My guinea pig of 3.5 years died suddenly in the night. From the very beginning, he used to have respiratory distress. After 3 years, with continued antibiotics, he got better. Then 6 days later, he stopped eating. He was very lethargic. We syringe fed him, even took him to the vet. The vet prescribed some medicine, and told us it wasn't life threatening. But then just 12 hours later, my baby died. I don't know what I did wrong. His lifeless body is still haunting me. He was having diarrhea, and his stomach was distended. Did he die in pain? That's my only question.
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I lost my guinea pig
- Thread starter ishita
- Start date
Thank you so much. I'm still dealing with my loss.
fluffysal
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I don't have medical knowledge either but he passed knowing he was loved.
When you feel up to it there's a rainbow bridge section for you to post a tribute if you want. Sleep well and popcorn high little one
When you feel up to it there's a rainbow bridge section for you to post a tribute if you want. Sleep well and popcorn high little one
I hope wherever he is, he's happy. Thank you for your kind words.I don't have medical knowledge either but he passed knowing he was loved.
When you feel up to it there's a rainbow bridge section for you to post a tribute if you want. Sleep well and popcorn high little one
Hi
BIG HUGS
I am very sorry. No, it is not due to something you have done wrong but the result of organ failure. The respiratory distress may have been rather caused by a genetic heart defect or a partially collapsed lung than by a respiratory infection - heart problems in guinea pigs are not easy to diagnose.
Bloating and/or diarrhea can occasionally happen as the body closes down; a blockage or a twisted gut are fatal - but they come without the diarrhea.
Once the body is unable to process any incoming nutrition (and medication, sadly), your piggy will strongly fight any food and be unable to swallow. A natural death not rarely starts with a piggy just being lethargic and off their food but the deterioration can pick up speed very quickly when the much smaller size and faster metabolism are turning against them. However, once your piggy has started to go into acute multiple organ failure, there is nothing any vet can do to stop the process. Please try to take consolation that as these things go, it was comparatively quick and our piggy hasn't suffered for very long. In the later stages they would no longer be fully conscious.
If you have never witnessed it before and have never experienced a death in person, it can be a rather terrifying and traumatic process because it is so much more physical than we expect with our vague concept of drifting gently away in one's sleep. It does happen, but sadly only comparatively rarely.
If you have questions about the natural dying process, then you may find that this guide here may hold some information that helps to put your ordeal into a bit more of a perspective:
Strong feelings of guilt and intensive soul-searching are characteristic for the onset of the grieving process. We all experience them to some degree or other. They are not an expression of you having actually missed anything or done anything wrong but how deeply we love and care. We wouldn't feel like this if we didn't care. Circumstances, like a sudden or very physical death or an unexpected euthanasia, a failed operation or the inability to see a vet in time can make this mind loop worse. It is our human wiring that makes us reflect everything back onto ourselves.
To help you make sense of the often very unexpected but overwhelming emotions and the strange places the grieving process can take us to, I have written yet another very practical guide that talks you through the process, including things you can do for yourself. So many of us sadly don't find a lot of understanding when dealing with the loss of their piggies even though it is never the species but the nature of the bond that determines how much we grieve.
Of course, we can never fully answer the essentially unanswerable but I hope that this will help you to make a bit more sense and to feel less like you are drowning in a tsunami wave.
This made my heart rest. I'm glad that he didn't suffer for long. The ex-vet prescribed him wrong antibiotics for years, and I feel terrible for trusting him. But I realised along the way that I couldn't have done anything. The vet told us to give him glucose, have him unnecessary injections. I feel a deep hatred for him, and a deep guilt for trusting him. I hope Koko didn't suffer for long and lost the battle peacefully. Thank your for your words, they comforted both me and my family.
Hi
Please do not make the mistake of focussing all your strong feelings as unreasonable anger upon your vet instead of on yourself. That would be just as unfair and unhelpful. Accept that what has happened is tragic but that everybody has tried to do their best. Your vet can only judge by what they see; it is not at all obvious at first that a piggy is in organ failure. I have sent back home more than once over the years where any medication either came too late to kick in or the body would close down fully just a few hours later.
Guinea pigs and small rodents don't or hardly feature on a vet's curriculum - they are a comparably very new pet in India as a result of urbanisation - so vets have to try to do their best with very limited safe medication and virtually no knowledge from their training. Even here in the UK, good guinea pig vets are rare and worth their weight in gold.
Would you rather vets categorically refused to see guinea pigs at all, as is happening in some places as a result of reactions like yours and owners becoming physically or verbally agressive face to face as well as on social media?
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I see what you mean, and I feel like this anger will decrease over time. I did not complain to the vet however, I just switched vets. I didn't bother arguing with him, as it felt more draining. I just kept my anger to myself, and realised that it will stay for some time till my mourning is over.
It is tough to live with strong feelings and nowhere for them to go.
Try a physical activity, including dancing, to work some of it out.
Merab
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So sorry for your loss.
Holding you in my heart
Be gentle with yourself as you grieve
Holding you in my heart
Be gentle with yourself as you grieve
Thank you for the kind wordsSo sorry for your loss.
Holding you in my heart
Be gentle with yourself as you grieve
I'm still processing it, but diving into work is a good distraction from the grief.
Gem789
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I'm so sorry,most of us on this forum know what it feels like to lose a guinea pig.It does take time so go easy on yourself.Big hugs xx
Thank you
exia
Junior Guinea Pig
I'm so sorry for your loss 
You did what you could, and you did that because you wanted to the right thing for your pig. Remember that these animals are prey-animals and are genetically turned to hide their illness. I had to put my baby to sleep last week, bc of lymphoma. The diagnosis was really shocking and I'm very heartbroken I didnt notice he was very ill. He hid it until he couldnt.
Right now I'm trying to be kind to myself and be sad when I need to. Thats my best advice for you. Its weird and empty without them, I know. Do you have other pigs, animals or a partner to cuddle up with? Or a best friend. And remember, at this forum we all lost a piggy and know what your going through. Its not "only a Guinea pig", its a little bundle of love and demands.
You did what you could, and you did that because you wanted to the right thing for your pig. Remember that these animals are prey-animals and are genetically turned to hide their illness. I had to put my baby to sleep last week, bc of lymphoma. The diagnosis was really shocking and I'm very heartbroken I didnt notice he was very ill. He hid it until he couldnt.
Right now I'm trying to be kind to myself and be sad when I need to. Thats my best advice for you. Its weird and empty without them, I know. Do you have other pigs, animals or a partner to cuddle up with? Or a best friend. And remember, at this forum we all lost a piggy and know what your going through. Its not "only a Guinea pig", its a little bundle of love and demands.
A part of my heart is missing, but I'm trying to keep it together. I have two more boars, and I'm giving them all my love to distract myself from the pain.I'm so sorry for your loss
You did what you could, and you did that because you wanted to the right thing for your pig. Remember that these animals are prey-animals and are genetically turned to hide their illness. I had to put my baby to sleep last week, bc of lymphoma. The diagnosis was really shocking and I'm very heartbroken I didnt notice he was very ill. He hid it until he couldnt.
Right now I'm trying to be kind to myself and be sad when I need to. Thats my best advice for you. Its weird and empty without them, I know. Do you have other pigs, animals or a partner to cuddle up with? Or a best friend. And remember, at this forum we all lost a piggy and know what your going through. Its not "only a Guinea pig", its a little bundle of love and demands.
Thank you for sharing your experience
. It makes me feel like I'm not alone in the world. The guilt and sadness takes time to go away but we have to learn to deal with it
A part of my heart is missing, but I'm trying to keep it together. I have two more boars, and I'm giving them all my love to distract myself from the pain.
Thank you for sharing your experience
It makes me feel like I'm not alone in the world. The guilt and sadness takes time to go away but we have to learn to deal with it
Sending you hugs
Merab
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Grief takes time. Be patient with yourself.
Hugs
Hugs
Gem789
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I'm sorry to hear of your loss too xxI'm so sorry for your loss
You did what you could, and you did that because you wanted to the right thing for your pig. Remember that these animals are prey-animals and are genetically turned to hide their illness. I had to put my baby to sleep last week, bc of lymphoma. The diagnosis was really shocking and I'm very heartbroken I didnt notice he was very ill. He hid it until he couldnt.
Right now I'm trying to be kind to myself and be sad when I need to. Thats my best advice for you. Its weird and empty without them, I know. Do you have other pigs, animals or a partner to cuddle up with? Or a best friend. And remember, at this forum we all lost a piggy and know what your going through. Its not "only a Guinea pig", its a little bundle of love and demands.
Thank you. I'm trying to heal and love myselfGrief takes time. Be patient with yourself.
Hugs
