Mummybean
Junior Guinea Pig
My guinea pig, Digby, has had breathing issues, where you can hear his breathing constantly and it sounds strained and as if something is almost blocking the airway. This has been going on since Christmas.
He has also been barbering away his furr for no obvious reason.
We have taken him to the vets numerous times, but they said that all the basic things had been ruled out, leaving only really internal things like cancer. Apparently lung cancer is fairly common in Guinea pigs.
They told us that they advised against surgery if it is lung cancer, he would have to be out under anaesthesia twice and the recovery would be long and painful. Apparently only a few they have operated on even survived, and most passed during the operation.
Not only this but it’s a lot of money, for something that doesn’t sound like it’s even going to work. He’s 4, and we are giving him anti inflammatory and pain relief which seems to help, although is slowly becoming less and less effective.
He still has quality of life for sure though, he gets excited for food, wheeks and loves coming out for floor time, and the breathing doesn’t sound like he’s really struggling yet, just more difficult and strained but like he’s still able to breathe without tonnes of effort.
Anyway, today he started this thing, he looks dazed when he does it, this is new and not normal.
I’ve tried attaching a video, but it says it doesn’t have an allowed extension. It’s basically his head and body bobbing forwards and backwards over and over and it’s as if he’s asleep. His head looks like it’s rocking or something, just backwards and forwards again and again. I’d best describe it as head bobbing, I don’t know if I read this somewhere but for some reason it came to mind almost instantly.
Is there anything we can do for him? Is this a sign he’s declining? Do you think we should go ahead with the x-rays, biopsy, operation etc? Also, is it definitely cancer, we have checked many things but apparently it’s common and the symptoms seem to match. We are really worried about him, we want to know if he’s in pain and things and how much longer we’ll have with him. He’s skinnier, lost so much hair he’s half naked, constantly making a breathing noise or wheezing and ravenous no matter how much we feed him. It’s so sad to see him this way and it’s truly heartbreaking whatever it is, I just worry we aren’t doing enough for him
any help would be appreciated, thank you so much in advance.
He has also been barbering away his furr for no obvious reason.
We have taken him to the vets numerous times, but they said that all the basic things had been ruled out, leaving only really internal things like cancer. Apparently lung cancer is fairly common in Guinea pigs.
They told us that they advised against surgery if it is lung cancer, he would have to be out under anaesthesia twice and the recovery would be long and painful. Apparently only a few they have operated on even survived, and most passed during the operation.
Not only this but it’s a lot of money, for something that doesn’t sound like it’s even going to work. He’s 4, and we are giving him anti inflammatory and pain relief which seems to help, although is slowly becoming less and less effective.
He still has quality of life for sure though, he gets excited for food, wheeks and loves coming out for floor time, and the breathing doesn’t sound like he’s really struggling yet, just more difficult and strained but like he’s still able to breathe without tonnes of effort.
Anyway, today he started this thing, he looks dazed when he does it, this is new and not normal.
I’ve tried attaching a video, but it says it doesn’t have an allowed extension. It’s basically his head and body bobbing forwards and backwards over and over and it’s as if he’s asleep. His head looks like it’s rocking or something, just backwards and forwards again and again. I’d best describe it as head bobbing, I don’t know if I read this somewhere but for some reason it came to mind almost instantly.
Is there anything we can do for him? Is this a sign he’s declining? Do you think we should go ahead with the x-rays, biopsy, operation etc? Also, is it definitely cancer, we have checked many things but apparently it’s common and the symptoms seem to match. We are really worried about him, we want to know if he’s in pain and things and how much longer we’ll have with him. He’s skinnier, lost so much hair he’s half naked, constantly making a breathing noise or wheezing and ravenous no matter how much we feed him. It’s so sad to see him this way and it’s truly heartbreaking whatever it is, I just worry we aren’t doing enough for him
any help would be appreciated, thank you so much in advance.
