Fluffbabies
Junior Guinea Pig
I don’t even know how to title this, how/what to write and I guess all I’m hoping for is not to do this alone. I’ll try not to make it too long.
It started 3.5 weeks ago when Leia got a lump on her face. A local vet was certain it was a dental/jaw abscess and we decided to treat her with metacam until the Maddocks at the Cat and Rabbit Clinic were back to treat it. 2 weeks into waiting anxiously for this, we found a lump on Ginger’s neck. It seemed very similar to the abscess she had when she was just 8 months old. (Both piggies are just over 4 years old now.) As our local vets can’t do surgery we decided to take her to Simon with Leia. We treated her with metacam as well and both piggies maintained their weight and seemed full of life the whole time we waited (very anxiously) to get them to Simon. I did however notice that Ginger’s one lump seemed to have turned into three a few days before our vet trip. We were very worried but stayed hopeful as her previous abscess did become two in the short time it took us to take her to Simon.
Simon saw them yesterday and we got the worst news. While Leia’s lump seems to be a deep-set tumour, it doesn’t seem to be growing or bothering her. We decided pay to send off a sample in hopes for more information of what kind of tumour or lump it is but Simon said surgery may not be a viable option because it is very deep and it’s right under her eye. He said he would leave it and continue to give her metacam. He couldn’t give a prognosis at this stage but we’re hoping she could carry on happily for a long time.
This is the awful bit... Ginger’s lumps are lymphoma. Simon found 6-8 lumps, all her lymph nodes are swollen or lumpy. He said he strongly believes it’s leukaemia and even if it wasn’t he wouldn’t know where to start because she has so many lumps. I told him she went from one small lump to this in about a week. Simon said it seems very aggressive and Ginger likely only has 1 to 2 weeks left to live.
We’re beyond devastated. I know now from the forums a lot of people have had piggies with lymphoma but we didn’t realise it was a thing before yesterday or how quickly it could take our piggy. We’re just in so much shock and anticipatory grief. We were staying so hopeful that the lumps would be treated and we could have another year with her. To have that suddenly reduced to days is extremely painful. Simon told us the signs to watch out for so we can have her pts when she stops eating, withdraws and is having more bad days than good. I’m hoping she does show us these signs before it affects any of her organs and she suffers. Simon warned us if it affects her brain she could have seizures or other neurological problems, lungs she could struggle to breathe, or she could lose use of her legs etc. I pray none of this happens.
We want to make her last days happy and give her lots of cuddles and love but at the moment I feel paralysed by anticipating that she will be gone very soon and how it will be when we shake the salad bag and she doesn’t come running making her beautiful noises. To only have three piggies, not four. It should be four! It’s not right without her! We’ve had her from a baby and we’ll never be ready. I did make them an awesome cage and will spoil them but when I look at her it’s like a ticking clock and all I can think about is sadness.
Since we came back from the vet she’s been sleeping a lot in the wooden house and always has another piggy (often Oreo) laying next to her almost guarding her, which makes me worried she’s only got days not a week or two. I know we are lucky to have this time with her. If we hadn’t noticed she could have needed to be pts or died with little warning.
I managed to sleep maybe 2 hours after the long trip and probably becoming exhausted from crying, but i can’t get her sweet face or memories out of my head. It’s like nothing else matters and yet I’ve still got to carry on and go to work knowing my time with her is running out. I’ve had pets my whole life and i’ve been through grief but it doesn’t make it any easier and we’ve got such a deep bond with our girls.
With this diagnosis is there any point in syringe feeding her when she stops eating? I feel like at that stage maybe it’s time to help her go peacefully.
Also, I don’t suppose anyone has any tips on how to get some sleep when you can’t get your terminal piggy out your mind?
I’m afraid this was a long one.. I guess it’s just an outpouring of grief. Thank you if you made it through.
It started 3.5 weeks ago when Leia got a lump on her face. A local vet was certain it was a dental/jaw abscess and we decided to treat her with metacam until the Maddocks at the Cat and Rabbit Clinic were back to treat it. 2 weeks into waiting anxiously for this, we found a lump on Ginger’s neck. It seemed very similar to the abscess she had when she was just 8 months old. (Both piggies are just over 4 years old now.) As our local vets can’t do surgery we decided to take her to Simon with Leia. We treated her with metacam as well and both piggies maintained their weight and seemed full of life the whole time we waited (very anxiously) to get them to Simon. I did however notice that Ginger’s one lump seemed to have turned into three a few days before our vet trip. We were very worried but stayed hopeful as her previous abscess did become two in the short time it took us to take her to Simon.
Simon saw them yesterday and we got the worst news. While Leia’s lump seems to be a deep-set tumour, it doesn’t seem to be growing or bothering her. We decided pay to send off a sample in hopes for more information of what kind of tumour or lump it is but Simon said surgery may not be a viable option because it is very deep and it’s right under her eye. He said he would leave it and continue to give her metacam. He couldn’t give a prognosis at this stage but we’re hoping she could carry on happily for a long time.
This is the awful bit... Ginger’s lumps are lymphoma. Simon found 6-8 lumps, all her lymph nodes are swollen or lumpy. He said he strongly believes it’s leukaemia and even if it wasn’t he wouldn’t know where to start because she has so many lumps. I told him she went from one small lump to this in about a week. Simon said it seems very aggressive and Ginger likely only has 1 to 2 weeks left to live.
We’re beyond devastated. I know now from the forums a lot of people have had piggies with lymphoma but we didn’t realise it was a thing before yesterday or how quickly it could take our piggy. We’re just in so much shock and anticipatory grief. We were staying so hopeful that the lumps would be treated and we could have another year with her. To have that suddenly reduced to days is extremely painful. Simon told us the signs to watch out for so we can have her pts when she stops eating, withdraws and is having more bad days than good. I’m hoping she does show us these signs before it affects any of her organs and she suffers. Simon warned us if it affects her brain she could have seizures or other neurological problems, lungs she could struggle to breathe, or she could lose use of her legs etc. I pray none of this happens.
We want to make her last days happy and give her lots of cuddles and love but at the moment I feel paralysed by anticipating that she will be gone very soon and how it will be when we shake the salad bag and she doesn’t come running making her beautiful noises. To only have three piggies, not four. It should be four! It’s not right without her! We’ve had her from a baby and we’ll never be ready. I did make them an awesome cage and will spoil them but when I look at her it’s like a ticking clock and all I can think about is sadness.
Since we came back from the vet she’s been sleeping a lot in the wooden house and always has another piggy (often Oreo) laying next to her almost guarding her, which makes me worried she’s only got days not a week or two. I know we are lucky to have this time with her. If we hadn’t noticed she could have needed to be pts or died with little warning.
I managed to sleep maybe 2 hours after the long trip and probably becoming exhausted from crying, but i can’t get her sweet face or memories out of my head. It’s like nothing else matters and yet I’ve still got to carry on and go to work knowing my time with her is running out. I’ve had pets my whole life and i’ve been through grief but it doesn’t make it any easier and we’ve got such a deep bond with our girls.
With this diagnosis is there any point in syringe feeding her when she stops eating? I feel like at that stage maybe it’s time to help her go peacefully.
Also, I don’t suppose anyone has any tips on how to get some sleep when you can’t get your terminal piggy out your mind?
I’m afraid this was a long one.. I guess it’s just an outpouring of grief. Thank you if you made it through.
I’ve lost two piggies to lymphoma and it’s an awful disease.
).
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