RainbowBridge
New Born Pup
Hi, I will apologise in advance for the lengthy post, many thanks if you make it to the end. My guinea pig Dorothy died on Monday and I feel sheer and utter guilt that I could have done more for her and that I should have taken her to be put to sleep. To provide a bit of background, I got her and her cagemate as rescues when they were thought to be 5 months old, which would make them 7 years old this November. Dorothy has had some health issues over the years but nothing that became too serious, bloat once, UTIs on and off, however these would clear with antibiotics (Sulfatrim) and I tried to manage this with diet. I had her scanned for bladder stones once many years ago and although the vet couldn't see a stone she did find "masses" in her stomach. Which at the time I was told to monitor as they could be benign, however they would probably cause issues in the future. So fast forward to this year, I noticed that she seemed to possibly have a URI in March which the vet agreed with and seemed to clear with a course of Baytril. When the vet at this visit again mentioned the masses/tumours and said she "didn't want to worry me but with her age and quality of life" to basically just leave her be as long as she seemed content. She was definitely looking heavier at the back and more pear shaped, however as mentioned, she had had these masses in her stomach for years that I used to palpate to check the size, she was never in any discomfort when I did this. In June this year I went away for four nights and my mum, who is well used to looking after them, cleaned and fed them every day. When I returned she was fine, as vocal as ever and was happy. However two days (24th June) later her breathing seemed more laboured than usual and I noticed slight crust at her nose. She also couldnt wheek. So I started her on another course of Baytril along with Metacam to see if this helped. She was still quite happy in herself, eating, drinking, moving about albeit without as much ease as previously. The back end of her moved heavily. The course of Baytril didn't change the breathing but the slight nose crust went. So I started her on daily Metacam, she was still eating and drinking however I could tell that this was probably the start of her decline. She didn't seem in any pain and was still really interested in her food, just sleeping more than usual and still no ability to wheek. I kept up the daily Metacam and tried to assess how she was doing, cage is in my living room so I could stay in tune to her. She started to lose hair around her eyes (I think due to slightly runny crusty eyes and her cagemate grooming them) and I was still concerned about her breathing so I took her to the vet again, different vet this time as I didn't want to put her through the car journey to my previous vet and the vet I had been seeing had gone down to locum hours and was very difficult to see. There is a specialist small animal hospital 2 mins drive from my house so I thought she would be better there. I went on Thursday 11th July, The vet was newly qualified and lovely, however suggested another course of Baytril which I wasn't sure was needed as I had tried this previously and felt that the masses could have been pressing on her lungs or her heart was failing. I asked about Furosemide in case of an issue with her heart and fluid in her lungs, and was prescribed this at 1ml per day. Vet said to monitor her and to continue the Furosemide for as long as required, gave two week prescription and said to just let them know if I needed more after this time. I gave her 0.5ml...I knew I had to check her hydration when giving this and had to go away overnight from Saturday to Sunday, so didnt want to leave my husband introducing new meds, when I left on Saturday she was subdued but my husband said she perked up when food went in that evening. He kept up the Metacam for her. I returned on Sunday night and realised she was still subdued and possibly not great but didn't seem to be in pain or particularly distressed so I went to bed thinking of what to do on Monday, vets again or continue to monitor. On Monday she was starting to move into the corner of the cage, I moved her at one point to put her on a fresh fleece and she looked scared which made me feel terrible. Then she started making slight wheeking/wheezing noises every time she breathed, breathing was laboured, however refused Metacam. This went on most of the afternoon. That evening I could tell she was in a real decline as was hardly moving but again didn't seem to be in any real distress. I put food in and her cagemate moved from being at her side to take food, but she moved away from it. At one point she got into her usual comfy position on a fleece as she always would and I put a fleece blanket over her, she was peaceful but felt cold. I went upstairs for around half an hour, when I came back down she was in the same position, I wasn't sure if she was breathing then saw one deep breath from her sides and I think that was her away. I feel absolutely awful that I didn't take her earlier to be put to sleep, should i have done that weeks before? Did I make her suffer? Why did she look frightened of me? I think she seems to have had a peaceful death but how do I know. I am wracked with guilt, for leaving her both times recently and feeling that I let her down in her last days by not euthanising. And would the Furosemide have made her more comfortable, I was just so scared of introducing another med in case it dehydrated her and made her feel worse. I also felt that it was probably just her time but wish I knew if she was suffering. Could stopping my usual palpating of her stomach when I was away have affected her? I thought that because she was still eating and drinking and didnt seem unhappy she was ok to keep going. Sincere apologies again for the huge post, I am just needed to write everything down to acknowledge that she was here, to try to make sense of it all and to see what, if anything, the people on this site with far more expertise than me thought. Thanks so much if you have made it to the end of this.
