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Vet Seeking a cavy savvy vet but I have a dilemma here..

C_Elise

Well-known Member
Cavy Slave
Joined
Jan 27, 2012
Messages
101
Hi all! I'm a newb so bare with me here, just hoping to receive some of your expert advice..

So I am trying to find myself a new vet to take my pigs to. Recently, my piggies and I's world was rocked (in a bad way) when one started pooping/peeing blood. I knew I had an exotics pet vet in my town and upon doing further research I found he was a founder of AEMV so I was thrilled thinking I was taking my super sick girl to a top of the line doc.

Well, I was wrong, each visit took about 2 minutes tops, he shot out information to me so fast, never looking me in the eye, then left and I was then met by one of his nurses who talked to me for 10+ minutes about the situation. Quite backwards if you ask me, and the entire time he just gave off the vibe that I was wasting his precious time and my case was an insignificant one.. He just wasn't a personable guy and I felt he did the bare minimum for me and my girl and in the end she ended up dying..

So now I am seeking a new vet to get my other two pigs seen asap but I am having a really tough time here. I live in a small town in Southern, New Hampshire, so already I am not in an ideal area. There are about 3 or 4 other exotic pet vets I have found, all really advertise specializing in birds, but 2 of them say nothing about guinea pigs on their website so right there I am crossing those off my list, and 2 I have come across (both an hour away) I found a testimonial for each, one says the doctor is very nice but still learning about Guinea Pigs. Says they are willing to do all the research possible but I don't want to have my pigs be their uhm, well, "Guinea Pig" to learn on! and the other seems just as inexperienced.

Basically, my need for a super savy cavy vet is because I think one of my pigs may have an Ovarian Cyst/tumor and I would like to have her examined and possibly (if she is positive for it) have her spayed.. I noticed about 2 1/2, 3 weeks ago the "crustys" on her nipples. When I saw them I knew they weren't there before, but this pig gets spurs on her feet and I thought they looked identical, so although I was pretty worried, I just went about my days thinking thats what it was. Then when I joined the site when my pig Wednesday got sick, I stumbled across the Ovarian Cyst thread and symptoms (with photos) to look for and my heart sunk.. The crustys looked just like hers, and although she isn't balding at all, I have noticed she's been mounting Wednesday every second of every day constantly growling and rumblestrutting. Even if Wednesday was lying down in the corner, Vanek would go over and mount her. I have no idea how long the frequent mounting has been going on for because I only really took notice to it because Wednesday was incredibly sick and I was feeling sympathetic towards her so I was being an over protective mommy always watching the cage shooing Vanek off of her. Wednesday and Vanek have always had a "I just tolerate you" relationship so til now, the frequent growls and chasing/mounting I heard/saw were normal for these girls. Oh and Vanek has been "pear shaped" for as long as I can remember I feel so thats a hard thing for me to tell if it's a symptom or just her body type..

SO ANYWAYS, I am in dire need of finding a vet in my neck of the woods whose capable of doing such a procedure IF I must get it done..

But my question is, I have found a vet 1 1/2 hours away where the testimonial read that the woman actually had two females spayed and they fully recovered! She even wrote he's done tons of neuters, but only a handful per year and in my mind thats a pretty good sign? BUT it's fairly close to Boston and just a pet examination by this vet is $50! is that outrageous..? I know I paid $35 for my visits and the vets in my surrounding area charge $35 too for visits.. What if I were to have my pigs examined elsewhere to diagnose and make sure they're fine/not fine and do a surgery through the Mass vet? Your thoughts?

My current issue is I have been unemployed since October and I do not start my new job until mid February.. I am borrowing money from my boyfriend and I've already racked up a $131.43 IOU bill through him and yes I know he'll be willing to lend me what ever I need, but I still owe the poor guy a Birthday gift (December 1st was his), Christmas Gift, V-day Gift AND our 6 year anniversary is in February! So I'm super stressed as to what's the thing to do here..
 
I live near a major metropolitan area and a regular visit is $70. So $50 for a vet near Boston sounds like it is reasonable. The spays/neuters in my area by a competent exotic vet go from $150-300, so it definitely matters where you are. I don't want to downplay in any way the expense, but I'd rather pay the $50 over the $35 even just to get the diagnosis, so that you can be confident that you are getting the right one AND that the vet is respecting you and your piggies. It may end up being less expensive in the long run.

Again, I know that the difference of $15 is significant especially if you are between jobs. I just know you've been through a lot lately with the loss of Wednesday and you and your piggies deserve to have a vet that really pays attention to you and cares about you all.
 
Check into CareCredit® Healthcare Finance - Payment Plans and Financing for Cosmetic Surgery, Dental, Vision, Hearing, Veterinary & Other Medical Procedures, and see if the exotic vet will take it -- they offer low or no interest loans for both pet and human health care.

I don't live anywhere near Boston, and having one of my pigs seen by a non-exotic vet who just has an "interest" in exotics is $55.00. The best exotic vet around here doesn't take individual appointments -- you have to be referred by another veterinarian, so you have double the fees before the pig even sees the exotic vet.

However, the cysts probably aren't an emergency. They can get pretty large, but not usually overnight. And while she needs to be treated soon, it's not like you need to rush her in this afternoon. Your local vet could give her a hormone shot that would delay the need for immediate surgery, and you could take her to Boston later. That would increase your total costs by the cost of the shot, and I don't know how much they are. They're not a long-term solution as they do eventually lose their effectiveness, but they'd buy you some time now.
 
Thank you both! I did have a figure of a few hundred dollars if I had to do a spay, I'm very willing but of course I want to pay that to someone where I know my pig has a fighting chance versus the other exotic pet specialists that hold "serious interest" in pigs. Its awesome they're eager to learn, but they're not learning on my girls! =X
And that was the issue I was torn between, pay the $35 (I know all the vets in NH charge that for an examination) to save myself the $15 and the 3 hour round trip car ride, but I was hesitant that maybe the "willing to learn and research" vet could misdiagnose her or not be completely knowledgeable of the symptoms. I'd hope they were since it seems to me that Guinea Pigs seem to be struck by the same handful of illnesses so those that know their piggies should know the major diseases.. but I'm still a bit iffy.. But you've definitely calmed me some because I first read up about Ovarian Cysts the same night Wednesday passed so I was a mess thinking of the terrible possibilities.. I'll think about it for a few days then decide... thanks!
 
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