Loss Three of my Guinea pigs died today

This morning I had five pigs. I now have two.

I put them out as usual on the lawn, it is quite suddenly very hot in the UK. It is hot in the room where they live, so they had to go out this morning. I put there small house in their outside run, and I rested their large box (stack and store I use to carry them all from house to garden and back) next to the cage and it shaded half of the cage.

For the next few hours, I was in and out of the garden, I was doing small jobs, watering, planting etc. I realised they were very hot, they were all spreading out their bodies. I didn't have any frozen bottles for them, as I regularly did last summer, so I put 7 in the freezer, thinking even if they got slightly cold, I can give them to the pigs to lay against.

I had my lunch and I went to check the bottles. I saw I had some frozen fruit pieces, I put some in a bowl for the pigs and took them to them.

I saw two of them were dead, i knew straight away. The two youngest were running around, startled as they're still nervous of me. My eldest was laying, sleepy looking, I grabbed her first, i ran inside with her, she was limp, her eyes open, not blinking. I rinsed her face and lay her down in the sink. I didn't know whether she was alive or dead but I knew the youngest ones were still alive so I raced outside to get them. I hurriedly put the other two dead pigs in with them, I wasn't even crying at this point, I was in utter shock. I kept saying 'what the hell what the hell'.

I put the two dead pigs in the sink, they were definitely dead, i have had so many pigs, seen so many dead, i knew they were gone - I picked up my unresponsive eldest pig and I rubbed her tummy over and over, I desperately begged her to wake up and the tears came. I realized my two beautiful pigs were dead and I was losing hope for my eldest one. My husband came home about ten minutes later and I was still trying to revive her. He helped me put the two that were dead in a box for burial but I couldn't bear to put my eldest pig in, so desperate for her to 'wake up'. She had no heartbeat and she wasn't breathing, my husband took my hand and said 'she is gone'.

My beautiful piggies. I cannot believe it, I have cried all afternoon and at one point I just stopped. I swept the poo from their fleece and I put the two young guineas, who had been patiently waiting in the kitchen, back into their cage. It is empty without my pigs.

I feel a fool, I have taken away my Guinea's lives so needlessly. I have had pigs for over a decade and I have never ever lost them to something like this. I am not writing this as a 'beware of the sun and pigs' because I know so many of the members on here are 100% clued up on Guineas, I am just writing it to say, i have lost my poor pigs in a shocking and preventable way. I expect I may get a lot of anger in response, I am angry at myself. If I could go back and cuddle my beautiful pigs...I can only wish.

I realise, with hindsight, I should have realised they were struggling with the heat. I should have realised, but I thought they'd be as okay as they were in the garden last year the year before, and as okay as my previous pigs always were in the summer. I learnt a terrible lesson. To lose one would have been a tragedy, to lose three is a nightmare. My poor guinea pigs. I am heartbroken.