A post about my guinea pigs (TW cancer)
I received bad news about one of my guinea pigs yesterday. Well, that was when it was confirmed that he did indeed have cancer. I knew it was a possibility that it was that, but now I have to deal with the reality of that being the case. I'm currently in the 'I do not have the emotional capacity to cry about this right now' stage, so forgive me if any of this sounds rather blunt.
I have two guinea pigs, I got them both about five years ago and I named one Blade after The Blade himself, Don't worry he's not the one with cancer, if he was, I'd be getting very superstitious right now, especially since they said it was sarcoma. No, the one with cancer is in the picture looking like a very cute caterpillar with his long hair, I love him so much.
The vet recommended radiation therapy in the hopes to give him another year but they don't know for sure since they haven't dealt with it in guinea pigs enough. Which is part of the reason why I think I should go through with it, to give them more data for future patients. But the main reason is that he doesn't act like the type to just give up so I shouldn't either.
But aside from the dilemma of his medical care, I have the one many guinea pig owners face. Which is that guinea pigs need another one in order to be happy, (you may have heard that it's illegal to own only one guinea pig in Switzerland.) So I have Blade to think about in this whole situation, who is more likely than not going to be left alone without his companion who he's known all his life. And normally I'd be like 'oh no, not an excuse to get another cute and adorable animal! I'll take five of them, thank you.' But aside from it feeling like replacing him if I get a new one, I'm not sure if I can handle taking on another animal who is just going to die. I've had to deal with what feels like a lot of death recently and I don't know if I can really take much more of it. But finding a new home for Blade would probably hurt a whole lot more.