Pet Loss: Wynston Grieving the Loss of Sammie

My guinea pig Sammie passed away on Friday.  I adopted him in January but in the short time he was a part of our family, I wasn’t the only one who became extremely attached to him.  And I’m not the only one who’s struggling with his loss.

Sammie’s death was extremely tragic.  It came out of nowhere and after three days and two visits to the vet, I watched him rapidly deteriorate over the course of 48 hours.  Read the full story here.

Wynston and Sammie were buddies.  They’d run around together every night.  They even played games of hide and go seek.  It was the most precious thing ever.  When I rescued Sam, I put an ottoman by the table that his cage was set up on, and Wynston would just sit there and watch him run around and eat hay.  They would touch noses through the cage.  It was quite the animal bond.

On Thursday, Wynston seemed very sick.  He was walking everywhere with his tail tucked, he was shaking all day, and he didn’t even want to go on a walk.  Sammie was also dying that day.  It was to the point where I was syringe feeding Sam food and water in an attempt to save him.  Wynston knew.  He got on the ottoman one last time, almost as if to say goodbye to Sam.  Although Sammie wasn’t moving much at that point, he slowly made his way to the side of the cage to touch noses with Wynston.  It was so unbelievably sad.

When Sammie passed away early Friday morning, Matt and I took him to the vet for a private cremation.  Upon our arrival home, Wynston followed me upstairs to my office, where Sam stayed.  I started to dismantle Sammie’s 4×2 area and Wynston sat under the table staring at me, almost as if he was saying “mom, what happened?  Where’s my brother?”

He sat next to me the entire time I cleaned up my office of Sammie’s items.  He literally just sat there.  That night, I was sitting at my computer and Wynston came and sat under my desk.  I could tell he was sad.  I looked at him and started to cry as I said “it’s okay my son.  Sam is with God now and we’ll see him again one day.”  A tear dropped from his eye.

All weekend Wyn has been eating, drinking and occasionally playing, but I can definitely tell he’s grieving.  He’s been sleeping in weird places and wants to be on my lap while I work.  This morning I was cleaning out the last of Sammie’s items, and Wynston watched me with that sadness again.  It’s so heartbreaking.

I know Wynston is wondering where his brother is and why his table isn’t set up anymore.  I’ve been keeping a close eye on him, just to make sure he doesn’t get sick or anything.  Since I believe in essential oils as a healing aid, I bought some lavender and put it in a warm vaporizer in my office, where Wynston likes to hang out and sleep.  I’m hoping that not only will it help him, but it will calm me down as well.

I feel so sad for Wynston.  It breaks my heart to see him feeling down.  I wish I could tell him what happened, but obviously he sensed Sam’s death coming and he knows he’s gone now.  All I can do is be there for Wynston and keep him occupied with lots of play and walks to keep his spirits up.

Has your pet ever had a hard time with the death of another animal?