hrhmcm
Junior Guinea Pig
Apologies in advance if I'm rambling a bit in this post, I've unfortunately received a bit of bad news about one of my boys and I'm absolutely devastated.
I've not long put up a post about 6 y/o boar - he originally was only picking at bits of hay, hardly drinking and hiding away a lot. I had taken him to the vet and tried meloxicam, paracetamol and ibuprofen. He improved some, but then went back downhill a little bit. I was syringe feeding him and still feeding veg/grass as he was eating those fine. I believe around this period I was weighing him each day and there was no significant weight loss over the 2 weeks. I took him back and had an x-ray on Friday just gone, and unfortunately he has quite a large stone at the start of his ureter and a couple of smaller ones not far behind. Surgery was advised against as it would be high risk and most likely futile, leaving putting to sleep as the only option. I had said I'd take him back home for the weekend to spend time with him and booked him in to be pts tomorrow.
My main issue now is I'm having so much trouble reconciling this with the fact that at the moment he just doesn't seem that ill. I know it'll be down to the fact he's on 3x painkillers/syringe feeding, but his appetite has picked up, he's drinking and a lot more active. He has been a bit up-and-down, sometimes he's hiding away and I can see that he's in pain, but other times he's out and about happy as larry. Right now, he's eating and drinking and looks completely fine (although he still will only pick at the softest parts of the hay).
I'm completely torn between wanting to push the date back and continuing with pain management, and not wanting to risk a sudden decline or any other complications. Has anybody had anything similar? or does anybody have any advice on what you'd be looking for to know when it's definitely time?
I've not long put up a post about 6 y/o boar - he originally was only picking at bits of hay, hardly drinking and hiding away a lot. I had taken him to the vet and tried meloxicam, paracetamol and ibuprofen. He improved some, but then went back downhill a little bit. I was syringe feeding him and still feeding veg/grass as he was eating those fine. I believe around this period I was weighing him each day and there was no significant weight loss over the 2 weeks. I took him back and had an x-ray on Friday just gone, and unfortunately he has quite a large stone at the start of his ureter and a couple of smaller ones not far behind. Surgery was advised against as it would be high risk and most likely futile, leaving putting to sleep as the only option. I had said I'd take him back home for the weekend to spend time with him and booked him in to be pts tomorrow.
My main issue now is I'm having so much trouble reconciling this with the fact that at the moment he just doesn't seem that ill. I know it'll be down to the fact he's on 3x painkillers/syringe feeding, but his appetite has picked up, he's drinking and a lot more active. He has been a bit up-and-down, sometimes he's hiding away and I can see that he's in pain, but other times he's out and about happy as larry. Right now, he's eating and drinking and looks completely fine (although he still will only pick at the softest parts of the hay).
I'm completely torn between wanting to push the date back and continuing with pain management, and not wanting to risk a sudden decline or any other complications. Has anybody had anything similar? or does anybody have any advice on what you'd be looking for to know when it's definitely time?