Rosie is Limping

[Trick]

Rosie is going in to be spayed next Tuesday. We are using the vet who sees to the piggies in the local guinea pig rescue who comes highly recommended. He went over it all with my partner, reminding him of the risks and so on. I feel terribly guilty but I know it needs doing. She's started biting and scratching at her sides and she's miserable living on her own but she's too aggressive to house with anyone at all now.

I'm very scared about the whole thing, I couldn't bear to lose my little girl.

[Bugs Mom]

Fingers and paws crossed here for little Rosie. In the hands of a good vet her chances will be good.

[Tracis]

We will be thinking of you and Rosie next Tuesday, and also sending some positive thoughts. She's a lovely girl.

[PooksiedAnimals]

Ugh. Its so hard to be where you're at. I think you're doing the right thing, though. Good luck with Rosie, and I hope all goes well without a hitch.

[Talishan]

Without looking back, have you considered hormone therapy for her? (Lupron, Cystorelin)

[Trick]

Thanks guys, I will keep you all updated.

Talishan - we talked through hormone therapy but given she is only a year old and the stress the behaviour is putting on her heart already we opted for the spay. If she was older I would probably go that route with her being a heart pig but at her age a spay is the better option. I don't want her to have to deal with this forever, not on top of her heart.

I just hope this is the right thing to do... she seems so unhappy right now, I'm just sick with worry.

[Trick]

I'm kind of freaking out a bit now - should I go for hormone treatment instead?

[Talishan]

If you and your vet discussed it, don't freak. You could ask him about it again if you wanted to, and express your concerns about her heart condition. See what the vet says, and see how you feel about what the vet says, and how he says it, but the train of thought expressed in your second paragraph above covers it.

For some reason I thought she was older than a year.

To be as comfortable as you can be, run it past the vet again. If you come to the same conclusion you have already reached, then you have done the best you can, and made the best decisions you could.

Our heart pig goes into pulmonary edema if sedated, caused by what our vet calls 'decompensation' (if I'm remembering right). That is, when the pig is normally active, the heart and lungs clear fluid properly. When sedated, the heart and lungs slow and 'decompensate' -- they're not working to clear fluid as well as a normal cardiopulmonary system does under sedation.

Your vet, if good, likely already knows this. Our vet will not sedate our heart pig without Lasix right at hand, as well as pre-sedation administration. "Other" than that (!), she has handled sedation just fine.

[Mum]

As I mentioned to you in the email, I've had surgery done on heart pigs with very cavy-savvy vets.

I've been lucky, but my vets have also been good.

Surgery is really the best way to handle cysts in a young pig. If your vet is good, I'd trust him on this.

All anesthesia entails a risk - for both animals and humans. But the cysts also represent a risk.

[Trick]

Thanks for the reassurance :) I'm gonna interrogate the vet again beforehand, and my partner is reminding me of all the reasons we opted for a spay.

I just need to keep a cool head and stop panicking.

[Piggielove]

Trick, all the very best for Rosie whatever is decided, I'll be thinking of you both.

Jackie x

[cutemomomi]

Trick, our heard send you two good and healing thoughts.
Hang in there.