Hi all, I posted a few weeks ago about our guinea pig, two year-old
Wiggles who sadly died. Her sister Nubbin was lonely, so we got her a
new roomie, a grey/white baby (she was six weeks when we got her) whom
we named Weeble. Nubbin was always the submissive guinea pig, her
sister would always get to the food first and generally boss Nubbin
about. After a week or so of Nubbin trying her best to dominate
Weeble, she became submissive again and was being pushed around by the
baby. I felt really sorry for poor Nubbin! Over the weekend, Nubbin
started to show signs of illness. She didn't seem herself, was
spending most of her time in her house. We paid her lots of attention
and gave her lots of cuddles, but then she stopped eating/drinking,
pooping and she had a runny nose/sneezes and a slight crusting in her
eyes (which I wiped). We took her to the vet yesterday who said her
bowels were backed up, so she gave her some antibiotics and some
Science Recovery (liquid feed) to try to get her bowels moving again.
We gave her the meds and managed to get a large syringe full of the
Recovery stuff down her last night and again this morning (she seemed
to like it), she actually seemed like she'd perked up overnight. Then
a while ago I went to get her out to hold her and keep her warm (it's
chilly today) and she'd sadly passed away :-( I was really taken aback
and obviously upset, as she seemed to be getting a bit better...
.... I guess I wanted to ask if it's possible that Nubbin simply pined
after her sister and "gave up" so to speak, as she didn't seem to form
any particular bond with Weeble... or if there's something about the
environment we keep our piggies in that's making them ill (even though
the two piggies seemingly died of different things). We're going to
get another house mate for Weeble later, as we don't want her to be on
her own, but if there's something we're doing wrong with our piggies,
we need to know so we don't lose any more!
We had Wiggles and Nubbin for over two years with no problems (except
Wiggles always had droopy/sometimes watery eyes, but the vet couldn't
find anything wrong with them), so why all of a sudden have they both
died?
We've started putting a blanket over their cage as the weather has
turned cold and we thought it'd help keep away draughts, we give them
lots of attention/ daily veg (though not too much), fresh water...
They're cleaned out regularly... The only thing I can think of is the
cold and it's made them poorly, but why haven't they been affected by
it for the last two years? Is it because we've moved house this year
and their cage is in a different position?
If anyone has any ideas, let me know, I can't bear to lose any more!!!
Thanks all,
(sorry for the rather lengthy post),
Naomi
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