• Discussions taking place within this forum are intended for the purpose of assisting you in discussing options with your vet. Any other use of advice given here is done so at your risk, is solely your responsibility and not that of this forum or its owner. Before posting it is your responsibility you abide by this Statement

I attended a piggie post-mortem today

Status
Not open for further replies.
pig in the city

pig in the city

*Rescue Buddy*
Adult Guinea Pig
Joined
Jan 29, 2009
Messages
2,769
Reaction score
5,428
Points
1,485
Location
sheffield
My piggie Pumpkin died on Saturday after 6 months of slowly losing weight. He wasn't unwell until the last few days when he stopped eating. My local vet saw him in August and couldnt find anything except a possible abdominal mass which she thought was constipation and prescribed liquid paraffin. He seemed to be fine so I just watched him and his weight loss stabilised.
About a month ago I found a gland in his neck, this seemed to come and go and he remained well so I watched him. I had started going to a new vet in Alfreton (who has been treating some of my girls for ovarian cysts). So, I took Pumpkin along for a second opinion. She thought the abdominal mass was his spleen and thought he had leukemia.
She asked if she could do a post mortem on Pumpkin when he died to confirm the diagnosis.I rang her today and took him down and the vet was happy for me to observe. It was fascinating (but sad too of course), and I hope that the vet can help other pigs in the future from what she learns from Pumpkin. It looked like he had some form of tumour near his stomach,not leukemia, she has sent off samples to the lab. All I can say is that it is wonderful to find a vet with a genuine interest in guinea pig medicine. Will let you know the outcome!
 
Will be very interested to hear the outcome. So sorry for your loss, you're very brave staying for the P.M. x
 
I am so sorry for your loss, what a brave person you are! If it only helps one other piggy somewhere it would have been worth it. I am not sure I would be able to watch something like that, especially when being emotionally involved, I don't have your courage, but well done :)
 
doglovinpiggylover said:
very interesting, but yes how brave, didnt you cry?

Brilliant that you can do this for others
Click to expand...

Thank you, yes I felt very emotional before but was focusing on not fainting when I first went in there. After a while though it was so interesting, and so beautiful in a funny way, to see the perfection of the guinea pig anatomy. His amazing digestive tract, his relatively tiny heart and lungs (this is why they dont cope with anaesthetics well according to the vet), the little kidneys and liver. So amazing!
I feel that Pumpkin had a great life with his 2 girlies and is now giving something back. On the day he died he was sat on a heat pad snoozing in the sunshine surrounded by his girls, not a bad way to go!
 
pig in the city said:
Thank you, yes I felt very emotional before but was focusing on not fainting when I first went in there. After a while though it was so interesting, and so beautiful in a funny way, to see the perfection of the guinea pig anatomy. His amazing digestive tract, his relatively tiny heart and lungs (this is why they dont cope with anaesthetics well according to the vet), the little kidneys and liver. So amazing!
I feel that Pumpkin had a great life with his 2 girlies and is now giving something back. On the day he died he was sat on a heat pad snoozing in the sunshine surrounded by his girls, not a bad way to go!
Click to expand...

Aw that's so nice when so many have lingering illnesses, at least he was happy & loved :)
 
pig in the city said:
Thank you, yes I felt very emotional before but was focusing on not fainting when I first went in there. After a while though it was so interesting, and so beautiful in a funny way, to see the perfection of the guinea pig anatomy. His amazing digestive tract, his relatively tiny heart and lungs (this is why they dont cope with anaesthetics well according to the vet), the little kidneys and liver. So amazing!
I feel that Pumpkin had a great life with his 2 girlies and is now giving something back. On the day he died he was sat on a heat pad snoozing in the sunshine surrounded by his girls, not a bad way to go!
Click to expand...

ha ha ill say, way to go Pumpkin xx
 
Well done you, your passion for piggies and love for Pumpkin will teach this vet and hopefully others something more about how they work.

An amazing gift. x
 
On my work experience I watched on a dogs operation and I fainted ...

You are very brave and even braver as it was your baby there x
 
Aww bless you but yes like you say so nice to have a vet so genuinely interested that they are likely to have learnt from this and may help other piggies in future. It can't have been easy but Pumpkin was bringing love to people even after his death and yes he went in a lovely way. Well done you for having the courage to stay and watch
 
Thanks everybody for the very positive response.
I was a bit anxious about posting this as I thought maybe it was a bit gruesome. It's great that you all see the bigger pigture!
Pumpkin's girls are a bit quiet, they miss him as he was the 'brave one' always straight out of the carry case to see what was happening.
I miss him too:0
I will see if I can work out how to post a pigture of him
 
I do the cut and paste thing from photobucket but the picture's not appearing, what am I doing wrong? Cant find that thread that told us what to do. I am rubbish at this!
 
Last edited:
gingerpigs2.jpg

Did it! Pumpkin is the one in the middle, bless him:(
 
Aww bless him! You were indeed very brave to watch but lets hope the vet learns a lot from this! Hugs xx
 
Just checked, the photo was taken on 5th feb this year, he looks a bit small but otherwise really well I think. It was only the last few days before he died that he stopped eating and seemed poorly.
what a tough little piggie- the tumour (if thats what it was) was about the size of a of a small plum, a huge thing that he was carrying around in his abdomen.
 
So sorry to hear you lost Pumpkin

:(

Glad to know some vets are wanting to gain information and further their knowledge about Guinea Pigs, as sad as it is that Pumpkin had left for the bridge, (Rip little man).
 
I admire your courage to be present during a PM... i couldn't do it @)

RIP Pumpkin 8...8...8...

If you feel up to it you could post a thread in the Rainbow Bridge section on little Pumpkin XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

He did look very happy with his ladies x)
 
you are one brave piggy owner. not only for attending the pm but also allowing Pumpkin to have one in the first place. When I lost my dog last year it was very sudden and traumatic. The vets felt it was a tunour, probably liver but maybe also spleen. They offered to do a pm to find out definitively but I refused feeling that she had been through more than enough during her last day of life (she went into liver failure suddenly & then spent 23 hrs at the vets).

Pumpkin in a little hero and no doubt running free over the Rainbow Bridge. He will remain with you always and, of course, his piggy sisters.

*hugs* to you for being brave
 
Your very brave to watch your own animals PM. Well done you. I work with every side of the vet word and to be honest ive seen it all (or a lot lol), but i dont know if i could watch my own pets PM or not? I find them interesting, love teaching the students anatomy from it too.

I hope you get an outcome on the results. Bless Pumpkin, popcorn free little one!

x.
 
Thank you for sharing your experiance with us and I'm sorry for your loss, run free Pumpkin.
 
Thank you all so much for the positive feedback, Pumpkin has certainly made his mark. I feel very moved by all your kind words, I didn't realise how supportive this was.
I will write something for the rainbow bridge.
Thanks again
Barbara xx
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top