Goodnight Sweet Bliss

I'm so sorry for your loss.. sending good piggy thoughts your way!

Thank you. We are taking her to be cremated today. Running off two hours of sleep and grief right now.

So sorry for your loss. She is in piggy heaven now with many friends. I believe some day we will see ALL of our loved ones so cherish the memories and know she's in a good place.

I cremated my first pet/ bird and his framed photo and ashes in a nice box are on my end table. I feel he is near.

I'm so sorry.

I'm so sorry for your loss. Just take solace in the fact that you guaranteed her a caring, loving home and that her limited time on this earth was good. I know this is hard to answer as she just passed, but what do you think caused her passing? Do you believe she had a sudden stroke? Did she have any major ailments during her life? RIP Bliss

I'm very sorry to hear that. My sympathies go out to you. At least it was fairly fast, but that's really little comfort when you lose a beloved pet. At least with cremation you can keep her earthly remains near while she frolics at the Rainbow Bridge. My piggies are buried, but my cats are all in a nice wood box with their photos.

RIP to little Bliss. I can tell she was much loved and will be much missed. She had a loving home and was promised you would do everything you could for her. Sudden deaths are hard, and I am sending prayers and hugs to you and your family. ♥

Thank you everyone for the support. I feel very lucky that we have a place about an hour away that does pocket pet cremation for $35. It even comes with an actual urn. Mama was cremated there so we said we would by a different urn for Bliss but the guy said "I also have lot of these ones. We can use that instead if you like it." So that was nice of him. We can't buy any pets because we live in an apartment so when (and hopefully not for a long time) we lose another pig we will pay for another urn but that is fine with us. They also were able to take care of her in less than an hour. We thought it would take a few days so this was a pleasant surprise.

Before we took her to be cremated we picked her up from the vet, they kept her overnight in the freezer, and after making sure they didn't put anything on her body my boyfriend told me he wanted us to take her home and let Nina see her body. He had read that it helps pigs to realize what happened and supposedly makes them less prone to depression then a sudden disappearance of a friend. I don't know if it will help with depression or not but I can say it broke my hear all over again.

We put a towel down in their cage and laid Bliss on top of it. Nina glanced over at Bliss but didn't go up to hear right away. After a minute or two she seemed to realize something was wrong and she started walking around the towel. A minute later she walked onto the towel and started sniffing at Bliss. And then she started chewing on her. I laughed and said "Nina you fat b***h leave your poor sister alone." (we give Nina lots of crap but it's out of love) Nina loved to groom Bliss. It's such a normal thing that it took me a minute to realize that this was her grieving. At first she nibbled at her, Bliss didn't respond so she tugged at her fur harder. And then she stopped for a second, sniffed around some more and then started giving Bliss a bath. We let her go for a few minutes but I was worried about her ingesting too much fur.

Even Gidget came to say goodbye. She sniffed at Bliss quite thoroughly and then sat right next to Nina while she was grooming Bliss. Though we may not entirely understand their level of understanding animals do recognize death and they do grieve.

alphilip77 said:

I'm so sorry for your loss. Just take solace in the fact that you guaranteed her a caring, loving home and that her limited time on this earth was good. I know this is hard to answer as she just passed, but what do you think caused her passing? Do you believe she had a sudden stroke? Did she have any major ailments during her life? RIP Bliss

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Yes that seems to have been the cause. When my boyfriend found her she was rolling on the floor of the cage. By the time I got there she was on her side in a very unnatural position that never changed until she died. Even in the carrier she was like that. She was clearly in a lot of pain. So it was either a seizure or a stoke as far as we can tell. She had never been sick a day in her life. This came out of no where.

@Colorado Cavies: Thanks for the insight. Whenever someone writes of their guinea pig (or other small animal) passing suddenly, I try to gather as much info as I can so I can attempt to better understand the nature of their passing and see if there are any preventative measures that can be taken to prevent these kinds of ailments. Again, you have my sympathies and condolences. Be strong and God Bless.

Sorry for you loss..Could there have been something in the food dish?