Flurry may be dying

[SilverC]

My sweet little guinea pig is really sick. :(

On wednesday, he started acting really skittish. He would freak out like something startled him, and we couldn't figure out why. We thought maybe one of the cats had scared him and he'd get over it.

He seemed to be scared of one side of the cage, and wouldn't go to it, even to eat. But when we put food in front of his face, he'd gobble it up.

Today, he took a drastic turn for the worse. He had a spasm, and then started walking with a head tilt. I found a vet that deals with exotics (the vet I work for is just dog/cat). The vet was very nice, and once he found out that I work at an animal hospital, he made sure not to dumb things down for me.

Flurry has nsytagmus, which is when the eyes start spinning around, or moving side to side very quickly. This causes the head tilt, obviously, because their balance gets thrown off. I asked about vestibular syndrome, which is something I see in dogs quite often (that's when something pushes on the vestibule of the brain), since nsytagmus and head tilt are symptoms of VS. He said it is a possibility, but unlike dogs who get idiopathic VS (clears up in a couple days) guinea pigs only get VS if something else is going on. Probably an inner ear infection, or a tumour.

I left him at the vet for xrays and bloodwork. I'm waiting for them to call me to come and pick him up. We're going to try subq fluids and antibiotics and see if that helps anything, but the vet didn't give him a very good prognosis.

I'm scared that he won't even survive the stress of the xrays. He almost passed out when the doctor was examining him. I'm so scared I've seen him for the last time.

This absolutely sucks :(

[brahmacharya]

SilverC, I'm sorry...poor little bean. With all the love you have for your animals this must be so hard. :hug:

[MollyCat]

SilverC, I'm so sorry you're both going through this. You know you have our support and good thoughts.
:hug:

[SilverC]

Thank you, Mollycat and brah, for your kind words.

We just picked him up. They weren't able to get any blood, it was too stressful for him, so they didn't want to push their luck. They did chest xrays, and he has some sort of mass on his heart. I'm going to try to get his xrays from a couple of years ago to compare.

So, unfortunately, no diagnosis after all that. He's home now, resting. Poor little guy is exhausted. I have medicine and fluids to give him, and I'm going to try to forcefeed him later today. We have a recheck booked for Tuesday, and I guess we'll just have to go from there.

The vet did talk a bit about euthanasia. Probably within the week, if the meds don't seem to do anything.

My poor little baby.

http://www.veggieboards.com/gallery/showimage.php?i=3408&catid=member&imageuser=356
http://www.veggieboards.com/gallery/showimage.php?i=2506&catid=member&imageuser=356
http://www.veggieboards.com/gallery/showimage.php?i=2514&catid=member&imageuser=356

[Ludi]

I'm so sorry about your baby. My old cat Bud, 19 years, died this morning. It's so hard to lose a pet.

[MollyCat]

Awww, poor little Flurry. He's so adorable. How old is he?

Crossing my fingers that the meds work.

[MollyCat]

Oh, Ludi, I'm so sorry to hear that. Sounds like Bud had a long and happy life.

:hug:

[SilverC]

I'm very sorry about your cat, Ludi. Hugs to you.

I don't really know how old he is, Molly. We've had him for three years. When we got him, the rescue told us he was about a year old, but who knows if that is true or not.

Flurry is looking just awful. I took him out for some subq fluids and some forcefeeding, but I was worried that I'd stress him out, so he didn't get as much as I'd have liked. He won't even lift his head.

I'm feeling so helpless right now. And it sucks, because I spend all day saving other people's pets, but I can't save my own.

And I'm a bit angry at the vet, because a dog emergency came in while we were there, and I felt like he put the dog ahead of Flurry, because Flurry's just a guinea pig. Like he doesn't deserve the same amount of care that other animals do. It just really rubbed me the wrong way.

Gah, I'm just angry at the whole world right now.

[Kimberly]

Ludi and SilverC, I am so sorry for both of you and Flurry. :(

[Flurry]

He's beautiful... and he shares my username!

I wish him, and you, the best of luck.

[MollyGoat]

I'm so sorry, SilverC. :hug: Flurry is lucky to have such a loving, caring human as you, though.

[MollyCat]

Flurry's not just a guinea pig. He's YOUR guinea pig and any good vet would know that. Cuddle with Flurry and let him know you're there. I'm sure you're a great comfort to him.

[Brandon]

I'm sorry that this is happening to you and to Flurry, Silver. It's never easy when a loved one is ailing, whether human or animal. I hope that things work out for the best.

[carnelian]

SilverC, I'm keeping good thoughts for you and hoping for the best for Flurry. :hug:

Ludi, I'm so very sorry to hear of your loss. :hug:

[FreshTart]

:hug:

[TreeManEarthSteward]

Do you know how bad was the dog that the vet put ahead of Flurry ?..... I don't know if you're appointment was first, but lets surmise or suppose IF 2 animals have life threatening stuff happening, I guess appointments are retained as the queing order which of course sucks, but yeah even then you'll still have the suspicion of bias happening especially when you feel distressed and vulnerable to being mislead or misinformed, so how then to approach somehow why the vet MAY think the dog is more important. Demanding an explanation if necessary. An instant solution practicality and for tact of need too, the vet being flexible therefore is obviously the key and to collar in an assistant to give temporary relief for the dog so that the guineapig also has emergency attention when needed too, even if you have to give or take a few precious moments.

you are bound to be affected worse with the fact you're a vet type person suddenly yourself put in the person of how patients with ill pets feel, and the feeling of you being more or less totally dependent on another professionals advice (I guess) about your own pet which you would hope very much to save, being that you save so many other lives which I think must be heightening the displeasure of being rubbed the wrong way or at least having the perception of that. I think in such a position of default I'd guess you'd call it, I'd ask the vet not to jetison the other animal but treat equally that which is yours and a creature you care about just as much as any other pet.

hugs, VA.

[Bits]

i'm sure he'll be fine :yes:
guinea pigs are tough little critters, and it sounds to me like he's got a very caring owner. if you ask me, he's got the best chance seeing as you got him to the vet so quickly,even if anything does happen to him (which i'm sure it won't!) you can rest assured that you did everything you could 4 him.it's just a shame that more people aren't as caring as you. :D

Good Luck :up:

[SilverC]

Thanks again, everyone, for your kind words.

Flurry seems to be a bit brighter this morning. We were up most of the night, forcefeeding him every few hours. This morning, when we tried to give him subq fluids, he fought with us a lot. He's eating little bits on his own now too, and doesn't appear as stumbly. The nystagmus is gone, but he still has a bit of a head tilt.

I don't want to get too hopeful, so I'm not even going to try to think about a full recovery. We're taking this one step at a time.

VA, working in a busy animal hospital myself, I know the importance of triage. I know what this dog had, and while it did need surgery, Flurry was definately more at risk of dying than this dog was. And once you consider that I had to pay $125 just for the exam, I think that I was treated pretty shabbily. Certainly, my hospital would never make a client feel rushed out the door. It's a shame that none of my doctors feel confident enough to treat exotics.

I'm staying home today to watch over him, and to try to get some sleep. Again, thanks everyone.

[TreeManEarthSteward]

I see, $125 for examination is totally plenty to have to pay, I guess/ I WOULD THINK, and I know you might feel the fee ought to reflect how your treated. It ought count for some thing but try not to think of money just at the moment and rather if you need to just remind the doctor (I would) of how money and life are really two seperate issues, you could still use some respect regardless of course though tell him and not having a pecking order imposed on you which you could tell him you take very personally being that you and your pet are bonded creatures and have not paid casually the amount that you have paid.

sooo, Something such... whatever raises an eyebrow that will get notice, such as that as a way to mention about money in a healthy way, will help you be clear to him about what you feel about the whole situation so that he does not forget you are a paying customer, PLUS other factors
driving the will for life of your pet that you add to that in form of giving it some objective emotional attachment of yours to your pet if you think you can add good spin, and the moral obligation which at least you can make him acknowledge and recognize in reminder type gesture, and be as direct as you want about it I would. I mean you are qualified yourself to know what feelings or pressure or obligation comes with the job and so he too should be able to put you at ease about that, when comes an emergency and that if order of creature attention persists you too can persist with your concerns until he takes notice, preferably in a way which he won't forget or brush off in a huff of pedanticness, or other indoctrined attitude, plus also what must be his stress of him perhaps being unsure of what you insist to him his obligations are. ....Therefore--bring to the fore that from the word go, and he cannot avoid, and pretend he did not know what your concern or reality expectarion was, so he carries his fair share of professional responsibility prior to any LAX standards of operation occur ....Stating emphatically this raises levels of understanding, committment to the job, and expectations in general to widen reasonable boundries so that you get nothing less than "maximum standard expectations" where possible like as and when called for in the case of life or death immediate treatment providing you make clear to him all these factors in no uncertain terms.

Speaking of expectations for the actual patient at the center of all this, of what nature may do naturally for your guineapig etc, as well as what the vet does to heal, I'm glad you are taking things a step at a time, and not jumping hope beyond hope for the creature, and taking a day or two off is a very heart warming thing on behalf of your pet too. :)

[mysteriouspoet]

:hug:

[BoricuaVeggie]

Poor little Flurry. You're a caring mommy, Silver. I hope things get better!

[mouse]

:hug:

[SilverC]

Update:

Flurry is eating almost entirely on his own now. I am still forcefeeding him to make sure he's getting enough water, as he doesn't seem to be able to drink from his bottle. His balance is still off. We've had to just dump his food on the ground, because he can't reach over the side of the dishes.

He's being very naughty when it's medicine and fluid time. And he started making little angry clucking noises at us, which is encouraging, because he hadn't made a peep since Saturday.

He still has trouble walking, but he's at least making an effort to move around, instead of just lying in the same spot.

This is all very encouraging, but I still don't want to get my hopes up.

[Ludi]

I'm so glad he's doing better, at least it seems he's more comfortable, and that's the important thing.

[Bits]

your perserverence (sp?) seems to be paying off. well done you :hamster: