So sorry for everyone who has lost a much loved piggy.
I wonder if life sometimes sends us the same lessons over to learn. With our first two we did regrettably push things a bit too far but with Lily we didn’t and that meant she was gone shockingly quickly but it was best for her. It’s just a shame some-pig has to be the ‘guinea pig’ so to speak when you don’t always get things completely right
I’ve no doubt that Lily knew how much we loved her and I hope she knows that we let her go so she didn’t have to suffer. We’d have loved for her to stay forever.
Some lessons can only be learned by doing them. I am certainly prepared to pts much sooner when I see that one of my piggies has taken a turn into the Alley of No Return and is in noticeable discomfort; but you can do that usually only after having experienced what you are saving your later piggies from after witnessing first-hand what your earlier piggies have gone through. Death is much more physical that most of us expect and learning to spot the often very subtle sign of discomfort and pain is not easy. Don't expect to pass every test life is setting you with flying colours. Mostly, you are muddling through and picking things up as you go along.
There is a grey area where there is no right and wrong, as long as you put your pets' welfare before your own fears; it is just a different weighting of the factors in play. You haven't failed your earlier piggies or your last one if you have done what felt right for you at the time.
On the background of a whole life time, it ultimately doesn't matter so much whether your piggies live a few days more or less but it matters that you can spare them preventable known discomfort at the sharp end - and that you have done that for all three of yours.
But that is a judgement you will never, ever get perfectly right every single time; I don't - not even after having had to take leave to around 60 piggies by now; about half of which I have had put to sleep (pts). Life has a way of throwing curve balls that come right out of the blind angle and take you by surprise, no matter how experienced you are.
Ultimately, it has to feel right for you in your gut so that you can make peace with yourself once you are past the inevitable phase of soul-searching that you are currently in; that is something you can work out to certain degree with recurring similar situations but you have to still make the decision by weighing up the individual situation each time on its own merits.
Additionally, the circumstances have to be right that you can make that decision and the 'right' decision is not taken out of your hands by circumstances beyond your control - piggies have a bad habit of falling seriously ill or reaching crisis point at the most inconvenient of times or take a sudden turn for the worst. You can always only try to do your best with the hand that you have been given; and that is no detriment to you being a good and loving owner.
Hindsight is a great thing but only if you take any lessons forward constructively, not if you tear yourself apart over what has not been obvious when you had to make your decisions with incomplete data and without knowing the outcome and its further implications. When you soul-search you always have to keep in mind that your path is obvious when you look back but that you have to navigate a maze without a map or any markers going forward. You can however over time learn to spot certain repeating markers and avoid some dead ends that you have previously ended up in.
Ownership is a life-long learning curve. Some lessons can be harder to take but they help you to mature and to become a better owner and a human gaining life experience. You do the latter mostly by making mistakes, dealing with the fallout and learning from that. As long as don't make the same mistakes all over again, you are doing fine. You cannot pay back but you can always pay forward.
If you worry about your decision making, then you may want to read the relevant chapter 4 in this guide here. It will hopefully help you to reassure yourself that you haven't done anything wrong for any of your piggies:
Death, Dying, Terminal Illness; Human Grieving and Bereaved Companions: Information and Support for Owners and Their Children
I would think it’s possible that advancements in vet car for piggies is finding Cancer more, but I guess we will never truly know.
