Malice
Junior Guinea Pig
Hello all,
I was hoping that I'd be able to get some advice because I am at a dead end with my piggy, Toggle. Back in November we noticed that she was losing quite a bit of weight, so we took her to the vets (Sarah Pellet at Animates); turns out she had a massive infection in her mouth, so she was put on antibiotics and gut medicine. She was in and out of the vets all over Christmas (and I honestly didn't think we'd be entering 2018 with her), but we eventually managed to get the infection under control, some weight gain, and it has all cleared up, although there is still a large (but clean) wound in her mouth.
Since then, Toggle has been slowly, but surely, losing weight and is less and less each day (she is now down to a tiny 640g and she looks so unhealthy and unwell). We took her back to the vets and were told that it was possibly a thyroid problem, but that the tests for it were hugely expensive (~£600) and treatment not particularly effective. My partner and I made the decision to not have her tested, as even if she did come out positive for hyper/hypothyroidism, there would not be a lot we can do (we also cannot afford the test; we have already paid several hundreds of pounds to treat Toggle and are also having to finance the treatment for our other piggy, Thimble, who quite possibly has cancer and is looking at having a spay. As awful as it is to choose, Thimble, being less than a year old and a healthy weight, is far more likely to survive any heavy treatment she has to undergo than Toggle would be.)
My partner and I have tried 'home treatments' for anything and everything that might be the cause of Toggle's weight loss, however unlikely; we have given her vitamin C in case of scurvy, we have wormed her, we have tried feeding her critical care on a daily basis, we have given her more gut medicine (under advice from Sarah) and we hand feed her her favourite foods every day, but still the weight is just coming off.
With the things going the way they are, it's quite clear that Toggle won't be with us for much longer. She's still active, eating, drinking, weeing, pooing, no problems. She seems happy, she's friendly to us, she will race with the other guineas during floor time, is still climbing on the roofs of their hideyhuts.
I'm so gutted, because Toggle isn't even three yet and I love her dearly, but I honestly am at a loss of where to go now. Does anyone have any suggestions of where we could with this? We are also considering taking Toggle for a second opinion at a vets in Rotherham (I forget the name off the top of my head, but they are recommended on this website as being cavy savvy).
Any input would be hugely appreciated.
Thanks in advance.
I was hoping that I'd be able to get some advice because I am at a dead end with my piggy, Toggle. Back in November we noticed that she was losing quite a bit of weight, so we took her to the vets (Sarah Pellet at Animates); turns out she had a massive infection in her mouth, so she was put on antibiotics and gut medicine. She was in and out of the vets all over Christmas (and I honestly didn't think we'd be entering 2018 with her), but we eventually managed to get the infection under control, some weight gain, and it has all cleared up, although there is still a large (but clean) wound in her mouth.
Since then, Toggle has been slowly, but surely, losing weight and is less and less each day (she is now down to a tiny 640g and she looks so unhealthy and unwell). We took her back to the vets and were told that it was possibly a thyroid problem, but that the tests for it were hugely expensive (~£600) and treatment not particularly effective. My partner and I made the decision to not have her tested, as even if she did come out positive for hyper/hypothyroidism, there would not be a lot we can do (we also cannot afford the test; we have already paid several hundreds of pounds to treat Toggle and are also having to finance the treatment for our other piggy, Thimble, who quite possibly has cancer and is looking at having a spay. As awful as it is to choose, Thimble, being less than a year old and a healthy weight, is far more likely to survive any heavy treatment she has to undergo than Toggle would be.)
My partner and I have tried 'home treatments' for anything and everything that might be the cause of Toggle's weight loss, however unlikely; we have given her vitamin C in case of scurvy, we have wormed her, we have tried feeding her critical care on a daily basis, we have given her more gut medicine (under advice from Sarah) and we hand feed her her favourite foods every day, but still the weight is just coming off.
With the things going the way they are, it's quite clear that Toggle won't be with us for much longer. She's still active, eating, drinking, weeing, pooing, no problems. She seems happy, she's friendly to us, she will race with the other guineas during floor time, is still climbing on the roofs of their hideyhuts.
I'm so gutted, because Toggle isn't even three yet and I love her dearly, but I honestly am at a loss of where to go now. Does anyone have any suggestions of where we could with this? We are also considering taking Toggle for a second opinion at a vets in Rotherham (I forget the name off the top of my head, but they are recommended on this website as being cavy savvy).
Any input would be hugely appreciated.
Thanks in advance.
