Why do people delay vet treatment?

  • Thread starter Thread starter cavykind
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
C

cavykind

This is something that bugs and worries me greatly...

Why on earth owners with obviously very sick guinea pigs do not pick up the phone and call their vet for help? Sure a lot of minor illness and conditions can be treated at home, especially by experienced owners.

However a guinea pig that is "clapped out" needs to be on it's way to the vet not tinkered around with at home or put off until the surgery opens. Why do people do it?
Can't be bothered to maybe have to go to an out of hours surgery which may be at another practise?
Won't pay the out of hours vet fee?
Or just don't give a d**n >:(

It seems some people are willing to withold what may be life saving treatment. Guineas are left to die...would they treat their dog or cat like this. Or...if they had a very sick child shrug and say "We'll call the doctor in the morning?"

I and so must others...see these post time and time over. It's heartbreaking and my heart goes out to these poor babies that are not given the chance. Taking on ag uinea pig means providing vet care 24/7 not just when it is convenient.

Yes, this is a bit of a rant, but guineas deserve so much better than this...all creatured do :'(

Barbara
 
Re: Why do people dealy vet treatment?

minky said:
Are you referring to me ?
Click to expand...

I'm not referring to anyone in particular. Simply people who have guineas that put off taking their very ill ones to a vet when they should do.

Barbara
 
I am very lucky in that respect, There is a vets just across the road to me. It's only open 10 til 12 and 4 til 6 but If you call them at any other time they come straight away.

When my Rabbit was poorly he was here within 10 mins. (cost me £100+) but it's worth it rather than having them suffer.

Tracy
 
I cannot understand it at all :(
I noticed one of mine wasn,t well two weeks ago and went to the vets who said it was lice.I wasn,t happy with the vets at all so took her to another vet.They kept her in for three days but sadly couldn,t do anything for her and she died :'(
I know i took her to the wrong vets in the first place but i know i did all i could for her and took her to the vets the moment i knew she wasn,t herself.
 
I am very lucky with my vet too. He is great with guineas and doesn't think I am over-reacting if I just want him to take a look at something.
 
Fudgey said:
I am very lucky in that respect, There is a vets just across the road to me. It's only open 10 til 12 and 4 til 6 but If you call them at any other time they come straight away.

When my Rabbit was poorly he was here within 10 mins. (cost me £100+) but it's worth it rather than having them suffer.

Tracy
Click to expand...

That's lovely to hear Tracey, you are a great owner :)

When it comes especially to small animals we really do need to get a vet to them as soon as possible. Sure for minor things we can wait until regular surgery hours but for more acute cases, a few hours....sometimes less can make the difference between life and death.

As I have said before, when it comes to health issues, I ask myself what i would do if it were me? Or you could ask if it were a child.

If you or a child were collapsed "clapped out" not moving...I don't know about anyone else but I'd be getting medical help asap.

How many guineas must be lost due to delay in vet care? Sure not all will make it anyway, but if we have tried our best, we have done all we could. Sadly not all very poorly piggies will recover it despite our best efforts and those of our vets. But if we deny them treatment when they need it most, we can hardly weep and wail when we lose them. I am generalising here and do not mean any one person.

So often I get a call from someone who has lost a sick guinea...so often when I ask if they sought treatment, they will say "No." Then reel off a myriad of excuses to try and justify why they couldn't...

I am aware that sometimes guineas die unexpectedly and also that occaisionally we find them actually dying...but this isn't what I am talking about.

Barbara
 
I think I worry too much a lot of the time to be honest!
I'm always taking one or other of my pets over and just popping in and asking the Vet nurses if they are ok!

Better to be safe than sorry is my advice.
 
I think a lot has to do with the owner but sometimes its to do with the vet as well

I tried 3 crappy vets until I found my great one and each of the crappy ones made me feel like an idiot for getting worried over "a guinea pig"
They sent me away with no advice, reassurance or anything remotely helpful, which made me feel reluctant to call them the next time I had an issue.
Now I have the most wonderful vet

This was all, of course, in the empty days before this forum and meeting Peter and Vedra etc
 
I'm sorry I'm too upset to respond this at the moment but i know and knew deep down this morning that it was too late for Buttercup however i had found another vet who's surgery was open at 2pm in the meantime and was getting ready to take her what else could i have done i had to go to work i have no choice no job no money id given her as much comfort and help that i could possibly do until the surgery opened, there was nothing i could do
 
minky said:
I'm sorry I'm too upset to respond this at the moment but i know and knew deep down this morning that it was too late for Buttercup however i had found another vet who's surgery was open at 2pm in the meantime and was getting ready to take her what else could i have done i had to go to work i have no choice no job no money id given her as much comfort and help that i could possibly do until the surgery opened, there was nothing i could do
Click to expand...

Minky you did your best for Buttercup and dont beat yourself up. My best mate has gone through the same thing with Chester last night. She made him as comfortable as poss. The trouble with out of hours vets is that they want paying there and then. With your own local vets they are more than likely to accept installments. We had a couple in the vets this morning who had to go to the out of hours vets and had to pay £250! They where lucky as they had been saving up for a shed and had some money. But what happens if you dont have the spare money, I dont think that any one on here would wait too long to see a vet if they had a chocie.
Minky big hugs chick
 
minky (sorry don't know your real name)

I hope you don't think I was commenting as to your situation. (I wasn't)

My thoughts are with you.

Tracyxx
 
No, minky, i'm sorry if anything I have said has upset you. I was only talking generally.
 
Firstly I am truly sorry for your current situation Minky, we all try to do our best for our pets. We all have to do what we think is right/appropriate for any given situation. Sadly, we can all be given duff advice from time to time and granted, it is difficult to find cavy savvy vets, plus at times these little fluffballs hide things from us and sometimes we are just too late, regardless of our actions.

Like Barbara, I equate the condition of my piggy to me and if I feel I would need to get to see a doctor asap, regardless of the hour, then I call the vet. This is obviously in serious situations, and I don't think I am a hypochondriac! Sadly, I feel cost puts an awful lot of people off calling their vet out of hours and their is always that "not wanting to be a bother" attitude so many of us tend to have. Our vets operate an out of hours system (soon to be changed so waiting for more info. on that) and the call out charge alone is £70 before any treatment is given. Regardless of the cost, if I feel one of my gang needs to see a vet urgently then I will make the call, I would not be able to live with myself if I felt I hadn't done everything in my power to help my guinea pig.

People need to give serious thought to whether they can afford potential vet fees as and when they arise, and this includes out of hours fees. Sadly I feel people fail to take this into consideration before buying many small furries (and no I am not referring to anyone on this forum, before anyone jumps on me). If you are going to keep animals you need to somehow find a way of putting some cash aside for emergency vet bills, no matter how difficult that money is to find. An animal is a living breathing creature, it has no say in who takes it home and it deserves the very best of care, at ALL times.
 
We have to be careful here as some people might not want to post in the forum if they think they are going to get slated. I put a post about my mates guinea pig as I was worried about him. She did care for him and loved him to bits. But if some one wants advice because they cant get to the vets (for what ever reason) might not get the help from other members because they feel uneasy posting. If this is the only help that they will get till they can get to their vets it might mean life and death. I hope I am making sence (dyslexia rules ko!) I see often at work when people cant any longer keep up with the treatment and its really sad.

Mary
 
Some people just don't think it's worth spending a lot on 'just a guinea pig'. They take the attitude that it won't live long anyway and it'll probably die naturally soon. Yet they can go out and spend £50 on clothes for themselves no problem. I spent over £100 on treatment for a guinea last year and it died, when you tell people they look at you as if you've got 2 heads and I know for a fact that they'd just have it put to sleep.

It's often a dilemma knowing if you're fretting over nothing. Bet we've all been in the position where we're dithering a bit, I know I've rushed off to the vets several times and it's been nothing to worry out. I think if people have made the effort to come onto the forum and try to find out something, they obviously care, even if only a bit, and hopefully will make the right decision.

But I firmly believe that a huge percentage of guinea owners are those that parents have bought kids, as the latest phase, and it doesn't even occur to them that there are upkeep bills. To delay it, in their opinion, will hopefully bring an answer - it either dies or gets better.

My post of course does not refer to anyone on the forum.
 
Caviesgalore said:
People need to give serious thought to whether they can afford potential vet fees as and when they arise, and this includes out of hours fees. Sadly I feel people fail to take this into consideration before buying many small furries (and no I am not referring to anyone on this forum, before anyone jumps on me). If you are going to keep animals you need to somehow find a way of putting some cash aside for emergency vet bills, no matter how difficult that money is to find. An animal is a living breathing creature, it has no say in who takes it home and it deserves the very best of care, at ALL times.
Click to expand...

You have put that so well :)

Guinea pigs are dying in some cases and people need to seriously anticipate what they will do if they fall ill and need emergency treatment.
It's no good waiting until it happens then wringing your hands saying "I've got no money/transport etc." It's also pointless saying about people who fail to get vet treatment "they did what they could"...because to be really honest...they didn't.
Again, I am generalising, this isn't a new phenomena it's been going on for years....it probably always will :'(

Barbara
 
Mary said:
We have to be careful here as some people might not want to post in the forum if they think they are going to get slated. I put a post about my mates guinea pig as I was worried about him. She did care for him and loved him to bits. But if some one wants advice because they cant get to the vets (for what ever reason) might not get the help from other members because they feel uneasy posting. If this is the only help that they will get till they can get to their vets it might mean life and death. I hope I am making sence (dyslexia rules ko!) I see often at work when people cant any longer keep up with the treatment and its really sad.
Mary
Click to expand...

Mary, I will be honest and say that it was your post about Chester that prompted this thread...I hadn't even read Minky's post at that point.
I was so upset (though not surprised) to hear that he had died.

Chester was by your description in a very bad way last night, lying on his side, cold and passing smelly pus. How bad does a guinea pig have to get? Chester should have been seen last night by an on call vet.
Personally I doubt if anything much could have been done at this stage, but he deserved a chance surely?
I'm not doubting Chester was loved...but it takes more than love to help a very sick animal.

My thoughts are with you, your friend and poor Chester. While Chester may have prompted me to post this, he is sadly just the tip of the iceberg and his story is most certainly and tragically not unique.

Yes, people should feel comfortable about posting asking for help with guinea health, but more than myself said he needed a vet and it was ignored? Maybe because it was not what she wanted to hear :-\

Sorry, but I find all this very distressing.

Barbara
 
some times people want to be sure that they are going to the vets for a reason. we all care for our babies but i know in the past i was at the vets every 5 mins because i was being to cautiouse over every sneeze that i heard.
as much as we will spend cash on our pets i'm sure there's alot out there like me who have to watch their pennies. don't take that wrong but can you imagine being charged 100 to be told your pigs are ok? that's what happened to me.

i think it is about gut instinct and learning to know your pets, just like you do your kids. when my lad was young i could have lived at the hospital, i nearly lost him twice but rather than become obsessive i had to learn to use my judgement.

we can't always get it right in life and we all mistakes, so hopefully no body is having ago at anybody on this site. i lost snoopy before xmas, got her to the vets twice treated her and looked after her and all was going well after 5 weeks and then she died. i beat myself up over that and yet in away there was nothing i could do.

look at gizmo.... vet told me there was nothing wrong and yet he had pnuemonia, i was sent away twice, so your vets can make you feel wary of going to them. yes the answer is to change vets just as i did.

i can understand all the points of view here. it's hard to jugde everyone situation at a particular time. yes we should only have animals if we can afford it but i do think it's a shame that some vets are only out for the money and not to help the genuine people that love their animals.

i try not to go vets for the sake of it but believe me i would if i had to. yes i will ask questions on forum to gain knowledge and to help me judge whats wrong with my babies but at the end of the day i go on my gut instinct.

i think a forum is about freedom of speech but it is also a place to gain knowledge and to feel safe in and not to feel an outcast. people have the right to believe in what they want and many of us me included need to not take every thing to heart. i think it was minky, you will be sensative at the moment, so don't take coments to heart but believe in the love you gave your baby and when i lost snoopy, i learnt from the mistakes i made and have gone on to rescue some piggies in her memory and give them a loving home.

sorry if none of this makes sense but i suppose what i'm saying is we all love our piggies and should help each other, life is hard and it's better to have friend rather than enemies.
 
I've got to agree..just generalising here, but this is how I see it..

If it's something minor that you can confidently treat yourself at home and will seek veternary (sp) attention if it gets any worst then fine, I think that is okay. However I also think that if an animal needs a vet they shouldn't be denied this..If you had a broken leg, would you sit at home and think "it'll heal"? You wouldn't (don't actually mean YOU, generalising) you'd get yourself to a doctor/hospital asap. My pigs have not yet seen a vet, however if they needed one I wouldn't deny them of that, and I also wouldn't make excuses. If our cat was ill, he'd get to a vet asap, why should it be any different for a small animal? We have solutions for if we can't get to a vet for any reason too..if dads not home (and its an emergency, can't wait for him to get home - he would leave work for us) we would ask my nannan to take us (shes a big animal lover) or we would call basically everyone we knew to see if anyone would be willing. If not, theres always taxis. If we didn't have any money we have a "vet fund" which we have always said we will never use unless we need to..to this day, we've never used any of it yet, but it's there if we needed it. Even if we didn't have this money, we would borrow it off someone, pay the vet back in smaller payments, use a credit card, anything, but we'd make sure the animal didn't suffer..(I'm not aiming this at anyone personally)

I know there are people who can't afford it, but I think if this is the case (and they already have the pet) then having a box to put your spare change in is a good idea. We have loads of places where we just shove our spare change in when we have it, just incase we need it..

Also, about people posting for help re. their pigs health..I think it's perfectly okay to do so and no one should be uncomfortable or worried about doing so, aslong as they also understand when it gets "too far" and a vet is needed asap.

Wow, that post was too long.. :o
Jane xx
 
I must admit and agree with you tawny i was at the vet every Min i had a complete physical on one of my pigs because she was just not right, it cost a lot of money to be told she was just a fat grumpy pig, peace of mind i was thrilled at,
But then one day i noticed Bertie just looked awful, no i mean awful and realised he was sick, i wasted no time at all and took her to the emergency vets on the morning i found him, it was a weekend, and he had a blocked gut and was very sick little boy, and he pulled through and it was the best money i ever spent, Bertie took two day to get well but he was worth it.

Emma
 
i think there is a lot of long posts on this one...... my computer is not working right or is it me, can't get smiley faces up or a spell check, my keys are sticking, see i told you all life is hard enough..........

you are right jane when it comes to it i would beg for the money to pay for my babies, i've been late to work because of baby and because i had to get a taxi to get him there, not that it helped he still ended up with his tilted head even tho i acted quick.

i won't go to the doctors, even when buddy bit me and my hand was like a balloon, i only went after being at work and mum giving me a lecture..... but where my babies are concerned if i see them not right they go to the vets.

some times we don't get the chance as one min they seem ok and the next they go down hill.

i never regret what i spend on my babies but i do get annoyed that the vets will charge you for every pig u take and yet they spend no extra time with u or giving them a check over.
 
I really have to agree with tawny & piggybaker on this , i think life is hard enough & we all could all do with help & support when things go wrong,or when were worried . forums some times , are not the friendly places they could be , with lots of people having there own agenda's & feeling important by how they make others feel.

I also agree with Barbara , its very upsetting to read post's where people don't take immediate action when needed.
vets can vary a great deal , we have one locally who's only concern is money , not the welfare of an animal & misdiagnose on a regular bias.

Ive been in a situation where Ive had to fork out huge amounts of money to a vet , we have a vet fund, but sometimes its more than you can budget for, if we had to, we would beg,steal & borrow to get ANY of our animals the treatment they require, i don't care if its our dog or our finch they get what ever treatment is needed, end of , there ALL important :smitten:

how ever i don't drive, so have to rely on OH,neighbours,taxis etc for emergency transport, that doesn't mean i wouldn't go to the vets and some how this only people with cars n money should have pets attitude is a bit upsetting & quite patronising , i have seen lots of people with lots of money and lots of cars not provide an animal with the care it needs, money doesn't make you a nicer person, its about CARING & NOT CARING for an animal and no amount of money can make an uncaring person care.
I don't think anyone on this forum ''doesn't care for there animals'' some might not give what others consider to be right amount of care, & slating someone when they ask about care isn't going to encourage people to 'go to the next level' , some people are new to pet ownership & learning from others , if they have to 'hide' information for fear of attack then it wont encourage them to grow & learn about there pets.
just my humble oppion I'll zip it now

:-X
 
bramble said:
forums some times , are not the friendly places they could be , with lots of people having there own agenda's & feeling important by how they make others feel.

slating someone when they ask about care isn't going to encourage people to 'go to the next level' , some people are new to pet ownership & learning from others , if they have to 'hide' information for fear of attack then it wont encourage them to grow & learn about there pets.
Click to expand...

Alex.... please stop these innuendos. What agenda could anyone have here other than concern about an animals welfare?

No one is getting "slated" so please don't try and cause bad feeling among members by insinuating that they are. But yes, I am weary of seeing and hearing of guineas dying that have been denied vet care, especially when people have asked for advice, been advised to seek professional help and they choose to ignore it. It isn't just here, in fact this is generally one of the most welfare orientated boards around.

I'm happy to give help and support, buy I can't bring myself to be "sickly sweet" and all "lovey dovey" :smitten:
When people aren't caring for their animals when they desperately need veterinary attention :(
Or when they die as a result of their inaction...

Barbara

Edited to add missed word ::)
 
quote
how ever i don't drive, so have to rely on OH,neighbours,taxis etc for emergency transport, that doesn't mean i wouldn't go to the vets and some how this only people with cars n money should have pets attitude is a bit upsetting & quite patronising , i have seen lots of people with lots of money and lots of cars not provide an animal with the care it needs, money doesn't make you a nicer person, its about CARING & NOT CARING for an animal and no amount of money can make an uncaring person care.[/quote]

I don't think anyone was saying or implying that only people with cars and money should have pets - you don't have to have lots of cash to love and care for animals. All that has been said is that animals sometimes need medical attention and you need to budget for this, even if this means, as suggested before, saving loose change, going without treats etc, whatever you have to do to increase your pet/vet fund. I don't think anyone is trying to be patronising, at the end of the day we all have (or should have) our piggies best interests at heart.
 
Barbara i was 'quoting ' what 3 other posts also said before me :o, in no way am i suggesting YOU were slating anyone its a general observation, of "Many" of the posts asking for help , not quite sure you why you think you were being 'singled' out ?
yes you started the topic & i think you will see i agree with most of youre points ?
no ones asking anyone to be sickly sweet or lovey dovey ,lots of post are quite frankly very depressing & upsetting , lots of people get very upset & its easy to bark back a reply, but you are reading words, that cannot show emotion or in many cases the WHOLE story from start to finish.
I dont think ive ever insulted any memeber ? if i have i would be the first to appologise? cant quite understand why every time i post , you take it personally tho ? certainly isnt any thing coming from me , i can asure you , we may be completly differnt ends of the stick , but I'm never disrespectfull of the wonderfull work you do , so please dont take it as an attack :)
 
As you are aware, we have had five guinea pigs die since the start of the year.

Titch was found dead in the morning so couldn't do anything there as he was fine the night before. With the other guiena pigs though, we have done everything a vet in our area would have done - if not more!. We have the antibiotics, the painkillers, the science revovery, probiotics etc. I personally believe that moving an ill guinea pig, causing discomfort to them is worse.Obviously if we didn't have all the necessary items in the house then we would not hesitate in calling a vet. When Milo had diaharrea and was on the verge of being classed as "floppy", we gave him septrin (as the vet had given us some for our other guinea pigs which had diaharrea - which cleared it up!), we gave metacam, probiotics and science recovery frequently - What more would a vet have done?! If we had a decent vet in this area who I know would not have followed the same routine but give something better, then we would not hesitate in calling a vet. The vet we use now is 30mins away and is extremely experienced in small animals - we are still registered with our local vet which we would use in a real emergency however they have only ever given a guinea pigs baytril and thats it!

I would never say "give up" on a guinea pig but you know deep down when they are slipping away. I am not saying at all that a vet should not be contacted as in many cases, they should be. We have had the diaharrea happen so much recently that we have followed the instruction of a vet in the first place.
 
cavies galore, the bit you quoted me on wasnt in response from at a remark on here, more a general remark .throughout society, it seems only those with lots of money should have kids /animals etc
ive found people with less money normally GO further for there animals :)
 
I wish I never posted about little Chester now, so glad that his owner isnt on here. I will think very carefully before posting about any help or advice again. This has really up set me as poor Chester is gone now and I feel that myself and his owner didnt do enough.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top