[Gpdd] Rainbow Bridge - Chester

[Suzy Dünser]

Hi Ric,

I am so sorry to hear about what happened to Chester. I had a very  
similar thing happen with my 1-year-old guinea pig, Cocoa - he had  
stopped eating and was losing weight, and when I took him to the vet,  
she saw that his molars were growing over his tongue. She trimmed them  
(under anaesthetic) and he came through that okay, but he just  
wouldn't start eating on his own. (I also found out later from what  
gpdd people said that he wasn't being as enthusiastic about the  
syringe feeding as might have been expected, and indeed he kept slowly  
losing grams over the next few days.) I took him back to the vets  
three times, because he was getting antibiotic shots, and saw three  
different people, none of whom thought there was anything to be done  
about his lack of eating. But he wasn't doing well. So I took him to  
another, larger veterinary practice, where they did an x-ray and said  
they thought his jaw was either broken or dislocated. Here in New  
Zealand I wasn't given an option of trying to fix that; I don't think  
there is anyone who could do it. The vet asked me if I wanted to have  
him put to sleep right then, but we couldn't do it. So we brought  
Cocoa home that night and tried to feed him, but by then his breathing  
was very laboured and he really wasn't swallowing anything at all, not  
even water. I brought him back the next day and let them put him out  
of his misery. The head of the practice came to talk to me before  
that, and he said it was possible Cocoa's jaw had been broken during  
the original trimming, although there was no way to tell for sure. I  
was so devastated. I really feel for you now as you grieve for  
Chester... my thoughts are with you and your wife.

Suzy and Rocky
(and Cocoa in our hearts)