I did stop the Emeprid and Ranatidine on the Wednesday 22nd march which was a day before I was due back to work. However when I got up Thursday morning Bubs was just sitting in the corner not interested in his veg and quite lethargic. So off we went to the vets again. It was the last day Sarah was going to be there as she was going to a conference for exotics vets in Venice. Sarah wanted to put him under to do bloods and x-rays to get to the bottom of what was going on. I had doubts about the anaesthetic as he didn't seem well enough but Sarah seemed quite confident and stupidly I agreed. I felt under pressure as it was basically the last day there would be an exotics vet around for a week and thought if it needed doing later I would get a normal vet who wouldn't know pigs. I got a phone call early afternoon to say he had woken up ok and was eating so all was good and I would pick him up in the morning. I was so relieved but we got a phone call that night to say that he had passed. Apparently he had a feed at 7pm and when they went to feed him about 9 he was gone. I'm devastated. I feel so awful that I agreed to the anaesthetic and awful that he was on his own in a strange place when he died. I don't feel that I can ever forgive myself. We picked him up the next morning and had him cremated. My poor baby had fought off the worst case of bloat Sarah had ever seen and was almost recovered till something happened that weds night. Sarah is now back and is ringing me this morning as some of the tests had already been sent off so might shed some light on what happened.
BIG HUGS
I am so very sorry! It is very upsetting when it happens like that. Please keep in mind that you and Sarah have been trying your very best to get to the bottom of his persisting problem to ensure a stable longer life. It is always bitter to lose such a hard fought battle, but please try to concentrate on the fact that you have done your very best for him you could in order to get to the bottom of his problem and - if possible - to heal him completely, as something underlying was clearly not right and would have had reared its ugly head in some way or other anyway. It has just happened sooner and more dramatically, but most likely much less painfully than otherwise.
Please try to not spoil your precious memories for the longer term by throwing away all your love and all the good things you have brought into Bubs' life. It is normal to be angry and upset at this stage and to feed the guilt that is an integral part of the onset of the grieving process into that anger.
I have lost enough piggies of my own in ops and procedures in those times when medical care for guinea pigs was not yet as much advanced; I know myself how your anger/guilt can really taint your feelings for a very long time and destroy a lot of what really matters and what is precious in the long term even though I know in my head that given the circumstances, I would make the same choice again because it was the best one I could get at with the knowledge I had.
If it is some consolation to you, my Tanni died from a sudden heart attack during the night in January after struggling with bloat for a week. I found her in the morning face down on some hay with her mouth full of it, so it must have been very sudden - and a very gentle, quick death compared to a death by bloat, like my Hywel died of. He had a sudden a vicious overnight onset full blown bloat that had been too far advanced to be treatable by the morning. He had seemingly settled down well at TEAS sanctuary because of his persistent recurring dental abscess after having been bugged by off and on mild to medium bloating issues during the summer. In both cases I wasn't there/couldn't be there - nor could I have done anything about it if I was. They were both 6 years old.
Bloat is one of the nastiest things you can come up against - and it can come back with a vengeance even weeks after you thought you were past it. At least Bubs has been spared that.
