My 15 ½ year old daughter has a Guinea Pig named Lucilla LaCoco or “Lucy” for short who is 5 years old (Guinea Pigs live 5-8 years). On Sunday my daughter came in my room and said we need to make an appointment and take Lucy to the vet there is something wrong with her feet. I looked at her feet and instantly I knew the problem; and I knew this was going to be a major deal. I recognized that Lucy has “bumblefoot,” which is a bacterial infection that Guinea Pigs are susceptible to. Usually, piggies contract this from poor living condition, illness or injuries. All I will say on this is Lucy has not been taken care of, as best as she should have been.
On Monday I called the Vet and was able to get Lucy an appointment. I called my daughter’s father and told him to bring Claire and meet me at the Vet. I wanted Claire to be involved in the decision making process on Lucy’s care. The Vet looked at Lucy and confirmed my diagnoses of bumblefoot and then proceeded to tell us the care that would be involved in treating Lucy. This would be long term care, feet wrappings, medications, x-rays, multiple appointments ….etc, etc, etc …. I asked her how much and she said “I will let you talk this over with your daughter and you need to decide if you can commit to the time you will need to care for Lucy, if you can not I think you should think about euthanizing her, and I will work on a quote.” I started crying which was a BIG MISTAKE because the Vet probably though, we have an animal nut on our hands and she will pay out her butt!!!
So the vet leaves the room and my daughter starts crying and says, “What do you think we should do?” I said “Claire, she is not my Guinea Pig and I am not making the decision (is she crazy, if I decided to “put Lucy to sleep” I would be branded the rest of my life.” I can see it now; Claire would be on Oprah or Dr. Phil telling the world how her mom killed her only friend in life!!)
I told Claire if we decided to treat Lucy, she would be the primary care giver and I would be the backup. Claire said she would like to try and see how it goes and if Lucy does not get better we can talk about it again. Okay, decision made, mom is not a bad guy, Claire is taking responsibility.
The Vet Tech comes back in to the room and hands me the quote, I almost started crying again! The quote was for $436-610.00 What the #@! !!!! Lucy only cost me $16.00. OMG!!! The Tech explained the cost would be over 6 months and they wanted to go higher than lower on the quote. Now what do I do? I let Claire make the decision and now I am panicked. I thought about the quote and calculated the cost over 6 months and though I can handle the bill. So, I did what any guilt ridden mom would do; I wrote out the first check to the Vet for $177.00 dollars. On the way home I went to Petco and bought $50.00 worth of supplies. On Tuesday I ordered medical supplies to care for Lucy in the amount of $66 and Lucy will have her first follow-up today at the vet for another $80.00. So…if I add this up correctly in four days I have spent $373.00 on Lucy. How in the hell did the vet tech come up with $436-610 for six months!!! Breath in, Breath out, Breath in, Breath out!! Okay enough about that!
Lucy came home Monday with hot pink bandages on her feet. She looks quite stylish with her black and white fur and pink go-go boots. Lucy is now living the life! Her cage is now in the dining room instead of my daughter’s room, so that I can keep an eye on my new investment! Her diet was modified so she is now eating her pellets along with kale, greens, green peppers and liquid vitamin C (by the way that is more money I spent, we do not eat these foods!) She is given medication twice a day, her cage is now cleaned everyday and she gets a clean towel for her bed everyday! What have I done!!!
I will keep you all posted on Lucy’s recovery!
Update: Lucy has new go-go boots they are now pink with purple hearts. We will continue with her meds and she now gets foot treatments every two-three days. She will return to the Vet in eleven days. I wonder when we will start giving her facials!!
