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Deleted member 159059
Hello everyone, I found this forum while searching for parameters for Quality of Life for sick guinea pigs. I would love some advice/support for mine.
I rescued two girls from a less than ideal situation back in October, they were babies then, but I'm unsure of their exact age. Their names are Biscuit and Hurricane.
Since December, I noticed a large weight difference between them. I started weighing Biscuit, the smaller of the two, and noticed she was behind for her age and kept losing weight. Her lowest recorded weight was 275 grams.
I took her to the vet, and she was diagnosed with incisor malocclusion, I was told to put her on a soft diet and referred to a vet with more knowledge.
The diet helped immensely, she's gained over 80 grams, but obviously her teeth are still wrong.
The second vet I went to confirmed the diagnosis but told me that their clinic was not equipped to do the corrective surgery without a major chance of losing her while she was under, and also quoted me $1.5k (AUD) for the surgery. Their recommendation was to continue the soft food and refer me to a specialist vet in the city (over 3 hours away) who could do the surgery with much less chance of failure, but their price would likely be double.
I'm looking for advice from people with more experience with malocclusion, what would you do in this situation?
Currently, the options I'm looking at are: Euthanasia, local surgery with a ~40% chance of mortality, specialist surgery with less chance of mortality, and surrendering her to a rescue.
The truth is I cannot afford to take her to the specialist, and even the local vet is a real stretch, especially because I know she will likely need surgery more than once.
I do have people and organizations I could ask for financial help from, but it would likely not cover the full surgery and also be a one time thing, so ongoing surgery would still be a factor.
My thoughts with euthanasia and surrendering her are: euthanasia means she wouldn't have to go through any stress of being rehomed or having surgery, and wouldn't have to continue dealing with the pain her teeth are causing. A rescue may have more resources/money than I do to be able to help her and place her into a family that can afford her ongoing medical costs.
I rescued two girls from a less than ideal situation back in October, they were babies then, but I'm unsure of their exact age. Their names are Biscuit and Hurricane.
Since December, I noticed a large weight difference between them. I started weighing Biscuit, the smaller of the two, and noticed she was behind for her age and kept losing weight. Her lowest recorded weight was 275 grams.
I took her to the vet, and she was diagnosed with incisor malocclusion, I was told to put her on a soft diet and referred to a vet with more knowledge.
The diet helped immensely, she's gained over 80 grams, but obviously her teeth are still wrong.
The second vet I went to confirmed the diagnosis but told me that their clinic was not equipped to do the corrective surgery without a major chance of losing her while she was under, and also quoted me $1.5k (AUD) for the surgery. Their recommendation was to continue the soft food and refer me to a specialist vet in the city (over 3 hours away) who could do the surgery with much less chance of failure, but their price would likely be double.
I'm looking for advice from people with more experience with malocclusion, what would you do in this situation?
Currently, the options I'm looking at are: Euthanasia, local surgery with a ~40% chance of mortality, specialist surgery with less chance of mortality, and surrendering her to a rescue.
The truth is I cannot afford to take her to the specialist, and even the local vet is a real stretch, especially because I know she will likely need surgery more than once.
I do have people and organizations I could ask for financial help from, but it would likely not cover the full surgery and also be a one time thing, so ongoing surgery would still be a factor.
My thoughts with euthanasia and surrendering her are: euthanasia means she wouldn't have to go through any stress of being rehomed or having surgery, and wouldn't have to continue dealing with the pain her teeth are causing. A rescue may have more resources/money than I do to be able to help her and place her into a family that can afford her ongoing medical costs.
❤
