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Guinea Pig Sudden Death

N

NeasPigMama

New Born Pup
Joined
Sep 7, 2020
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Location
USA
Hello! Before I go into depths please acknowledge my sweet babygirl Nea who passed away yesterday unexpectedly at 1:23pm. ‼️DISCLAIMER, LONG POST‼️
The day before she died (Sept 5) she was walking around just fine, eating and drinking fine but I will say she was definitely more reserved but I thought it was just that we had a new face in the house who was interacting with her. We all went to been but when I woke up the next morning and started getting dressed for work I walked by her cage and said good morning same way I always do but I was in a rush so I didn’t notice her behavior, I did think it was funny that she was laying under her slide which she never does. When I came and walked back again I noticed she had sort of a limp on her left back leg and was dragging her belly around her cage as well. When I stooped down to look in her cage she was very lethargic and had a weird twitch going on like there was something neurological wrong. I then woke up my girlfriend frightened and took her out and put her in her favorite blanket and just held her. She didn’t even have enough fight in her to run from me picking her up, I then knew something was wrong. When in the towel she then let out a loud squeak as if she was screaming help me or I’m in pain. From 7:15 am - 12pm she rapidly declined. About 12 minutes after she was out of the cage I believe she had a seizure because her eyes bulged out and she would not move. Her squeaks were almost moans and her breathing was very shallow. I then gave her the tinieSt drop of children’s Tylenol to soothe w.enpaid she was feeling. Her back end was now as flat as a pancake. She could move her legs but it just seemed like she chose not to. She wouldn’t eat or drink but when I found her in her cage she dragged herself up to her slide with her bowl. It was breaking my heart to see her in pain and not know what to do. There walerent many exotic vets near me and the only one that was there doctor was out because it’s Labor Day weekend. She took 3 of the smallest poops around 10 and then her breathing was off and on. At around 1:19 she peed on me which I didn’t care about at this point I just wanted her better. After she peed she proceeded to start kind of wobbly limping around trying get away and hide to the nearest corner alone. My instincts were telling me this was it. She bellowed out the most heart wrenching squeak while in my arms and then used all the strength she had to jump out of my arms onto the floor (i was already sitting down so it wasn’t high) her wobbly ness seemed to be as if there was something neurologically not right. I picked her back up with tears in my eyes and caressed her, she then began to go limp while struggling to breath. I laid her down on her side stroking upward to get out either air or if she was choking on something. She opened and closed her mouth with a sound that was similar to when humans have something in there throat. She did this for about 2 minutes, at this point I’m forcefully pushing inbetween her arms and she’s gasping for air. She took one last breath before she gave up and her whole body went limp and she stopped breathing and there was not heart beat. My whole heart sank and I began crying. I buried her in a box that I signed in the park down the street from my house so I can visit her. I’m torn because I still don’t know what’s wrong with her or what would have caused her to die to horribly yet so suddenly. She didn’t have any sores anywhere on her body, no nose discharge, no sneezing. Everything seemed visibly fine on the outside but she was coughing for the past 2 weeks but that was because she was such a greedy girl and wouldn’t chew her food all the way before taking another bite. She was smart though because anytime she would cough when eating she would go get a drink of water. I think it was either mites or scurvy. Someone please tell me anything based on what I described. I have also been reading stuff about them dying and now I’m paranoid to dig her back up again to make sure she’s dead cause some people say they come back to life but then again if she is dead I want her to Rest In Peace. She was in the box while we dug the whole and no noise or response and even after she died I sat there and petted her for a good 5 minutes before wrapping her up and putting her in my shoe box and taping it and signing it which took another 5.
 
NeasPigMama said:
Hello! Before I go into depths please acknowledge my sweet babygirl Nea who passed away yesterday unexpectedly at 1:23pm. ‼DISCLAIMER, LONG POST‼
The day before she died (Sept 5) she was walking around just fine, eating and drinking fine but I will say she was definitely more reserved but I thought it was just that we had a new face in the house who was interacting with her. We all went to been but when I woke up the next morning and started getting dressed for work I walked by her cage and said good morning same way I always do but I was in a rush so I didn’t notice her behavior, I did think it was funny that she was laying under her slide which she never does. When I came and walked back again I noticed she had sort of a limp on her left back leg and was dragging her belly around her cage as well. When I stooped down to look in her cage she was very lethargic and had a weird twitch going on like there was something neurological wrong. I then woke up my girlfriend frightened and took her out and put her in her favorite blanket and just held her. She didn’t even have enough fight in her to run from me picking her up, I then knew something was wrong. When in the towel she then let out a loud squeak as if she was screaming help me or I’m in pain. From 7:15 am - 12pm she rapidly declined. About 12 minutes after she was out of the cage I believe she had a seizure because her eyes bulged out and she would not move. Her squeaks were almost moans and her breathing was very shallow. I then gave her the tinieSt drop of children’s Tylenol to soothe w.enpaid she was feeling. Her back end was now as flat as a pancake. She could move her legs but it just seemed like she chose not to. She wouldn’t eat or drink but when I found her in her cage she dragged herself up to her slide with her bowl. It was breaking my heart to see her in pain and not know what to do. There walerent many exotic vets near me and the only one that was there doctor was out because it’s Labor Day weekend. She took 3 of the smallest poops around 10 and then her breathing was off and on. At around 1:19 she peed on me which I didn’t care about at this point I just wanted her better. After she peed she proceeded to start kind of wobbly limping around trying get away and hide to the nearest corner alone. My instincts were telling me this was it. She bellowed out the most heart wrenching squeak while in my arms and then used all the strength she had to jump out of my arms onto the floor (i was already sitting down so it wasn’t high) her wobbly ness seemed to be as if there was something neurologically not right. I picked her back up with tears in my eyes and caressed her, she then began to go limp while struggling to breath. I laid her down on her side stroking upward to get out either air or if she was choking on something. She opened and closed her mouth with a sound that was similar to when humans have something in there throat. She did this for about 2 minutes, at this point I’m forcefully pushing inbetween her arms and she’s gasping for air. She took one last breath before she gave up and her whole body went limp and she stopped breathing and there was not heart beat. My whole heart sank and I began crying. I buried her in a box that I signed in the park down the street from my house so I can visit her. I’m torn because I still don’t know what’s wrong with her or what would have caused her to die to horribly yet so suddenly. She didn’t have any sores anywhere on her body, no nose discharge, no sneezing. Everything seemed visibly fine on the outside but she was coughing for the past 2 weeks but that was because she was such a greedy girl and wouldn’t chew her food all the way before taking another bite. She was smart though because anytime she would cough when eating she would go get a drink of water. I think it was either mites or scurvy. Someone please tell me anything based on what I described. I have also been reading stuff about them dying and now I’m paranoid to dig her back up again to make sure she’s dead cause some people say they come back to life but then again if she is dead I want her to Rest In Peace. She was in the box while we dug the whole and no noise or response and even after she died I sat there and petted her for a good 5 minutes before wrapping her up and putting her in my shoe box and taping it and signing it which took another 5.
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Hi and welcome!

I am very sorry for your loss. Sadly we can never choose when and what from our piggies die. If you have never been confronted with a sudden severe illness, it is easy to overlook the signs of something serious being wrong in time to contact a vet for an emergency appointment or at least advice.

The dying process is unfortunately a lot more physical and not very pretty than our vague (and mostly wrong) idea of gently slipping away in one's sleep. Because death has been very much pushed behind closed doors, it means that we are no longer prepared for it. The death of a pet is often the first time we encounter it, and it can come as a massive shock.

Please take a deep breath re. the burial. She won't come back. It is perfectly normal for your mind to get hung up over some aspect or other because intense feelings of guilt or failure are characteristic for the onset of the grieving process.
I would however recommend for the future to wait with the burial for a day or at least until the body is going cold and stiff. I do this with mine because I want to give them and me time for their soul and body to settle and myself time to digest what has happened. That will hopefully prevent you from experiencing this particular problem again. Saving up for a vet to allow your piggy to be euthanised gently if they are in any discomfort during the dying process is something else I would recommend to strongly consider with any future pets. This will hopefully help to ease any trauma around your experiences.

I would also strongly recommend to stay away from any online research in highly charged emotional situations. What you get is inevitably all the horror stories and the bad outcomes or the miracle cures but not the vast majority of perfectly normal recoveries because they are not interesting to read and because they are taken as par for the course. But you will never get a sensible representation of normality.
In addition, you also have to make allowance that like you many people in shock and in an attempt to make sense of what they have gone through are putting two and two together and are arriving at 147; i.e. they are connecting two circumstantial but not related symptoms or coincidences and then spreading their findings all over the internet. Apart from a lot of that being factually wrong, it won't help others in their own struggles. It is one of these things that you often only find out the hard way after having fallen into the trap.

Please take the time to read the information provided by the link below. You should find it very helpful as it is addressing many of your current issues. It contains a guide about all the questions around dying, which will hopefully help you to make more sense of your experience; a grieving guide to help you make sense of your feelings and your obsessive thinking, the strength of which has taken you by surprise, and to provide further practical tips and links to resources for several countries; and lastly a guide for what you can do for any bereaved piggy companions.
Here is the link. You may want to bookmark it and read or re-read at need: Death, Dying, Terminal Illness, Grieving and Bereaved Companions: Information and Support for Owners and Their Children

You are welcome to post a tribute to Nea in our Rainbow Bridge section whenever it feels right for you and if you wish to remember her and your time together at some point. The section is there for all members who want to make use of it, either immediately, at some point during their grieving process or some months or years down the line. Some will feel too strongly to go there; that is also not a problem.
 
So sorry you have lost Nea sending hugs at this sad time x
Sleep tight little lady 🌈
 
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