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Vet doesn't know

suzreid

suzreid

New Born Pup
Joined
Nov 20, 2018
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Hi everyone, I have a lovely rescue piggie called Mr Wiggles ( six and half yrs old) - a normally lively companion - who for the last 5 days has been in pain. His abdomen is tender, but soft ( his back is also tender) He was given metacam and baytril - been on that 3 days. I had to take him back yesterday as I found a lump which turned out to be fatty mass also in his abdomen. He is eating a little when I feed him and I am maintaining fluids. They didn't offer any tests, just sent him home with 'well he is an old guinea pig' hate seeing him like this. Going to try another vet if he is not improved in a couple of days, what should we be looking for? thanks x
 
Have you tried looking on our vet locator? I believe you need a cavy savvy vet as it sounds like the one you saw doesn't care that much about smaller animals. Regardless of age they should be able to conduct tests to see what's happening and whether there is anything that can be done. Best of luck
 
Claire W said:
I would definitely see another vet, preferably a cavvy savy one. I think if it were me, I would push for an X-ray as it could be a number of things
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Thanks Claire I have called around and found a vet who is shocked at the lack of consideration shown and is booked in Thursday for a assessment, he said he would then book him in for the day, where he will have an ultrasound and urine test. Feeling like that is a start! really appreciate all the advice so far. I am really hopeful that this vet can help us find out why he is in pain. x
 
Lady Kelly said:
Have you tried looking on our vet locator? I believe you need a cavy savvy vet as it sounds like the one you saw doesn't care that much about smaller animals. Regardless of age they should be able to conduct tests to see what's happening and whether there is anything that can be done. Best of luck
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Hi Lady Kelly, that was my next thing to have a look on here, a lady I got speaking to suggested a vet in my area, who is a very experienced cavy owner too. Here is hoping he can help me find out what is wrong with my chum
 
suzreid said:
Hi Lady Kelly, that was my next thing to have a look on here, a lady I got speaking to suggested a vet in my area, who is a very experienced cavy owner too. Here is hoping he can help me find out what is wrong with my chum
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I'm glad you have been able to find another vet who wants to look into this. I don't understand why some people go into certain careers and not being interested in why any animal is in pain when you are a vet does astound me
 
suzreid said:
Thanks Claire I have called around and found a vet who is shocked at the lack of consideration shown and is booked in Thursday for a assessment, he said he would then book him in for the day, where he will have an ultrasound and urine test. Feeling like that is a start! really appreciate all the advice so far. I am really hopeful that this vet can help us find out why he is in pain. x
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I'm glad you have found a vet willing to do tests. I never I understand vets who can't be bothered with smaller animals :( I've had piggies have ultrasounds before. They are very straight forward just be prepared for your boy to come home with shaved bits as they need to shave them to ultrasound :)
 
Tiamolly123 said:
I hope Mr Wiggles improves soon. Being old is not a reason to put him to sleep. In my opinion that vet is failing in her duty of care.
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exactly! which is sadly the way my Wiggles was treated....I am hopeful the vet I have booked is way for cavy experienced
 
I agree on the bad vet side of things, on the positive side you are in a way lucky he has pretty much given up and said find another, some vets keep trying to take your money by taking a stab in the dark
 
I dont know why some people become vets, it makes me so sad.

I am very lucky to have Anton Vets and the famous John Chitty near me. He is wonderful and treats my guineas as if they were his own (similar to Simon Maddock and his team in Northampton). All his teams are like this and in fact I joke with them that the animals in their care get a lot better treatment (both handling and medicine) than us humans do! They even have a special guinea pig and chinchilla ward in their hospital can you believe?

In contra to this I had a local vet in an emergency once who just said I should have my lovely girl Cagney put to sleep when she had pneumonia...with the right treatment she was fine and lived for another 2 years, I had to practically threaten him to give her a diuretic injection as an emergency before `i went to another vet the next day ...I just dont get the attitude. I did take great pleasure in updating him by email a few weeks later that she was fine and completely recovered..I never got a response back.

So after all that waffle...you are doing the right thing and dont ever feel bad about insisting on investigative work. Maybe the average lifespan of a guinea would increase if we had more vets who are willing to do everything they can rather than pts?

Good luck! x
 
Welcome to the forum
Glad you’ve found a vet who really cares - it makes so much difference.
Let us know how things go for Mr Wiggles
 
suzreid said:
Hi everyone, I have a lovely rescue piggie called Mr Wiggles ( six and half yrs old) - a normally lively companion - who for the last 5 days has been in pain. His abdomen is tender, but soft ( his back is also tender) He was given metacam and baytril - been on that 3 days. I had to take him back yesterday as I found a lump which turned out to be fatty mass also in his abdomen. He is eating a little when I feed him and I am maintaining fluids. They didn't offer any tests, just sent him home with 'well he is an old guinea pig' hate seeing him like this. Going to try another vet if he is not improved in a couple of days, what should we be looking for? thanks x
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Hi! I am very sorry - what a waste of a visit and what an unprofessional attitude. :(

It all depends on the findings of the actual examination - there is so much that can go wrong internally from growths, kidneys or liver, gut adhesions to stomach bloat, just to name some of the issues I have come up against with piggies of my own..

An x-ray or scan may help. Any decisions on possible treatment or even the decision to let your piggy go without any more unnecessary suffering, should always be made on an informed basis with a vet on whose judgment you can trust.

All the best! I sincerely hope that it is something that can be sorted!

@Jaycey @helen105281 @Freela
 
furryfriends (TEAS) said:
One or my petsitting clients was told by their local vet, when attending with a poorly piggy, It's probably best to 'cut your losses' and put to sleep! What a dreadful thing to say! They then went to Simon Maddock, who sorted piggy out very easily!
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That is horrific! How terribly sad and disappointing.
 
Having a vet who is knowledgeable about guinea pigs and also considers them patients worth treating rather than simply writing them off can make a big difference. Best of luck when you have him seen. I've had both good and bad vet experiences, it's worth shopping around if you aren't happy with the answers (or lack thereof) from a vet.
 
There is a vet just up the road that is much cheaper than my normal vet but I don't like the vets there I feel they treat me like a fool for paying so much on "just a guinea pig". They don't treat my piggies half as well as my normal vets do. I would rather travel a bit further and pay a bit more to see a vet where I feel that I and my piggies are valued and well looked after.
 
I agree.
I have a wonderful vet and the staff at the surgery really care about all the clients as well as the animals.
I know my vet gets upset with people who write off guinea pigs just because they’re small and she gives mine the very best care.
 
It amazes me sometimes how some vets aren't as caring as they should be towards some small animals. Our local farm vets here where we live don't know much about small animals (we usually are the ones who tell them what meds we might need or what we think our piggies have), but I haven't heard them disregard my piggies or tell us right away that the only solution is to PTS. They would always try to see and investigate what's going on, i.e. do xray and such. If they don't know what's wrong or they can't handle it in their practice, they would recommend us to a specialist/exotic vets (nearest to us is Birch Heath in Chester). We go to our local vets only when we know they can have minor checks if there's anything wrong with my piggies, and if we needed prescriptions (they charge very cheap, hence we get them there at times).
 
My colleague who used to keep rats told me today how his vets laughed at him when he wanted to spend £200 for a tumour removed. He is very impressed our vets want to help new Blodwen pig without even mentioning the price, which made me very hopeful about Blod's dental surgery tomorrow! Some vets are in the wrong job I think...
 
Healing vibes and wheeks Mr Wiggles and I hope you get a vet who realises how special you are! PS. Lady Piggle loves your name and hopes you get well and send her a pigture :)
 
furryfriends (TEAS) said:
One or my petsitting clients was told by their local vet, when attending with a poorly piggy, It's probably best to 'cut your losses' and put to sleep! What a dreadful thing to say! They then went to Simon Maddock, who sorted piggy out very easily!
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That’s awful. If a vet at my practice said that about any of mine, I’d be reporting them!
 
My vet is lovely too. Well they all are at the practice where I go but the one I see has more experience with small animals and I’ve been seeing her for almost 10 years with my piggies and cats. She also realises how anxious I get but says that she would rather see an anxious owner rather than one who doesn’t care. There have been times though when she’s put her foot down on me wasting money on a second X-ray etc just to put my mind at rest when she knows for a fact that there’s nothing wrong after tests have come back clear. She always told me that both Emma and Ellen didn’t have bladder stones as she could tell by the feel of their bladders and their symptoms but due to my anxiety, I didn’t believe her so she did ultrasounds and xrays to put my mind at rest although she refused when I wanted them repeating but she could have just took my money. She said just last week that my pets aren’t allowed to be poorly when she’s not in as she likes to see them :) I’ll be gutted if she ever leaves
 
Sounds like the vet was pants, no good with small animals so offer the only suggestion he was capable of & PTS ... screams incompetent & useless vet to me!!
At least he gave you Painkiller & antibiotics though, that's a start ... find a cavy savvy vet & an ultrasound wouldn't be a bad idea, it's non invasive & can be done consciously, as has been said before a little bit of a shave is all that's needed.
If nothing is found with that then 'upping the anti' with an X-ray could help to determine if he has a stone(s) bladder sludge or not (only a light whiff of gas needed for a an X-ray if he's a Wiggly pig as his name suggests ;) )
there are various things it could be, so a decent vet must diagnose him properly. but my oldest girl was 8yrs old when i lost her & she had 2 lots of injections from the age of 6yrs for ovarian cysts & she also had a dicky heart.

Mr wiggles could have another couple of years in him yet if the vet sorts a diagnosis & treats appropriately for it!

Healing vibes little man.x
 
What a horrible vet, @suzreid I'm glad you have found a kinder one. Sending healing vibes to Mr. Wiggles.

My vets were in the news a few years ago when they removed a tumor from a goldfish. How do they give fish oxygen while operating @Guinea Slave fish usually get it from water?
 
piggieminder said:
What a horrible vet, @suzreid I'm glad you have found a kinder one. Sending healing vibes to Mr. Wiggles.

My vets were in the news a few years ago when they removed a tumor from a goldfish. How do they give fish oxygen while operating @Guinea Slave fish usually get it from water?
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Usually you syringe oxygenated water over the gills continually thoughout surgery and recovery, its a tricky and time consuming job!
 
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