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Behavior I'm not sure if my guinea was killed or died? We are very confused!

malibukid71

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We have had guinea pigs for over 5 years now. We have had several die over the years (had a sickness run though the herd, some from old age, and 1 from a birth defect) but we had one die last night that has us confused and concerned. We have 3 girls ranging in age from 3 to 5 years old who have been living together for well over a year. A 4th that was living in that cage died of old age about 2 months ago with no issues. We had a baby skinny that was living by herself because the girls we thought she would live with were being mean to her. A little over a month ago my wife decided we should give her a try with the 3 girls that had recently lost their sister and everything seemed to be going great. No fighting, no rumble strutting, we even saw her cuddling with each of them from time to time. I saw her last night before I went to bed and she was munching hay. I didn't do anything with the guineas before I left for work this morning since my wife would still be home. She called me from work (I was hoping it was a bad form April fools joke) to tell me our little skinny was dead. Not just dead but bloody and had obviously been chewed on! She said her face, side, and butt were bloody and her ears had mostly been chewed off. We are at a loss at what could have happened...was there a big fight and she died of her injuries then they chewed on her, did she die of a hidden cause then they chewed on her...why would the chew on her either way? They get pellet's daily just as they always have, They all get vitamin "cookies" once a week, they get hay all the time, snacks almost daily (cherry tomatoes, green leaf lettuce, peppers, etc., we change it daily) So what the heck, we have never had this happen with any of our other deceased pigs, what could have been different this time.
 

GuineaPigQueen1

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Idk what happened and I am very sorry for your loss. Do you have any animals that free roam like dogs cats or rabbits? If you do they could’ve found some way to get to the guinea pigs.
 

malibukid71

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No, we have no other indoor animals. We have 1 outside cat but he hasn't been inside in months.

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GuineaPigQueen1

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No, we have no other indoor animals. We have 1 outside cat but he hasn't been inside in months.

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Where did you get the guinea pig that passed?
 

malibukid71

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Petsmart, however we have had her for about a year with no issues.
 

GuineaPigQueen1

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Petsmart, however we have had her for about a year with no issues.
I think that is an issue. I am going to try my best to let you down slowly , but your pig came from a mass breeding mill in horrific conditions. And guinea pigs hide their illnesses so maybe something came up. And note on PetSmart it sickens me that they sell skinny pigs that need a little bit different care from normal guinea pigs. Also my guinea pigs that I got for the first time over an year ago one passed and was taken away from me so soon( less than three weeks) so I understand the pain. Oh and how big is your cage and what was the care for the skinny pig?
 

malibukid71

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We know all about the Petsmart issues. She got a clean bill of health from the vet about a month after we got her. The cage is C&C grids 3x4 with a coraplast and fleece floor. It really isn't the death that has us confused and concerned is the damage to her body.

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GuineaPigQueen1

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We know all about the Petsmart issues. She got a clean bill of health from the vet about a month after we got her. The cage is C&C grids 3x4 with a coraplast and fleece floor. It really isn't the death that has us confused and concerned is the damage to her body.
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Maybe the other pigs got a little aggressive over food. The other thing have you ever have any rat or mice problems like the ones that are wild not the cute ones. Or bugs
 

malibukid71

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We have not seen any aggressive behavior nor any infestations.

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GuineaPigQueen1

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We have not seen any aggressive behavior nor any infestations.

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Hmmmm this is confusing. I really don’t know I am sorry
 

Rosiethecutepig

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PetSmart's breeding is horrible. I know there are a lot of threads about it in the kitchen.
 

Rosiethecutepig

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Did you have any sudden drops in temperature lately?
 

Soecara

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Guinea pigs are sometimes known to groom the deceased and sometimes go too far with that. Another possibility is perhaps she had a seizure or some other medical event that caused her to have unusual movements and that freaked the other girls enough to attack her.

Worse case scenario for your other girls being involved is maybe someone had a disagreement with her over something simply like a hidey and as she had no hair to pad and add some protection the bites that result from such a disagreement ended up being significantly worse.

If the injuries to her face, side and rear look like long gashes or deep punctures I would expect those to be bites that occurred before her death. The ears being chewed off are more likely post mortem grooming. Her death may or may not be related to the injuries.
 

malibukid71

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Did you have any sudden drops in temperature lately?

No, they are indoors with us so no sudden changes. The area of the house they are in is also the most insulated since it was gutted down to the studs and all new everything put back shortly before we got our first Guinea.
 

malibukid71

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Guinea pigs are sometimes known to groom the deceased and sometimes go too far with that. Another possibility is perhaps she had a seizure or some other medical event that caused her to have unusual movements and that freaked the other girls enough to attack her.

Worse case scenario for your other girls being involved is maybe someone had a disagreement with her over something simply like a hidey and as she had no hair to pad and add some protection the bites that result from such a disagreement ended up being significantly worse.

If the injuries to her face, side and rear look like long gashes or deep punctures I would expect those to be bites that occurred before her death. The ears being chewed off are more likely post mortem grooming. Her death may or may not be related to the injuries.

We had seen the other pigs groom her which we thought was a sign of acceptance since it was the first time we had noticed any of our pigs actually licking another. She was only the second skinny we have had that lived with another. We had 3 tunnels and the little house for the skinny in there in an attempt to ensure there were no issues about places to hide. The other 3 girls seemed to like hiding in the tunnels over houses. I didn't actually see the injuries, my wife described them to me. I wanted to remember her as the cute little piggy with the loud weeek that purred a lot. I will miss that little one. :(
 

TheGuineaPigGal

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PetSmart's breeding is horrible. I know there are a lot of threads about it in the kitchen.


Mama piggy was a petsmart pig. She passed at the tender age of 1 from unknown causes. She most likely came from a piggy mill, and was born with some kind of birth defect, although when she had her first litter, we took the litter and her to the vet because on of the pups had an eye infection, and we assumed he was too young to be separated from his mother for a couple hours, so we brought the whole litter and Mama piggy. They examined each and every pig that we brought and said they all were healthy except for Oreo, which he had an eye infection and he was the runt, being pushed around by the other furry frogs, and didn't really get much milk.

So, I advise you in the future to not buy pigs from any pet store because you never know where they came from, and there are shelter pigs too, and you know that you are not supporting piggy-mills when adopting a pet store piggy.
 

TheGuineaPigGal

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I just noticed how bad that looked, Don't adopt petstore pigs. Adopt the shelter pigs

:)
 

bpatters

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While I agree that PetSmart is a terrible place to get pigs, this issue is NOT about PetSmart, so let's just leave that out of the discussion. This pig had been in this home a year, and where it came from had nothing to do with the condition of the body after death.

As usual, [MENTION=24757]Soecara[/MENTION] has the best advice to offer on this. We never know the medical history of pigs, and she could have died from any of several causes. But the suggestion that she may have had seizures that alarmed the others seems reasonable to me.

Guinea pigs almost never violate a dead pig's body, but it's not unheard of. Usually, it's a case of a young sow giving birth, and being overzealous with cleaning it up.

I'm sorry for your loss.
 

malibukid71

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Thank you all for the advice and kind words. Our little Brooke is now at the funeral home to be creamated as we do with all our pigs. She will be back home soon and will be reunited with her siblings of the past. We have lost so many over the years and have so many getting up there in age I'm not sure how many more losses I can take. I'm definitely done getting any more piggies for a long time. I will love the ones we have until there is none left to love.
 

TheGuineaPigGal

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Thank you all for the advice and kind words. Our little Brooke is now at the funeral home to be creamated as we do with all our pigs. She will be back home soon and will be reunited with her siblings of the past. We have lost so many over the years and have so many getting up there in age I'm not sure how many more losses I can take. I'm definitely done getting any more piggies for a long time. I will love the ones we have until there is none left to love.


Please don't think like that. Brooke will always be in your heart, and she will ALWAYS love you.
 
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