HEAT RELATED DEATH

Cram Cavies

Post   » Fri Apr 24, 2009 4:41 am


Guinea Pigs are very heat sensitive. I loss one due to the heat before too. The 3 critical ones make sure you keep them cool and give them lots of water and lettuce.

TwoWhitePiggies

Post   » Sat Apr 25, 2009 4:24 am


I am so sorry for your loss. :( I hope your remaining pigs pull through.

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Feylin

Post   » Sat Apr 25, 2009 4:58 pm


How are your other 3 pigs doing?

I am sorry you lost Bucky.
Please let us know if you need any advice or just want to share.

(Cram Cavies you are new and you might want to wait a while before posting medical advice.)

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SoCalCavies
Partners in Crime

Post   » Mon Apr 27, 2009 12:24 pm


Thank you all so much for your kind words. This has been such a heartbreaking time for me & my pigs. I almost couldn't even write that post, but I knew I had to.

Sus4rabbitsnpigs: That's ALL I really wanted was to have a thread about this. Thank you so much for making my post count.

Cram Cavies: I'm so sorry to hear that you lost one, too, but thank you for sharing that. It's comforting to know I'm not the only one out there who made such a big mistake.

UPDATE: My 3 other pigs are doing fine. They all recovered. I had to supplement with Critical Care for a couple days to gain back the 200+ grams two of them lost, but they are much better now. In fact, as of yesterday, they are all squeeking again. (They were silent for almost a week.)

Lynx: No, they would never be put outside. They were inside, w/a huge fan blowing & open windows.

I'm still so confused as to how this could've happened? Did they not drink enough water? Did they do so poorly, because their entire cage is lined with fleece? Did Bucky die, because he weighed 1350 grams? Did he have a heart condition?

The emergency vet told me that guinea pigs are NOT built to withstand heat. He said that they don't sweat or pant & their lungs are very small in relation to their body size. He also said that they get arrhythmia when they overheat & it scares them, so they probably huddled together, making them more hot. I don't know. I just pray they didn't suffer long. I'm tortured by thoughts that they did, especially Bucky. I still don't have much information about exactly what happens to them when they overheat.

Does anyone know?

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Mon Apr 27, 2009 1:46 pm


Thanks for the explanation. I am with you in not understanding how this happened. I had been trying to figure out if it was something preventable but your description of a fan and in a shaded area -- I also would not have thought they were at risk.

I guess this means I should put up a page describing in more detail the precautions people should take in warm weather. Do you know what the humidity was? Here in Virginia, it is the humidity that determines how unbearable the heat is.

I am so sad for you.

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sus4rabbitsnpigs

Post   » Mon Apr 27, 2009 2:04 pm


We discussed fleece/ heat and I think we decided it wasn't any warmer than traditional bedding. I'd take out cozies though, if there are any.

Hope your other three continue to do well. I think only a necropsy would reveal if there were other factors?

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salana
GL is Just Peachy

Post   » Mon Apr 27, 2009 2:09 pm


I think fat pigs, and dark-colored pigs, suffer more than more slender, light colored pigs. Jackie is mostly black and used to be miserable whenever it got over 80 degrees (he's lost weight since then due to his arthritis, but he still is sacked out right now and it's 83 in here).

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SoCalCavies
Partners in Crime

Post   » Mon Apr 27, 2009 2:50 pm


I don't know what the humidity was, but I'll find out. I know it rarely gets humid out in the desert here in San Diego. It's mostly very dry heat, but that day was a complete fluke. It was 106 in the sun with a lot of wind. If all 4 didn't get so sick, I would honestly think Bucky died of something else, but the vet said all their temperatures were 103 when I arrived & that was after I drove them in the car w/the air blasting & wrapped in cold washclothes. I can't imagine how hot they were when I got home from work. It is horrifying to even think about.

If there is ANY way we could post a bunch of information about this, that would be my ultimate goal. I did searches somewhat quickly, but I found such limited information. I just think the more information we can get about this, the better.

By the way, about the fleece, that seems to be the consensus, but when it got hot again the next day, I physically laid myself down on it & couldn't believe how hot I was. I really think 100% fleece all over the cage is a bad idea. My guys all have spots of just plain cotton now.

Salana: Bucky was white & light brown and Boo, his cagemate who lived, is solid dark brown. Therefore, don't be too sure about how their color effects their heat sensitivity, but I understand why you would come to that conclusion.

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SoCalCavies
Partners in Crime

Post   » Mon Apr 27, 2009 3:00 pm


From what I can gather online, the section of town I am in reached 100 degrees with very little humidity - about 19%. Dew point was 32.6 degrees F, and pressure was 29.16in. Wind speed was only 3mph, but we broke records that day bigtime.

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Feylin

Post   » Mon Apr 27, 2009 4:04 pm


You said that the cage is next to a window. I know that you said they had fans blowing and air circulating. However, I'm wondering, were they in direct sunlight from that window?

Maybe the sunlight was only there for part of the day and you haven't been able to see that because you are gone at work for that part.

Not trying to lay blame, just help you think.

Did you have frozen water bottles for the pigs to lay next to? Some people do this and wrap them in socks for the pigs.

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SoCalCavies
Partners in Crime

Post   » Mon Apr 27, 2009 4:22 pm


The cage is next to a window, but the sun only hits certain parts of the cage at a time. (The cage is huge.) So, they definitely had shade in different spots throughout the day.

I am absolutely to blame. That's the saddest part of this story - it IS my fault & I have to live with that. I KNEW the heat was going to break records that day - it was all over the radio. I made the decision not to go home to check on them during the day. It was a mistake, but it was absolutely my fault & I will never forgive myself.

No frozen bottles. No cotton to get off the fleece. Nothing! :(

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Christine

Post   » Mon Apr 27, 2009 6:24 pm


SoCal,
I want to tell you that this post certainly has raised my awareness about guinea pigs tolerating heat.

I am in NY state and the last two days we have close to 90 degree temps. That is very atypical for this area at this time of the year. It was a big jump in temperature...we went from the 70s the days before way up to 90.
My guinea pigs were feeling the heat yesterday...they were all sprawled out and drank way more water than is normal. I made up frozen water bottles and put them in the cages.
They did rest near the bottles for some of the day.

Seeing how they reacted to the heat, combined with reading your story, I have decided that I am going to buy air conditioners for their rooms to help them stay cool.

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