[Gpdd] [RAINBOW BRIDGE] My Beautiful Golden

[Sherry B.]

Dear friends,

The piggie pals and I are grieving tonite. In the early hours of this
morning we said goodbye to our beautiful Golden, who had to be helped across
the Bridge at an emergency veterinary clinic. This has all come as quite a
shock. I'm still trying to come to terms with what has happened, but it is
hard...it all seems so unreal...like a bad dream.
 I noticed earlier this week that Golden's breathing had begun to look a bit
labored at times...not continuously... and when I held him I could hear a
"click, click, click" with each exhalation, so I made an appointment for him
to see the veterinarian. Other than the breathing issue, Golden seemed his
usual bright-eyed and loving self. His appetite was good, he was interested
in the things going on around him, and didn't seem to be experiencing any
discomfort. After examining him, the vet diagnosed an upper respiratory
infection, prescribed an antibiotic, and gave him a vitamin C injection. He
didn't seem too concerned, which put my mind at ease, and I took my baby
home and started him at once on his medication. This was on Wednesday. Fast
forward to Saturday afternoon. I fixed up a bowl of salad for the piggies
and made the rounds...Golden was always very eager for salad time, but not
today. He poked his head out of his pigloo, took a bite or two from a piece
of romaine, and then withdrew back into it. I thought that maybe the
medication was upsetting his tummy, so I didn't think too much about it at
the time. I had a few errands to run that afternoon, so I thought I'd try
again to give him a little treat when I got home. He loved baby carrots, so
when I got home I gave him a couple and he took them eagerly. I checked
back in a bit and noticed that he had only partially eaten them, but he
WAS eating. I certainly didn't imagine that he was getting ready to take a
turn for the worse. I had placed a soft, quilted blanket under his pigloo
for him to sleep on and later that evening  decided to replace it with a
clean one. When I lifted the pigloo, he was sitting there...fur all fluffed
out and his breathing still labored...could it possibly even be a little
worse? It had seemed a bit better on Friday. Shouldn't it have been
even better today? I couldn't understand it. Here he was on an antibiotic
and it didn't really seem to be helping him very much. How could this be? He
was less than 2 years old, very strong, weighed over 3 lbs. and had never
been sick a day in his life. He was one of the most loving and energetic
piggies I've ever known. There was no mucous around his nose or discharge
from his eyes. He had no swollen lymph nodes...no sneezing or
coughing...in fact, up until this day he had been moving around like the
busy little "tiger" that he was, even with the somewhat labored
breathing. Shouldn't he have been well on the road to recovery by now? I
moved him to a smaller enclosure, set up a humidifier near his cage and made
a tent from an old bed sheet, hoping that the moist air would help to
relieve some of the congestion. It didn't seem to help much, but I wanted to
try to make him as comfortable as I possibly could until his medicine kicked
in. Instead, he seemed to become more and more uncomfortable as the hours
passed. By now night had fallen and I was becoming very concerned. I gave
him one of Little Suzy's Lasix tablets, hoping this would help to move some
of the fluid out. I could now hear more than just the little "click" with
each breath that I had previously heard. It wasn't really a wheeze...I don't
know how to describe it, only to say that he sounded very congested. What
was going on? I mean, he had taken his medicine every day like the little
champion that he was. Other than to nibble on a little hay, he hadn't eaten
much since I had given him the carrots and his water bottle looked
untouched so I tried to syringe some water into his mouth. It was then that
I noticed that the color of his lips and tongue had become grayish. I am
now a weepy bundle of nerves. He had to have help ASAP, and my only option
was the emergency vet clinic, which is about 30 minutes away from our home.
I have used the emergency clinic only one other time for one of my piggies
and the result was that my piggie died several hours after I got him home.
He had received anesthesia and some kind of opiate pain killer during
treatment and was never able to throw off the effects of these drugs. He was
barely able to raise his head in the hours between the time I got him home
and his passing later that night. The vet on duty that day was not very
experienced in the treatment of exotics, but he needed help, and it was a
Sunday so we had to take the only help that was available. The vet on call
last night was very kind, and told me that he did not often treat exotics
but that he would do the best he could for Golden. He had placed him in an
enclosure with a heating pad and oxygen. He told me that Golden's
temperature was lower than normal, and that his heart rate was slower than
it should be. He explained that he would need to do an x-ray in order to
know how best to proceed with treatment, and after this was done, he gave us
the bad news. It was definitely not what I had expected to hear. Golden did
not have pneumonia...which was what I thought he had. I thought that the
antibiotic that our vet had prescribed was just not working and that his
infection had probably turned into pneumonia. I thought Golden would
probably get an injection of Lasix and a different antibiotic, and possibly
have to stay in the hospital until Monday morning, at which time I would
take him back to our regular vet. He explained to us that Golden's entire
chest cavity was full of fluid...so much so that he couldn't even see his
heart. He said that this could mean that he either had a badly diseased
heart, or cancer. Either way his prognosis was very poor, and he felt that
the best and most humane choice was euthanasia. I could hardly come to grips
with this. I mean, here was a piggie that was very sick, I knew, but surely
not at death's door. He was very active in his carrier on the ride to the
clinic, as I had him in the same one that I used to transport Suzy to the
vet and I guess some of her odor was still there. His breathing was labored,
yes, but he surely wasn't lying on his side gasping. I asked him if there
wasn't something he could do to help him...to get rid of some of the fluid
so that we could do another x-ray later  and see what was really going on.
He said that he could try tapping into his chest with a needle to pull some
of the fluid off, but he thought the procedure would be too stressful for
him in his condition and might even cause him to go into respiratory arrest.
I asked him if there were anything at all that he could do other than this
to help Golden and he shook his head "no". And so, sadly, we consented to
the euthanasia.  I couldn't put him through a painful procedure that might
not help him anyway, and I wanted his last moments to be peaceful, without
pain. I wondered if he was, and had been, suffering more than he
showed...how could he not be? And then I thought that maybe, if he could
just make it until Monday morning, I could get him to our regular vet and
maybe he could do something to help him, like he had with Little Suzy, our
piggie with the heart condition. Was I being selfish to want to hang on? I
loved him so much and it broke my heart to have to let him go. But the
thought of him suffering was even worse. I had hoped never to have to make
this decision again...there are always so many "what if's" that run through
one's mind. Did I do the right thing? Was there really no other alternative?


Rest in peace, my beautiful boy. You brought so much joy into our lives from
the moment you were born, and we hope you realize how much you were loved.

Sorry for such a long post. It has helped me to be able to share this with
you. It was such a horrible night.

We offer our heartfelt condolences to all who have lost a precious piggie
friend...we are grieving with you...and healing thoughts to those who are
sick.

With heavy hearts,
Sherry & the Piggie Pals