My baby piggie has died

[MummyAisha]

I bought 2 female guinea pigs just over 3 weeks ago, was told both are just a few weeks old.

Have come home and found one just lying in the cage. I haven't stopped crying since I found her, feel like its my fault somehow but she seemed fine this morning

I don't know what to do next? Have moved her from the cage into a folded up blanket as didn't want to leave her in the cage while my other baby runs around

Not sure why I'm posting, mainly because I lurked on here before making the decision to get piggies as our first family pet and now I don't know what to do

[guineapiglet]

Hello Aisha very sorry indeed to hear about your little baby guinea, what a horrible thing to happen. It may be because the babies were too young initially to be taken from the mum, or it could be due to hidden health reasons etc -it happened to me once with a pair I (stupidly) bought from Pets at Home. We got no sympathy or refund, and I am convinced the one they sold was only a few weeks old, they should really leave mum at about 6 or seven weeks.

How is the other one doing? Is there any sign of anything not right - not eating, drinking etc? You could contact the place you got them from and tell them what has happened, they might suggest finding another one for your singleton to pair up with, and I would do this quite quickly, after an initial period of waiting to see if the other one is doing OK ( a couple of days)> Girls are much easier to integrate, tho' if you get another one it will take a bit of time before they can go in together, so get another young one and another small hutch if you go down this route, as you cannot just put another one in.

The other baby will be frantic without her partner, very scared and lonely. Make sure she has a hidey place, like an igloo, or shoe box to hide in whilst she adjusts to life without her partner. Sadly you will need to bury/dispose of the other one..... however PatH did request that I bring the body in to see what had caused the death. Having just had a burial I told them to get stuffed.

Hope all goes OK.

[MummyAisha]

I'm so sorry you got treated like that by PaH, mine are from there as well so at least I know what to expect from them

Neither of them had eaten any food today, or drunk any water. They were both in their hidey hole, but the one who died was lying at the entrance so I don't think my other girl could get out iyswim. I'm letting her eat at the moment then will give her cuddles

[MummyAisha]

Thank you for your message guineapiglet, I appreciate it

[guineapiglet]

Aaw, bless her, make sure she has lots to drink and if she is eating that is a good sign - so keep an eye on her overnight. If you feel anything wrong, take her to the vets tomorrow to check out, its all you can do at the moment, then you will have to think about getting another one, and if you want to go the PAH route again ( but you will need to take the dead girl with you). I'm afraid there is alot of anti PAH feeling in these threads because many of us feel the animals are just too young to cope, and it is so distressing for families who have just bought pets for their kids etc. Try a rescue or reputable breeder - you might do well to get another young pair and integrate your singleton with them - time consuming but worth it...... Good luck, happy to help.

[70isaLimitNotaTarget]

Very especially as it's out of the blue and as you say she was fine this morning.
So many things can affect a guinea-pig and they can go downhill very quickly (Some of my guineas died within hours. Fine>ill>gone )

Unfortunately though you won't get answers unless you wanted to have a Post Mortem (and personally speaking I don't think I would want to ).
She could've got bloat, be careful what you other piglet eats, not too much 'gassy' food.
She could've got a tiny blockage from plastic (on some salad veg?)
Or respiratory infection? I worry about the quality of hay this year and last year after all the rain. Difficult to dry and store, I think , what about fungual spores or mildew (I've had to point out bags of hay in shops with black 'mould' in them )

P@H might give you a refund or replacement (if you argue your case ).
At least you can get them to check where your batch of guinea-pigs came from to alert them to the problem, in case anyone else has the same experience.
One of the staff told me the batch of GPs was flown in from Spain Imagine their journey.

Extra cuddles for your piglet- she was in the cage with her cagemate wasn't she? So she knows that she's gone?

[FernieB]

Sorry to hear about your piglet - must have been a big shock for you.

I would take the surviving pig to the vets to get her checked out just in case. Then definitely get her a friend.