Aging sow showing old age?

Question
I have a 5 year old sow named Phantom. She's going to be 6 in August. For over the past some months, she has had massive hair loss (which does grow back)and now she is having slight labored breathing. I noticed it when I was cleaning out her cage yesterday and I thought for sure that we were going to lose her, but she lived through the night. She was very limp when I held her last night, as I thought that was her going. There is no discharge from her eyes, nose and she is moving around fine. However, looking in her cage just now, there is no sight of droppings and very little urine spots. She does drink very little, but she's not eating. We can't afford the vet at the moment and I really want to keep her as comfortable as possible if this is her sign of old age. But I really don't know. She has a sister, Oreo, who is just as active as she is, but she's eating and breathing normally. They are not in the same cage due to domination issues. As of now, Phantom is very active, but I don't know how long she's going to be like this before she takes a turn for the worse.
From all the guinea pigs we have owned over the years, they all end up with different symptoms when it comes to illnesses. We have not had a guinea pig reach this age before so I don't know if this is old age or not. I'm at a loss. Any advice for this lost owner who can't afford the vet?

~Liz

Answer
Hi Liz,

usually there are many different ways for a guinea pig to express its dying syptomns. Those do sound like quite common syptomns. A 5 year old guinea pig is very old for a guinea pig and she would of had a good life. From the syptomns explained in you question, I would say she may have a couple of days to a week to live. Im terribley sorry.