popcornpiggles
Junior Guinea Pig
- Joined
- Nov 1, 2018
- Messages
- 51
- Reaction score
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- Points
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One of my guinea pigs passed away last night after receiving palliative care for a bladder tumour for a few weeks. When I found her this morning she was cold and stiff. I've only had one other guinea pig pass away at home and I think he had passed very shortly before I found him as he was still warm and making gasping motions (which this mistook for him breathing, but apparently is common after they die).
I know it sounds strange and disturbing to wonder, but how long after death do guinea pigs go into rigor mortis? I'd never seen it until today and I keep wondering how long she had been gone before I found her. I knew when I said goodnight to her that I would probably not see her in the morning, and if she had still been alive when I'd found her I would have taken her to be pts as she was at the point where she needed to go. I just keep thinking about whether she passed not long after I said goodbye and whether that's a good thing as her suffering ended quickly, but the idea of her body in the cage for hours before finding her also seems so sad
there was about 8 hours between when I said goodbye and when I found her in the morning, and she was completely stiff and cold.
She was a bright and lively girl and she's going to be so missed, she was such a strong character in my herd and it's heartbreaking to think about not seeing her at the very front of the group when there is a possibility for snacks or trundling across the floor on her adventures. Rest in Peace Trixie![Red heart :heart: ❤️](https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/2764.png)
![Rainbow :rainbow: 🌈](https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f308.png)
I know it sounds strange and disturbing to wonder, but how long after death do guinea pigs go into rigor mortis? I'd never seen it until today and I keep wondering how long she had been gone before I found her. I knew when I said goodnight to her that I would probably not see her in the morning, and if she had still been alive when I'd found her I would have taken her to be pts as she was at the point where she needed to go. I just keep thinking about whether she passed not long after I said goodbye and whether that's a good thing as her suffering ended quickly, but the idea of her body in the cage for hours before finding her also seems so sad
![Loudly crying face :sob: 😭](https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f62d.png)
She was a bright and lively girl and she's going to be so missed, she was such a strong character in my herd and it's heartbreaking to think about not seeing her at the very front of the group when there is a possibility for snacks or trundling across the floor on her adventures. Rest in Peace Trixie
![Red heart :heart: ❤️](https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/2764.png)
![Rainbow :rainbow: 🌈](https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f308.png)