• Discussions taking place within this forum are intended for the purpose of assisting you in discussing options with your vet. Any other use of advice given here is done so at your risk, is solely your responsibility and not that of this forum or its owner. Before posting it is your responsibility you abide by this Statement

Could Really Be Doing With Honest Opinions From Pet Owners

We have been chatting off forum for the last few days and like you I keep veering from one to the other. My Fuzzy is a heart pig and was spayed a year ago by Simon Maddock but unlike Fudge she is not in end stage heart failure yet. I think if any pig can get through this op it is Fudge as she is a miracle pig and your vets do sound very on the ball. However, speak to them about the concerns you raised last night and go from there.
 
I am so so sorry that you are going through this, I can't even begin to imagine how agonising this must be. I do know that you will do the best for Fudge whatever you decide.
Can't offer much advice other than just to think will you always regret not knowing if the surgery could have helped or not.
With one of my girls at the time I thought I did the right thing putting her down but I do always wish I had given her more of a chance with the antibiotics to see if she picked up and I regret it now.
Good luck with what you decide and sending you a massive hug.
 
Trouble is you now have 50% for and 50% against.
We are back to your decision trouble is we all love Fudge & it's hard for us to make the decision as well.
I think whatever you decide I would keep Fudge with you 24/7 so you are with her all the time
 
Tiamolly123 said:
If you can't go in with her I think I would not have the op. There are plenty of good painkillers around. If she is doing OK, I would stop the hormone injections & let her die quietly at home. Rather than a cold operating theatre. With nobody she knows, to comfort her.
Click to expand...
Wow okay.. I don't think either of those will be happening tiamolly. She isn't "dying" right now, anymore than she has been since her heart diagnosis. This is simply about fudges quality of life and acting before she suffers. She wouldn't be in a cold operating theatre an she certainly won't be dying at home (if I can avoid it)- fudge won't be left to decline infront of my eyes and watch the life drain out of her until her body shuts down. I'd die myself before I EVER let that happen!
 
It must be very hard I think I would go with your gut. What ever you do will be the right thing.
I'm sorry if I offended you in any way. But after the op Fudge will be snoozing so you have to let us know how she is. Because like I said we will all be behind how. Quite often when she has been ill. I've cried with you. Funny out of all the piggys, it's Fudge I've connected with
 
To be honest, i don't know what I would do in your situation as like others have said, it really is catch 22 :(

But if it were me, I would properly opt for the spay as there is a huge risk in whichever road you go down and at least you are giving her a chance.

But what I can say is this, Fudge has had an amazing 8 years with you and whatever decision you make, it will be the right one and we will all support you and Fudge x
 
Last edited:
If it is any help in making your decision Adelle, my heart piggy's last day was pretty peaceful, she didn't show any sign of anything being wrong until the actual day she passed when her breathing became laboured. As you know I decided not to take her to be pts because I felt the trauma of going to the vet would be worse & I already knew what they would say, so choose to leave her comfortable at home with her little friend. I know you would have done the same. There's no right answer, but I will say if you have any doubts then I would postpone the operation for a few more days or a week until you are sure it's what you want to do xx
 
Adelle said:
I know no one can answer my question or tell me what to do. But I know there's some really experienced owners on here and some who have been in similar situations and I really need help to gather my thoughts and to hear others too.

Fudge, my 8 year old sow has been in heart failure for 19 months. She is on a lot of medication and it is stable, and is kept this way with regular adjustments to her meds.

Fudge has an ovarian cyst which has been managed with hormone injections for 6 months. During this time, the cyst has gradually stopped responding and is causing her pain and gassy guts. The last injection Was given Into the muscle instead of under the skin which was incredibly stressful and painful for her. It worked slightly, but it made her unwell and the cyst is already reactived 14 days later.

My vets and I have decided to spay fudge. This would rid her of her ovarian problem completely. She is booked in for Friday with the 2 piggy vets who Will op on her together , as well as a piggy savvy and knowledgable nurse doing the anaesthetic. They have still to decide on a full anaesthetic or a light one with an epidural.

The problem is, fudge has a small survival rate due to her heart. Her meds cause kidney damage, and an anaesthetic is dangerous for kidneys- although they where still functioning normally when last checked 2 months ago. There is a 48 hour waiting period after an anaesthetic where the kidneys can go into failure. The recovery of a spay in a pig her age is also a lot to deal with- if she gets that far. Her best chance is now, since she is well in herself. But it makes the risks so much harder to take.

For the past few days fudge has gained the weight she lost from having her hormone treatment and is looking very bright and active. Her heart rate is stable and lungs are now clear. She is happy.

My question is- am I making the wrong decision by agreeing to spay her?

My options are
-to do this when she's well and risk losing her when she's under or in recovery, but may save her and fix the problem...
- keep injecting hormones which make her I'll and don't really work, and end up back at this stage, which by that time she will be sick and er heart will be worse
-leave her to her own devices and pts when this affects her too much. This could be months or days away. But would be a nasty decline pain wise.

I need some honest opinions as if this was you in this situation. What would you do?

I love my girl dearly and she has fought so bloody hard to be where she is. She was given 2 weeks to live 19 months ago- this really is not easy :-(


View attachment 60861

View attachment 60862
Click to expand...
You face an impossible decision. Unfortunately whichever you choose there will always be the what if scenarios if you made the right one, or had chosen the other option. I can't help you make that choice, I can only say go with your heart, quality of life is ultimately what we all want to achieve and we can only do what feels best in our individual situations.dont forget she is a real fighter to have made it to 8. Is it worth rocking the boat when she's doing well? I wish you and fudge the best. Xx
 
Skittypigs said:
You face an impossible decision. Unfortunately whichever you choose there will always be the what if scenarios if you made the right one, or had chosen the other option. I can't help you make that choice, I can only say go with your heart, quality of life is ultimately what we all want to achieve and we can only do what feels best in our individual situations.dont forget she is a real fighter to have made it to 8. Is it worth rocking the boat when she's doing well? I wish you and fudge the best. Xx
Click to expand...
Thank you. It is a lot to rock the boat whilst she's doing well but the way this ovary has been bothering her, she's lucky if she'll get a week before she goes downhill with it again and loses weight etc and is in pain. By that time she won't be as strong for an op. This is why it really is impossible to decide and I genuinely don't know how I can X
 
Adelle said:
Wow okay.. I don't think either of those will be happening tiamolly. She isn't "dying" right now, anymore than she has been since her heart diagnosis. This is simply about fudges quality of life and acting before she suffers. She wouldn't be in a cold operating theatre an she certainly won't be dying at home (if I can avoid it)- fudge won't be left to decline infront of my eyes and watch the life drain out of her until her body shuts down. I'd die myself before I EVER let that happen!
Click to expand...

@Adelle , there is no right or wrong in a decision like that. Whatever you are choosing is with Fudge's wellbeing upmost in mind. But I would also listen to your heart and also put what you feel you can live with best for the long term into the balance.

I have lost several piggies of mine in ops because their heart gave out during the op, so I fully understand your concerns. They have all been seemingly healthy or young and facing an emergency op where it was a kind of "Just give her chance" decision when a fast growing blood-filled mammary tumour coincided with a very irregular heartbeat that was found during the pre-op consultation.
However, I would be personally much more reluctant to operate in the case of a known heart piggy where the choice between a halfway decent span of life with a good quality for quite some time to come as opposed to a fairly high risk op would find me in the same quandary as you. It is these kinds of choices that the hardest and often the most painful to make.

It speaks highly for you that you are not doing this lightly. Listen to your guts and go with what they tell you. That way, you have at least the small consolation that whatever you decide you did it because it felt the better one for you once everything has been weighed up.

HUGS
 
From what you've said, it's all about playing the odds. You are trying to decide whether to gamble on a difficult op, which she may not survive, or to leave her be and look at her quality of life, which may go down quickly and if so will make the op a non-starter. It's so hard to know what to do. If only we had a crystal ball...
If she were mine, I would go for the op and try to give her a chance, but trust your gut feeling. x
 
Bit of an update, poor vet just had to listen to my endless questions on the phone for 23 minutes!

Ofcourse she can't tell me what to do and she is isn't trying to sway me to go ahead or not. But she said if this ovarian issue is the biggest thing affecting fudges quality of life then going ahead is the right thing to do.

The risk is mainly the anaesthetic due to her heart. I said I know they can't tell me what the chances are of her surviving the anaesthetic but I asked what her chances of recovery where in her condition should she pull through. She said there is no reason fudge shouldn't recover after, but like any animal sometimes they just don't- which would be evident within a couple of hours and wouldn't be a dragged out process.

She also said that fudges heart is as stable as it will ever be at the minute and that if there's a time to go ahead it's now... And that as long as any pets heart disease is stable, An op to improve quality of life is often considered okay to do.

The biggest bit of info I got was that they have decided to try and take some of the risk away from fudge by giving her a whiff of gas and doing an epidural, which would reduce the risk of fudges heart giving up greatly and would mean her recovery would be much easier on her. Ofcourse they would make sure the epidural had worked 100% before proceeding and if it doesn't then they would just need to go with a gas anaesthetic.

Fudge will have 3 vets on her during her op and recovery, the one I spoke to today has cleared her schedule for Friday morning so she can be there. Ofcourse I can still cancel if I decide to. I am feeling a bit more positive about it but obviously still a huge decision.

Anyone's thoughts on this are more than welcome!
 
Adelle said:
Bit of an update, poor vet just had to listen to my endless questions on the phone for 23 minutes!

Ofcourse she can't tell me what to do and she is isn't trying to sway me to go ahead or not. But she said if this ovarian issue is the biggest thing affecting fudges quality of life then going ahead is the right thing to do.

The risk is mainly the anaesthetic due to her heart. I said I know they can't tell me what the chances are of her surviving the anaesthetic but I asked what her chances of recovery where in her condition should she pull through. She said there is no reason fudge shouldn't recover after, but like any animal sometimes they just don't- which would be evident within a couple of hours and wouldn't be a dragged out process.

She also said that fudges heart is as stable as it will ever be at the minute and that if there's a time to go ahead it's now... And that as long as any pets heart disease is stable, An op to improve quality of life is often considered okay to do.

The biggest bit of info I got was that they have decided to try and take some of the risk away from fudge by giving her a whiff of gas and doing an epidural, which would reduce the risk of fudges heart giving up greatly and would mean her recovery would be much easier on her. Ofcourse they would make sure the epidural had worked 100% before proceeding and if it doesn't then they would just need to go with a gas anaesthetic.

Fudge will have 3 vets on her during her op and recovery, the one I spoke to today has cleared her schedule for Friday morning so she can be there. Ofcourse I can still cancel if I decide to. I am feeling a bit more positive about it but obviously still a huge decision.

Anyone's thoughts on this are more than welcome!
Click to expand...

It sounds like it is your best chance, especially as your vet is offering you a go at a more heart friendly alternative and she is well aware of Fudge's issues. It is still - and will always remain that - a leap of faith, but you have that with every operation.
 
Wow what an excellent and attentive vet. I personally felt very reassured that the op would be the right option. I think she has the best chance right now.
 
I think you are doing the right thing. You are addressing the issue and she clearly is not happy as she is as I have seen from your later posts. If she is on pain relief and still unhappy/puffing up then you need to give her the best chance of enjoying what life she has left. Given the amount of detail your vets are going to I think if I were in the same situation I would go for it but yes I would still be terrified and worried sick
 
I think you're doing the right thing, too! If any piggy has a chance then Fudge certainly does. Your vet sounds amazing and I wish you all the best of luck and my girls are sending loads of wheeks of encouragement!
:hug:
 
Adelle said:
Can't say how much i appreciated everyone's opinions wether they are for or against the op. I know no one can tell me the answer, I don't even know if I'll ever have a definate answer. It hasn't sunk in that she will be operated on on Friday.. Wether that's just because it's such a big thing or wether it's because I'm not sure if I can put her through it- I don't know. I guess I have until Friday morning to think, and at least that also gives me time to see how she does too.

This morning with the vet I was sure this was the right thing. A friend disagreed with me and that just set off all this.. I can't get my head around it. I'm now not sure which option I should pursue.
Click to expand...
Nightmare when someone lets doubt enter your head! I know your friend wouldn't have done that intentionally but it clouds everything.
 
Oh Adelle what a terribly difficult decision. Having made some really tough decisions in recent months (not piggy related) I would say trust your instincts. Everyone will have differing opinions and it can be so tough when there is plainly no right or wrong. Your vet sounds amazing and is making sure Fudge has the best chance of everything going well.
 
I am absolutely sure that whatever decision you make will be the right one for your girl. You and Fudge are so in tune with each other. X
 
I would honestly have her euthanized. The word euthnasia literally translates to "the good death", and it would be peaceful and pain-free. She could die in your arms, and live it up across the rainbow bridge, with lots of other piggies, including my Peanut.
 
I would honestly go ahead with the spay if I were in your position. Your vets are clearly good, and her best shot. For me, the knowing that I had given her the chance of the spay and losing her would be more comfort than losing her naturally and wondering 'what if' ...if that makes sense?

When Bramble was poorly and at the vets every day, PTS was an option every visit, she made it clear to us and the vets that she wanted to live. I'm not sure how long we will have her for, but I'm glad we gave her the chance, she may be partly blind, deaf and wobbly, but she loves her little life.

Whatever you choose, youre choosing with her best interests at heart, and deciding out of love. There are no wrong decisions, shes more than comfortable and very loved. If you go ahead with the op, fingers firmly crossed for you both. Shes already proven what a tough little piggy she is, she can do it again!
 
Got fudge out for her meds this morning and just burst into tears. The thought of losing her in 48 hours is just too much for me to deal with right now when I see her looking so bright and content. But she's mildly bloated again and her weight is down a bit so it's just another reminder that if I don't do this on Friday I will regret it sooner rather than later.

I feel like I'm already grieving for her
 
Oh Adelle it's such an awful thing to have to decide one way or the other. I think if you decide to give her the chance then if she goes during the op you did all you could for her; she also will have gone before she got really poorly so you know she won't have sufferred xx
 
Adelle said:
Got fudge out for her meds this morning and just burst into tears. The thought of losing her in 48 hours is just too much for me to deal with right now when I see her looking so bright and content. But she's mildly bloated again and her weight is down a bit so it's just another reminder that if I don't do this on Friday I will regret it sooner rather than later.

I feel like I'm already grieving for her
Click to expand...
I'm thinking of you and fudge xx
 
Rochester Piggy said:
I would honestly have her euthanized. The word euthnasia literally translates to "the good death", and it would be peaceful and pain-free. She could die in your arms, and live it up across the rainbow bridge, with lots of other piggies, including my Peanut.
Click to expand...

From the information shared by Adelle in her original post, this was not one of the options to be considered. I'm sure that Adelle will make the right decision for her beloved Fudge and will ensure she is not in any pain.
 
Iv decided to go ahead with spaying fudge on Friday. After crying for about 2 hours and going over it all in my head, I think it's the right thing to do. I'll never be 100% certain and It will break my heart if I lose her- but I know it means she didn't have a prolonged painful decline which is something Iv always said I will never let happen for fudge.

Thank you all for your (sensible and compassionate) comments- having support really does help.

I will keep you all updated but probably not right away- I'll either be busy caring for my baby or il be completely and utterly devastated.
 
Adelle said:
Iv decided to go ahead with spaying fudge on Friday. After crying for about 2 hours and going over it all in my head, I think it's the right thing to do. I'll never be 100% certain and It will break my heart if I lose her- but I know it means she didn't have a prolonged painful decline which is something Iv always said I will never let happen for fudge.

Thank you all for your (sensible and compassionate) comments- having support really does help.

I will keep you all updated but probably not right away- I'll either be busy caring for my baby or il be completely and utterly devastated.
Click to expand...

I understand your choice Adelle, i really do. You'll never be 100% on either but at least this way you have some control over her future and should the op be a success you have gained her more time free of the cysts that are causing her issues

However the road pans out, no one could have done more for their piggy. Everyone on the forum is behind you and little Fudge. x
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top