On Saturday 6th September we (as a family) made the difficult decision to put Poppy to sleep and I am heartbroken.
Poppy and Pip were our first guinea pigs. We got them from a rescue nearly 3 years ago. Of course, we didn't know their age but we were not expecting Poppy to leave us already. Poppy was so full of life, loving her food, always coming to see us, and lying on her side on her hay or in her nest, always looking at what was happenig outside. Everyone loved her, she really had something special. Such a sweet face and beautiful coat too.
On Sunday 24th August, we suddenly noticed that she didn't want to eat her favourite treat. We rushed to the emergency vet (on a Sunday) and he noticed a lump in her neck, gave us some antibiotics and I began feeding her every 4 hours with a syringe.
After a week, nothing had improved, Poppy was only taking a few bites of food by herself. She had lost 200 g and I was still feeding her.
The vet said to continue trying with the antibiotics and see but she was not optimistic. She said it could be cancer but we could not know for sure.
I wanted to do x-ray or anything to understand what she had. I didn't understand why she would have an infection in her neck and why she couldn't eat, but the vet advised against x-ray as it wouldn't have given us any answers and would have put her through a lot of stress.
Some days, when she nibbled one leaf I was full of hope, then a few hours later I was just crying when she refused.
11 days after we first noticed she was unwell, the vet kept her for 6 hours to give her painkillers and fluids. When I brought her back home, she was very weak and never got better. I fed her for one more day but noticed she couldn't swallow anymore. Then we took her to the vet for a final time to say goodbye. It was the worst moment in my life, knowing that in a few hours she would be dead, seeing her falling asleep forever on my lap.
After she was dead, the vet confirmed it was most probably cancer as she had more lumps in her neck and belly.
Now, on top of losing this sweet, sweet precious Poppy, I feel so guilty. The day she spent at the vet, getting injections, all alone, while she must have been in a horrible pain, probably caused her so much stress that she just declined after that. We could not have known but still.
And I feel so bad for forcing food down her for 2 weeks, while she was actually in pain because of her cancer. We were hoping it was just an infection and that she would recover but I feel like the kindest thing to do would have been to put her to sleep earlier. She was losing so much weight, I feel like 13 days is much too long now. But we didn't know it was cancer and that there was no hope. And every time she nibbled a tiny bit we were hoping, she was also still turning her head toward us and coming to her food even if she didn't eat so we felt she still wanted to live. But she must have been in so much pain and didn't understant why I was torturing her with food. I feel so, so bad about it. And sad that her last days have been full of pain and that she didn't even have the comfort of their favourite treats. I hope that she felt our love and that we were trying to help her.
There was only one Poppy in this world, and this precious face is gone. It is so hard.
Poppy and Pip were our first guinea pigs. We got them from a rescue nearly 3 years ago. Of course, we didn't know their age but we were not expecting Poppy to leave us already. Poppy was so full of life, loving her food, always coming to see us, and lying on her side on her hay or in her nest, always looking at what was happenig outside. Everyone loved her, she really had something special. Such a sweet face and beautiful coat too.
On Sunday 24th August, we suddenly noticed that she didn't want to eat her favourite treat. We rushed to the emergency vet (on a Sunday) and he noticed a lump in her neck, gave us some antibiotics and I began feeding her every 4 hours with a syringe.
After a week, nothing had improved, Poppy was only taking a few bites of food by herself. She had lost 200 g and I was still feeding her.
The vet said to continue trying with the antibiotics and see but she was not optimistic. She said it could be cancer but we could not know for sure.
I wanted to do x-ray or anything to understand what she had. I didn't understand why she would have an infection in her neck and why she couldn't eat, but the vet advised against x-ray as it wouldn't have given us any answers and would have put her through a lot of stress.
Some days, when she nibbled one leaf I was full of hope, then a few hours later I was just crying when she refused.
11 days after we first noticed she was unwell, the vet kept her for 6 hours to give her painkillers and fluids. When I brought her back home, she was very weak and never got better. I fed her for one more day but noticed she couldn't swallow anymore. Then we took her to the vet for a final time to say goodbye. It was the worst moment in my life, knowing that in a few hours she would be dead, seeing her falling asleep forever on my lap.
After she was dead, the vet confirmed it was most probably cancer as she had more lumps in her neck and belly.
Now, on top of losing this sweet, sweet precious Poppy, I feel so guilty. The day she spent at the vet, getting injections, all alone, while she must have been in a horrible pain, probably caused her so much stress that she just declined after that. We could not have known but still.
And I feel so bad for forcing food down her for 2 weeks, while she was actually in pain because of her cancer. We were hoping it was just an infection and that she would recover but I feel like the kindest thing to do would have been to put her to sleep earlier. She was losing so much weight, I feel like 13 days is much too long now. But we didn't know it was cancer and that there was no hope. And every time she nibbled a tiny bit we were hoping, she was also still turning her head toward us and coming to her food even if she didn't eat so we felt she still wanted to live. But she must have been in so much pain and didn't understant why I was torturing her with food. I feel so, so bad about it. And sad that her last days have been full of pain and that she didn't even have the comfort of their favourite treats. I hope that she felt our love and that we were trying to help her.
There was only one Poppy in this world, and this precious face is gone. It is so hard.
.
