On Thursday, I lost Figlet. After six months of diagnosis with two doctors, we finally determined she had Hyperthyroidism, which is extremely rare in piggies. The doctor I was taking her to was an exotic specialist who had specifically done research on Hyperthyroidism in guinea pigs. In all of his time, he had six confirmed cases, so Figlet was only his seventh. Blood work showed Figlet had no kidney damage, which is a byproduct of HT. The options before the blood work were to have the mass removed now, before complications occurred in her heart and kidney (if the BW came back good), or let her live out the rest of her life with HT if she had signs of kidney damage (because HT ‘treats’ some of the problems it can lead to). The clean blood work and urinalysis meant surgery was the best option.
After the mass was removed, Figlet’s body didn’t react well. Between her already high blood pressure due to HT, and the body rejecting the change in her thyroid, blood pressure and several other things, it couldn’t adapt. She passed on the surgery table. She was completely under at the time, she did not suffer at all. That doesn’t help me though, as she would have lived out another year or two with HT before having serious complications with heart and kidney. Complications that may have lead to having to choose to let her pass before she started suffering. Instead of that year or more, in trying to do the right thing to make her healthy and ‘normal’, I lost her.
—
got home today, found a box on the doorstep from the University that I was taking Figlet to. I had a bad feeling I knew what it was. I opened it to find two things; a clay disc with four
paw prints and ‘Figlet’ at the top and a small ziplock bag with her infamous butt plume hair.
I understand keepsakes from departed pets, but i am not one for that. This box annoyed the living hell out of me because the last conversation I had with one of the doctors there went
like this:
Megan: Afraid I have bad news..
[..]
Megan: We will do a necropsy, free of charge of course..
Me: Yes, I do that for all of my pigs, I’d like to know exactly what happened.
[..]
Megan: Would you like the body or for us to send it to Whoever Keepsakes?
Me: No, dispose of normally, I don’t do any keepsakes or memory items.
*sigh*
For them to do turn around and do that anyway is disheartening.