Guinea pig death and mice?

[pigmumsar]

We returned from a week's holiday yesterday to have the nasty shock of finding our guinea pig had died My neighbour was feeding her and Smartie was alive on Thursday but not on Friday when we returned. She was 6 so had a lovely life. (I am confident my neighbour only fed her the food I left and I could see she had emptied and changed the hay daily).

The reason I'm writing is I'm trying to ascertain her death. In the last few weeks we spotted a mouse several times in our garden. Smartie lived in a large open 'free range' space in a summer house. The day before we went on hol I noticed mouse droppings for the first time ever in the summer house. Could the mouse be responsible for the shock death? I know they wee everywhere so could this be enough to make me guinea pig ill within a week? I feel terrible that it happened whilst we were away so really curious if anyone knows the extent of wild mice affecting guinea pigs.

 

[Bill & Ted]

So sorry you lost Smartie, I really can’t say if the mouse made her poorly.

 

[PigglePuggle]

Very sorry for your loss. Mice may in some circumstances transmit diseases to piggies, but I doubt anything that would result in such a sudden death with no previous signs of illness. Rats could kill a piggy or scare a frail piggy to death but not really mice. If you are desperate for answers then asking the vet to perform an autopsy may shed some light on things, but without info on how quickly she deteriorated and what her symptoms were they may be unsure what to look for. You havent soecified your location but many areas have had heat waves over the past 10 days or so, perhaps that could be a factor? Or perhaps age 6 she just passed away peacefully from old age, sometimes that happens x

 

[pigmumsar]

Thanks for your words of support. The weather was something we wondered about - we had blazing sun and then suddenly torrential rain with thunder and lightning and it's a possibility that was enough to scare her or the change in temp be too much for her.

She was a very happy piggie and I'm over the shock now. My children seem ok about it now. We had a little burial yesterday which has helped us all.

Thank you