This is regarding my 7year girl pebbles. She has been having seizures since the past 4 days. Have had mutiple trips to the vet, she was found to be hypoglycemic during two of the episodes, was given iv dextrose. Her cbc is normal.
She now has very limited movement. Sits in one part of the cage, and occasiinally lifts her head up to eat. I am syringe feeding her water and mashed pellets. Her neurological deficit worsens after every seizure. The vet says there is nothing else to be done.
She has a significant past history of ovarian malignancy for which hysterectomy was done 2 years ago .
Any advice on furthur management? I am worried it might be brain tumour or something? Or the hypoglycemic seizures could be due to insulinoma?
Hi!
HUGS
I am very sorry for your girl; it sounds like you are coming to the end of any possible treatment.
Seven years is the upper end of the average life span, so you have done extremely well with Pebbles!
Please make sure that you do not solely concentrate on keeping her alive but also take her quality of life into account. I know that this is a hard and heart-breaking switch of focus to make. Letting a beloved one that has no chance of recovery go is the most loving gift we can make, but facing your own fears of loss and accepting that you are coming to the end of the road is extremely hard.
You can unfortunately never choose how and what your piggies die from; when they reach the very old age like Pebbles, something has to give sooner or later. Sometimes you can end up with a rat-tail of increasingly difficult to manage complications depending on what is going first, like you are now facing with Pebbles; sometimes the end can happen right out of the blue, whether that is multiple organ failure or a the immune system failing and an illness/health issue hitting so hard and fast that medication can never catch up. Old age sadly rarely comes gently or kindly.
Your grieving process is starting the moment you are hit by the realisation that death is no longer an abstract but a very real concept. It is very normal to instinctively look for ways out and grasp at straws for potential miracle cures or treatments your vet may have missed.
In my own expeirence it is always so much tougher when you are coming gradually up to the line but there is nothing that takes the decision out of your hands.
My personal line with older and very ill piggies with no chance of recovery is when they can no longer express normal behaviour and become totally reliant on my round the clock care; but then she is not the first or even the tenth piggy I've been confronted with.
I've had to make the hard and heart-breaking decision to sent my my own Hedydd to join her other old friends that had preceded her in the weeks before (each from a different cause as old age and a failing body struck). Earlier this month Hedydd sadly she lost virtually all her mobility with no chance of recovery between arthritis affecting her whole body, sudden back leg paralysis and a potential minor stroke from which she recovered but without being able to move around anymore as her front legs were too badly affected by her arthritis. Any medical and home care could do only so much. And yes, I miss her and her companions badly as they have been with me through a lot.
So I fully understand your dilemma and sincerely feel for you! I wish I had that miracle cure for Pebbles, but I sadly don't.
You may find this guide here helpful. It contains a chapter on looking after terminally ill guinea pigs and the personal and ethical challenges involved with it:
Human Bereavement: Grieving, Coping and Support Links for Guinea Pig Owners and Their Children
