guinea pig fine one day, dead the next

[PawMum]

is this quite normal?

I have never had this happen before as all my previous guinea pig have lived for a long time. I had two, two years ago, the female had what looked like heart attack a few months ago - died before we could get her to the vets, though I imagine he wouldn't have been able to do anything anyway apart from put her out of her misery.

The male was fine on friday evening, chirpy, running about, eating. But had died on saturday morning when I went to check on him. He had drank LOADS of water though.

Do some of them just not live for very long? all the otherguinea pigs I had had previous to this have lived for about 6-8 years and the rabbits between 6-9 years. have I just been unlucky this time? it was such a shame as they were so nice and obviously the children are very upset.

You poor thing, very sorry to hear about this- hope your kids are ok x- ime guineas are very very good at hiding illness (a sort of anti-predator thing) so often they can be Ill for weeks before you know anything about it. It's not uncommon for pairs to die very close to each other, they're such sociable little things I think their defenses drop or something when try lose each other.
I lost mine last year - I still get upset about it bow. They're such lovely little things. Really hope your ok and the kids too xxx

I'm so sorry that you lost both your Guinea pigs. It's so sad when you lose a pet.

We had a Guinea pig a few years ago who died from a tummy upset. Our vet did warn us when he treated him that he may die as "Guinea pigs just seem to give up." As predicted he died.

We were so upset and years later we still talk about him and miss him. Due to the vet telling us that Guinea pigs just "give up" we'll never have another as I don't think we could cope with the worry of him becoming ill.

I know it makes me reluctant to get anymore even though we really enjoyed having them iykwim :(

My Mum said GP's are well know for 'just giving up' . I musta dmit i hadn't realised before now

there are many diseases gp's can get that aren't widely known about. they are great at acting healthy one day then fading fast the next. this happened to mine about 10 years ago, had to have him put to sleep :(

im so sorry for your loss

I didn't know guinea pigs 'just gave up' - that's so victorian of them . Maybe you should get rabbits for the dcs? They seem quite robust (physically and mentally!)

Sorry to hear that. I've had my 6th of 7 guinea pigs (but not all of the same time!) put to sleep on Tuesday after a long and lingering illness. It was just too much. She was 6 years old. My first lived til she was 6 years and three months. My second died suddenly aged two. I was devastated. Most of these my late 6 have just given up, fine one day and gone the next.