Two guinea pigs with very expensive problems

[Godissv]

Hello, I have two guinea pigs Nya and Cocoa who are both 4 1/2 years old. I’ve had both of them since they were babies and have a very strong attachment to them. Nya has ovarian cysts which were treated with two rounds hcg shots back in March 2021 which successfully shrunk them down. Cocoa on the other hand has never had any health issues she’s always been a healthy girl until recently. In October 2021 I noticed she lost a small amount of weight which gradually turned into a lot more. I wasn’t able to monitor this as closely because from Oct - Early Dec she was in the care of my roommate due to my bad living situation at the time. But since I’ve had her back she’s went from 816 g to 780 despite her increased appetite. She’s always hungry and has plenty of fresh veggies, oxbow timothy hay and pellets. So I took them both to the vet and was charged $566 for Cocoa to undergo anesthesia to have her blood drawn (I will post a picture of the results) aside from her potassium levels being a little low the vet said her results were abnormally healthy considering the amount of weight she’s lost. She suspects hyperthyroidism and charged me an additional $70 to have the lab run the tests for that which I’m currently waiting on. She told me my options would be oral meds, surgery or radiation therapy, I’m currently waiting on the results for those but have done research and see that all of these options are expensive and wanted to know if she was positively diagnosed if I could treat it at home with the correct dosage as I see Methimazole and thyronorm are available for purchase online. I also have some oxbow critical care coming in the mail soon to try and help her with her weight. As for Nya she suggest these $300 implants that she would have to replaced in 5-6 months I’d rather her be spayed but am worried because of her age and how invasive a full hysterectomy is. The exotic specialist gave me a quote of $500 - $700 and I really can’t afford to do that right now and got a referral for a different vet who can possibly do a keyhole surgery as I’ve seen through research that it’s less invasive and easier to recover from. Sorry for the lengthy post I’m just seeking some advice on what to do.

https://hiqy.tumblr.com%2Fpost%2F672714003649380352

 

[Godissv]

Hello, I have two guinea pigs Nya and Cocoa who are both 4 1/2 years old. I’ve had both of them since they were babies and have a very strong attachment to them. Nya has ovarian cysts which were treated with two rounds hcg shots back in March 2021 which successfully shrunk them down. Cocoa on the other hand has never had any health issues she’s always been a healthy girl until recently. In October 2021 I noticed she lost a small amount of weight which gradually turned into a lot more. I wasn’t able to monitor this as closely because from Oct - Early Dec she was in the care of my roommate due to my bad living situation at the time. But since I’ve had her back she’s went from 816 g to 780 despite her increased appetite. She’s always hungry and has plenty of fresh veggies, oxbow timothy hay and pellets. So I took them both to the vet and was charged $566 for Cocoa to undergo anesthesia to have her blood drawn (I will post a picture of the results) aside from her potassium levels being a little low the vet said her results were abnormally healthy considering the amount of weight she’s lost. She suspects hyperthyroidism and charged me an additional $70 to have the lab run the tests for that which I’m currently waiting on. She told me my options would be oral meds, surgery or radiation therapy, I’m currently waiting on the results for those but have done research and see that all of these options are expensive and wanted to know if she was positively diagnosed if I could treat it at home with the correct dosage as I see Methimazole and thyronorm are available for purchase online. I also have some oxbow critical care coming in the mail soon to try and help her with her weight. As for Nya she suggest these $300 implants that she would have to replaced in 5-6 months I’d rather her be spayed but am worried because of her age and how invasive a full hysterectomy is. The exotic specialist gave me a quote of $500 - $700 and I really can’t afford to do that right now and got a referral for a different vet who can possibly do a keyhole surgery as I’ve seen through research that it’s less invasive and easier to recover from. Sorry for the lengthy post I’m just seeking some advice on what to do.

https://hiqy.tumblr.com%2Fpost%2F672714003649380352

 

[VickiA]

I have had older sows spayed due to ovarian cysts and they have done well. My older ladies had the laparoscopic keyhole surgery (small wound to each flank) and bounced back quite quickly. I have no experience of the implants, sorry.

As for the ongoing weight loss issue, if it is hyperthyroidism there are a number of members on here whose piggies have either undergone surgery or whose piggies are in thyronorm medication. If you do get the diagnosis of overactive thyroid you may well be able to get your vet to give your a prescription for the drugs and you may be able to source them cheaper online. It depends what your vet will charge for giving you the prescription (script) in the first place as to whether this works out cheaper.
In the meantime, I agree it’s a good idea to supplement feeding, with a recovery food or similar. My piggies all love Emeraid IC herbivore which is high in calories so good for helping with weight gain.

It certainly sounds like your girls are in the best of hands with you and your vets.

 

[Engel]

I have no experience in this field but I'm curious and have a question; why are the neutrophils high? (Can suggest infection)
Also low platelets and lymphocytes. Did the vet talk about these?

 

[Godissv]

I have no experience in this field but I'm curious and have a question; why are the neutrophils high? (Can suggest infection)
Also low platelets and lymphocytes. Did the vet talk about these?

I was wondering the same thing but she didn’t say anything about that just the potassium levels. I will call and ask her about that. I saw noted in the lab comment that no infections were present.

 

[Godissv]

I have had older sows spayed due to ovarian cysts and they have done well. My older ladies had the laparoscopic keyhole surgery (small wound to each flank) and bounced back quite quickly. I have no experience of the implants, sorry.

As for the ongoing weight loss issue, if it is hyperthyroidism there are a number of members on here whose piggies have either undergone surgery or whose piggies are in thyronorm medication. If you do get the diagnosis of overactive thyroid you may well be able to get your vet to give your a prescription for the drugs and you may be able to source them cheaper online. It depends what your vet will charge for giving you the prescription (script) in the first place as to whether this works out cheaper.
In the meantime, I agree it’s a good idea to supplement feeding, with a recovery food or similar. My piggies all love Emeraid IC herbivore which is high in calories so good for helping with weight gain.

It certainly sounds like your girls are in the best of hands with you and your vets.

Thank you I will definitely look into the Emeraid IC!

 

[Sue and Smartie]

One of my pigs had her ovaries removed earlier this year. She is 3 and a half. She had them taken out from each side like you describe and you would never know now that she had been unwell. The operation itself was £150 but all the tests & investigations were much more than that. Vet bills are rarely cheap, and apart from the sheer quantity of the various drugs, there's not much difference in cost between what you'd pay for a piggy as you would a large dog for instance.

I don't know anything about hyperthyroidism, except that once a vet mentioned it when she thought my cat had this (she didn't, thankfully). It would have cost thousands, and the cat would have had to be at the vet's for 6 weeks. Nightmare!
I hope things start to look up for you soon x

 

[Merab]

I had a 4 year old spayed last year for ovarian cysts.
She bounced back very quickly.
Holding you in my thoughts