New Guinea died. No warning

Question
Thanks for your answer.  There were absolutley no symptoms.  We had him down in the family room all evening - he sat on my shoulder every night for an hour or so and tonight was no different.

His stools were regular shaped and his urine was a little cloudy although I understand that is just excess calcium.  There was nothing in his cage that was dangerous or poisoness.  Very occasionally,  since the day we brought him home,  he would sneeze but it was not regular. Only very occasionally so I ruled out a URI.

Could he have fallen?  In the cage?  He had a little upper level where we put his hay - maybe 10" above the rest of the cage?

Thanks for your help.  We will be going to a rescue.  We would never buy a dog from a pet store.  Not sure why we bought a piggie when there are many needy animals at the rescues.
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-----Question-----
We bought a Guinea Pig for our daughter for Christmas.  We did our research and got him a nice big cage.  

We took really good care of him and if he wasn't in the cage,  he was being cuddled.  Our daughter was absolutely careful handling him and did not tip him upside down or dangle him by his legs - the kind of things you read about.

He was fed correctly and had no problems eating or drinking.  We gave him part of an orange occasionally and we put Vit C drops in his water.

We also had a fair amount of Timothy Hay in his cage.

My wife went up there just no 10:30PM and he was on his side dead in the cage.

We got him from one of the big Pet stores.  He was about two months old.  Short haired.

Any ideas?  Daughter is heartbroken.
-----Answer-----
Hello Steve,

Without any symptoms, there's really no way for me to guess how he died. Unfortunantly most pet store animals come from bad places and often have genetic problems that aren't always obvious. It's possible one of these was the cause of his sudden death. Your family's care of him sounds excellent and it's very unlikely that it's anything you did or caused and it very likely something you couldn't have prevented even if you had known he had a problem. He may have had heart disease and died of heart faliure. Guinea Pigs can also have heart attacks and strokes and both can be instant killers with no previous symptoms. I'm so sorry your family, especially your daughter, had to lose her new best friend so soon and I'm sorry I couldn't be more helpful and give you a definitive answer. I'm going to include a link to a page for creating pet memorials. It may help your family deal with his sudden passing.

http://www.in-memory-of-pets.com

-kkat
http://www.geocities.com/abyssinianguineapigs

Answer
Hello Steve,

He could have fallen but, really, he would have had to land exactly right for a fall to kill him from that height so it's pretty unlikely. Piggies are fairly durable. They shouldn't be thrown around and of course falls should always be avoided as much as possible, but they do take them pretty well when they happen often even from pretty good heights. A fall from 10" most likely wouldn't have affected him much if at all. I'm really pretty certain it was nothing about his care or home that caused this. He sounds like he was very well and properly cared for. Unfortunantly pretty much all pet store animals come from not so great places. While it is widely known about dogs and puppy mills, most people don't realize the same things are generally happening to all of the other animals in pet stores too. One of the major qualifications for responsible breeding is not selling to pet stores, and as a result, they are pretty much certain to be from irresponsible breeders. Some do end up there from accidental breedings from local pet owners (generally from buying a pregnant pet and not having room to house unexpected babies) but rescues and reputable breeders are always the best options. When you do begin the hunt for a new piggy, I also suggest looking in the classifides of your local newspaper. People often have ads trying to rehome unwanted pets (try to avoid the "piggies for sale" ads though as they tend to be placed by backyard breeders and aren't a much better choice than a pet store). There really are many options if you choose to avoid pet stores (which is a good decision in my opinion that will hopefully prevent more heartache). I'm sure when the time is right, your daughter will have a new best animal friend that she will love dearly.

-kkat
http://www.geocities.com/abyssinianguineapigs