SheltieDream
New Born Pup
Two weeks ago my guinea pig (5 years) lost all apetite and didn't even want to eat her favourite veggies. I took her to exotics vet - did x-ray, ultrasound, bloodwork and turns out she has a big 'something' in her stomach (around 7 cm in diameter) but its not exacly clear what it is - could be from ovaries or on intestines. Vet said they can open her up and check, if this thing is even operable - then they will cut it out, otherwise they won't wake her up from anesthesia. But bloodwork results were not looking good - slightly anemic and biochemistry - high Urea and ALT - vet said there is a high chance that the kidneys are failing so the results ruled out surgery because she wouldn't survive it anyway in her current state.Despite this I wanted to fight and give her a chance so I asked if there is a way to strenghten her and check the bloodwork again.
I syringe fed and gave her medicine for kidneys + for "kickstarting intestines" +painkiller + iron + every 2-3 days vet was giving her fluids to "flush" the buildup of urea. My piggy was very cooperative and ate everything i was giving her without problems. She was losing weight but very slowly (~2g a day). After couple days she started eating on her own, and after week even without painkillers she started doing her usual things like jumping, laying flat, squeaking for attention, stretching... In the meantime she accidentally choked a little during syringe feeding resulting in mild respiratory inflamation but after getting antibiotics she recovered from that pretty fast.
Now after 2 weeks she is basically behaving like she always had and the bloodwork showed improvement so the vet is giving greenlight for surgery but after all this time I started to have doubts.
I don't know what to do. Even if this 'thing' is operable, she will most likely suffer considering its a pretty big chunk being removed from her body,and could even die desptie surgery being succesful as vet told me. In addition Christmas time is coming and with that traveling and vets being closed I probably won't be able to get help if something bad would be happening. I don't want her to suffer - her cagemate fell sick 3 months ago and even though she also was showing positive sings of recovery - she suddenly went downhill very fast one night and died in my arms - it was horrible, not peacefull at all, and it left me devastated.
On the other hand vet says there is a chance that she will recover okay if this thing is operable - but she can't promise that of course.
Vet suggested to put her to sleep at the start of all this but I insisted and strenghtened her up.
Now I can't stop thinking that it can be a better option to let her go while she is still able to enjoy her usual piggy business instead of taking a gamble.
I syringe fed and gave her medicine for kidneys + for "kickstarting intestines" +painkiller + iron + every 2-3 days vet was giving her fluids to "flush" the buildup of urea. My piggy was very cooperative and ate everything i was giving her without problems. She was losing weight but very slowly (~2g a day). After couple days she started eating on her own, and after week even without painkillers she started doing her usual things like jumping, laying flat, squeaking for attention, stretching... In the meantime she accidentally choked a little during syringe feeding resulting in mild respiratory inflamation but after getting antibiotics she recovered from that pretty fast.
Now after 2 weeks she is basically behaving like she always had and the bloodwork showed improvement so the vet is giving greenlight for surgery but after all this time I started to have doubts.
I don't know what to do. Even if this 'thing' is operable, she will most likely suffer considering its a pretty big chunk being removed from her body,and could even die desptie surgery being succesful as vet told me. In addition Christmas time is coming and with that traveling and vets being closed I probably won't be able to get help if something bad would be happening. I don't want her to suffer - her cagemate fell sick 3 months ago and even though she also was showing positive sings of recovery - she suddenly went downhill very fast one night and died in my arms - it was horrible, not peacefull at all, and it left me devastated.
On the other hand vet says there is a chance that she will recover okay if this thing is operable - but she can't promise that of course.
Vet suggested to put her to sleep at the start of all this but I insisted and strenghtened her up.
Now I can't stop thinking that it can be a better option to let her go while she is still able to enjoy her usual piggy business instead of taking a gamble.
