The ups and downs of a terminal diagnosis

Emx93

Emx93

Adult Guinea Pig
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Do you find companions can tell when the other piggy is having good and bad days? I find fluffys mood is entirely depicted by whether princess is having a good or bad day, she had a really bad day Saturday and fluffy was sulking and fussing all day and seemed really on edge, she had a great day yesterday and fluffy was popcorning like I've never seen! I'm sure she can tell! It's very sweet but also heart wrenching to watch! 💞 The ups and downs of palliative care, its a roller-coaster! I never expected my little fear aggressive diva fluffy to make such a good carer pig but she does! It brings tears to my eyes on many occasion, a few weeks back there was one day that after a bad night p didn't want veg, fluffy realised she didn't have competition at veggie time and took veg to ps tunnel and dropped it in front of her, I was speechless! These two 💞😥
 

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Aww! They're little sweeties aren't they! Marshmallow wasn't at all supportive to nugget post op :yikes:
The only thing that concerns me about it is sometimes p will hide pain when fluffys around, I only find her teeth grinding or sitting hunched when fluffy is fast asleep, it worries me that she's more sick than she lets on, she's a trooper bless her, seems good atm though fingers crossed! 🤞 Xx
 
piggieminder said:
I hope she continues to keep happy.
I also hope you are finding time to look after yourself, things can get so intense with sick animals you forget you need time for you too.
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Thankyou, I'm getting better at it, I try to make time for the odd 5mins and a cuppa 😂 but with 3 children who don't sleep and 8 animals it can be intense, I try to see the animals as me time, I enjoy taking care of them, taking the dog for a walk etc i am taking Saturday night off to go for a night out for a friend's birthday and leaving daddy pig in charge 😍 I'm hoping she continues to do well too as I think she is now maxed out on buprecare (buprenorphine) she absolutely hates taking buprecare but she's had no side effects and it's strong stuff xx
 
I found that when Honey was terminally ill (he was practically skin and bone but became extremely hyperactive when he was ill, as opposed to his previous healthy yet very lazy self), Little who is the dominant pig changed too. The hierarchy was no longer noticeable, Little would give up his food dish or his bed, etc, if Honey wanted it rather than shout at him and show dominance. He just started letting Honey have his way, I thought this was a very sweet thing for him to do and I think he definitely understood that there was something wrong with his friend.
I hope your girl continues to plough on! It’s lovely how fluffy is watching out for her.
 
Aww piggies really do make the best companions! Yes fluffy was dominant but now I can't tell who's boss at all lol! Princess hasn't lost weight, she yo yos weight but tends to gain, she has an inoperable tumour and arthritis, she had such an amazing day yesterday after saturdays bad one that I couldn't tell she was sick! There are days I think she'll go on for months or even years then days I'm not sure she'll last a week, it's just a roller coaster isn't it? I savour the good days and weather the bad, monitor food input, poop output, pain signs and quality of life which is all we can ever do i think!
 
Aw, bless you, I can imagine how hard it is, a rollercoaster ride of ups and downs, hope Princess is ok and having a good day x
 
Emx93 said:
Aww piggies really do make the best companions! Yes fluffy was dominant but now I can't tell who's boss at all lol! Princess hasn't lost weight, she yo yos weight but tends to gain, she has an inoperable tumour and arthritis, she had such an amazing day yesterday after saturdays bad one that I couldn't tell she was sick! There are days I think she'll go on for months or even years then days I'm not sure she'll last a week, it's just a roller coaster isn't it? I savour the good days and weather the bad, monitor food input, poop output, pain signs and quality of life which is all we can ever do i think!
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Bless her, there were days I literally thought I was witnessing Honey dying as I was looking into the cage, just because I thought he could go at any time. The day he did pass away, he and Little were running around for nearly two hours having floor time the evening prior, he was full of life and we thought he had a good few months left in him. It was a really nice evening because Little, who can get bored of floortime really fast, was enjoying himself too. Then that night Honey suffered some kind of stroke and had to be put down that morning. They have such small, fragile bodies for what big characters they can be. Quality of life is paramount, appreciate everyday you have with her. When her time comes, it will be hard, but to be guilt-free in knowing you gave her all your love and care, and that you did right by her, makes it somewhat easier.
 
Emx93 said:
Sorry to hear about everyone's rainbow bridge piggies, it's very strange how they go from up to down and back again so quickly and how their friends just know these things! Thankfully she's never stopped eating and we are nearly 3months past diagnosis!
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I agree they definitely know when their housemates are poorly. When Ted had his poor first dental with GA and still could not eat, Bill guarded his outside bunny box nearly all day long, just sat by it and hardly moved. I realised that he was watching over him as Ted just laid in the hay and slept. I took a photo, as at first I could not quite believe it!
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Piggies are much more connected and bonded than we realise by looking from the outside. The night before I had Felix PTS he was tucked up in a fleece house and Evie slept outside the door of his house, keeping vigil over him. I’ll be honest, that was the point I realised just how sick he was.
I love that piggies rally to each other’s cause and provide comfort and support at times of need. Such precious creatures.
 
VickiA said:
Piggies are much more connected and bonded than we realise by looking from the outside. The night before I had Felix PTS he was tucked up in a fleece house and Evie slept outside the door of his house, keeping vigil over him. I’ll be honest, that was the point I realised just how sick he was.
I love that piggies rally to each other’s cause and provide comfort and support at times of need. Such precious creatures.
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It was fluffy who promted me to get her lump rechecked just a week after it had been checked! She wouldn't leave her side... It was then that the vet said it had grown and needed investigating, honestly it's often fluffy that alerts I need to keep a close eye on the bad days, I love their bond so much! 💞
 
Emx93 said:
It was fluffy who promted me to get her lump rechecked just a week after it had been checked! She wouldn't leave her side... It was then that the vet said it had grown and needed investigating, honestly it's often fluffy that alerts I need to keep a close eye on the bad days, I love their bond so much! 💞
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I do remember their first meeting wasnt so loving! It took many weeks of living alongside each other for them to become firm friends xx
 
pig in the city said:
I do remember their first meeting wasnt so loving! It took many weeks of living alongside each other for them to become firm friends xx
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Oh yes I remember fluffy being a touch on edge! She'd just had a rather riled up meeting with a boar and was firmly in I don't want another piggy around here mode! Then the next morning she had a sparkle in her eyes she'd not had since the spay! I remember crossing my fingers extremely tight during the initial bonding weeks! I do recall fluffy groomed herself during the first meeting though, she did that a lot next to the bars when they were neighbours and during the initial bonding it was like she was saying I want to be your friend but I'm nervous I just went through a lot 🙈 she humped p once during the bonding here, P let out the biggest squeel, fluffy jumped off and immediately groomed herself, she never humped her again it was like she realised she had bad legs and humping was a no go 💞 I honestly thought fluffy would forever be known as psycho piggy but I couldnt be prouder of either of them! They are certainly my favourite bond 😍 Who'd have thought two piggies with previous bonding troubles could make such good friends?! I'm so glad she bonded with fluffy and not nugget and marshmallow, I love alll 4 of them very much but considering marshmallows unsupportive response to nuggets spay I can't exactly imagine them being good carer piggies!

Now little p, more good days and less bad days please, mummy is getting all emotional over here 🙈💞
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It is often the companions that alert me to an illness. They can be very caring indeed! And they have a much finer sense than us as to what is actually going on.

Whenever I spotted my normally capricious peru diva Tegan sharing a cosy with one of my other old ladies, I knew that companion was seriously ill or possibly starting to go into organ failure. :(
 
Wiebke said:
It is often the companions that alert me to an illness. They can be very caring indeed! And they have a much finer sense than us as to what is actually going on.

Whenever I spotted my normally capricious peru diva Tegan sharing a cosy with one of my other old ladies, I knew that companion was seriously ill or possibly starting to go into organ failure. :(
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I wanted to ❤️ this too, it's beautiful yet heartbreaking, I have just booked an appointment to see our exotics vet Monday for a pain relief review because they've mentioned maybe switching buprecare to tramadol over the phone but I'd sooner have an in depth face to face discussion about it and her have a hands on exam! 🤞🤞
 
Tegan snuggling up with Heulwen (on the left) in last June; Heulwen would die not very long after in the days around her estimated 8th birthday.
Tegan followed her a month later, a just a few weeks short of her own 8th birthday. They hadn't lived together for about 5 years but were childhood companions (together with Heulwen's sister Hedydd, who passed away in October shortly after her own 8th birthday).
And yes, they remembered each other perfectly well and settled together again with an absolute minimum of fuss when I opened the old ladies group!

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Wiebke said:
Tegan snuggling up with Heulwen (on the left) in lasy June; Heulwen would die not very long after around her 8th birthday.
Tegan followed her a month later, a just a few weeks short of her own 8th birthday.
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Such a precious photo to treasure 💞 fluffy alerted me that something wasn't right with princess back in November, I thought her arthritis was deterioting as id just had her pea sized lump vet checked and advised to monitor, got to the appointment and the lump had grown in a week, we did x rays and exploratory surgery with the hopes of removal, sadly it was deemed an inoperable tumour which had started to abcess/ ulcer I believe the vet said, now fluffy alerts me when we need to reassess pain relief 💞 I treasure their closeness given they were both tricky to bond but it does worry me when fluffy stands vigil 😣
 
Emx93 said:
Such a precious photo to treasure 💞 fluffy alerted me that something wasn't right with princess back in November, I thought her arthritis was deterioting as id just had her pea sized lump vet checked and advised to monitor, got to the appointment and the lump had grown in a week, we did x rays and exploratory surgery with the hopes of removal, sadly it was deemed an inoperable tumour which had started to abcess/ ulcer I believe the vet said, now fluffy alerts me when we need to reassess pain relief 💞 I treasure their closeness given they were both tricky to bond but it does worry me when fluffy stands vigil 😣
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It has a sad side, but I try to treasure their caring nature and how they are looking out for each other.
 
I totally agree that the piggies know/alert you to others being unwell.
I’d been kept in hospital years ago because of my seizures and my sister was caring for Sheepy and Reggie. When I came out I could just tell something was off with the way Sheepy was so overprotective of Reg, sitting right outside his house and following him everywhere. Sadly Reggie was put on meds and passed away 5 days later ☹
Jess also became much nicer towards Rupert when he had his troubles, not pinching food out of his mouth like normal and grooming him more. They never had fall outs or anything normally, she was just a great veg thief!
Hope all goes well Friday x
 
alpacasqueak said:
I totally agree that the piggies know/alert you to others being unwell.
I’d been kept in hospital years ago because of my seizures and my sister was caring for Sheepy and Reggie. When I came out I could just tell something was off with the way Sheepy was so overprotective of Reg, sitting right outside his house and following him everywhere. Sadly Reggie was put on meds and passed away 5 days later ☹
Jess also became much nicer towards Rupert when he had his troubles, not pinching food out of his mouth like normal and grooming him more. They never had fall outs or anything normally, she was just a great veg thief!
Hope all goes well Friday x
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Thankyou, I actually relax a bit more when they are safely tucked up in their own hideys 🙈😂 thankyou me too, my biggest concern is the excessive drinking, excessive drinking has always been a pain sign for her, she doesn't loose much appetite with pain just seems to drink a tonne, it happened when we first adopted her and the non exotics vet put her on a stupidly low metacam dose! Anyway it also happened just before the tumour was diagnosed and has been up and down since peaking again just before she started buprecare nearly 4 weeks ago I think. The vet said at that point it was either 'immense pain' or 'kidney failure' we started buprecare and it was like a miracle drug for her the drinking calmed to around 500ml a day, still a lot but a drastic improvement! Anyhow its gone nuts again, 4-6 bottles a day! That can't be right! My thoughts are since it initially responded to buprecare and theres also been periods of teeth grinding and hunching that it is indeed a pain response and not kidney failure, so we need a new plan to get on top of this pain 😣 but what doesn't make sense is how the buprecare could just stop working despite the increased dose etc, this is why we need to see the vet because she's so up and down it just doesn't make any sense! For the most part despite yo yoinng somewhat her weight is good, she eats well most of the time, we sometimes have little interest in veggies but she will always eat hay when prompted. She gained a fair gain the first week on buprecare but then she's since dropped it all back (though is still a good size) It's just all very confusing and worrying 😣 she's had a couple of very scary days where she's pretty much just sat in a corner, has eaten hay but no veg, and it's taken 20 minutes to get metacam which she normally runs to the side of the cage for and loves down her, I just want a new pain management plan that will work long term now 😣 I could see a locum sooner but the new locum is apparently not great with piggies and I want the exotics vet that knows her case 😣
 
Emx93 said:
Thankyou, I actually relax a bit more when they are safely tucked up in their own hideys 🙈😂 thankyou me too, my biggest concern is the excessive drinking, excessive drinking has always been a pain sign for her, she doesn't loose much appetite with pain just seems to drink a tonne, it happened when we first adopted her and the non exotics vet put her on a stupidly low metacam dose! Anyway it also happened just before the tumour was diagnosed and has been up and down since peaking again just before she started buprecare nearly 4 weeks ago I think. The vet said at that point it was either 'immense pain' or 'kidney failure' we started buprecare and it was like a miracle drug for her the drinking calmed to around 500ml a day, still a lot but a drastic improvement! Anyhow its gone nuts again, 4-6 bottles a day! That can't be right! My thoughts are since it initially responded to buprecare and theres also been periods of teeth grinding and hunching that it is indeed a pain response and not kidney failure, so we need a new plan to get on top of this pain 😣 but what doesn't make sense is how the buprecare could just stop working despite the increased dose etc, this is why we need to see the vet because she's so up and down it just doesn't make any sense! For the most part despite yo yoinng somewhat her weight is good, she eats well most of the time, we sometimes have little interest in veggies but she will always eat hay when prompted. She gained a fair gain the first week on buprecare but then she's since dropped it all back (though is still a good size) It's just all very confusing and worrying 😣 she's had a couple of very scary days where she's pretty much just sat in a corner, has eaten hay but no veg, and it's taken 20 minutes to get metacam which she normally runs to the side of the cage for and loves down her, I just want a new pain management plan that will work long term now 😣 I could see a locum sooner but the new locum is apparently not great with piggies and I want the exotics vet that knows her case 😣
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I’m so sorry, sounds like you’ve both been through the wars and still fighting one with her pain poor girly. Really hope you can find a good dose to help her out. God what a lot of drinking, that’s a huge amount. If she’s eating lots of hay and off veg some days I can imagine she’d need to drink more but that’s a whopping amount!
Hopefully when you get a good pain relief plan in she’ll be a little more stable and not worry you so much, these beasties do scare us! Hope your Friday appt will help you both xx
 
Getting my Leonard's pain medication balance right was such a difficult time, it took a few months if I remember right. Luckily when his sister developed the same condition it meant we could get on top of her pain immediately. The ups and downs of those first few months though we're so draining, especially as even though he was still alive, I had started grieving for him and questioning if I was making the right decisions.
I hope you're able to get his pain under control at your appointment ❤
 
I'm so sorry others have gone through this struggle to control pain but I'm so thankful for your input it gives me so much hope we will get there 💞 we got this princess, one teeny piggy step at a time 💞
she's being a diva today so I'm taking that as positive 😍😂
 
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