RIP Chester G Pig :( And what to do with titchy stryder now he's alone?

[fishandlilacs]

Sadly one of our 4 yr old beautiful boars passed away last night-rushed him to the vets at 6pm having found him all puffed up, lethargic and off his food. Blocked/twisted intestine, vet tried to get fluids into him but he died in the night. My 6 yr old DD is gutted, we have not had them long, we took them on knowing they were older pigs and not likely to be with us forever but had hoped for a bit longer.

Our other boar was diagnosed with cancer a few weeks ago, he has a large tumour on his throat, but his quality of life is still good (in fact he still appears to be utterly hale and hearty, eats and drinks well and is a generally happy little piggy). But obviously the clock is ticking on him too. We don't want to get anymore pigs afterwards.

Trouble is titch has never ever spent the night away from his brother, he's now squeaking a lot and seems really agitated. I don't know what to do. I have put a HWB in the cage for now.

and a shock for him to go in such a horrible way.

Is your other boar indoors?
It probably wouldn't be fair on him to even try to match-up if he's not well, but yes, he'll be missing his brother.
Lots of cuddles, maybe a radio on a talk show if he's on his own.

He'll be 'looking' for his brother, has he spent time with the body?
(We put our GP2 in the Pighouse overnight once he'd died so that GP1 knew he was gone and he wasn't going to magically re-appear once he got to their house)

I had a couple of lone pigs as a child one their cagemates had died - they were house-guineas so there was always alot going on to keep them occupied. (All sows). They had a year or so after their cagemate went.
This was years ago , I didn't realise back then that guineas were social animals, they seemed to be sold singly .

When our GP2 died, my DD had GP1 (who is also called Chester) in her room at night to keep an eye on him.
They go a bit quiet, so lots of cuddles and fuss.

another Furry to The Bridge.

Oh no v sad to hear your news, terrible time for guineas at the minute poor little soul.

It is very cold and damp now so uf you can bring lonely guinea in and have him as a house guinea lits of attention, warmth and cuddles, bless him.

They definitely pine for their friends so make sure you keep an eye on him - you have done a lovely thing adopting two older chaps and giving them a good homewhere they are safe and secure and loved.

Sorry to hear your news - GPs are having a sad week. I think you're wonderful for adopting older boys and giving them a happy home in their twilight years.

With your remaining boy I would put him somewhere where he will see and hear you a lot. Give him loads of attention, treats and things to chew on. You could put in an old cuddly toy/balled up socks/ old towel as something soft for him to snuggle.

Hope he settles down and has lots more happy times with you.

Thank you. Nice to post here where piggies are actually important to people rather than just some little disposable rodent.

Why are people so bloody unkind, I know it's only a guinea pig and we have not had them long but I was very fond of him. A "friend" on fb when i announced the news suggested he knew some good recipes. What a twat.

I know, people just dont get guineas and why we love them so much. Grief for a dog or cat is allowed and understood. But we guinea folk no what special little critters they are and not disposable or edible at all :)

Know. Whoops

He's pining :( He's really unhappy. He's eaten a little bit but he's silent when before he and chester were always chirruping and brrrring at each other. He's not even laying in his little under cover bit he's just flopped on top of the hay.

We have moved him into dd's room now, it's far warmer and I thought the company would do him good. They were in the conservatory before.

I cant really tell if he's becoming poorly or if he's just unhappy. I'm really paranoid that the other one died because of something contagious-the vet was only really speculating on a twisted gut because of how quickly he went down hill. What if they have had some bad food or something and now he's dying too but I just think he's pining. Or it could be the cancer taking hold..........

:(

for titchy.

he's probably pining for his brother - 4 years is a long time to be together.

my guinea-boar was really down after his brother died, but yours has the added burden of his illness. they suffer stress so it's probably going to hit him harder.

wrt anything contagious. you might have seen sign before now and anything poisonous would have shown itself by now- they have quick , efficient digestive systems,

it might have been that your chester pig got a piece of plastic blocked in his guts. from a packaging or wrapping.
i found baler twine in my hay bag last week.

i guess all you can do is keep him comfy and play it by ear. if he's going to 'go' there's not alot you can do to stop it.
at least you know you've given these two boys a good loving home.

he'll have company in your dd room, but make sure he doesn't get too hot.

(one handed typing because i've got one of my daughters boars

He will be sad and lonely it is natural for him to grieve. You have done the right thing keeping him warm andgiving him company - it is so hard for the remaining one left but lots of attention and cuddles will help. Lots of love and fun. X

Thank you. I feel so guilty. I am wondering about getting another one/or two now, just been watching videos on how to line their cages out with fleece instead of sawdust which I really wish i'd known about before!

We have also just got a new cat. (they have been kept seperate or supervised contact) but I think long term it's not going to be viable for us to keep piggies..I can see us getting a stream of them as they die and it going on forever.

Wondering if titch would be happier rehomed with someone who has pigs to see out his twilight. The vet had advised that he has no idea how long he will live with this cancer he said he could go on for another year or more if his quality of life remains good.

The only other thing that I gave them that I wouldn't normally is pomegranate and some of the pumpkin innards from halloween.

I bet thats what did it :(

I didn't give them the seeds, they went out for the birds but they got the mush. maybe there was a seed in among it

it won't be that don't feel guilty. The vet was only guessing.

The danger of seeds is it can choke them lilac , it doesn't sound like your boy choked.

They are pretty good at filtering through things, so they'd have found a seed randomly in the pumpkin and discarded it.

There was a poster on SFA a while back who said their vet said GPs are either "well or dead".
And I thought "Blimey that's right. They go very quickly from one to the other, sometimes no reason"

(When my little boar died the vet had no answer for what was wrong. He saw the vet at noon and was gone by evening. Nothing they could've done. He decided to leave us )

well sad to report that Titchy is now looking pretty worse for wear much the same way as his brother. He hasn't drunk anything since yesterday, hes off his food, he's hidden deep in his hidey hole and puffy.

Seems he didn't want to stick around long after his brother. Were not going to take him to vet this time, he doesn't appear to be in any pain, but if that changes we take him and do the kind thing. Otherwise were just going to keep him quiet and let nature take it's course. I dont know if it's the same thing as CGP went with or whether it's the cancer taking hold either way i think the outcome is inevitable.

It's been lovely having the pleasure of them, I just wish we had got a bit longer than 8m.

when they go 'starey' coated (sitting hunched up in a puffball pose like you describe) then you know it's time.

Maybe it's a combination of his illness and the loss of his brother.
I know they go pretty quick when they get like this and especially if he's stopped eating and drinking.

Personally, unless they were screaming I wouldn't take one of my pigs to be PTS. At home I can cuddle them or give them peace and quiet. And thankfully, all my guineas have sloped off to the Bridge with a solemn dignity.

Sounds like he's looking at the end of his road.

so sorry about your piggies. They can go downhill very quickly and all have their own personalities.

The advice on here is good. They know you love them.

We have one old boar who has always been on his own given to us by a friend. He was very ill in the Summer but did get better. He lives in the kitchen. I worry as he is old but he is well looked after.

he's gone :(

Just got back after a long family day out away with folks up north, put a very tired baby to bed and went to tuck his sister up top be greeted by a dead GP.

I'm so sad. I loved those furry critters.

(((hugs)))

Very fish ,

he passed quietly, in his own surroundings
when they get that starey coat way , they really do just go. A couple of twitches and a squeak and that's them sloped off.

You had their company for a short while but it would have made the world of difference to these piggies boys.

I often think back and realise that with GPs you can't pull them off The Bridge once they've got past a certain stage.

Bye Titchy Stryder

Hugs to you Fish. Sorry to hear your news. I know you only has them for a short time but that would have been a lovely time for him and his brother. They were lucky pigs to have had that time after all they went through and they would have been very happy.

Very sorry to hear your news , what a sad time for you all. :(
However you loved them both and looked after them in your family so they were lucky little souls....having all that care and attention.

so sorry FIsh those piggies were loved and cared for. They are wonderful little creatures. you love them so much.