Mo and Zeke

I lost my two guinea pigs just barely over 2 months apart. Mo got sick, and died within 30 hrs. He died at 1am on Saturday Febuary 5th. He was my favorite little guy. Just couldn't help but having him as my favorite. His personality was amazing. He was a pet store rescue, the day I got him was the last day they were going to keep him. After that he was going to be sent back to the breeder!!! He was kinda funny looking (others thought he was ugly) so a lot of people had just passed over him. He had been at the pet store almost 3 months. I've been crying about his loss for the last 2 months. Then this past Friday night I saw my guinea pig Zeke having slight difficulty breathing, but VERY SLIGHT. Still, I freaked out about it, so I brought him to the vet Saturday. I am very experienced with guinea pigs and have most drugs needed to treat common illnesses at home, but was paranoid because of the loss of Mo. In the 10 minute drive to the vet he must have gotten stressed because he went downhill so fast he was dead within 2 hrs. At the vets we did everything we could afford. But the treatments the vet suggested would have totaled over 400$ (x-rays, blood work, 48+ hrs in an oxygen tent, possible exploritave surgery {can't imagine the cost of that}, etc). I feel so horrible, but I couldn't afford all of them. We spent 150$ for some medication and to pay for other things he needed (oxygen, etc). We brought him home to watch him for the night, and he had an appointment the following morning, less than 18 hrs away. He died 25 minutes after leaving the vets,in my arms, just as Mo had. And I will never know if all the treatments would have made a difference of not. It is horrible to have to put a price on a pets life. But what do you do when you have no money??
Seriously I am at a loss. I cry just thinking about the two of them. And I have one pig left, who grew up with the both of them.
This just sucks!
I never thought I'd post on a site like this about losing a pet. But, well... here I am, filled with guilt. And embaressed because I didn't do everything there was to do to save him. But I did everything I could :( :sorry:

Kimberly, don't beat yourself up. Very likely there's nothing you could have done anyway. By the time they have breathing problems, it's probably very difficult to save them, even if you identify the cause. I would keep a close eye on the remaining one though, in case it was something infectious.
Guinea pigs were my first pets, I LOVED them, the babies born all sweet and clean, you never knew how they would look either, so many different colour combinations. I didn't cuddle them but my brother got some for his boys and they used to bring them in at night and keep them in their laps while they watched TV and their pigs got very tame.

My boys all get floor time to run around outside of their cage. And TV time also :) They would sit on the couch between my boyfriend and myself while we watched the TV. Of course they were on a towel, to prevent those occasional "accidents".
My cat was even upset about their passing. They were all really good buddies. My cat even sleeps in their cage, and the piggys would run up to him and snuggle up. I'm sure you're thinking thats a horrible risk to take, a cat and rodents. But they have been together for a year now, and love each other. My pigs were raised with a beagle, until a little under 2 years ago. She thought they were her puppies, so they got wicked used to larger animals constantly in their cage, lol.
God, so many memories and funny little stories.
But, now I'm free to adopt another male pig who needs a loving home.
Guess it's true, everything happens for a reason.
But man, what a crappy deal.