On Thursday we took our guinea pig Bonnie to the vet after noticing she had a lump under her chin the previous night. They welcomed Bonnie and her sister, Willow with open arms, and were very quick to diagnose that it was an abscess.
We saw a wonderful lady called Kate. She decided it was best to operate for Bonnie’s welfare as draining it would just mean it would come back. It was a very tough decision as unfortunately one of our previous Guinea pigs didn’t make it through recovery after been operated on for an abscess (by another vet practice). Kate was in full understanding of our concerns but she reassured my mum and I. Giving us a full explanation of the procedure and what they will do for her post operatively.
Amazingly so, Alice (the vet), Kate (the vet) and Casey (the veterinary nurse) operated on her that very day, as well as caring for her sister as they didn’t want to separate them as she was ‘key for Bonnie’s recovery’. Mind you the care for Willow was completely free of charge. My mum got the phone call very quickly saying that the operation was successful and Bonnie was just waking up.
My mum went to go and collect her and her sister at around 5pm on Thursday and by 8am on Friday morning our dear Bonnie was hopping around the cage and getting her food very confidently on her own- without us putting it in-front of her.
On that Friday morning, the lovely receptionist Emma, called my mum to check on how Bonnie was doing. This completely warmed our hearts to know, that they were still caring about her despite her not being booked in. And by Friday afternoon she was back to being her usual piggy and sassy self.
The wonderful vet who operated on Bonnie, Alice. Wanted to see Bonnie on the Saturday just to make sure, all was healing nicely. And thanks to the amazing team at Martin & Manifold Vets, we received the all clear and Bonnie was out of the woods.
We now have another appointment on the 10th of December to get Bonnie’s stitches removed.
It was very interesting to learn that the reason so many Guinea pigs tend to not survive post-operatively recovery is because many vets proscribe antibiotics before any operation which actually can decreases their immune system. While also ‘delaying’ successful treatment. To prevent the Guinea pig from going into shock, it is not the preferred option to prescribe any antibiotics and to avoid this ‘wait and see’ approach. We had no idea about this and i so wish we knew this earlier because it could have saved our previous Guinea pig’s life. Knowing this hopefully this can also save many other guinea pig’s lives too.
We are so thankful for Martin & Manifold Vets. Without them being so caring and so quick with their treatment we certainly wouldn’t be where we are now with our star Bonnie. If you live near Cirencester or in Ciren I would 100% recommend Martin & Manifold Vets for any animals but especially guinea pigs. They were absolutely brilliant and made sure that our Bonnie has a beautiful, long, healthy and happy life..
