickly, from seemingly fine until passing away, sometimes within hours. The last pig we lost was seemingly fine all day and evening, was lethargic and cool to touch when I was planning on going to bed around midnight, passed in my arms at 2 a.m. There's nothing you or your family have done wrong here. ((HUGS)) to you and be kind to yourself as you grieve.

 

[Cheekypigs]

I'm afraid the others are right, there is just no way to know. Maybe it was something to do with the fall or maybe not. It could be any number of undiscovered illnesses. This does just happen sometimes.

I'm so sorry.