If anyone has had experience with unknown, invisible illness/cause of death

[lauryn1289]

Hi, I’m sorry if this isn’t the right topic to post this under. I posted about his death when it happened last Thursday, my piggy Eggs. I’m just so stuck on did I miss something or did something I notice but somehow didn’t register cause him to die. I was just wondering if anyone could have any clues or explanations I may have missed?

I said in my previous post for a little guy so young (around 2 years 6-7 months, people on this forum actually aged him when I took him in) he had a lot of sporadic health stuff. His weight was usually no more than 750-800g, he had dry, black flaky skin, he had 2 recurring neck abscesses I had to flush for weeks, he had pretty advanced hetero-optic bone formation given his age. He was also a very silly and unclean piggy who’d somehow always find the one poopy/pee covered spot in his bed to lie in, which lead to possible bumblefoot lately. He also had inflammation in his eye I was giving him around .6mls of cat Metacam daily for and a few days of Exocin 3mg/ml eye drops

His back feet had two large scabs, he was given metronidazole which made him stop eating and lose a lot of weight so we took him off. My regular vet had contacted the exotics they work with for their opinion, which was keeping them dry and avoiding scald and leaving the scabs alone. The scabs came off themselves a few days before he died, but his feet actually looked okay. They were red and inflamed for sure and he was walking with one of his back legs slightly raised, but I was doing what they suggested and also cleaning his feet with very diluted Hibiscrub baths. His weight came back up and after a few days of syringe feeding he was doing amazing. He was back to myself

Putting aside the rapid improvement in his weight and mood, I had a piggy die in 2023 post bladder stone surgery, I did think is his pee okay. I put a white blanket under him, no red urine. His poops were back to looking amazing, best they’d ever looked. He was constipated but after days of syringe feeding, they were fantastic. Even though his appetite was back, I was still supplementing him some critical care every few hours because he loved it. He went from 680g back up to 730g ish which was normal for him. Gut sounds and motility were perfectly normal. His teeth were normal. No distended tummy, perfectly squishy abdomen. I had only picked him up to check his feet a couple hours before he died, and they look okay all things considered. He was acting perfectly normal and then he was just gone

I know some of you had told me in my post about this that pigs can and do sometimes unfortunately just die a cardiac related death or a genetic timebomb, but I can’t help worry there’s just something I missed. I checked his cage when I cleaned it out after he died and a plastic treat wrapper had fallen in, then I think did he chew that and choke to death? I wonder did I give him enough vitamin C, did he die of scurvy? Did he have cancer or something and I somehow didn’t notice? Was he septic from his (apparently not even full on) bumblefoot? Did his antibiotics or all the metacam I gave him kill him? I had got him a pack of these really nice, quick dry fleece bedding pads for his feet while they were sore, and the backing is a light plastic-ish material. What if he ate some of that and I killed him via his bedding? My mind is racing. Is there something I forgot to check or didn’t even think about? It’s weighing so much on my mind that it feels like I had to have missed something somewhere, when he was totally fine and then a couple hours later just dead, inside his house with his little legs and head out like he was just napping

 

[sport_billy]

Hi, I’m sorry if this isn’t the right topic to post this under. I posted about his death when it happened last Thursday, my piggy Eggs. I’m just so stuck on did I miss something or did something I notice but somehow didn’t register cause him to die. I was just wondering if anyone could have any clues or explanations I may have missed?

I said in my previous post for a little guy so young (around 2 years 6-7 months, people on this forum actually aged him when I took him in) he had a lot of sporadic health stuff. His weight was usually no more than 750-800g, he had dry, black flaky skin, he had 2 recurring neck abscesses I had to flush for weeks, he had pretty advanced hetero-optic bone formation given his age. He was also a very silly and unclean piggy who’d somehow always find the one poopy/pee covered spot in his bed to lie in, which lead to possible bumblefoot lately. He also had inflammation in his eye I was giving him around .6mls of cat Metacam daily for and a few days of Exocin 3mg/ml eye drops

His back feet had two large scabs, he was given metronidazole which made him stop eating and lose a lot of weight so we took him off. My regular vet had contacted the exotics they work with for their opinion, which was keeping them dry and avoiding scald and leaving the scabs alone. The scabs came off themselves a few days before he died, but his feet actually looked okay. They were red and inflamed for sure and he was walking with one of his back legs slightly raised, but I was doing what they suggested and also cleaning his feet with very diluted Hibiscrub baths. His weight came back up and after a few days of syringe feeding he was doing amazing. He was back to myself

Putting aside the rapid improvement in his weight and mood, I had a piggy die in 2023 post bladder stone surgery, I did think is his pee okay. I put a white blanket under him, no red urine. His poops were back to looking amazing, best they’d ever looked. He was constipated but after days of syringe feeding, they were fantastic. Even though his appetite was back, I was still supplementing him some critical care every few hours because he loved it. He went from 680g back up to 730g ish which was normal for him. Gut sounds and motility were perfectly normal. His teeth were normal. No distended tummy, perfectly squishy abdomen. I had only picked him up to check his feet a couple hours before he died, and they look okay all things considered. He was acting perfectly normal and then he was just gone

I know some of you had told me in my post about this that pigs can and do sometimes unfortunately just die a cardiac related death or a genetic timebomb, but I can’t help worry there’s just something I missed. I checked his cage when I cleaned it out after he died and a plastic treat wrapper had fallen in, then I think did he chew that and choke to death? I wonder did I give him enough vitamin C, did he die of scurvy? Did he have cancer or something and I somehow didn’t notice? Was he septic from his (apparently not even full on) bumblefoot? Did his antibiotics or all the metacam I gave him kill him? Is there something I forgot to check or didn’t even think about? It’s weighing so much on my mind that it feels like I had to have missed something somewhere, when he was totally fine and then a couple hours later just dead, inside his house with his little legs and head out like he was just napping

Hey, please don’t second guess yourself, as you are doing in your last paragraph. You did nothing wrong here at all. Sometimes piggies just sadly pass and there is nothing we could have foreseen to prevent it. We have had a couple of sudden deaths and it is a normal part of grief to have the ‘Have a missed something?’ thoughts or second guess what we could have done. That is sadly a part of grief which is unpleasant and not fair to you as the griever.

I am sorry you have gone through this, your little one was so obviously loved and had a great life with you. Please be kind to yourself.
You did nothing wrong here - none of the things you have mentioned could have caused him to pass. The pieces don’t add up, this feels like sadly just a sudden death unrelated to any previous health issue. You have no blame at all. Try and remember the good times you shared.
You won’t feel this way forever.

 

[sport_billy]

Please take time to have a read of this thread that may help with the grief you are feeling Human Bereavement - Grieving, coping tips and support links for guinea pig owners and their children

 

[Freela]

I'm sorry for your loss. Sometimes there just aren't any answers, particularly with pigs who have multiple low-grade issues going on. The last pig I lost went really suddenly... she had a long-term thyroid problem on meds, had a respiratory infection but was on antibiotics for about a week when she died and seemed to be doing much better, was seen up eating at 8 a.m. by my husband and daughter, and then we found her near death around 10 a.m. She was about 3.5 years. It's hard because there's no way to know what happened or what her actual cause of death was (I honestly think something like heart failure is most likely.) But there's no real answer, no clear explanation, no lesson learned so it doesn't happen again, no closure. It's just a sad thing that happens sometimes.

What I tell myself was that I took care of her as best as I could and made her days happy. Pigs don't know what their 'expected' lifespan is. They just know if their quality of life is good right now. I gave her happy days, just like you gave your piggy happy days. That's all we can ever do. Be kind to yourself, this isn't your fault.

 

[Wiebke]

Hi, I’m sorry if this isn’t the right topic to post this under. I posted about his death when it happened last Thursday, my piggy Eggs. I’m just so stuck on did I miss something or did something I notice but somehow didn’t register cause him to die. I was just wondering if anyone could have any clues or explanations I may have missed?

I said in my previous post for a little guy so young (around 2 years 6-7 months, people on this forum actually aged him when I took him in) he had a lot of sporadic health stuff. His weight was usually no more than 750-800g, he had dry, black flaky skin, he had 2 recurring neck abscesses I had to flush for weeks, he had pretty advanced hetero-optic bone formation given his age. He was also a very silly and unclean piggy who’d somehow always find the one poopy/pee covered spot in his bed to lie in, which lead to possible bumblefoot lately. He also had inflammation in his eye I was giving him around .6mls of cat Metacam daily for and a few days of Exocin 3mg/ml eye drops

His back feet had two large scabs, he was given metronidazole which made him stop eating and lose a lot of weight so we took him off. My regular vet had contacted the exotics they work with for their opinion, which was keeping them dry and avoiding scald and leaving the scabs alone. The scabs came off themselves a few days before he died, but his feet actually looked okay. They were red and inflamed for sure and he was walking with one of his back legs slightly raised, but I was doing what they suggested and also cleaning his feet with very diluted Hibiscrub baths. His weight came back up and after a few days of syringe feeding he was doing amazing. He was back to myself

Putting aside the rapid improvement in his weight and mood, I had a piggy die in 2023 post bladder stone surgery, I did think is his pee okay. I put a white blanket under him, no red urine. His poops were back to looking amazing, best they’d ever looked. He was constipated but after days of syringe feeding, they were fantastic. Even though his appetite was back, I was still supplementing him some critical care every few hours because he loved it. He went from 680g back up to 730g ish which was normal for him. Gut sounds and motility were perfectly normal. His teeth were normal. No distended tummy, perfectly squishy abdomen. I had only picked him up to check his feet a couple hours before he died, and they look okay all things considered. He was acting perfectly normal and then he was just gone

I know some of you had told me in my post about this that pigs can and do sometimes unfortunately just die a cardiac related death or a genetic timebomb, but I can’t help worry there’s just something I missed. I checked his cage when I cleaned it out after he died and a plastic treat wrapper had fallen in, then I think did he chew that and choke to death? I wonder did I give him enough vitamin C, did he die of scurvy? Did he have cancer or something and I somehow didn’t notice? Was he septic from his (apparently not even full on) bumblefoot? Did his antibiotics or all the metacam I gave him kill him? I had got him a pack of these really nice, quick dry fleece bedding pads for his feet while they were sore, and the backing is a light plastic-ish material. What if he ate some of that and I killed him via his bedding? My mind is racing. Is there something I forgot to check or didn’t even think about? It’s weighing so much on my mind that it feels like I had to have missed something somewhere, when he was totally fine and then a couple hours later just dead, inside his house with his little legs and head out like he was just napping

Hi

BIG HUGS

No, you haven't missed anything. When the chips are down and despite their big personalities, guinea pigs are small animals with a very fast metabolism (much faster than in the more common other pet species) who have been seen as a 'short-lived children's pet' for too long until very recently so medical research is lagging way behind larger pet species. Unlike them, they are also prey animals who are wired to suppress any symptoms of illness until they no longer can.
It also doesn't help that the majority of vets are not all that experienced with guinea pigs. As a species, they fall sadly very much into the gap of hardly featuring in a general vet's curriculum and being too 'mundane' for the real exotics buffs.

Piggies and other pets or even humans can die out of the blue from something like a stroke or a heart attack, or from their bodies suddenly closing down without any warning (as happened several times with my own piggies over the years if that is any consolation to you) and as we are regularly seeing on this forum with piggies from just a few days old to the really old ones. It can really happen to anypig at any time of life. Despite getting good care and even with the best of vet care, as this forum has shown.

This means that as piggy owners we have to sadly live all too often with the fact that we'll never know what exactly our beloved ones have died from. This can sometimes be hard to bear. But it is NOT your fault as an owner.

Ireland is unfortunately not a country where there is a lot of veterinary experience and knowledge of guinea pigs around or where there are vets who actually specialise in them, as far as I know. Nor can all of us afford the massive cost of 'super-vet' diagnostics, often without any effective medication to back up the findings if it comes to the metabolising inner organs since rodents, and especially guinea pigs, have a different metabolism.

The grieving process is also massively complicated by our human wiring of seeking any perceived fault in ourselves and our own actions or inactions; even when there is nothing we have done wrong, like in your case.
We all experience the soul-searching/strong feelings of guilt to some degree because we care. But you can get really trapped in this pernicious and totally unproductive mind loop at the onset of the grieving process with a sudden, unexplained death.

Please seek help if you cannot get out of it by your own strength or try to talk, write, dance or run it out of you. People with pre-existing mental health issues are more prone to get stuck in them, as well as those owners who had to deal with a rather traumatic experience during their piggy's passing (PTSD).

Our grieving guide has a chapter with lots of helpful tips of what you can do for yourself to help yourself along with the processing. It doesn't mean that you have to do it all for yourself but it means that you may be able to get out of it that bit quicker and easier if you can find a way to get it out of your mind and body that works for you on a physical or mental basis; especially if you are in a country that doesn't have any pet bereavement services - which is an acknowledged mental health condition that can affect any anybody, by the way.
Here it the link again. You may find the chapter on ways to cope helpful. I have listed all the ways I could thinks of in which you can ease the pressure on yourself on a daily basis. You will have to try and see what works best for you: Human Bereavement: Grieving, Processing and Support Links for Guinea Pig Owners and Their Children

I am moving your thread to our new End of Life and Bereavement Support Corner, which we have especially designed for this purpose so we can give you our support for as long as you need it. We are not trained but we can give you our community support and our own owner's understanding. Most of us who have had guinea pigs for a longer time have been there ourselves at some point or other. If you feel that talking about it helps you, then we are here for you to listen for as long as needed. On this forum, we care about owners as much as we care about the piggies.

Please bookmark this your dedicated support thread so we can keep it all together and you can find it again quickly to pick it up whenever you need to.

 

[Merab]

Sorry that you are dealing with this but please accept that you did nothing wrong.
When I lost my beautiful Tamar it was a bolt out of the blue.
She was fine in the afternoon when I cleaned the cage, but when I went into their room a bit later she was obviously very ill and she died while I was phoning the vet for an emergency appointment.
I never knew the cause - probably a heart attack or stroke, but sadly it happens.
Take time to grieve and be patient with yourself.
Many of us do understand what you’re going through as we’ve been there too.
Hugs

 

[Truffolo]

Very sad. In life they are so vital and animated. Indeed, he was just napping when he crossed over. He had a beautiful, pain free death, little Eggs. But it is very sad for the person who has lost their piggy friend. Unfortunately piggies can make their departure very unexpectedly. Not what long lived humans expect from a friendship which brings them so much comfort and delight. We are left in an in-between world where we still somehow expect to find them waiting for us as usual. Our dear little ghosts. That sharp pang at parting is the price of love. There is no escaping it, but it is very sharp. What helps is taking that love and fearlessly giving it to your new piggy, not as a replacement or substitute, but as a friend who will benefit from following in Eggs' paw prints and from your experience and care as a piggy carer

 

[LynneMcd]

Hi

BIG HUGS

No, you haven't missed anything. When the chips are down and despite their big personalities, guinea pigs are small animals with a very fast metabolism (much faster than in the more common other pet species) who have been seen as a 'short-lived children's pet' for too long until very recently so medical research is lagging way behind larger pet species. Unlike them, they are also prey animals who are wired to suppress any symptoms of illness until they no longer can.
It also doesn't help that the majority of vets are not all that to not at all experienced with guinea pigs. As a species, they fall sadly very much into the gap of hardly featuring in a general vet's curriculum and being too 'mundane' for the real exotics buffs.

Piggies and other pets or even humans can die out of the blue from something like a stroke or a heart attack, or from their bodies suddenly closing down without any warning (as happened several times with my own piggies over the years if that is any consolation to you) and as we are regularly seeing on this forum with piggies from just a few days old to the really old ones. It can really happen to anypig at any time of life. Despite getting good care and even with the best of vet care, as this forum has shown.

This means that as piggy owners we have to sadly live all too often with the fact that we'll never know what exactly our beloved ones have died from. This can sometimes be hard to bear. But it is NOT your fault as an owner.

Ireland is unfortunately not a country where there is a lot of veterinary experience and knowledge of guinea pigs or where there are vets who specialise in them. Nor can all of us afford the massive cost of 'super-vet' diagnostics, often without any effective medication to back up the findings if it comes to the metabolising inner organs since rodents, and especially guinea pigs, have a different metabolism.

The grieving process is also massively complicated by our human wiring of seeking any perceived fault in ourselves and our own actions or inactions; even when there is nothing we have done wrong, like in your case.
We all experience the soul-searching/strong feelings of guilt to some degree because we care. But you can get really trapped in this pernicious and totally unproductive mind loop at the onset of the grieving process with a sudden, unexplained death.

Please seek help if you cannot get out of it by your own strength or try to talk, write, dance or run it out of you. People with pre-existing mental health issues are more prone to get stuck in them, as well as those owners who had to deal with a rather traumatic experience during their piggy's passing (PTSD).

Our grieving guide has a chapter with lots of helpful tips of what you can do for yourself to help yourself along with the processing. It doesn't mean that you have to do it all for yourself but it means that you may be able to get out of it that bit quicker and easier if you can find a way to get it out of your mind and body that works for you on a physical or mental basis; especially if you are in a country that doesn't have any pet bereavement services - which is an acknowledged mental health condition that can affect any anybody, by the way.
Here it the link again. You may find the chapter on ways to cope helpful. I have listed all the ways I could thinks of in which you can ease the pressure on yourself on a daily basis. You will have to try and see what works best for you: End of Life and Bereavement Support Corner

I am moving your thread to our new End of Life and Bereavement Support Corner, which we have especially designed for this purpose so we can give you our support for as long as you need it. We are not trained but we can give you our community support and our own owner's understanding. Most of us who have had guinea pigs for a longer time have been there ourselves at some point or other. If you feel that talking about it helps you, then we are here for you to listen for as long as needed. On this forum, we care about owners as much as we care about the piggies.

Please bookmark this your dedicated support thread so we can keep it all together and you can find it again quickly to pick it up whenever you need to.

What a wonderfully wise, comforting and lovely person you are.

 

[Wiebke]

What a wonderfully wise, comforting and lovely person you are.

Thank you.

 

[lauryn1289]

Hi

BIG HUGS

No, you haven't missed anything. When the chips are down and despite their big personalities, guinea pigs are small animals with a very fast metabolism (much faster than in the more common other pet species) who have been seen as a 'short-lived children's pet' for too long until very recently so medical research is lagging way behind larger pet species. Unlike them, they are also prey animals who are wired to suppress any symptoms of illness until they no longer can.
It also doesn't help that the majority of vets are not all that experienced with guinea pigs. As a species, they fall sadly very much into the gap of hardly featuring in a general vet's curriculum and being too 'mundane' for the real exotics buffs.

Piggies and other pets or even humans can die out of the blue from something like a stroke or a heart attack, or from their bodies suddenly closing down without any warning (as happened several times with my own piggies over the years if that is any consolation to you) and as we are regularly seeing on this forum with piggies from just a few days old to the really old ones. It can really happen to anypig at any time of life. Despite getting good care and even with the best of vet care, as this forum has shown.

This means that as piggy owners we have to sadly live all too often with the fact that we'll never know what exactly our beloved ones have died from. This can sometimes be hard to bear. But it is NOT your fault as an owner.

Ireland is unfortunately not a country where there is a lot of veterinary experience and knowledge of guinea pigs around or where there are vets who actually specialise in them, as far as I know. Nor can all of us afford the massive cost of 'super-vet' diagnostics, often without any effective medication to back up the findings if it comes to the metabolising inner organs since rodents, and especially guinea pigs, have a different metabolism.

The grieving process is also massively complicated by our human wiring of seeking any perceived fault in ourselves and our own actions or inactions; even when there is nothing we have done wrong, like in your case.
We all experience the soul-searching/strong feelings of guilt to some degree because we care. But you can get really trapped in this pernicious and totally unproductive mind loop at the onset of the grieving process with a sudden, unexplained death.

Please seek help if you cannot get out of it by your own strength or try to talk, write, dance or run it out of you. People with pre-existing mental health issues are more prone to get stuck in them, as well as those owners who had to deal with a rather traumatic experience during their piggy's passing (PTSD).

Our grieving guide has a chapter with lots of helpful tips of what you can do for yourself to help yourself along with the processing. It doesn't mean that you have to do it all for yourself but it means that you may be able to get out of it that bit quicker and easier if you can find a way to get it out of your mind and body that works for you on a physical or mental basis; especially if you are in a country that doesn't have any pet bereavement services - which is an acknowledged mental health condition that can affect any anybody, by the way.
Here it the link again. You may find the chapter on ways to cope helpful. I have listed all the ways I could thinks of in which you can ease the pressure on yourself on a daily basis. You will have to try and see what works best for you: Human Bereavement: Grieving, Processing and Support Links for Guinea Pig Owners and Their Children

I am moving your thread to our new End of Life and Bereavement Support Corner, which we have especially designed for this purpose so we can give you our support for as long as you need it. We are not trained but we can give you our community support and our own owner's understanding. Most of us who have had guinea pigs for a longer time have been there ourselves at some point or other. If you feel that talking about it helps you, then we are here for you to listen for as long as needed. On this forum, we care about owners as much as we care about the piggies.

Please bookmark this your dedicated support thread so we can keep it all together and you can find it again quickly to pick it up whenever you need to.

Thank you for all the kind words I appreciate all the support so much. I think it’s the lack of definite closure for Eggs that’s the hardest, all of my other pigs had an obvious reason for their passing

Incase anyone from Ireland ever comes across this post and if it could be useful to anyone, the 3 practices who have great exotic vets in Ireland I know of are Veterinary Specialists in Summerhill Co. Meath, Palmerstown Veterinary Clinic in Dublin and Village Vets in Bray Co. Wicklow. They were so wonderful in Bray when one of my previous boys needed a bladder stone surgery although he didn’t survive the recovery sadly. Bairbre O’Malley in particular is a fantastic exotics vet. It’s such a shame there’s so little of them in Ireland though All those clinics are a minimum of 1 hour 20 mins from me and I’m not aware of any exotics specialists in the most southern parts or western parts of Ireland. Hopefully one some day soon this changes

My own vet told me she did a successful surgery on a hamster once despite not being fully trained in exotics which I was surprised by, but maybe her being a zoologist before she was a vet was a benefit as far as knowledge of other animals goes. Very unfortunate the lack of qualified vets

 

[Wiebke]

Thank you for all the kind words I appreciate all the support so much. I think it’s the lack of definite closure for Eggs that’s the hardest, all of my other pigs had an obvious reason for their passing

Incase anyone from Ireland ever comes across this post and if it could be useful to anyone, the 3 practices who have great exotic vets in Ireland I know of are Veterinary Specialists in Summerhill Co. Meath, Palmerstown Veterinary Clinic in Dublin and Village Vets in Bray Co. Wicklow. They were so wonderful in Bray when one of my previous boys needed a bladder stone surgery although he didn’t survive the recovery sadly. Bairbre O’Malley in particular is a fantastic exotics vet. It’s such a shame there’s so little of them in Ireland though All those clinics are a minimum of 1 hour 20 mins from me and I’m not aware of any exotics specialists in the most southern parts or western parts of Ireland. Hopefully one some day soon this changes

My own vet told me she did a successful surgery on a hamster once despite not being fully trained in exotics which I was surprised by, but maybe her being a zoologist before she was a vet was a benefit as far as knowledge of other animals goes. Very unfortunate the lack of qualified vets

Hi

Could you please add the full address and contact details together with recommended vet names of the recommended clinics to this thread here so we can add Ireland as a country to our recommended vets list? That would be great and a great help to other members or browsers from your country.
Members' Recommended Vets

Here is the link to our recommended vets list (which is closed to member posts as it is a protected resource) on the expanded top bar. We try our best to keep it updated, epsecially in terms of good vets moving clinics but we rely on member feedback.
Recommended Guinea Pig Vets

It is tough not knowing what exactly went wrong and living with not knowing. Try to concentrate on the happy times with Egg instead and the love and sparkle he has brought to your life.

 

[lauryn1289]

Hi

Could you please add the full address and contact details together with recommended vet names of the recommended clinics to this thread here so we can add Ireland as a country to our recommended vets list? That would be great and a great help to other members or browsers from your country.
Members' Recommended Vets

Here is the link to our recommended vets list (which is closed to member posts as it is a protected resource) on the expanded top bar. We try our best to keep it updated, epsecially in terms of good vets moving clinics but we rely on member feedback.
Recommended Guinea Pig Vets

It is tough not knowing what exactly went wrong and living with not knowing. Try to concentrate on the happy times with Egg instead and the love and sparkle he has brought to your life.

Of course, Village Vets full address is Unit 2, Southern Cross Road, Central Bray, Co. Wicklow, A98 N6W7, and the phone number is (01) 272 3857. The primary vet there is Bairbre O’Malley who’s had 25 years of experience in exotics and worked in Australia and the UK too, but the vet my Bobby dealt with was Estrella Escobar. The whole clinic has experience with exotics

 

[lauryn1289]

The second vet is Palmerstown Veterinary Clinic, Old Lucan Rd, Palmerstown, Dublin,
D20 HC86 and the phone number is (01) 623 7044. Their exotics specialist name is Jennifer O’Rourke but they have a training exotics vet too called Fiona Sahyoun.

The third is Veterinary Specialists Ireland, Clonmahon, Summerhill, Co. Meath, A83 EV27 and the phone number is (046) 955 7551. This clinic is exclusively all veterinary specialties and their exotics vet is Bobby Ortiz. They do first opinion and referral cases and also have an exotics hospitalisation wing as far as I know.

There’s also a vet named Dee in Acorn House Clinic in Johnstown Bridge, Enfield, Co. Kildare, A83 CK23, phone number (046) 954 9886. Dee has a post graduate qualification in exotic animal studies so will be more knowledgeable than the average vet