[Gpdd] Health: Rosie's Records and Biopsy results

[Maren Fouts]

All,

Well, I finally have all the information I'm going to get about Rosie's
condition and speculation on why she died.

Just as a refresher for some that may not remember, Rosie was losing weight
like mad.  She was eating WAY more than was normal for a little piggy and
just couldn't keep weight on.  My vet noticed a lump on her thyroid and
after we tried treating her medically (which didn't work) we opted for
surgery.  She died 14 hours later.

The biopsy of her thyroid gland came back as a Thryoid Adenoma.  This, from
what I'm told, is a benign tumor that caused her thyroid gland to
overproduce the T-4 thyroid hormone.  She only had 3 T-4 readings in those 6
weeks and they read as 7.1, 6.9, and greater than 8 (the vet's scale only
went up to 8).  These are in U.S. measurements.

I'm thoroughly convinced that it was this causing her weight loss as she was
880grams on the day of surgery before she went in.  When I brought her home
I weighed her and she was 880grams, I weighed her before bed and she was
still 880grams.  When she died she was 871grams which is significant given
that she hadn't hardly eaten all day.

There's no definitive reason for her death.  I had a necropsy done and my
vet sent out tissue samples to the pathology lab which came back as showing
no significant signs of inflammation (showing she may have died from stress
and pain) or infection.  I have my theories, the vet has his, and the
pathologist has hers.  None of which coincide.

I have a copy of Rosie's complete chart from my vet.  Additionally, I have a
document that I put together of my observations.  I thought this was
important as I was the person taking care of her everyday.  I've also got
her weight chart for those 6 weeks that we were weighing her everyday.

Thyroid issues in guinea pigs is uncharted territory for numerous reasons.
I believe thyroid trouble is a rare thing for guinea pigs so I wanted to put
together has much information as possible.  If anyone is interested in
seeing this information or wanting to show it to their vet please email me
and I will send you the files.

Piggy kisses,
Maren, Charlie, and Kaylee
Remembering our sweet piggies, Sam and Rosie