Sudden Death in Guinea Pig

Fitzg

Hi my guinea pig died suddenly thing morning.
I woke up and she was jumping - I actually thought she had the hiccups. She went to get water, opened her mouth under the spout and then had another jump and then ran to the other end of the cage and went into the little house behind my other guinea pig. I lifted her out and she was quiet, seemed very still in between the spasms, I ran out the door to take her to the local vet, but she'd died within 5 minutes in my arms.
I've been wracking my brains trying to figure out what caused this.
I opened her mouth in case something was choking her but couldn't see anything, to be honest her mouth is tiny, I don't even know if I'd see anything. My other guinea pig is just recovering from having had his teeth filed down.
I'd been picking them grass and although I checked it through and washed it I wonder if she would have eaten something yesterday which caused her to die this morning? they had grass at around 4pm yesterday and she died at 11am this morning. The other thing i wonder if that she might have choked - she was always the kind of guinea pig that wolfed her food - she would often stop and snort/cough in the middle of eating to clear her throat, at least once but then she'd be back to eating. Yesterday, because the guy who'd had his teeth trimmed couldn't eat their usual nuggets I'd given them a bowl of a muesli style food, (there are no seeds in it) I checked. Their usual food is a nugget.
My other question is that there may have been something in the hay? I got a bag of apparently good quality hay, a brand I've bought before, but yesterday when I was putting new hay into their cage I found there was a stone in the bag? I'd also noticed that neither of them seemed to be eating that hay much...
Any thoughts are welcome, i'm going to ring her vets later today and chat to them too and try figure out what happened. I'm also terrified that the same thing might happen to my remaining guinea pig.

Aru

If you could at all I would consider sending the little creatures body to ucd dublin for a postmotum to determine cause of death. Especially as you have another little guy and they would be able to give you an idea if its anything infectious.
Ask your vets but I believe ucd are still offering the pm service free.

anniehoo

Aru wrote: »

Ask your vets but I believe ucd are still offering the pm service free.

Yes they are still free of charge.If you are in Dublin they also have a free courier collection service from your local practice for animals under 15kg if you don't have transport. If you are outside Dublin, then (sorry if this sounds insensitive) but it's best to keep your Guinea pig in a fridge,not frozen to preserve her and submit as early as possible next week for post mortem. Results can take up to 4 weeks depending on how straightforward it is.

You can PM me for more info on contact details etc if you need to

Fitzg

thanks guys, my vet explained the whole port-mortem options thing with me today, it is free Anniehoo, thanks for sharing the info. 2pm was too late to get the courier today so we'd have to wait until Monday. The house has been very warm and there is no-where cool to keep her body. i share a tiny fridge so I can't keep her body there. I've just moved her body to the freezer now. The vet said that this would effect the chemicals in the tissue. I am trying to decide between a burial and a post-mortem. I can see the rational sense of having a post-mortem done but out of love, I would like to bury her.
I suspect that she may have choked on something... just because of the speed of her death

ShaShaBear

Fitzg wrote: »

thanks guys, my vet explained the whole port-mortem options thing with me today, it is free Anniehoo, thanks for sharing the info. 2pm was too late to get the courier today so we'd have to wait until Monday. The house has been very warm and there is no-where cool to keep her body. i share a tiny fridge so I can't keep her body there. I've just moved her body to the freezer now. The vet said that this would effect the chemicals in the tissue. I am trying to decide between a burial and a post-mortem. I can see the rational sense of having a post-mortem done but out of love, I would like to bury her.
I suspect that she may have choked on something... just because of the speed of her death

In the interest of your own feelings and ethics, I'd suggest you go with your heart on this one - bury the poor little thing, and maybe take your remaining healthy pig to the vet for a check-up to make sure there's nothing underlying. Give the hutch a good clean, maybe buy a new bag of food and hay and keep a close eye on it until you are sure it's nothing contagious. So sorry for the loss