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Sudden young death (contains images some may find upsetting)

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artur1417

Junior Guinea Pig
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Hey everyone, I just became a guinea pig owner for the first time 1 month ago.

I have an enclosed area with housing, fresh food and water, and some daily fresh veggies (that I checked if safe). The temperature here now ranges from 10C celcius to 24C. They have a house with hay where they sleep/nest. I am from Madeira island, Portugal.

Today I went to check on them, one is dead, stiff as rock and yesterday he looked okay.

The only thing new that I gave him recently (two days ago) was fresh fennel, and apple tree branches (leaves and branch) with some apples attached (they didnt touch the apples) gathered both from the forest (no chemicals). Four days ago they had some fresh homegrown spinach, cloves, parsley.

The veggies are in these pictures:
https://imgur.com/a/g8Kz6FT

Well, my question is, is it common for a young guinea pig(3/4months) to die suddently? Is his brother in risk of being ill from a contagious illness? Could a potential illness be dangerous for my other pets (cat/dog)? Should I bring thesurviving guinea pig indoors for him not to feel lonely or get a new mate soon?

Thank you.IMG_20191015_144017.webpIMG_20191015_144019.webpScreenshot_20191015_150319.webp
 
First off I am so sorry for your loss. Is your other piggy okay? It it were poisoning or something environmental I would have expected your other to be poorly also.
Please keep a close eye on your other piggy he will be missing his friend have a read of this thread Looking After A Bereaved Guinea Pig

I have added a quick note on your thread title
 
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Sorry for your loss, sometimes guinea pigs do just die of sudden heart attacks etc as humans do. The temperature range of down to 10 degrees sounds a bit cool, are your piggies shut away in a hutch at night to stay warm and safe? 15 degrees is really the safe minimum, especially if the temperature reaches 24 during the day- they dont cope well with temperature fluctuations. If they have access to an outdoor enclosure at night I might alternatively suspect a predator may be to blame, piggies can die from shock even without a predator inflicting any obvious injuries- just a bad scare could do it unfortunately in some cases.
Its probably a good idea to bring your surviving piggy indoors (but avoiding a sudden cold to warm transition- if they are used to being outdoors keep them in a cooler room), and get them checked over by the vet, just in case x
 
Hi and welcome

I am very sorry for your loss! The stiffness is from rigor mortis, which means that your piggy has been dead for a number of hours when you found it.

Guinea pigs can die at any age from strokes, heart attacks, sudden acute heart failure or sheer fright - and that can include mice getting into the enclosure through any gap you can stick a pencil through. :(

Please bring the companion indoors until you have deep cleaned the enclosure and made it safer.
Here are further tips on how you can look after him in the short term, what you need to keep an eye on and what you can do in the longer term: Looking After A Bereaved Guinea Pig
Here is a grieving guide for yourself that explains the feelings and reactions you are currently experiencing: Human Bereavement: Grieving, Coping and Support Links for Guinea Pig Owners and Their Children

Guinea pigs are most comfortable around 15-25 C; this means that you may want to offer shelter/extra warmth on cold nights and extra protection on hot days, as well as protection when temperatures are swinging quickly between day and nighttime highs and lows or if there any sudden heat or cold spikes. Guinea pigs haven't had the urge to develop temperature control for sudden changes and therefore don't cope with them as well as they have evolved living well protected/insulated from extremes in tunnels and thick undergrowth, coming out to feed at dawn and dusk when temperatures are at their most moderate.
The enclosure should not be in full sun or exposed to sun-heated breezes, which are much warmer than 25 C and can cause heat exhaustion/heat stroke if your piggies can't move away. Please also bring them indoors during storms.
But I strongly doubt that anything has been a factor in the case of your little boy's death.
Hot Weather Management, Heat Strokes and Fly Strike
 
Sorry to hear of your loss too, he was a handsome chap, afraid I have no idea what caused his demise.
Here's a thread for suitable foods feed Guineas,
Edible And Forbidden Veg And Fruit List With Vitamin C Grading

I'm not sure on the cloves? I've never fed mine these, I've have no idea if they're safe or not?
The rest sounds OK tho. They do appear to have a large amount of veg at one sitting, overdosing on veg can bring on bloat though - especially if they're not used to it.

Sport_Billy has given you a good link to help you & your other Guinea pig cope with bereavement.

A friend for him would be ideal, but perhaps have a quarantine period to check he's not ill too?
I'm guessing vets are hard to come by locally to you to get him checked over?

RIP Little man, popcorn free over the rainbow Bridge.
My thoughts are with you at this difficult time. Xx
 
So sorry you lost him, it sounds very sudden, perhaps a heart attack, sending you hugs
Sleep tight little piggie x
 
Thanks for your messages.

I never had guinea pigs before, but I researched and made sure it had everything. Including shelter from chilly nights. What I meant is that the absolute maximum in my island is around 30C and maybe 10C in the winter. But they are in a shaded, roofed, sheltered area with no wind. They have hay inside the hut, and like a tunnel made of a warm material that you can see in the pic (grey thing).

So if they had food, water, shelter and if the fresh stuff I gave them was not contaminated somehow (they were home grown).. I will never know the reason of his death. I noticed in his dead body that his nose was a bit runny, with weird wet look, not sure if that indicated that he had some kind of flu.

Thanks for your help, I will check on my other piggie more often, and get him a new companion in the next few weeks.
 
I am so sorry for your loss.
Unfortunately it happens sometimes that a young piggy will die for no apparent reason.
Please feel free to post a tribute on the Rainbow Bridge thread.
Be gentle with yourself and take time to grieve
 
I'm so sorry for your loss! Unfortunately, sometimes even young pigs will die of sudden causes (heart/stroke/aneurysm) without any warning. It's certainly not your fault and nothing you could have predicted. He certainly looks well in the video prior to his death. Unfortunately, you may never know for sure. It might not help to bring your other pig indoors for the time being, so he won't be out there alone and so that you can keep a close eye on him for any potential communicable illness. ((HUGS)) and so sorry!
 
Hello everyone again, thanks for your messages and advice.

I am writting here again here because I just realised that I had given some beetroots leaves (the top tender green leaves, I dont know how to call it). They absolutely loved it more than the other greens.

I read it now online that it could be poisonous.

Could that be the reason he died? I didnt feed him those on the day he died but maybe some days before I did.

Ps: I addopted another guinea pig, who is an adult, everything is fine, they seem to get along. The young guinea pig approaches me when I come with food but the older, adult pig has a very skittish/afraid personality and just panics when I'm around. I understand that can be normal and hopefuly it will improve with time.

Thanks.
 
artur1417 said:
Hello everyone again, thanks for your messages and advice.

I am writting here again here because I just realised that I had given some beetroots leaves (the top tender green leaves, I dont know how to call it). They absolutely loved it more than the other greens.

I read it now online that it could be poisonous.

Could that be the reason he died? I didnt feed him those on the day he died but maybe some days before I did.

Ps: I addopted another guinea pig, who is an adult, everything is fine, they seem to get along. The young guinea pig approaches me when I come with food but the older, adult pig has a very skittish/afraid personality and just panics when I'm around. I understand that can be normal and hopefuly it will improve with time.

Thanks.
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I don’t think beetroot leaves would have poisoned your piggie, mine have eaten beetroot leaves on several occasions and are fine. Your piggie probably died very suddenly of a heart condition or a stroke. There was nothing that you could have done so please don’t blame yourself. Glad to hear you have a new piggie, it may take a while for him to settle down, they are all so different x Piggie pigtures please 😀
 
I know this is pretty late, but looking at how you're guinea pig was stretched right out when he passed away, it looks like how I've seen other pets I've had, have sudden hear attacks 😔
 
Sorry for your loss. The new piggies are of course Beautiful 😍

As an aside, is that floor (outside the hutch) hard or is it carpeted? I would say put something waterproof down then a later to absorb the pee and fleece on top, or disposable bedding. That way there Won’t be any wee pooling on the floor. Also lots of hay. If that’s all done then my bad 😁
 
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