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It's not looking good for Spice

LondonLady

LondonLady

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How do these things blow up so quickly?
Last Saturday at her regular weekly weigh-in Spice has lost about 20g. I was also aware that she had been very quiet for a few days and not moving around much. I was a bit concerned but not overly worried
On Sunday I was posting that Toffee and Spice seemed to have gone off their veggies. Further inspection showed that it was actually just Spice who was not eating veggies.
Next day (Monday) she did some very soft poops.
Tuesday (yesterday) her poops were even softer and she was sitting in them, seeming reluctant to move. I gave her a bum bath (a new experience for both of us!) and phoned the vet. I weighed her and she had lost 46g since Saturday.
At the vets she was given an injection of metacam and metaclopramide and i brought her home with metacam and cisipride to give her twice a day and instructions to syringe feed her.

This morning i weighed her again and she had lost another 50g. Back to the vets first thing and she's been there all day. She's had an xray and apparently there is 'a mass' in her abdomen. The vet talked about possibly doing an exploratory op to see what's going on. They're keeping her there tonight (Toffee is with her) and tomorrow the exotic vet who did Spice's spay surgery back in May will be in and will phone me so we can decide what to to. I'm reluctant to put her through more surgery especially if it's not going to help. But I don't feel ready to give up on her... I didn't expect this.
Any opinions or advice?
 
Hugs. Guineas are so much smaller than us and their metabolism so much faster that these things develop seemingly out of nowhere iirc.

I can totally understand not wanting to put Spice thru more major surgery. I suppose it depends partly on how exploratory it is - the vet presumably has some ideas on what she might find, which she'll hopefully tell you tomorrow along with expectations for recovery. Might be easier to make a decision then?
I didn't have good experience with this type of major surgery, but since being on this forum I've come to realise I didn't have piggy savvy vets, which you hopefully have.

Thinking of you and Spice.
 
Poor Spice. I hope your conversation with the vet tomorrow helps with your decision making. Whatever you decide to do it will be with Spice’s best interests at the heart of it. Sending you hugs and healing vibes to Spice ❤️
 
BIG HUGS

I am so very sorry that you have hit such a bad string and yet more bad news.

Exploratory surgery or surgery for internal masses is sadly generally not successful in our experience. The cancer has usually already attached to other organs or the gut by the time it is picked up due to the faster metabolism and the fact that guinea pigs are able as prey animals to suppress symptoms to an astonishing degree.

I am extremely reluctant to rain on your hopes but I also feel that if you opt for an operation to give Spice a chance you'd rather do so with your eyes open and be prepared to call it a day if necessary.
We all wish our beloved ones a long and happy life; especially when it comes so close after other losses. The last thing we want to do is look into the abyss of our grieving yet again and face some very hard decisions. You have my fullest sympathy.

It is never about the depth of your love and commitment but how you weigh up the various legitimate concerns against each other so you can eventually make peace with yourself again.

You may find this new guide below helpful. I have written it in order to help owners torn between the desire to give their beloved one every possible chance, the elementary instinctive fear of loss but also the wish of getting it absolutely right with getting a bit of a handle on working out what is most important for them at this point of time with that specific pet - it is something that you have to decide very much on a case to case basis.
It won't ease the pain in your heart but it can hopefully help you ease the inner emotional conflict somewhat and make it that bit easier to deal with your decision in hindsight without as many doubts and feelings of guilt: Operation or Terminal Care/Euthanasia? - Helpful Questions to Ask Ahead or in Hindsight

My heart goes out to you and my thoughts are with you and Spice.
 
I'm so sorry. These things advance so quickly with guinea pigs because there metabolism is so fast. Years ago we had one of our older pigs at the vet for a check on something else and they palpated her abdomen and it felt normal. A month later she started drooling and we rushed her to the vet and found that she had such a large abdominal mass that it was compressing her bowel and stopping her whole digestive system and we had to let her go. It's so hard. ((HUGS)) to you and Spice. Hopefully after you talk to the vet tomorrow you'll at least have some idea of what the options are.
 
Thank you all for the comments and support ❤️

I don't know if it's just wishful thinking but I actually feel a lot more hopeful than I did yesterday.

I spoke to the vet earlier today and we're not going down the surgery route yet. She's not really sure what's happening with Spice. She didn't say much about the 'mass' the other vet talked about, just said it's not possible to see much from the images and said exploratory surgery would give lots more information. I think she was quite keen to do it, and she is very experienced, both with guinea pigs in general and with surgery. However I really didn't feel comfortable with it - especially in Spice's weakened state - and she accepted that. She said the problems could be linked to Spice's previous surgery but that was unlikely. She also said Spice's lymph glands are raised. (Infection?) and the poor girl still having diarrhoea. Mainly because of this the vet doesn't want me to bring her home yet and they are going to give her antibiotics and microbials (?) (Not sure what that means - I was asking so many questions but missed that one - is that the same as probiotics?)

Anyway, we're going to see how she is tomorrow. Having spent most of the day thinking about it I'm actually coming round to the idea that surgery might be the best course of action if the vet still wants to do it.

I know Spice is in good hands and I'm glad she's being looked after - but I'm missing them both!
 
Fingers crossed for Spice and hoping she stabilizes over the day! ((HUGS)) to you!
 
Definitely keep us posted as to how she gets on.
 
Spice has been at the vets since weds. I was hopeful that she was going to get better but the vet phoned this morning and she is very poorly. We agreed to pts.. on my way to the vets now
 
I’m so very sorry. You did everything you possibly could, and you gave spice a wonderful, loving life, but I know how heartbreaking these things are, it’s so traumatic. Take care as you grieve.
 
I'm so sorry, you are doing the kindest and most loving thing for Spice. The hardest part of keeping pets is when we have to let them go. Sending you and Spice hugs.
 
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