All Advice On Lump Welcome

[Katrina230682]

Hello. I would like some advice concerning a lump on my guinea pigs leg. Her name is Tiny , she has just turned 6 years old , weighs just over 1kg and is an otherwise healthy pig.
Last November I discovered a kidney bean sized soft lump on her hind leg , sort of where her outer thigh would be. I immediately took her to the vet and they took a sample of the contents in a needle , but only blood came out so they ruled out an abcess since there was no puss or goo. This vet was not particularly experienced with piggies so I transferred to a GP specialist who were recommended to me by the local GP Rescue Centre. He examined Tiny and said that unless it grew very quickly ( as in the space of about 10 days ) or started to interfere with her movement he was happy to leave it alone. Since then I have taken her to have it checked every two months , and each time the vets were still happy that it could be left alone. It is growing without a doubt , but seemingly quite slowly and to this day Tiny seems completely oblivious to it. It was measured at 2 x 2 cm at the beginning of April , however when I took her for her most recent check this week it was measured at 2 x 4cm. This time it was a different vet but at the same practice and it was the first time she had seen Tiny. She recommended removing it but said I should go away and think about it for a couple of weeks. Anyway I am worrying myself to death over it so I have booked in to see the original specialist on Monday. My concern is that I dont want her to undergo surgery unless 100% life-savingly necessary but on the other hand I dont want to leave it long enough until it does start to bother her only to discover it might then be too big to be removed. What should I do ?

 

[Adelle]

Its difficult because you never got any answers from the biopsy, which wouldve been the first step i would have recommended.

I think its going to be a judgement call on this one for you. Any anaesthetic poses a risk, and with your girl being a good age the risk can be higher. In saying that, with an exotics specialist, and the fact your girl is otherwise healthy, anaesthetics and lump removals can be carrie out succesfully in older piggies.

I guess you have to weigh up getting rid of the lump for good, but putting her through an anaesthetic, or leaving it well alone where it doesnt bother her, but could do in the future as it grows and then she'l be even older.

I have a 6yr 2 month old sow- she currently has 4 lumps. 2 wart like lumps and 2 suspected sebacious cysts. The cysts have grown, but are currently around 3cm long and wide and dont pose her any issues. However fudge is in heart failure, so anaesthetic isnt an option, but personally i dont think id be having them removed even if this wasnt the case.

That is just my personal opinion, and really only you can make the decision. I'm sorry, i realise iv probably been zero help to you as your probably feeling like u just need someone to tell you how to handle this, i understand that feeling! But ultimately it will be your call depending on what you feel is best for your piggy, how she would cope with it and how experienced your vet is.

All the best x

 

[tabelmabel]

Hiya i can't and am not going to give any 'advice' as such on your situation as i have no experience of this - except please do think carefully about the age of your piggy (and take vet advice)

It's reminding me of a situation i had with my old dog. She was such an active healthy dog until a lump appeared when she was 16.

It was painful and the vet lanced it expecting it to be fluid filled but it was solid and vascular. Pain meds weren't really helping and soon my dog couldn't walk.

This was many years ago, she wasn't insured and it was lack of funding rather than anything else that caused us not to go ahead with investigations.

Unlike your piggy, my dog was in constant pain so we had her pts. What was difficult is the fact that she seemed totally healthy up until this lump sprang up and we never did get to find out what it was

BUT i do still think, even supposing she had had an op and it had been a complete success - how much longer, realistically, could she have gone on at the age of 16?


So - not the same situation as yours but one that poses very similar questions. A tricky situation and i hope you can come to a decision that you feel at ease with. That's the important thing. There's not going to be a right or wrong answer.

 

[Katrina230682]

they offered to do a fine needle aspiration a few days ago but warned that it could cause the contents to leak out into Tinys system which could cause sinister problems . I said that if they were saying the lump should be removed anyway what was the point in taking any further risks than necesscary. I don't suppose it matters what it actually is if it needs to be removed regardless. Its taken 8 months to grow to the size it is so we think if its anything sinister she would have been ill by now but she is in otherwise perfect health and maintaining a good weight. I don't suppose you have any photos of your piggies cysts ?

 

[Adelle]

they offered to do a fine needle aspiration a few days ago but warned that it could cause the contents to leak out into Tinys system which could cause sinister problems . I said that if they were saying the lump should be removed anyway what was the point in taking any further risks than necesscary. I don't suppose it matters what it actually is if it needs to be removed regardless. Its taken 8 months to grow to the size it is so we think if its anything sinister she would have been ill by now but she is in otherwise perfect health and maintaining a good weight. I don't suppose you have any photos of your piggies cysts ?

The fact its taking so long to only grow slightly, theres a higher chance that is isnt something sinister and gives you an idea of the time scale it would take to get to a point of interfering with her movement or bothering her x

 

[Katrina230682]

I suppose I am worrying what if i left it and by this time next year it is double its size

 

[Adelle]

I suppose I am worrying what if i left it and by this time next year it is double its size

If that is your main worry, and she has a clean bill of health at the moment, then she'll be in a better position now to have it removed than she will when shes a year older.

But there will be a risk like there is at any age- your best weighing this up with your vet and see if you can agree on a course of action x

 

[Katrina230682]

I just got back from our appointment with the specialist. She agreed that its time the lump came off , if it gets any bigger it will be too big to be removed. However , she was very confident that Tiny will be fine and said that if she wasn't confident she would not remove it. She said Tiny is a very very healthy pig for her age and she is a good strong weight so I agreed to go ahead with the surgery. I feel absolutely sick to my stomach with worry. What must I do to prepare now and for when she comes home ?

 

[Lady Kelly]

Hello from another piggy slave with a lumpy pig. I really hope Tiny will be well. I have a 6 year old pig who had a large fatty lump removed a few years ago and the vet found tons of tiny little lumps inside. Lumps were taken from 3 different sites for testing and all came back as fatty (which surprised the vet as she was certain it was bad news). It did however leave me in the knowledge that Peter would suffer with the lumps again, it all came down to how quickly they grew. The one just under his back leg got large enough to cause concern in Jan 2015 (a couple of months before he was 5 years old). However, as it did not seem to bother him and was believed to be a fatty lump the decision was not to operate as the GA would be too risky for him (he struggled more on the first removal op than he did on his neuter op). January this year and the lump has finally started to hinder his movement so he is on a very low dail dose of metcam and *touch wood* is so far still going strong. Given he has had operations before and wasn't brilliant with the GA, he has more lumps than that one that would still be an ongoing concern and his age I would not operate on him at all. That said, Tiny is clearly in a different situation to Peter and you just have to go with your gut as to what you feel is right for Tiny at that point in time.

 

[Katrina230682]

The vet said that it would start to use her nutrients before long and any bigger and it would be too big to be removed. She did seem extremely reassuring and confident that Tiny would be fine