Dilly's Piggies
Teenage Guinea Pig
This is a long one, I apologise!
After an extremely stressful and sad day yesterday, I had to make the hardest decision us pet owners have to and let my nearly 7 year old girl go to the rainbow bridge. Melody had fought and won a brutal battle with cancer last year, having major surgery with only a 3% survival rate to remove a massive cancerous tumour that was attached to her stomach, pancreas and spleen, as well as being spayed at the same time as it had spread to her uterus. They removed as much as they could, but there was always still a chance it could come back or spread elsewhere.
Other than mild pancreatitis a few days after surgery which medication resolved, she bounced back from that surgery like it never happened and went on to live 9 more months of a pain free, happy, normal life. I was so shocked she pulled through that and so grateful to have had so much extra time with her, but as we all know, the amount of time we get with these special babies is never enough.
For the past few weeks I noticed she would breathe heavier and faster, there were no other symptoms, it would be like that one day and then she'd go back to normal, she never acted differently, didn't lose weight or stop eating. Then a week ago her eye started getting white discharge. I took her to the vets on Friday to have her checked over with an exotic vet, her heart, lungs, teeth, abdomen etc were all perfect, dye was used in her eye and it was found she had keratitis and was prescribed antibiotic eyedrops. I was relieved to hear she didn't have a URI or heart issue, I hoped it would just be a course of drops and she'd be good again.
The eyedrops were making her eye a bit worse tbh, but I was sticking the course and everything was going well. On Sunday night she ate her veggies around 9pm as normal, no fast breathing, then I went in at 11pm to give her eyedrops, and I found her in awful condition with no idea what on earth happened. Melody was struggling to breathe, it was very laboured and noisy, she was also extremely hot, weak and struggled to stand or walk, she kept falling over and stayed laid down from that point onwards, I couldn't get her up. Surprisingly she was still alert and eating, she ate some hay, treats, 15ml syringe feed and 10ml water willingly with no issues, I didn't have to force her and wouldn't have in that situation anyway, I only gave her it because she wanted it and handled it fine.
I phoned the vet immediately but it took hours just to get ahold of someone, just to be told they're too busy so I can either wait until morning and take her to my regular vet, or pay £300 just for someone to come to my house. As it was 3am by this point and Melody was still eating and alert, I opted to wait a few hours and have her seen first thing in the morning.
My regular vet was still busy, so I had to drive and take her to their other practice, it was hot too. When we got there they took her straight away examined her and put her straight onto oxygen, which was terrifying. They said she's in critical condition, she had a fever of 40.1 and they advised euthanasia. They didn't know exactly what was wrong and as this practice was smaller with no xray machine, they sent us back to the original vet I wanted to see in the first place, so I had to drive her back to them with no oxygen, messing us and poor Melody around. I wanted to know what exactly was wrong and if anything could be done before making that hard decision. I kept hoping this was a URI and antibiotics and oxygen would be enough to help her.
I got her to the main practice, they took her quickly to the back and put her on oxygen again, stabilised her and then took her for xrays. They sent us home as we didn't know how long it'd be, but they did it all pretty quickly, it's honestly all a blur at this point. I got a phone call about an hour later and they said it's not looking good, she had a very swollen stomach which they said is likely from her swallowing air while struggling to breathe. Her lungs were also full of fluid and not getting enough air in as her stomach was so expanded that it was putting pressure on all her other organs. Due to her history of having cancer, they said it's highly likely the cancer has come back on her stomach and has spread to her lungs now too. It also could've been pneumonia.
I asked if there's anything they could do and they said her only hope would be to stay in intensive care on oxygen, have a tube inserted into her stomach to remove the air, use medication to remove the fluid in her lungs, try antibiotics and fluids etc, with possibly surgery if there are tumours, but the chance of her surviving all this is extremely low so they didn't recommend doing it, they advised letting her go.
I wanted so badly to try and save her, but I made a promise to Melody and myself that if that cancer came back, I would not put her through all that again. It took so much out of her last time, it was a miracle she even made it, I also did feel a little selfish about going for treatment last time when everyone told me to let her go, even though it ended up paying off, I'm glad now that I gave her a chance. Given that she was almost 7 years old, weighing 800g and in such critical condition this time, it just wasn't fair to put her through it. I wish I could have said yes, but I believe it would have been extremely selfish of me and she likely wouldn't have come through anyway, she's incredibly strong, but there's only so much she can take and I feel like it was time to make that choice.
I got to hold her before they took her away, she was so poorly, she had declined a lot since I left her there a few hours earlier. She was boiling hot to the touch, so weak and lethargic. She still tried to buff my hand off of her head and nibbled/licked my fingers like she normally does, she still had a little bit of sass there, bless her heart, the way she looked at me I'll never forget, she told me thank you and that she was ready. We know our pets so well, I'm sure others here know what I mean to, you know when it's time. Goodbye sweet Melody, you were such an incredible piggie, you've been there for me for so many years, we've been through so much together. I miss you horribly, but I'm sure you're popcorning pain free now with all your friends from the past too, rest in peace
❤
Now I have an added worry, her cagemate Delilah has also shown the laboured breathing issue that Melody had, but obviously not to that extent. Her breathing gets noisy too, we always thought it was weather or dusty hay related, maybe even allergies. Paisley was just diagnosed with ovarian cysts on Friday and got an implant for that, she has heavy breathing very rarely too but we thought it was related to the cysts or the heat, being long haired and hot. Delilah and Paisley both saw the vet too on Friday, had their chests listened to and they were fine, but then again Melody's chest was also clear then and she went from fine to gone in 2 days from seeing the vet, so there's a chance it could be a contagious infection. It's highly unlikely but as Delilah was staying at the vet with Melody, the vet checked her over too. She said her breathing sounds clear, but it is faster than normal, so we've been given antibiotics to give to Delilah and Paisley for a week to cover them incase it is contagious. I hope it isn't and it was just Melody's age and history causing her to get sick, but I'm glad we can sort Delilahs breathing now too.
It has been such a stressful few months, I lost Lottie back in April too, Lottie and Melody were my two favourite girls. Of course I love them all, but some piggies are just a little more special. I had 11 piggies 5 years ago and now I'm just left with 3, the piggie room and my heart feels so painful and empty. Obviously Delilah and Paisley are still a pair, but Dolly who was Lottie's friend has been alone since. I'd like to get more but the heartbreak when they leave I struggle a lot with. I've tried bonding them together but Dolly is a bit of a bully, bless her. Maybe I can try bonding them as a trio now, I hope they will get along.
In case anyone is interested, here are some photos of the xrays taken from Melody, you can obviously see that her stomach is super swollen, likely with tumours attached too hence why it looks misshapen. They said it's hard to tell sometimes whether it's air or tissue on xrays so they can't be 100% sure, it's just most likely. The vet also said her lungs are supposed to look black on an xray, but they aren't so that meant she wasn't getting enough air in. I asked if this was bloat as this happened right after veggies, but she said it wasn't as the stomach is normally in a large U shape with bloat, but it was a big ball instead. It looks horrible though. She said Melody probably wasn't in a lot of pain from this, it was likely uncomfortable and not being able to breathe was the main thing that made her feel so ill. Poor baby.
After an extremely stressful and sad day yesterday, I had to make the hardest decision us pet owners have to and let my nearly 7 year old girl go to the rainbow bridge. Melody had fought and won a brutal battle with cancer last year, having major surgery with only a 3% survival rate to remove a massive cancerous tumour that was attached to her stomach, pancreas and spleen, as well as being spayed at the same time as it had spread to her uterus. They removed as much as they could, but there was always still a chance it could come back or spread elsewhere.
Other than mild pancreatitis a few days after surgery which medication resolved, she bounced back from that surgery like it never happened and went on to live 9 more months of a pain free, happy, normal life. I was so shocked she pulled through that and so grateful to have had so much extra time with her, but as we all know, the amount of time we get with these special babies is never enough.
For the past few weeks I noticed she would breathe heavier and faster, there were no other symptoms, it would be like that one day and then she'd go back to normal, she never acted differently, didn't lose weight or stop eating. Then a week ago her eye started getting white discharge. I took her to the vets on Friday to have her checked over with an exotic vet, her heart, lungs, teeth, abdomen etc were all perfect, dye was used in her eye and it was found she had keratitis and was prescribed antibiotic eyedrops. I was relieved to hear she didn't have a URI or heart issue, I hoped it would just be a course of drops and she'd be good again.
The eyedrops were making her eye a bit worse tbh, but I was sticking the course and everything was going well. On Sunday night she ate her veggies around 9pm as normal, no fast breathing, then I went in at 11pm to give her eyedrops, and I found her in awful condition with no idea what on earth happened. Melody was struggling to breathe, it was very laboured and noisy, she was also extremely hot, weak and struggled to stand or walk, she kept falling over and stayed laid down from that point onwards, I couldn't get her up. Surprisingly she was still alert and eating, she ate some hay, treats, 15ml syringe feed and 10ml water willingly with no issues, I didn't have to force her and wouldn't have in that situation anyway, I only gave her it because she wanted it and handled it fine.
I phoned the vet immediately but it took hours just to get ahold of someone, just to be told they're too busy so I can either wait until morning and take her to my regular vet, or pay £300 just for someone to come to my house. As it was 3am by this point and Melody was still eating and alert, I opted to wait a few hours and have her seen first thing in the morning.
My regular vet was still busy, so I had to drive and take her to their other practice, it was hot too. When we got there they took her straight away examined her and put her straight onto oxygen, which was terrifying. They said she's in critical condition, she had a fever of 40.1 and they advised euthanasia. They didn't know exactly what was wrong and as this practice was smaller with no xray machine, they sent us back to the original vet I wanted to see in the first place, so I had to drive her back to them with no oxygen, messing us and poor Melody around. I wanted to know what exactly was wrong and if anything could be done before making that hard decision. I kept hoping this was a URI and antibiotics and oxygen would be enough to help her.
I got her to the main practice, they took her quickly to the back and put her on oxygen again, stabilised her and then took her for xrays. They sent us home as we didn't know how long it'd be, but they did it all pretty quickly, it's honestly all a blur at this point. I got a phone call about an hour later and they said it's not looking good, she had a very swollen stomach which they said is likely from her swallowing air while struggling to breathe. Her lungs were also full of fluid and not getting enough air in as her stomach was so expanded that it was putting pressure on all her other organs. Due to her history of having cancer, they said it's highly likely the cancer has come back on her stomach and has spread to her lungs now too. It also could've been pneumonia.
I asked if there's anything they could do and they said her only hope would be to stay in intensive care on oxygen, have a tube inserted into her stomach to remove the air, use medication to remove the fluid in her lungs, try antibiotics and fluids etc, with possibly surgery if there are tumours, but the chance of her surviving all this is extremely low so they didn't recommend doing it, they advised letting her go.
I wanted so badly to try and save her, but I made a promise to Melody and myself that if that cancer came back, I would not put her through all that again. It took so much out of her last time, it was a miracle she even made it, I also did feel a little selfish about going for treatment last time when everyone told me to let her go, even though it ended up paying off, I'm glad now that I gave her a chance. Given that she was almost 7 years old, weighing 800g and in such critical condition this time, it just wasn't fair to put her through it. I wish I could have said yes, but I believe it would have been extremely selfish of me and she likely wouldn't have come through anyway, she's incredibly strong, but there's only so much she can take and I feel like it was time to make that choice.
I got to hold her before they took her away, she was so poorly, she had declined a lot since I left her there a few hours earlier. She was boiling hot to the touch, so weak and lethargic. She still tried to buff my hand off of her head and nibbled/licked my fingers like she normally does, she still had a little bit of sass there, bless her heart, the way she looked at me I'll never forget, she told me thank you and that she was ready. We know our pets so well, I'm sure others here know what I mean to, you know when it's time. Goodbye sweet Melody, you were such an incredible piggie, you've been there for me for so many years, we've been through so much together. I miss you horribly, but I'm sure you're popcorning pain free now with all your friends from the past too, rest in peace
❤Now I have an added worry, her cagemate Delilah has also shown the laboured breathing issue that Melody had, but obviously not to that extent. Her breathing gets noisy too, we always thought it was weather or dusty hay related, maybe even allergies. Paisley was just diagnosed with ovarian cysts on Friday and got an implant for that, she has heavy breathing very rarely too but we thought it was related to the cysts or the heat, being long haired and hot. Delilah and Paisley both saw the vet too on Friday, had their chests listened to and they were fine, but then again Melody's chest was also clear then and she went from fine to gone in 2 days from seeing the vet, so there's a chance it could be a contagious infection. It's highly unlikely but as Delilah was staying at the vet with Melody, the vet checked her over too. She said her breathing sounds clear, but it is faster than normal, so we've been given antibiotics to give to Delilah and Paisley for a week to cover them incase it is contagious. I hope it isn't and it was just Melody's age and history causing her to get sick, but I'm glad we can sort Delilahs breathing now too.
It has been such a stressful few months, I lost Lottie back in April too, Lottie and Melody were my two favourite girls. Of course I love them all, but some piggies are just a little more special. I had 11 piggies 5 years ago and now I'm just left with 3, the piggie room and my heart feels so painful and empty. Obviously Delilah and Paisley are still a pair, but Dolly who was Lottie's friend has been alone since. I'd like to get more but the heartbreak when they leave I struggle a lot with. I've tried bonding them together but Dolly is a bit of a bully, bless her. Maybe I can try bonding them as a trio now, I hope they will get along.
In case anyone is interested, here are some photos of the xrays taken from Melody, you can obviously see that her stomach is super swollen, likely with tumours attached too hence why it looks misshapen. They said it's hard to tell sometimes whether it's air or tissue on xrays so they can't be 100% sure, it's just most likely. The vet also said her lungs are supposed to look black on an xray, but they aren't so that meant she wasn't getting enough air in. I asked if this was bloat as this happened right after veggies, but she said it wasn't as the stomach is normally in a large U shape with bloat, but it was a big ball instead. It looks horrible though. She said Melody probably wasn't in a lot of pain from this, it was likely uncomfortable and not being able to breathe was the main thing that made her feel so ill. Poor baby.
I hope Delilah and Paisley are ok
