Post by sarahcarrot on Jul 15, 2014 8:18:04 GMT
My guinea pig Leah is about 4 years old, female, and American and we live in New Delhi, India. A year ago I noticed lumps on her underbelly and bleeding from her teats. I immediately took her to the supposed best vet in town. This was misdiagnosed as a false pregnancy. After this, I essentially gave up, because there are no vets that are experts with small animals here in India. Every vet here is a dog/cat vet.
Only one month ago did I find out about another vet who had performed successful surgery on a rabbit. I immediately took Leah to this vet. Thankfully, this vet knew which antibiotics guinea pigs could take and prescribed one of them. He asked us to come back one week later and then diagnosed Leah with tumors and discontinued the antibiotics. He said that he would perform surgery under gas anesthesia, since the risk factor for that type of anesthesia is lower. The blood from Leah's teat was also tested, and was found to be infected by a type of bacteria that can't be treated by any of the antibiotics which guinea pigs can safely take. Thus, the risk factor has now gone up to 50%. I was also told that if these tumors spread internally or externally, she only has a few months to live anyways.
So now, I have to decide whether to have the surgery this weekend, in which case there is a 50% chance that she will die, or not have the surgery at all. Keep in mind that the technology available for small animal medical care here is essentially non-existent. I don't even know if the tumors are cancerous or not, but considering the fact that she has lived with the tumors for a year now, it seems unlikely to me that they are cancerous. Please help me out! Would you recommend that she has the surgery or not? Is there any advice you can give me in this situation? I have to decide ASAP and really don't know what to do.
I should also point out that she is perfectly healthy otherwise, although her diet is missing out on the very important timothy hay because about 2 years ago, the import of timothy hay was banned in India, and I could not find a substitute here.
Only one month ago did I find out about another vet who had performed successful surgery on a rabbit. I immediately took Leah to this vet. Thankfully, this vet knew which antibiotics guinea pigs could take and prescribed one of them. He asked us to come back one week later and then diagnosed Leah with tumors and discontinued the antibiotics. He said that he would perform surgery under gas anesthesia, since the risk factor for that type of anesthesia is lower. The blood from Leah's teat was also tested, and was found to be infected by a type of bacteria that can't be treated by any of the antibiotics which guinea pigs can safely take. Thus, the risk factor has now gone up to 50%. I was also told that if these tumors spread internally or externally, she only has a few months to live anyways.
So now, I have to decide whether to have the surgery this weekend, in which case there is a 50% chance that she will die, or not have the surgery at all. Keep in mind that the technology available for small animal medical care here is essentially non-existent. I don't even know if the tumors are cancerous or not, but considering the fact that she has lived with the tumors for a year now, it seems unlikely to me that they are cancerous. Please help me out! Would you recommend that she has the surgery or not? Is there any advice you can give me in this situation? I have to decide ASAP and really don't know what to do.
I should also point out that she is perfectly healthy otherwise, although her diet is missing out on the very important timothy hay because about 2 years ago, the import of timothy hay was banned in India, and I could not find a substitute here.
