Phoenix
Junior Guinea Pig
I want to say a few words about Smokestorm. She passed away about a week ago, but i havent felt like i could post until now.
Smokey was a podgy piggy, there was plenty of her to love. She had had 4 consecutive litters when she was younger and never quite regained her shape. I picked her up at a guinea pig rescue a bit over a year ago and they said they thought she was about 3 and a half.
(I want food! Where is it!)
She was definitely the dominant one of our trio
She didnt take nonsense from Sandy or Fire and was always the first to start wheeking at food time, and ALWAYS the first to get there when it arrived.
She had the best softest and silkyest fur and a beautiful colour (she was my mums favourite) and was so sweet, she really enjoyed cuddles and snuggleing up to anyone.
A little while back, we noticed something felt a little off. She wasnt the first to the lettuce anymore, she started takeing her time to get there and then she started leaving while there was still a lot of food left. After a day or two she stopped eating most things, and hardly had more than a nibble, if that, of hay, lettuce, or anything.
We noticed she had lost quite a lot of weight since she first started not eating and i was really worried. I was weighing her but it was really noticeable looking at her. She was still moving around and active at times but at others seemed not to move at all. Unfortunately at that time the vet was closed, it was half eight, so we had to wait till the next morning and got her in as an emergency right when the vet opened.
We had to wait in the waiting room for nearly 4 hours. I feel like emergencies should have priority, but something had probably gone wrong just before we got there and the vet was with someone else for the whole time. I'm not complaining or anything, it was just really tense having to wait that long but it probably wouldnt have made a difference.
When we got in, the vet did a checkup and there were several things wrong.
She was leaning to one side and wasnt supporting herself with her legs anymore, just flopping on the table, but there was nothing wrong with her legs
Her breathing was wrong, but there was nothing wrong with her lungs otherwise she would have been having problems breathing out, but Smokey was breathing fast in, then slowly out, which apparently means that it could be stress, or something else.
She wasnt eating at all, and hadnt touched the cucumber or any of the hay in there with her but nothing was wrong with her teeth, or mouth in general.
The gist was, there was obviously something very badly wrong but the vet couldnt tell what it was. There were various things she said it could be but none of them had any way of being fixed, and that she could try doing some antibiotic emergency treatment thing, (i forget what it was) but it wouldnt be very nice on Smokey. It would have been invasive things being forced on her and would have put her in massive distress as it would have been incredibly uncomfortable but it could have had a chance of saving her.
The thing was, it wouldnt have made a difference and at best just prolonged the inevitable.
The chance it could have helped at all was so miniscule that the vet said there wasnt much point. I knew Smoksey didnt have long left and i didnt want her last moments alive having things being forced into her, having painful treatments that wouldnt even work and being in extreme discomfort. I just wanted her to be happy.
The vet put her to sleep there and we took her home. Apparently it was very peaceful.
I'm sorry i went on for a long time, if you got this far reading then thank you.
I'm wondering if i made the wrong choice, and i should have tried everything that could have helped her no matter how small the chance was, but i dont think Smokey would have wanted to go through all that trouble. I wish id just been faster to notice how badly something was wrong, and taken her to the vet sooner.
She was 5 years old at that point, so i guess thats pretty good though, i just wish it could have been longer
Goodbye Smokestorm, i hope your having fun popcorning over rainbow bridge as much as you want, even though Smokes isnt really the popcorning type. Just Smokesy, remember i love you and dont forget me. I hope your happy.
goodby smokey
Smokey was a podgy piggy, there was plenty of her to love. She had had 4 consecutive litters when she was younger and never quite regained her shape. I picked her up at a guinea pig rescue a bit over a year ago and they said they thought she was about 3 and a half.
(I want food! Where is it!)
She was definitely the dominant one of our trio
She didnt take nonsense from Sandy or Fire and was always the first to start wheeking at food time, and ALWAYS the first to get there when it arrived.
She had the best softest and silkyest fur and a beautiful colour (she was my mums favourite) and was so sweet, she really enjoyed cuddles and snuggleing up to anyone.
A little while back, we noticed something felt a little off. She wasnt the first to the lettuce anymore, she started takeing her time to get there and then she started leaving while there was still a lot of food left. After a day or two she stopped eating most things, and hardly had more than a nibble, if that, of hay, lettuce, or anything.
We noticed she had lost quite a lot of weight since she first started not eating and i was really worried. I was weighing her but it was really noticeable looking at her. She was still moving around and active at times but at others seemed not to move at all. Unfortunately at that time the vet was closed, it was half eight, so we had to wait till the next morning and got her in as an emergency right when the vet opened.
We had to wait in the waiting room for nearly 4 hours. I feel like emergencies should have priority, but something had probably gone wrong just before we got there and the vet was with someone else for the whole time. I'm not complaining or anything, it was just really tense having to wait that long but it probably wouldnt have made a difference.
When we got in, the vet did a checkup and there were several things wrong.
She was leaning to one side and wasnt supporting herself with her legs anymore, just flopping on the table, but there was nothing wrong with her legs
Her breathing was wrong, but there was nothing wrong with her lungs otherwise she would have been having problems breathing out, but Smokey was breathing fast in, then slowly out, which apparently means that it could be stress, or something else.
She wasnt eating at all, and hadnt touched the cucumber or any of the hay in there with her but nothing was wrong with her teeth, or mouth in general.
The gist was, there was obviously something very badly wrong but the vet couldnt tell what it was. There were various things she said it could be but none of them had any way of being fixed, and that she could try doing some antibiotic emergency treatment thing, (i forget what it was) but it wouldnt be very nice on Smokey. It would have been invasive things being forced on her and would have put her in massive distress as it would have been incredibly uncomfortable but it could have had a chance of saving her.
The thing was, it wouldnt have made a difference and at best just prolonged the inevitable.
The chance it could have helped at all was so miniscule that the vet said there wasnt much point. I knew Smoksey didnt have long left and i didnt want her last moments alive having things being forced into her, having painful treatments that wouldnt even work and being in extreme discomfort. I just wanted her to be happy.
The vet put her to sleep there and we took her home. Apparently it was very peaceful.
I'm sorry i went on for a long time, if you got this far reading then thank you.
I'm wondering if i made the wrong choice, and i should have tried everything that could have helped her no matter how small the chance was, but i dont think Smokey would have wanted to go through all that trouble. I wish id just been faster to notice how badly something was wrong, and taken her to the vet sooner.
She was 5 years old at that point, so i guess thats pretty good though, i just wish it could have been longer
Goodbye Smokestorm, i hope your having fun popcorning over rainbow bridge as much as you want, even though Smokes isnt really the popcorning type. Just Smokesy, remember i love you and dont forget me. I hope your happy.
goodby smokey
The vet didn't seem to be very hopeful for her, you've given her peace 
Please don’t beat yourself up. Sleep tight Smokestorm x
