Dental fistula or aspiration pneumonia

[Josie_lg]

Hiya, I am just coming on here for advice and re assurance really. Today we lost my sweet piggie Honey, she was incredibly special to me and I really don’t know how to go on from here. She has been having dental treatment with Simon at the cat and rabbit clinic since May last year and he really has helped her so much and she has been doing amazing.
She had a CT scan last April which showed a small abscess behind a tooth which meant she ideally needed the tooth removed, we spoke to several vets, a specialist and Simon and we all agreed removal wouldn’t be the right choice for her. So we have been managing her symptoms with the overgrown molars and she has been the HAPPIEST piggie, loves her food always squeaking and adoring her cuddles. My life really has revolved around her. Last night my mum heard her make a horrible choking squeaking noise and then became crackly and struggling to breathe. We rushed her in and she had been on oxygen and nebulisation overnight, Pain relief, antibiotics and a bronchial dilator. She managed to eat a very small amount of critical care and some grape and soaked pellets when I left her at 11pm last night which really filled me with her hope as I could see her sparkle there still. However when I saw her this morning her breathing was getting worse, but again she was still alert and mobilising and I still felt like she was there. Her breathing quickly got worse and I saw that all too familiar sign they do with their mouths and heads when the end is near. I work as a veterinary nurse so she was in hospital at my work, I called my family and they came down as I wanted them to see her for a while incase anything happened. As soon as my family arrived she started to go. It was horrible, very traumatic. But very quick. All my other piggies haven’t really been there at the end if that makes sense? Like they had already gone before they properly went. But today she was so alert and then going within a second. How does that work I don’t get it.
The vets initially thought aspiration pneumonia because she’s a dental piggie that LOVES food. They did a scan of her heart and chest and her heart looked okay but they could see some fluid in her lungs. This morning I have spoken to a second vet who feels it’s highly likely she had developed a fistula, she said her history of dental issues with that abscess thing behind the molar towards her eye along with her presentation makes it very very likely. She said surgery would be an option but she wouldn’t have made it through that.
I am beyond heartbroken and I am left with just poor hazel on her own who has now watched three of her friends leave. I’m already feeling so lost without my little friend she was the cuddliest tamest piggie who just wanted to be held and loved and I am so shocked that she was happy and squeaking yesterday and today she has gone.
If anyone has any advice or has experienced a loss related to complex dental issues or aspiration or a fistula any advice would be appreciated. I feel very lost.

 

[Freela]

I'm so sorry for your loss. It's definitely hard to witness and I know firsthand how much it can shake you up and how helpless and heartbroken we can feel. I truly think that there's nothing else you could have done... she was getting long-term treatment for her teeth that bought her a lot of happy time with you and there's just no way to know for sure whether she aspirated something or had some deeper infection/fistula happening (the choking sound makes me wonder about aspiration but there's just no way to know.)

I've lost a guinea pig to an dental issue before and I have had two hamsters with a fistula-like problem- basically a tooth root infection that didn't respond to antibiotics and spread through their face, impacting their eye and ear. In both cases we fought really hard with syringe feeding and heavy-duty antibiotics, one hamster also had surgery to try and clear out some infection and administer antibiotics directly to the origin site. Neither of them pulled through despite our best efforts, and in my experience hamsters are real tough little animals who fight hard. I concur with the second vet's belief that if that was the issue, it's unlikely she would have pulled through surgery/recovery. Rodent teeth are so frustrating... they are made to continuously grow because of all the coarse stuff they have to chew, but when things go wrong with rodent teeth they REALLY go wrong. ((HUGS)) to you, I'm so sorry for your loss and how traumatic it was. We're all here if you want to talk. We have a Rainbow Bridge page and if you feel up to it at some point, you can post a memorial for your piggie there so we can remember her with you.

 

[sport_billy]

I am so sorry for your loss. Please try to not torture yourself with any what if’s. Your little one was so very loved - it is plain to see that from how you talk about her and all the things you did for her. You sort out knowledgeable vets and honestly did all you could. Sometimes no matter what we do we cannot save them.

Try to console yourself knowing It is better in many ways that she went quickly rather than a drawn out illness. We have had many losses over both ways and those that are happy until the end I feel are always a blessing. Knowing their final days were as well lived as every day before that - It does come as a huge shock though.

Be gentle and kind to yourself, grief is cruel and sends us lots of unjust thoughts and emotions.

Honey was so loved and had a great life. Which is all we can ever wish. Please feel free to pop a memorial post in the rainbow bridge section of the forum.

Sleep well Honey
x x

Hiya, I am just coming on here for advice and re assurance really. Today we lost my sweet piggie Honey, she was incredibly special to me and I really don’t know how to go on from here. She has been having dental treatment with Simon at the cat and rabbit clinic since May last year and he really has helped her so much and she has been doing amazing.
She had a CT scan last April which showed a small abscess behind a tooth which meant she ideally needed the tooth removed, we spoke to several vets, a specialist and Simon and we all agreed removal wouldn’t be the right choice for her. So we have been managing her symptoms with the overgrown molars and she has been the HAPPIEST piggie, loves her food always squeaking and adoring her cuddles. My life really has revolved around her. Last night my mum heard her make a horrible choking squeaking noise and then became crackly and struggling to breathe. We rushed her in and she had been on oxygen and nebulisation overnight, Pain relief, antibiotics and a bronchial dilator. She managed to eat a very small amount of critical care and some grape and soaked pellets when I left her at 11pm last night which really filled me with her hope as I could see her sparkle there still. However when I saw her this morning her breathing was getting worse, but again she was still alert and mobilising and I still felt like she was there. Her breathing quickly got worse and I saw that all too familiar sign they do with their mouths and heads when the end is near. I work as a veterinary nurse so she was in hospital at my work, I called my family and they came down as I wanted them to see her for a while incase anything happened. As soon as my family arrived she started to go. It was horrible, very traumatic. But very quick. All my other piggies haven’t really been there at the end if that makes sense? Like they had already gone before they properly went. But today she was so alert and then going within a second. How does that work I don’t get it.
The vets initially thought aspiration pneumonia because she’s a dental piggie that LOVES food. They did a scan of her heart and chest and her heart looked okay but they could see some fluid in her lungs. This morning I have spoken to a second vet who feels it’s highly likely she had developed a fistula, she said her history of dental issues with that abscess thing behind the molar towards her eye along with her presentation makes it very very likely. She said surgery would be an option but she wouldn’t have made it through that.
I am beyond heartbroken and I am left with just poor hazel on her own who has now watched three of her friends leave. I’m already feeling so lost without my little friend she was the cuddliest tamest piggie who just wanted to be held and loved and I am so shocked that she was happy and squeaking yesterday and today she has gone.
If anyone has any advice or has experienced a loss related to complex dental issues or aspiration or a fistula any advice would be appreciated. I feel very lost.

 

[Truffolo]

Snuggle softly at the bridge little Honey

 

[Josie_lg]

Thank you everyone for your kind messages and your advice too. I am beyond heartbroken, just gutted and confused by how quickly it all happened. But thankful we had another good year with her after starting her dental treatment.
My sweet hazel is now all alone and has lost all three of her friends now. We have kept a lot of the same fleeces in the hutch so she can still smell where honey has been. And she has a couple teddies and blankets that also have honeys scent on. She’s sad and withdrawn and is definitely less interested in food but is eating hay and grass and pooping well and has eaten some fresh veggies this evening.
It still feels so raw and I keep expecting honeys little face to pop out from behind the curtains or the fleecey hides but she isn’t.
We got her ashes and her sweet paw prints back today. Just doesn’t feel real.
I have read all the bereavement guides and advice for bereaved piggies which are very helpful. I just hope I’m doing the right things for hazel.