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No one is sure what happened. I stopped by Chris' apartment to clean cages today at noon and found Licorice laying under his house barely alive. He was cold and limp. I syringed every emergency item I have down him on the way to the vet. No idea how I kept him alive long enough to get to the vet. A couple times I thought I might be syringing Critical Care into a dead guinea pig. We put him on a heating pad and he looked a little better. After 5hours, a catheter(never do I wish to try to put one in something as small as a guinea pig again), xrays, and a sample of bloody very acidic urine we decided it was a bladder obstruction and we needed to do surgery. When the vet went to do surgery though the bladder was fine. The intestines however were full of fluid and the large swollen circle we saw on xrays was not the bladder but a section of intestine. Licorice stopped breathing before he could be brought out of anethesia. Noone has any idea why there would be so much fluid sitting there especially when his droppings were fine. He even left healthy droppings on the heating pad but no urine. There were no previous signs of illness so this is a complete mystery.

Awww sorry sham. You did more than what most people would have done, so dont' feel bad you didn't try. Autopsy perhaps?

So sorry sham. You must have loved that guinea pig to have them do surgery on it. You're the only one I've personally heard of that had surgery done on one.

At least you tried to save it. He did pass while he was"under", so that was a peaceful way to go. It sounds like you take excellent care of your pets.

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This would actually be the 5th surgery we've had done on a guinea pig and the 2nd one on this pig. He had to have an infected lymphnode removed. Then we've had 2 neutered and removed a retained fetus from one we recieved already pregnant. I get told practically weekly how they are "just guinea pigs" and that I'm insane since it would be so much cheaper to go get another one. I can get cats and probably a few dogs for free too and if a well cared for guinea pig can live 9years(Mischief was 11) they have a lifespan that's maybe only a couple years shorter so why does everyone see a difference?

I think it's because most people don't get too emotionally attached to guinea pigs. It's the emotional attachment to an animal that makes people want to save it.

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