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Charlie - is there anything else I can do?

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If you have any suspicions it may be a fungal infection, you probably shouldn't be using antibiotics- we were advised and any reading I did suggested giving antibiotics while having a fungal infection, kills of good bacteria too, which helps hold the fungus in check, removing any competition.
 
I am so sorry you lost Charlie, I really feel for you. Big hugs.

How are the other 9 this morning? I hope the poorly ones are improving, or at the very least staying 'ok'. I would find it hard to believe that almost all of your piggies have heart defects unless most of them are related, so as you say it's very important you get those results from the post-mortem so you and your vet can figure out what's going on. I hope the results are back very soon. Fingers crossed tightly for you and your guins. xx
 
Hi All

Many thanks for your good wishes. The good news is the rest of the piggies are holding their own and Grommie/Maple/Beech respiration is improving now we've started heart meds.

However Beech is clearly in some pain tonight, wheeking and angling himself awkwardly lying down when he poos/wees. In light of his previous urine infection/gut stasis/enema/impaction there may either be a stone or inflammation/trauma of his bladder or bowel ( I do now have to unblock him each day). However I haven't ruled out adhesion complications from his neutering last August and I would like to see if this can be checked out. He is not on any antibiotics as he can;t even tolerate septrin (runny poos). I've given him some metacam tonight and will go back for x rays etc tomorrow to determine the problem.

The micro results from Charlies previous chest drain came back negative today although they are continuing with anaerobic culture for a few days more. The vet couldn;t identify the source of the leak during the PM but remarked Charlie's heart had adhesions to the body wall which was unusual. There was an enlarged cervical lymph node and also an enlarged adrenal gland or lymph node (he couldn;t determine which it was). All have gone off for histology together with the other major organs.

Hopefully there will be some positive developments over the next few days.

x
 
Glad to hear that your piggies are doing okay, however sorry to hear that Beech is suffering :( Hope that he begins to feel better very quickly.

Good luck at the vet, hope you get some good answers
 
Beechie got pain relief and Vit injections but there is nothing more we can do unless we do explorative surgery which I have ruled out. Let's hope his gut stabilises. His bladder is slightly inflamed but metacam should help relieve that. He's a bit wheezy but not as bad as some of the others.

Whisp's PM results are back today....malignant lymphoma found in practically all organs. This was rather spooky as last night I had come to the conclusion myself that lymphoma was a real possibility so infact I was not shocked when the vet told me. I certainly think that Pebble, the first piggie to pass away, had the same condition and that Grommie also definitely has it and is not long for this world.

Given the data/symptoms to date, (assuming Charlie's PM results show the same thing) the exotics vet now thinks the majority of piggies exhibiting the same clinical symptoms will most likely have the same diagnosis/prognosis
:0:0:0:0:0:0

I was a bit shocked as to have so many (of varying ages between 18 months and 6 years) developing cancer at the same time is to say the least unusual (unheard of)...hence why I alwasy favoured a bug. However Vet says the literature suggests an oncovirus might cause this disease, and if so, my poor piggies could be first substantive proof that this type of lymphoma is indeed virally induced and that it can be transmitted between piggies.

Needless to say I am extremely gutted and distraught. I am going to have to make some very tough decisions over the next few days, and I think I'm going to go for a third opinion before starting any treatment. [*]If anyone knows of a suitably experienced vet please let me know.[/*]

In light of the many implications of my piggies current situation, I realise the thread could now be opened up to a lot of (possibly heated) debate and opinions on what i should do now. I would respectfully ask that this doesn;t happen and that me and my remaining 9 piggies can be left to enjoy what time we have left together.

Many thanks for your support
 
I'm so sorry to hear what you're still going through with your piggies - I can only imagine how it must feel, you have my heartfelt support and prayers. I've never heard of anything like it - I only hope that all of this can at least help in some way to treat or prevent it in other pigs, then it won't all be in vain. I do hope your remaining piggies are comfortable for as long as possible.

Sending hugs

Sophie
x
 
I am sending my vibes to poor Beech - it all must be sooo gutting for you!

BIG HUG
 
So sorry to hear the news.
Bizarre as it may sound I did wonder whether a virus or parasite could have caused this.
In rabbits there is a parasite called E.cuniculi which can cause a range of problems for rabbits, and it is treated with a 6 week course of panacur, it is a protozoan and having a cat with toxoplasmosis I know how nasty and difficult to treat these things are.
Cats can also get viruses called Felv and Fiv- Felv is a leukemia and can also cause various tumours- and is quite deadly, FIV is an auto-immune disease but can cause lots of problems for the animal with it- any bug becomes a serious problem. We have a cat with FIV and she has to be isolated from the others due to there being no vaccine. We lost a cat to FIV and he basically started to retain water and had to be PTS before he drowned with fluid in the lungs.
I have never heard of any of these things being a problem in guinea pigs, but in my experience that is often because 'normal' owners don't see the vet in time or don't bother to follow up treatments or tests if antibiotics don't work.
I do hope you get a more definate answer, although having a cat just diagnosed with a lymphoma, I know how hopeless you must feel.
 
sorry the prognosis for your herd is not better and i hope you can enjoy whatever time you have left with them. Hopefully you can manage their symptoms and and prolong their little lives. Thinking of you, best wishes, Eleanor
 
I am sorry you've had such upsetting results, I can't begin to imagine how devastating it is to find that all your guineas are at risk of such an awful problem.

Big hugs, will keep my fingers crossed that more can be established in the coming weeks so you're able to manage their conditions and enable them to live comfortably wihyou for much longer. xx
 
So sorry to hear that you have had such bad news :( I can't imagine being in your position and can only offer my best thoughts and a big hugs to you and your herd

x
 
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