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Neurological/collapse

LucyP

LucyP

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This morning we rushed Betty to the vets after finding her collapsed in her hidey unable to move her limbs. They think possibly neurological, perhaps a post op blood clot that’s affecting her spinal cord? It was all such a blur I’m not sure what they said. Her eyes are responding to stimuli, she did some poos on the way to the vets and she did try to pull her foot away when the vets touched
 
Thanks so much.

Sorry my message didn’t send properly. The vets said she may not make it- she’s staying in with them now and they’re going to try to do what they can. We’re in pieces.

She has been doing ok post op (mammary mass removal) although the wound was large and taking a while to heal.

She’s been in metacam and bayteil (which she is still on).

We recently stopped thr gabapentin and cisapride as her eating was better and the vets felt that two pain relief meds were no longer needed.

I can’t believe this is happening after all she’s been through already.
 
If anyone has any advice on sudden neurological collapses like this please let me know. We’re so worried about her and gutted, she’s only 3 and a half and seemed in good form last night when we went to bed.
 
I'm very sorry, the prognosis for any neurological condition is always uncertain- and if it is caused by a blood clot after surgery, there's not much to be done for such a small delicate animal except wait and see how she does and be guided by your vet.
If she has a foot reflex in a way that may be a good sign, but it also might mean the blood clot/damage are affecting her brain not her lower body, which of course isnt good...
I'm very sorry but even in humans where there are treatment options and neurological tests and specialist doctors, it would still be a very uncertain time with lots of waiting and hoping in this situation... sending hugs x
 
I'm so very sorry, I wonder if it was due to the removal of the gabapentin? It is used in helping neurological issues, one of my lethal whites is currently taking it for his neuro issues.
No real advice but I wanted to send good vibes for her recovery, poor little lady ❤ make sure you're taking care of yourselves as well, easy to forget when you're anxiously waiting for news
 
Thanks everyone so much.

We did mention the gabapentin stopping as a potential factor. She was on 0.12ml of that twice a day as an extra pain relief (as the wound was so large) for a couple of weeks but it was always meant to temporary. she came off that about 2 days ago after her last post op check up which was only on Friday.

Gutted if this has come from surgery and just wishing we’d left her alone now. Her mass was benign and it also hasn’t grown so maybe she’d have been better left alone.

The vets are very good so I don’t hold them at fault at all. They’ve been brilliant.
 
I’m so sorry to hear about Betty. Fingers crossed and sending lots of healing wheeks.
 
Thanks for all your good wishes. They’re keeping her in tonight (they’re staffed 24/7 so she will get support from their exotic team) and they are doing their best for her. The vet said he’ll call if there’s any news either way and will of course let us know if we need to make the horrible decision to let her go. I hope it won’t come to that and she can recover.

We all agreed it’s worth trying to help her first, but only as long as the interventions don’t cause more distress or suffering than the potential benefits. I trust them to be honest with us about her prognosis so we can make the best decision for her.

She’s an amazing, loving and incredibly special pig who had a horrible start to life and had been so happy with us, and I’m just so gutted she’s going through all of this, and I feel awful she’s stuck at the vets, but I do feel it gives her a chance. Will let you know what happens next x
 
Thank you all. If there’s anything you think we should be doing/researching or suggesting to the vets please let me know. I spent a lot of time planning around her mammary issue and post op care but feel totally unprepared for and quite hopeless about the neurological side. I honestly thought she was dying on the way to the vets and can’t really believe it when she’s been seeming so well apart from her wound.
 
Oh no poor Betty and poor you. I hope and pray she makes it through this and gets better. Good luck to you both 🤞❤️
 
Sending Betty loads of healing vibes and a hug for you. 🤞She starts to recover from whatever it is x
 
Thanks again for all the support. I pray and hope they can help her. Part of me wishes she was at home with us, especially if they can’t help her anyway. Hoping she’s not feeling too alone at the vets and feeling bad about that. I didn’t get to take Winnie her cagemate with her as it was so fraught and rushed and panicky, and I didn’t know if I should put them both in the carrier while betty was so flopped out and needed her space. Winnie tends to panic which might not have been so good for Betty. But maybe they’d have been better together. Anyway I’m hoping the vet’s observations will help us at least get a sense of what might be going on. We’ve spent the whole day basically crying and panicking which probably wouldn’t have been very helpful for her. So hard to know what to do for the best in these situations isn’t it?
 
I’m sending healing vibes to Betty and best wishes to you during this difficult time.
 
Dear all

I’m sorry to share the news that Betty sadly didn’t make it, she died at the vets last night despite their best efforts. I can’t even believe I’m typing these words.

We’re utterly devastated to lose our spirited, friendly, adventurous and utterly adorable pig. She was so full of personality and meant so much to us, it’s hard to describe.

We’re also sad she died in hospital, although slightly reassured that the end was apparently quick for her and with strong pain relief. They hadn’t yet reached the point of deciding we should help over the bridge (we had all agreed if she was suffering this would be the immediate next step) but she died anyway. I am now of course wondering if it would have been kinder for me to have her PTS when we first took her in on Sunday morning, so that her last 11 hours of life wouldn’t have been at the vets. But at the same time we wanted to give her a chance which the vets felt was a worth a try at that point. I also feel awful I didn’t find her sooner on the morning in case that could have possibly helped change the outcome. I know with humans who have strokes, time is of the essence.

So many ifs and buts and I can’t help feeling I’ve badly let her down.

We’re also massively in shock that after all she’s been through, this neurological issue has come along from nowhere. For all the research and soul searching we did when deciding whether to intervene with her mammary mass, this was not an outcome we were prepared for. We really thought that she was finally doing well post op and over the worst. All our efforts the last few weeks have been on carefully checking her food intake and weight, and managing her wound. Neuro factors weren’t on our radar at all. I appreciate these things can come out of the blue and it may not even be related to her recent operation, but I’m gutted if it is.
She’s had three vet visits since her operation with health checks and no signs of issues other than supporting the wound to heal. At home she’s been quite perky and happily purring and chut chut chutting about just yesterday. She even did a popcorn the other day. I can’t believe we find ourselves in this position.

The vet who called us tonight sounded devastated too, they’ve all got to know Betty over the months and always tried their best for her.

We are keeping a very close eye on little Winnie and know we need to think about her needs too now. Although Winnie was overall mostly the boss, she really relied on Betty to be the chief squeaker and the first to try out new things, with Winnie always close behind waiting for Betty to tell her what was safe, and she often chose to lay down near Betty etc. It feels so difficult to even think about this but we will of course do the right thing and find Winnie a companion she likes through a rescue soon, maybe the St Albans one or another off the list if they have any single ladies. All the guides on here are very helpful.

Sorry for this long post..

Thanks so very much for your support and so sorry it wasn’t a better outcome to share. X
 
I’m so very sorry Betty has gone over the bridge. You did all you could for her. Don’t feel any guilt about that. She was a beauty and sounded wonderful.
 
Oh I'm so sorry to hear Betty has gone over the Rainbow Bridge, what a beautiful piggy.
You did your best for her, and you made every decision with love. That's what counts, and Betty will know that x
RIP Betty x
 
I am so, so sorry for your loss. If its of any comfort, I am of the "try absolutely everything" mindset and have seen my fair share of natural deaths because of how far down my list of options euthenasia usually falls. In my experience, when cared for like Betty was, with the proper painkillers etc on board, when they pass it is very quick and gentle.
I would have made the same decisions you did, sometimes sadly we don't win but I'm sure Betty was extremely grateful you gave her the chance to recover in such caring and expert hands ❤
Hugs to you and Winnie, guilt and blame are natural parts of grief, just remember even though you will question all your decisions, you made them with her best interests at heart with the information you had at the time.
 
Thanks everyone, really appreciate the good wishes and it is of huge comfort to us to think that hopefully she wasn’t suffering too much at the end and that we didn’t fail her.

I hate the fact her last few weeks were so much about illness, weakness and vet visits, when the rest of her life was so much her vitality, vigour and absolute full on enthusiasm for everything. It’s a really sad and untimely end to her great adventures with us and it’s so quiet without her vocalising her every thought all day long. 😭

I guess we’ll never know exactly what cause this neurological issue. We’re in absolute pieces but trying to stay relatively organised and calm for Winnie. She’s been quite withdrawn and quiet. She’s eating her usual small amounts of veg and nuggets happily but seems less interested in the hay, we are now weighing her daily. She’s taken 8ml of syringe feed quite happily this morning and we will give her some more throughout the day as needed. I hope she’ll be okay.

Thanks again x
 
Guinea pigs measure their lives in happy todays. You gave Betty lots of happy todays. She will take that with her to the Rainbow Bridge. She is in her prime once more and popcorning and zooming away and making lots of new friends in her new life at the Rainbow Bridge.
 
So very sorry that Betty didn’t make it.
You gave her a wonderful, loving home and that is what matters.
Be gentle with yourself as you grieve
 
I’m so sorry that Betty crossed the rainbow. You gave her the best life you could do please don’t doubt your choices up to the end. Take good care of yourself ❤️
 
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