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Sick piggy. Need advice please

Livia Rabideau

Livia Rabideau

Adult Guinea Pig
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Feb 14, 2018
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My favorite piggy is not doing well. For the last few weeks he has had heavy breathing. He is just over 6 years old. I took him to the vet. We did x-rays. There seemed to be a bit of fluid in his lung, so we started with smz for possible pneumonia. We did a week and a half of that woth no change, so we switched to baytril. He was on that for about the same amount of time with no change except it destroyed his gut. He was given probiotics the whole time. His lower right molars are overgrown, but no doctor will address them until we figure out the breathing. He is not a candidate for anesthesia. I took him to a different vet who did x-rays and ultrasound. The fluid is in the chest cavity, not the lung per the ultrasound. She said the heart is good as did the other vet. I am running out of time with his teeth trying to help him. We started heart meds and doxycycline as a last hope, but I don't think it's going to make a difference. He is still so happy and full of life. How o I say goodbye when he is like this? I am beyond crushed. I am trying everything I can think of and it's still not enough. Obviously I don't want him to suffer, but this is so hard. 😭😭😭😭
 
I am so sorry your piggy is so poorly I am not an expert at all but didn't want your post to go unanswered. Hopefully soon an expert will be along once they wake up.as it's still quite early here 💐
 
FWIW a vet was willing to deal with back teeth on a very senior piggy of mine without anaesthetic. No nerves in those teeth. The vets don't want to do it in case the guinea struggles and gets their tongue in the way. But my piggy was good as gold, she kept perfectly still in the vet assistant's hands.

I had to ask specially for it to be done, they didn't offer. I wanted to give my senior piggy the chance.
 
Mrs Tiggy Winkle said:
FWIW a vet was willing to deal with back teeth on a very senior piggy of mine without anaesthetic. No nerves in those teeth. The vets don't want to do it in case the guinea struggles and gets their tongue in the way. But my piggy was good as gold, she kept perfectly still in the vet assistant's hands.

I had to ask specially for it to be done, they didn't offer. I wanted to give my senior piggy the chance.
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I have asked mine and called around to others. Nobody will do it.
 
Livia Rabideau said:
He is still so happy and full of life. How o I say goodbye when he is like this? I am beyond crushed. I am trying everything I can think of and it's still not enough. Obviously I don't want him to suffer, but this is so hard. 😭😭😭😭
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As others have said you will know when it is time to let him go. He may even let you know himself. My 9yo, who couldn't walk any more but was still eating and washing her face (showing signs of wanting to live) eventually looked at me in a way where I knew.
It's always sad, often devastating and heart-wrenching but guineas can deteriorate very fast. In the morning running around eating, by the evening me the owner wishing I'd taken my guinea to the vet for their final trip.

I don't believe now since being on this forum that there is a right way and a wrong way. You know your piggy best and he knows you care for him and love him.

Hugs and good thoughts to you and him.
 
Mrs Tiggy Winkle said:
As others have said you will know when it is time to let him go. He may even let you know himself. My 9yo, who couldn't walk any more but was still eating and washing her face (showing signs of wanting to live) eventually looked at me in a way where I knew.
It's always sad, often devastating and heart-wrenching but guineas can deteriorate very fast. In the morning running around eating, by the evening me the owner wishing I'd taken my guinea to the vet for their final trip.

I don't believe now since being on this forum that there is a right way and a wrong way. You know your piggy best and he knows you care for him and love him.

Hugs and good thoughts to you and him.
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Thank you. He is still mostly himself. He breathes heavy and gets tired quicker, but he still runs over to see me. His appetite has been off from all of the meds. I'm going to give the meds a couple more days then probably stop. They aren't helping anyway. Just keep him on pain meds and spoil him for his last days. I keep praying he will pass in his sleep on his own. He is my favorite. I cannot imagine having to take him in for euthanasia. I just had one of my other boys euthanized Thursday evening. It was awful.
 
He still runs to see you! How adorable!

I'm sorry you had to have another boy pts on Thursday. That makes everything harder and more painful rn.
 
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