My baby died!! Only 6 months old! :( PLEASE read and TRY and tell me why !!!!!!!!!!!!

[kalu1]

I am DEVISTATED. My baby Kalu died yesterday. She is ONLY 6 months OLD... here is the story, PLEASE tell me what you think.

SO, I got her 6 months ago froma pet store, everything was always fine, she was healthy etc.

She LOVED carrots and cucumber and I gave it to her all the time. In the last I would say month, she didnt really take carrots from me anymore, or cucumber, or she would, but it would take her a ouple hours to eat it, opposed to 5 mins like before... but everything else was the same, I just figured maybe she was boed of veggies.

Kalu I figured was lonely, so I got another female guinea pig from my friend, who was the same age and sex as kalu. They didnt fight, but the new guinea pig rumbled alot at Kalu, and I wasnt too sure if it was eating all the food, so I made sure the food dish was always full and that I put veggies and fresh water in the cage, and hay for them.

Then I noticed that when Kalu was eating her pellets, she would spit them out, and pick them up agaian, chew for a bit, spit it out, and continue.. and thats how she started eating..... I wasnt sure what was up with it, but she didnt seem in pain or anything.

THEN I noticed I could feel her spine, and then her ribs (over a period of a couple days).. I never took her to a vet bc I was thinking that it was just in my head, and that Kalu wasnt getting skinner, she is just ALOT smaller than the new guinea pig, so I figured that maybe I was just getting used to the new guinea pig, and Kalu would obviously seem alot skinner.

The night before she died, I gaveher a bath, and she felt SO small. She wasnt cuddling in her towel after as usual, she was trying to get out of the towel.......... I set her on the floor and she started hopping a bit, it looked like her back legs hurt and she was leaning to both sides.

I put he in her cage and gave her some veggies, bc I read that the "hopping" could be from not having enough vit c.

The next day I saw her lying in her cage on her SIDE! freaked and grabbed her and help her as she gasped for breath in my arms, and then a little blood came from her bum out of nowhere,and sh went limp and passed away.

She was only 6 months old and taken care of, I DID notice that one of her bottom teeth was missing as well, not sure if that has anything to do with it, and also there is nothign wrong with the other guine pig, what could have happened?!?!?!

thanks !

[Skeetersmom]

It seems she needed to see a vet and possibly had a problem with her teeth. She should have seen the vet at the first sign of eating problems (spitting out the pellets). Maybe her teeth were not aligned.

[kalu1]

Yea I was wondering if the tooth she lost was stuck in her throat or something, I dont know how long is TOO long for their teeth..i gave her hay and everything, so I just figured they were ok......

Do you know how long is too long or where I can look?
thanks

[Seonta]

Try reading the medical section of this site: http://www.guinealynx.info/medical_guide.html
Don't miss the common mistakes page... it could help you if you get another guinea pig.

[sophistacavy]

Originally Posted by Skeetersmom

It seems she needed to see a vet and possibly had a problem with her teeth. She should have seen the vet at the first sign of eating problems (spitting out the pellets). Maybe her teeth were not aligned.

Either that, or scurvy. Seems more like a tooth problem though.

kalu1- If you can afford it, or if you even want to, you can get an autopsy done on her to find out the cause of death. That is what I had done with my very very first guinea pig, Lucy. We took her body to a place called The Western Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory, where they performed an autopsy on her. They discovered her exact cause of death. After that, we had her cremated by a local pet cemetery/animal cremation service (that also offered funeral services too!), and her ashes are now hermetically sealed in a tiny, beautiful urn.

Good luck!

[rabbitsncavyluv]

Read http://www.guinealynx.info/weigh.html and http://www.guinealynx.info/teeth.html

Only a necropsy could tell you for sure but honestly it sounded like she had maliclussion that was ignored and she starved to death.

She wasn't 'taken care of' at all by our standards.

Bottom teeth can fall out due to injury or scurvy. If she wasn't eating, scurvy is likely.

You can't examine the teeth properly without proper tools or dental x ray. Usually the problem are with molars. You are not a vet so you wouldn't know what to look for. Hay alone is not a cure all for teeth issues if they are genetically prone to them.

Teeth issues can be secondary though, so she may have had more issues going on. Pet store pigs are often inbred and have poor genes. But that doesn't mean she couldn't have gotten better with proper medical treatment from a conscientious owner.

[Ly&Pigs]

I'm sorry for your loss.

She LOVED carrots and cucumber and I gave it to her all the time.

And that's not a good thing to do. Carrots are more a treat type veggie. They contain a lot of oxalic acid and aren't very nutritious. Cucumbers do have more nutritional value than carrots but they are mostly water. If these were the only two veggies you were feeding, the pig could have gotten scurvy due to poor diet and teeth issues.

It also sounds like it was a tooth issue to me as well.

[NicholsS10]

I'm sorry for your loss.

Next time, please take your pig(s) to a cavy savvy vet as soon as you notice something is a miss. Guinea pigs tend to mask their symptoms, and as soon as one notices, the guinea pig could be sick for weeks. Personally, I would have took her to the vet as soon as she started to refuse her favorite vegetables.

With your next pig(s) make sure to weigh them weekly, as weight loss is the first sign of a problem. If a guinea pig loses 3 to 4 ounces in one week, the pig needs to go to the vet ASAP.

[pigsmakemesmile]

I'm so sorry you lost your pig. Always go with your gut feelings, if you sense something is wrong, then it is. It sounds to me she wasn't eating because of a problem with her teeth. Only a vet and special tools can identify these type of issues. Lack of vitamins and poor nutrition could have accounted for her weight loss, low calcium and lack of vitamin c in her diet could have contributed to her broken teeth. As far as bleeding from her rectum, if she swallowed the broken tooth, there may have been some injury if it tried to pass through her GI tract unless there was something alltogether different going on. Only a necropsy can help determine her cause of death.
Again, I'm so sorry for your loss.

[akstrohm]

First of all, I'm very sorry for your loss.

Please do the following for your current pig:
-Read all the stickies on this forum about diet, medical care, housing etc. It seems to me that you are a very caring owner who didn't know how to best take care of pigs and what signs to look for. This site will help you out a lot.
-Start feeding your new pig veggies according to the nutrition charts posted in the diet and nutrition forum. 1/8 bell pepper per day per pig will provide enough vitamin C and prevent scurvy. Pellets have some vitamin C, but it can degrade rapidly in the light/air. You can give plain vit C (no sugar) tablets (not drops) if needed.
-Get your current pig to a vet to make sure she is healthy. It is possible that she has parasites or an illness that will need treatment.
-Weigh your pig weekly. Weight loss is often the first sign of illness, and pigs can go downhill very quickly when they get sick.
-Once you've done your research on care and gotten your pig checked out by a vet, consider adopting her a friend of the same sex. Avoid pet store pigs--they are often sick, and you don't want to have to deal with another illness and loss.