My final pictures with Coriander

I’m down to 5 in my herd. At one time I had up to 13 still living together. It’s depressing. It’s also very eye opening. I’m concerned now for Coco. She’s going to turn 5 this fall along with Chai. She has had at least 1 cyst that we’ve found and drained this year. She was underweight and unable to be spayed.

Cori was from a breeder in Texas. My friend and I had just gotten our fourth guinea pig, Chira. Chira was only with us for a week before showing illness from an upper respiratory infection. We were headed to my parents house in Texas for a visit we’d had prescheduled at least a month before.  Chira was surrendered back to Petsmart as part of their 14 day health guarantee and we waited…
While at my parents we checked our messages and heard that she had died along with another guinea pig from the same batch.
I located a breeder in Houston. I was pissed off about the pig from the store and figured a breeding line had to be better and this was before I had begun any involvement with rescue piggies. Coriander was tiny. I think she was just under 3 weeks at the time and shortly after she came home to Arizona with us after the long drive.

god my writing is horrible today

That was in 2007

Cori was euthanized at 4 1/2 years old for the following:
weight:
589 grams
drooling for the last week: Teeth
guarding her tummy: back feet were irregularly red bc of pressure points and improper walking
She couldn’t even climb over my forearm. She tried very hard and was shaking with intensity and couldn’t do it. She was so tense that she wouldn’t let the doctor palpate her abdoment.
I honestly couldn’t remember the last time I saw her sleeping
She ate almost constantly and never held the weight
In february she was over 800 grams

Euthanasia is a 2 part process.
One shot of anesthesia to put them under and another shot meant to stop the heart. I have never been around for the second shot. They always do that in the back area of the facility.

Cori went to sleep quickly and I asked the vet to palpate her tummy and see what was in there.

“there’s definitely a mass”

frick.

My girl had hypertension, bad teeth and a tumor. It was a valid decision given that she had such a high heartbeat and respiratory rate that was going to make it super difficult to monitor and correct anything during the general anesthesia that would have been required to correct both the teeth and the tummy for a spay. I still didn’t want to be the one to make it.

Consensus after years of rodent issues among my guinea pigs and rats is that this was an issue stemming from cancer. Histopathology would confirm but I need to focus that kind of money to the rest of the herd’s well being.

Coco is my 2nd guinea pig and my oldest still living.
Her weight was appx 800 grams six months ago
today they have all been weighed:

Coco 925
Emerson 862
Callie 938
Chai 1001
Skeeter 954

I’ve called the vet’s office to see if i have an approval to get Coco spayed with a deferred payment for her quality of life. I’m waiting on a call back.