Tribute to Peaches who died this morning

Hi everyone

You may know that I have 4 beautiful guineapigs, well sadly I now have 3. Peaches, my best friend and my pretty princess is dead. As I write this, I can barely type.

Last night Peach’s breathing was bad. When I took her to see the vet about 5 weeks ago for mites, I mentioned the fact she makes funny breathing noises sometimes and jolts her head forwards but he tested her heart and lungs and said everything seemed good.

I had peaches out for half an hour on my chest and took a short video of her breathing problem to show the vet next time I saw him.

This time her breathing was bad for a longer period of time than usual. By the time she went back in her cage, she had calmed down a lot. She has had breathing problems on and off for most of her life and sometimes it would be fine for quite a while. I have even seen her eat whilst her breathing is not sounding great.

This morning I woke up to lots of squeaking. They usually only do this if they want more food. I noticed that not much piggy mix had been eaten but all the carrot had been consumed. So I made all four of my pigs breakfast. I observed Peaches. Snuggles, her sister, was licking around her eye and I thought that was because she had had some yucky white stuff around both eyes last night, that I thought was to do with the mites, that she and the other pigs are still being treated for. Peaches then went and huddled in the corner facing the wall quietly. Neither her or Snuggles, her sister, were eating. Peaches was docile. I lifted the top of the cage off and was shocked to find peaches very poorly, she was struggling to stay alive and jerking her body back forth. She was coming to the end of her life.

I called the emergency vet, they could see her straight away. I called for a taxi because I don’t drive.

When I got outside my home, Peaches was hardly breathing, I knew she was almost dead. I phoned to see where my taxi was and they said he’s in the next street. Then the Taxi driver phoned me and at first I didn’t know who it was, I said yes this is Sandra but I can’t speak now because my guineapig is about to die and I have got to take her to the vets. Then I asked who it was and the taxi driver said who.he was. It was clear he was stuck in traffic, still on the street before my road, on the opposite side of the road.

Eventually he got close to my home and he stopped a bit further up and I rushed in to the front. I had to be careful not to crush Peaches in my haste. The driver could see she was in a bad way and almost not breathing. When we got to the vets, he stopped the clock for the cab and told me to get my guineapig in there and get her seen to and then pay him. I was so glad he did that.

She was put on anti-biotics straight away and oxgen. But the vet wasn’t hopeful.

After giving consent, I got told to leave, as there was nothing more I could do and phone back in about an hour. Less than an hour later, at 9.20am, I got a phone call from the vet to say Peaches had died. My heart is still in pieces. I am kicking myself that I didn’t take her last night as the vet said she had a lot of air in her tummy because she had been gasping for breath. She also said she had a respiratory infection that the anti-biotics couldn’t fight. She believes she has had a respiratory problem from birth and said she is not sure that if I had got her seen last night, that it would have helped. In the long term it wouldn’t have. She said I now need to kerp my eye of the other 3 as the problem will be genetic and they are all related. She lived with her sister Snuggles who is the mother to my other two, Cinnamon and Daisy. Snuggles was pregnant when I got her from the pet shop and I couldn’t
give her babies up.

My vet said I cannot get a companion for Snuggles yet as her and Cinnamon and Daisy, all need to be checked over as it is a genetic problem and Daisy is still scratching and biting. It is possible that it could be more than a mite problem, lets hope not.

I have been advised to get all of them checked over tomorrow morning, so I will need to take time off work to do it but it will be worth it.

To my Peaches: You may have left from my life but you will always be in my heart. I love you with all of my heart, our bond was so strong. My memories of you may fade but my love for you will never leave you and I will always remember you and the special times we shared. At the moment, the pain and sorrow I feel for you, is cutting me like a knife. I wish I had taken you to the vets last night. I am so sorry that I didn’t. I hate myself right now for it, even though I have been told your fate would still have been inevitable in the long term and the vet said it may not have made a difference. Thank you for the wonderful life you gave me, the motivation and inspiration to live on and fulfil my dreams. Right now, the only dream I wish would come true, would be to have you back in my life once more. To have you breathing comfortably and pressing your soft furry cheeks against mine. The twitch of your wiskers, your warmth against my body. You are my baby teddy bear and princess and I will miss kissing and hugging you for many years to come and always.

Here are some photos of my beautiful baby Peaches, who would have been two years old on the 12th of October.






Gone but never forgotton. I am sorry for your pain during the last moments of your life. Please forgive me for not acting sooner last night. I had always had a feeling that you may die young due to respiratory problems, even though the vet couldn’t find anything wrong with you before. That is why I said goodbye lots of times before. I told you that I don’t want anything to happen to you but if it did, I will always love you and I am blessed to have had you in my life. I am still blessed to have known such a gorgeous little life. You will always be my real-life teddy bear. I will look after your sister Peaches for you and Daisy and Cinnamon and get them checked out. I don’t want this blog post to end because it symbolises the end of your life.

Peaches, mummy will always love you. See you in piggy heaven one day. xxxxxxxx

Take care of yourself and your loved ones before it’s too late.

Write as soon as I am able to.

Sandra