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Emergency Vet Appointment This Morning, Toffee Aka Buffy, Very Worried

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I am very sorry; I have only seen it now!

BIG HUGS!

Please don't beat yourself up too much; you haven't failed him! You did the best for him and gave him a chance. Any operation comes with a risk; you didn't decide on it lightly and you did so with his best interests in mind. The rest is sadly out of your control.

I have over the years lost several guinea pigs in ops, so I know what bitter esperience it is and how big the feelings of guilt are afterwards; more than in other cases. You also can't really brace for it as you have to stay positive throughout the op and keep your fears under wrap for the sake of your piggy; seeing them confirmed is tough. Generally, operating on guinea pigs has become a lot safer, but it doesn't help you one bit if you end up on the wrong end. :(

The next operation is going to take a VERY deep breath and a leap of faith before you can commit.
 
Thanks.
The vet that she went to for the operation has a good track record of guinea pig aneasthetics and they were shocked and upset to loose her so I do not think there was any concern over the vet's experience.

The first vet I took her to has always been fine with my other animals :( and has succesfully treated friend's small animals.

The second vets she went to are very well regarded and I know they did all they could.
But now I wonder if the first vet was actually right and we should have continued with the aspiration and antibiotics.

Its all been such a nightmare.


I miss her so much.
 
You'll always miss her & have a big place in your heart that's solely hers... If our piggies could talk from beyond the bridge, they'd say they KNEW you did everything you could, and they'd thank us for trying... Because it's all for love. There is no greater gift! [emoji175][emoji169][emoji175][emoji169][emoji252][emoji252][emoji252][emoji252][emoji252]
 
@Wiebke I'm very sorry that you have also lost guinea pigs during operations. Its not something that I have experienced before though I have often signed the forms and worried.

Does anyone happen to know what the statistics for guinea pigs dying under anaesthetics are? The vet said before the operation that she was very confident as Toffee was so young and otherwise healthy.

I cant imagine ever being able to send a boar in for neutering now after this experience :(

Its really hard to make sense of things, it has been a much harder experience for me than when I have had to take an obviously ill guinea pig who has not responded to treatment to be put to sleep.
 
Goth Mummy said:
Thanks.
The vet that she went to for the operation has a good track record of guinea pig aneasthetics and they were shocked and upset to loose her so I do not think there was any concern over the vet's experience.

The first vet I took her to has always been fine with my other animals :( and has succesfully treated friend's small animals.

The second vets she went to are very well regarded and I know they did all they could.
But now I wonder if the first vet was actually right and we should have continued with the aspiration and antibiotics.

Its all been such a nightmare.


I miss her so much.
Click to expand...

HUGS! It can happen even to the best of vets, and it is very upsetting for them, too. You opted for the op because it would have given Toffee permanent relief. Nobody could have known that she was going to be one of the few that GA would give trouble; it is not something that you can predict. :(

Try not to get bogged down by the "what ifs" and "it's not fair" and by what you know in hindsight; they will take you nowhere and only serve to box yourself into a corner emotionally and prevent you from dealing with your loss in a constructive way - which would be unfair to Toffee and the love and joy you have shared together!

Your feelings of guilt are worse because you had to make a deliberate choice for her to have the op. However, because your love your piggies dearly and want them to have the best of care and health, you made your choice, and - like me - when push comes to shove, you will make the same decision again. Because you are a very loving mummy...

What you are going through right now is the inevitable reverse side of our love and responsibility we have towards our babies; it is worse when it comes unexpected and hits you full tilt. It was simply an unforeseeable bad reaction, and while it is a tragedy, nobody is to blame - least of all you! Or the vets you chose, taking your care over it.

Sending you my love! x
 
Goth Mummy said:
@Wiebke I'm very sorry that you have also lost guinea pigs during operations. Its not something that I have experienced before though I have often signed the forms and worried.

Does anyone happen to know what the statistics for guinea pigs dying under anaesthetics are? The vet said before the operation that she was very confident as Toffee was so young and otherwise healthy.

I cant imagine ever being able to send a boar in for neutering now after this experience :(

Its really hard to make sense of things, it has been a much harder experience for me than when I have had to take an obviously ill guinea pig who has not responded to treatment to be put to sleep.
Click to expand...

The statistics vary considerably depending on the quality of the operating team; they are getting better all the time the more surgery is performed on small pets, compared to even just a few years ago. A good team loses very few, ideally less than 5% or at best down to 2%. You can never completely eliminate all risk, the same as with humans having adverse reactions under the knife.
The odds of dying under GA at a good vets are so small that you are VERY unlucky to be hit by lightning twice! ;)

But I lost Fflur in 2010 (that was a bungled fast growing ovarian cysts op where the anaesthetics dose was too high after two huge cysts had been removed by my old general vets, who are now retired) and Hafina in 2011 (her heart gave out right at the end of the op to remove an eye); both were operated by different Coventry vets who were each very confident in the pre-op assessment.
Rhosyn's emergency mammary tumor operation in January turned into a race against her irregular heartbeat, which only came to light in the pre-op assessment, so Debbie (as Rhosyn was a TEAS foster piggy) and I had no time to really brace for it and not even one of the best operating vets was able to save her. But the bottom of my guts dropped out when the full implications of Kim Maddock's pre-op findings hit me! :(

You will always wish that you'd taken Toffee elsewhere, but you have to accept at some point that you would make the same decisions again under the same circumstances because they were not bad decisions in themselves. A lot more piggies of mine have come well through even riskier ops. I am sure that they would have otherwise died/had not had much quality of life if I had not decided on an op. ;)

Give yourself time to work through it all. Right now your emotions are all torn up and you are very raw and conflicted.
 
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