I was just asked one of the hardest questions I have ever been asked about chronic issues in piggies. A woman asked me if i had any humane suggestions on how to treat a guinea pig with chronic URIs And, yes, I suspect she was asking me what you are all thinking she was asking me, when do you know enough is enough... And my heart says NEVER EVER EVER. But quality of life is important too. Here was my answer - please jump in here with your own two cents, if you would... Was this the correct response? What would YOU do? My Response: My baby girl has diabetes and chronic uTis (urinary tract infections), not URIs (upper respiratory infections). Luckily a UTI isnt as hard on them as a URI. Honestly - if it were ME and this is just solely my humble opinion - I would do everything I could to make them comfortable. If that means I would have to treat with antibiotic regimens for extended periods and if they could tolerate it well, I would do that. My Daisy is on an antibiotic every weekend - off during the week, twice a day Saturday and Sunday, to try to keep the UTIs away. It doesnt always work. When she gets bad, I take her to the vet and we treat more aggressively. Not quite the same, but... So I would just give her as much of an amazing life as I could - love her, care for her, and take a wait and see approach. I wouldnt jump right to euthanizing them... If it came to the point where they were suffering daily to breath - then I would reevaluate. Obviously quality of life is important. But if you can keep her quality of life high enough and really only you can decide what you think is high enough then I would just continue to treat the symptoms. As I said, that is solely my personal opinion. That is a really difficult situation and I could not wish that decision on anyone.
Posted on: Fri, 14 Mar 2014 18:57:13 +0000