My guinea pig is dying...

For the past few days, my guinea pig has been bleeding, either from the @nus (that is not a bad word!!!) or urinal...region. We don't have enough money to go to a vet, but from talking to animal care hotlines and researching the symptom online, it seems to be either cancer or internal bleeding...either option is not good at all.

PLEASE let me know if you've had any animals (guinea pigs or otherwise) who have had any problems of this sort, as well as what you did (or would do) to help them...even if it is/was just to make them comfortable.

Just cause I'm crying my eyes out and am in a reminiscing sort of mood...I used to have 9 at one time. I've had ten total. I got Kala first; then Cookie; then Jimmy. Jimmy died...dunno what from. Kala had babies with another guinea pig that my friend had (Cris); her babies were Gir (after Gir from Invader Zim), Mika (after Mika, who sang "Big Girl, You Are Beautiful", cause she was a chubbers ), Bloo (after Blooregard Q. Kazoo from Foster's Home For Imaginary Friends), and Mickey (after the comical Disney character whom I so dearly loved for all of my childhood). Then Cookie (who apparently had been impregnated by Jimmy) had Larry, Mo, and Curly (after the 3 Stooges). Since having 9 guinea pigs was time consuming, costly, noisy, and potentially dangerous (having the males together), I ended up parting ways with ("getting rid of" sounds too...heartless) Cookie, Gir, Mika, Bloo, Mickey, and Larry (Cookie didn't like me so I figured she'd be happier elsewhere, and I didn't want her fighting with her two babies, Mo and Curly, who we kept; and I didn't want Kala to fight with any of her babies; and Larry was male, and I didn't want any more pregancies/babies, no matter how adorable; so the combination of Kala, Mo, and Curly seemed to fit). Curly died about a year ago, at less than a year old, because of (to the best of what I can figure) respiratory problems; she'd had breathing issues before, and she was undersized when she was born, so we figured her lungs weren't fully developed. Kala (bless her heart), my baby, who used to give me kisses on the nose and chin and squeal and giggle and laugh whenever I gave her attention, caught ill on Labor Day weekend of 2009, and passed away literally hours before any vet's office would have been open to get her seen.

Now Mo-Mo is sick...I can't bear to get my hopes up that she'll be okay, though I'd love to.

PS: I'll add some pictures if I have any on this computer.

(((AtreyuFreak)))

So sorry to hear about your pet.

The first thing that came to my head when I started reading this was oestrus, but that kind of bleeding in female animals is really only mild.
How much blood is there? Are you able to handle her and look to see where it is coming from? I'd explain how to look better to find out where but I guess that might be a bit too much to talk about on this forum? Ha I don't know...
Is she showing any signs of pain or discomfort?
Of course I would suggest taking her to the vet, but you've already said you can't. Is there any way you can take her and pay by installments?

Everything I read said it could be worms! Can you go to a pet store and get a worming med to try? One person was saying they had had a problem a year before. . . so it might not be so dire if it's worms.

(((((((((Atreyu))))))))))))))) I'm sorry to hear about your guinea I haven't had any experience to be able to help you, but I hope someone else can and I hope your piggy can pull through

(((((AtreyuFreak))))) I don't have any answers but just wanted to tell you I hope your little pet gets better.

There is very little blood; only enough to start me worrying! Please, feel free to PM me to tell me more! I kick myself for not mentioning her behavior, which has been really...normal. We took her to the vet a month ago, for what seemed to be just a minor cough/illness. They gave her antibiotics, and her symptoms have gone away completely. They did mention, however, that she was underweight (trust me, it's not for lack of food!!) We really tried to push food and water, spoiling her with fresh stuff, just to get her to eat...and it worked, for a while. She seemed to put on a healthy amount of weight. But when I first noticed the blood, I also noticed that she'd lost all of what she'd gained, and maybe more. Other than that, she's social, active, she's drinking and eating as much as she normally does (which probably isn't as much as she should, but is probably habit from when the "bossier" piggies were still around to hog most of the food ); I gave her a decent handful of carrots last night and they were ALL gone by this morning---all of which are good signs!!!

I really really really want to believe that it's minor. The only symptoms she seems to have is the bleeding and weight loss...but I don't want to get my hopes up again .

This sounds to me like paracites of some kind. They will allow the host (your piggy) to eat all she wants to steal the nutrients from her, thus the resulting weight loss despite how much she is consuming.

I'd call the vet, describe the symptoms to them, suggest if it could be paracites, (maybe even take a stool sample to them for dx), if so, what can you purchas to take care of it, and if she should be quaranteened from social status until she overcomes this, (since the paracites may be contageous), as well as she may not be getting enough eats due to competiton of others?

I hope the best for your lil piggy and keep posting.

Shangrala

I'm so sorry about your pet, I pray for the both of you ♥

Just wondering how your lil piggy's doing, AF.

Hope all is better....

Shangrala

Sorry to hear your guinea pig is sick.

PLEASE TAKE YOUR PET TO THE VET. Seriously, many vets can work on a payment plan or you can apply for pet insurance to cut the cost of a vet visit. But they NEED to see a vet. It sounds serious, and your guinea pig is probably in a lot of pain and discomfort if they're bleeding.

She's holding up pretty well. Still underweight, but eating, drinking, not bleeding any more (that I've noticed). We really will take her to the vet ASAP...we are seriously so tight for money right now that we've been going to the Food Pantry for a couple months because we wouldn't have food otherwise...we literally just got evicted less than a month ago...so even if we could work out a payment plan, it would be many months before we could even start to pay it off . Still, I will talk to my mom, see if there is ANY way we could get her in...

My mom helped me examine her waste, because it occurred to us as well that she may have worms or something else. But we found nothing out of the ordinary, at least nothing that could be seen with the naked eye.

I hope that she's not in pain. She's not squeaking at all, except for the normal (when I pick her up, open the food bag, etc.)

And she is the only (and last) of the piggies, so there's no competition (unless she has imaginary piggie friends...o_O). I check daily to make sure she has enough food, water, hay, etc.

Also: is it possible that it's ulcers or hemorrhoids or something to that effect? It just seems abnormal that there's so little blood...trust me, it's good! But puzzling...

Gosh...sure wish we had a vet on PC that could help the poor critter out. Is there a vet in the forum?

Praying for your guinea pig--hugs to you---theo

She's getting worse...bloody diarrhea, weak, hasn't been eating or drinking hardly at all...I'm very hopeless right now. I don't even have the energy to know what to do. We're going to get her in to the vet ASAP tomorrow morning, no matter what the cost...

Oh, piggy, hang in there.... Huggs Artreyu.

Thinlking of you, hope all is well.

Let us know what happens-----so sad to see a member of the family ill--thoughts are with you----theo

How are you?

Surprisingly...okay. Aside from bawling my eyes out the first night I found blood in her cage, I've kept it together pretty well. We contacted the vet and they said there's nothing really they can do aside from surgery and giving her an IV, both of which would be traumatic, and even with those there'd be no guarantee it'd make her better. So now we're just waiting, making her comfortable...I've already kinda prepared myself for her death, but it will still be very emotional when she actually goes.

Thank you all for your support and kind words...

I'm definitely not getting any more guinea pigs, rodents, or other caged animals, at least not for several years. I love them dearly, and it breaks my heart to keep watching them suffer and die...I'm pretty sure the guinea pigs I had (and therefore the babies they generated) were the results of much inbreeding by their parents' owner...

Thanks for the update and sorry it seems hopeless for your pet. Good to know you're starting to accept he may die though. Have you thought about getting a cat or dog later on? The advantage is, they most likely will live much longer. It's hard losing any pet, no mater how small.

It may seem "too soon" to some, but I haven't been without a pet of some kind since I was five. So yeah, when I go to college I'm planning on "rescuing" an older cat from a shelter. I won't be living in a dorm, but I'll be gone enough between school (even part-time) and work that it wouldn't be fair to get a kitten...but I would still love the hell out of whatever cat I get, no matter the age or how much time I can be with it .

And besides...I'm not getting another pet to "get over" the death of the others, or to minimize their memory...I'm getting one because I love animals. So there to any naysayers.

I am a guinea pig lover, I've had about 20 over the years. I love them and I know how you feel. I'm convinced that God has a place for them in heaven so don't you worry, if that's where you are going, you will see your guinea again. : )

Thank you to all who have shown support and care throughout this.

MoMo died this morning. It was peaceful and I held her until she was ready to let go. I will miss her very much, but it was such a blessing to have her and the others...they kept me alive so many times...I would never take it back. No regrets.

I'm going to have her cremated; my daddy is making an urn for my other guinea pig who died, so I'll put them together. They were inseparable in life, so there's no reason to separate them in death.

Bye-bye, dear piggies. I have loved you more than I thought I was capable of. You've taught me that even someone as broken as I still has the capacity for love. I will never forget you...