Help appreciated

[Ridingscarlet]

I feel so bad. Noticed my 2 year old boar was huddled up yesterday and got him out of his cage. Has been a couple of days since i handled him and he wasn’t himself (not wriggling to catch) and he had dropped weight. Took him to vets who charged me £125 to tell me he felt ok and all he could find was gum disease , gave me pain killers and a build up drink and told me to take him back two days later if no change. He didn’t take his temperature , he examined his abdomen and teeth. That evening no change and he was reluctant to have build up drink so I took him to emergency vet ( another silly amount of money)and was told he was critically I’ll, his temp was low and his body shutting down. Sadly he dies on her as she was going to start treatment last night. I feel so angry and guilty , second vet wasn’t sure of problem, boar only 2 , any help appreciated

 

[Siikibam]

I’m so sorry for your loss. Unfortunately we can’t tell you what May have been wrong. Priestly because we are not vets and secondly it could be any number of things. The only way to come close to an answer would be to have a post-mortem.

Piggies can and do hide illnesses, sometimes till last minute. You did what you could in a difficult situation so please try not to feel bad. It’s tough so give yourself time to grieve.

Take care of yourself n

 

[weepweeps]

I’m so sorry you have lost your lovely piggy. You have done all you could. Sometimes they hide things so well that even vets can’t find a cause. Take care.

 

[VickiA]

I’m so sorry for your loss. I’m afraid we don’t have the answers for you as we aren’t vets and didn’t examine him. Please go gently as you grieve his loss.

 

[Winniepeg]

I’m so sorry for your loss. You were vigilant to take your boy to the vets. As others have said piggies do hide illnesses well and can go downhill very quickly. I took my lovely Scottie to the emergency vets last April with a suspected respiratory condition. He was diagnosed with a renal tumour and passed away hours later. He was up at the bars of the cage for his veggies a couple of hours beforehand. Please know that you done everything you could and be kind to yourself. Sleep tight little fellow

 

[Wiebke]

HUGS

I am so sorry for your loss. Please be gentle with yourself. You have seen a vet, like every owner should, so you have not failed your boy as an owner.

I am very sorry that the first vet was not necessarily experienced with guinea pigs although depending what is going wrong, it can be hard to pin down. We can unfortunately not tell you whether it was an illness or a genetic issue at the bottom of it all. Dental overgrowth would not come on or cause death that quickly; it is a more gradual process. I have lost the odd younger piggy myself; one to neurological loss of the ability to swallow. Sadly, nothing could be done to help her. Mystery weight loss is my least favourite symptom. Unfortunately so many different things (and some of them are really whacky) can be behind it that we cannot even start to guess. By the time a small prey aminal like a guinea pig is showing symptoms, they are usually already very ill and it is very often a race against time; especially with the less obvious things that are not necessarily picked up on.

Your boy will also likely have not been feeling cold to the first vet; a low temperature is connected with the body closing down as the heart stops pumping blood around the body efficiently and then less and less. Fever in guinea pigs is rare.

Take any lessons that you as an owner could do better on board in a constructive way as they can save more lives down the line to improve your care - as we all can and do. You cannot pay back but you can always pay forward. There are unforeseeable things that you can only ever learning by running smack bang into them; any long term owner and any human adult has got their bloody knees and noses (I certainly have learned a lot of what I know the hard way). It's what we do with them when we pick ourselves up and go on.

Your strong feelings of guilt and anger are typical for the onset of the grieving process. They are just a lot stronger after a traumatic experience. Please take the time to read the information in the links below. You may find them helpful in understanding what you are experiencing right now and in the coming days and in learning more about picking up the very subtle signs of illness and of multiple organ failure (i.e. a natural death) plus what you can do at home in an emergency so you come ultimately out of this with regrets but also with some useful knowledge to counter your guilt and anger somewhat.

Death, Dying, Terminal Illness; Human Grieving and Bereaved Companions: Information and Support for Owners and Their Children
Emergency, Crisis and Bridging Care until a Vet Appointment