General How common are non-prevenatble health issues?

[jadzia]

I'm just curious of how common non-preventable health problems are in piggies. This is probably a question for those who have had lots of them. If you were to pick a random percentage, how many end up with things like tumors, cysts, or other non-preventable diseases; especially those of the serious nature?

Obviously I know that any animal can have an unforeseen health issue, and some breeds within a species might be more prone to one thing or another. I'm just looking for a general answer.

 

[bpatters]

I have no idea. You can't really go by these forums, because many guinea pig owners whose pigs don't have problems never post here, so we don't know about those. And many, maybe most, of the owners whose pigs do have serious problems post on forums, so you get a skewed view of how many pigs have illnesses.

 

[jadzia]

Yeah, I know that my view is quite skewed at the moment.

My personal experience is 2 piggies where one lived a long healthy life and the other one developed a tumor late in life. My mind is irrationally saying 50/50 chance, due to my very small sample. Being on a forum that deals with health certainly isn't helping set my view right. (At least I know that I'm being irrational about it!)

Is there anyone out there who can say something like "I've had 20 pigs and only 1 ever developed something non-preventable"?

Dealing with the stress of my girl's problem is making me wonder how common things like this really are.

 

[pinky]

You just never know. I've had some that have never needed a vet visit while others had issue after issue. That's why it's so important to have a vet fund set aside in the event of a medical emergency.

 

[petgal49]

I have only had three pigs. One is no longer with us and she was almost 6 years old and never had any health issues that I knew of. One day she just passed away in her sleep. Right now I have to boys and they are 1.5 years old and they so far have never had any health issues or vet visits either. I have been very lucky this way. If anything were to ever happen, heaven forbid I do have a vet fund for my pets. I would love to know the answer to this question as well if there is one!