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All of Muffin’s lymph nodes are enlarged and causing her pain, please help!

E

Emerald_Toucanet

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Is there any chance this isn’t lymphoma? I am really sad right now and probably forgot some details so feel free to ask anything.



Muffin is 7.5 years old. These lumps are causing her to occasionally squeal in pain even on pain medication (mostly when I am handling her but rarely when she’s in her cage as well). I don’t know how I never noticed these lumps before. Looking back, they likely started growing anywhere from between 3 months to 2 years or more ago. I took her to the vet a week ago because of mild URI symptoms that began around a week before that.



Vet felt a small 1cm lump that I brushed off as probably nothing because I was way more focused on getting her the antibiotics to clear her URI. Vet gave Doxycycline, Enrofloxacin, and the last one I forgot but it’s an NSAID. Follow up appointment is next Wednesday but I might need to make it earlier with what I found out after. When I got home I tried to feel the lump and I found a MASSIVE one just above her back leg. (I also noticed all four neck lymph nodes were quite large before that vet appointment but thought it was because of the URI). I was looking all over the internet the past few days to see what the large one likely was, but just right now I realized it is all of her lymph nodes. Every single lymph node feels like a tumor. I am beyond devastated.



She is my last surviving piggy of 4. The most recent one to pass away died (I think) from her neck lump which the vet thought was an abscess but the biopsy was inconclusive. I went 3 additional times to try and advocate for her and get the vet to remove it or suggest someone who could, but the vet said it was way to risky due to her age and that the lump wouldn’t necessarily shorten her lifespan (even though it was very big?!). Her name was Toffee and she also had a stubborn URI that would never really go away fully. Other than lymphoma, the only other thing I think it could be from is that the same stubborn URI slowly infected Muffin as well (she was not given antibiotics during the times Toffee was).



And I mean it when I say EVERY lymph node is affected :(



Top left armpit: pea sized + long (2cm?)



Top right armpit: large pea sized + long (2.5cm?)



Bottom left armpit: small pea + massive pea sized, length (3cm)



Bottom left armpit: Insanely massive, sort of crescent shaped around her back leg, maybe 5cm long but 6 or 7 if it was not curved?



Right part of cheek: large pea size 1cm all around. This was where she was bit 4(?) years ago so maybe isn’t a lymph node and is an unrelated abscess?



Nothing in left cheek



Right neck further back is twice as big as the other 3 in her neck, others are around 1cm in diameter.

Maybe I’m slightly exaggerating with the sizes but not on purpose it’s just a rough estimate

Antibiotics for half a week have not shrunk their sizes as far as I can tell. Also, she used to weigh on average 1175g but now is 875g which I stupidly thought was her just getting older because it was super gradual (maybe over 2 years?)



If anyone has any advice I will be so grateful. I live in the greater Vancouver area if that helps (Canada).
 
Hello and welcome to the forum.

Firstly I am so sorry for the loss of Toffee & that you are faced with a poorly Muffin. If she is squealing in pain even on pain medication and the lumps are growing/developing I think I would get her an appointment for a full vet assessment as soon as possible so that you know what you are facing and can make an informed decision. In the meantime I would keep her as comfortable as possible, handle her as little as possible if that is causing discomfort and switch to syringe feeding to support her at this time. I will link you the relevant guides.

Emergency and Crisis Care as well as Bridging Care until a Vet Appointment

Not Eating, Weight Loss And The Importance Of Syringe Feeding Fibre
 
I am so very sorry that you are faced with another very bad situation so soon after a loss but please have Muffin seen as she is obviously in great pain.

Whatever it is, you will find the strength to do the right thing for one you love because seeing them suffer because of your own heartache and fears is worse. :(

My heart goes out to you in what is for any of us the kind of nightmare none of us want to ever be confronted with.
 
I’m sorry you lost Toffee and Muffin is unwell too 😞 My Elizabeth once had swollen lymph nodes and hers turned out to be due to infection and they went down again after a course of antibiotics but they wasn’t painful.

I’ve also had piggies with lymphoma. The best thing to do is ask you vet to perform a fine needle biopsy on one of the lumps. This isn’t invasive and will tell you once and for all what you’re dealing with and you can make any decisions going forward from there. Please do ask for adequate pain relief.

You and Muffin are in my thoughts x
 
Thank you so much everyone! I will try to see if the vet can see her this Wednesday instead. To clarify a few things, the pained squeaks are almost entirely from when I felt her lumps or when she is peeing (not every time she pees). I think I made them seem way more frequent then they actually are. I only hear it maybe once a day when she’s in her cage. She has bladder sludge that came back recently so I’ve been trying to keep her hydrated and avoid higher calcium veggies. She is still very interactive and seems happy other than those times though! Vet is not concerned at all with the bladder sludge and said theres no stones.

Also, I am seeing a different vet than the one I took Toffee to, so I have a bit more trust in getting proper treatment. A biopsy is definitely the next step and I guess I’ll go from there. The vet mentioned being able to test for the most effective antibiotic using the biopsy results so that seems promising.

There is one more thing I’d like advice for though:

This morning I noticed that Muffins poos were very mushy. The vet said to stop the pain medication if she gets diarrhea, but of course I don’t want to because she is in pain. Last night I fed her a lot of cucumber with her medications, so maybe that contributed to it and it would be okay to continue giving her the pain medicine?
 
Claire W said:
I’m sorry you lost Toffee and Muffin is unwell too 😞 My Elizabeth once had swollen lymph nodes and hers turned out to be due to infection and they went down again after a course of antibiotics but they wasn’t painful.

I’ve also had piggies with lymphoma. The best thing to do is ask you vet to perform a fine needle biopsy on one of the lumps. This isn’t invasive and will tell you once and for all what you’re dealing with and you can make any decisions going forward from there. Please do ask for adequate pain relief.

You and Muffin are in my thoughts x
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May I ask what antibiotic Elizabeth was on that helped her lymph nodes go back down? And if there was a test done to determine which one it should be? I am so happy there was one that worked for her!
 
Emerald_Toucanet said:
May I ask what antibiotic Elizabeth was on that helped her lymph nodes go back down? And if there was a test done to determine which one it should be? I am so happy there was one that worked for her!
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Of course. Elizabeth was given baytril. A test wasn’t done to determine which antibiotic she should have but the vet did mention septrin if the baytril didn’t work.

Please do not stop Muffins pain medication without consulting with your vet first. It’s most likely that the amount of cucumber she had contributed towards the mushy poos so our advice would be to stop fresh veg for 24-48 hours or until things settle down x
 
Claire W said:
Of course. Elizabeth was given baytril. A test wasn’t done to determine which antibiotic she should have but the vet did mention septrin if the baytril didn’t work.

Please do not stop Muffins pain medication without consulting with your vet first. It’s most likely that the amount of cucumber she had contributed towards the mushy poos so our advice would be to stop fresh veg for 24-48 hours or until things settle down x
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Thank you so much! I wasn’t going to stop it unless someone said it could be deadly or something like that, so I’m glad that isn’t the case.
 
UPDATE:

Just got back from the vet. He said her neck lymph nodes had gotten smaller while her armpit ones had gotton larger. I’m not sure I agree with the one he said got way larger because I felt it the same day he initially did and imo it’s the same size. He did a fine needle biopsy which I will get the results of in the few days. I asked if he could tell me anything right now and he said that the fluid that came out was clear, he couldn’t see any bacteria but hopes he's wrong, and that he still suspects it’s lymphoma.

I’m hoping it’s not of course, and requested either Chloramphenicol or Azithromycin to try. He gave me Chloramphenicol, and I can either switch the antibiotics now or in a week when the initial course of Enrofloxacin and Docycycline will be completed. He suggested I do it right now, but it’s only been a week. Her URI isn’t cured yet, so what do you think I should do? The current antibiotics are definitely upsetting her stomach a bit, but I don’t want to make the switch early if its helping her.

I also asked if I could keep her on the pain medication for longer than it was initially supposed to be and he agreed.
 
I decided to switch the antibiotics last night, and I think it was a good decision! Her poops were REALLY mushy before but are now completely back to normal :) I just hope it isn’t less effective at treating her issue.

Only other difference is that she’s a bit more “meltier” than usual. Still perky and interactive though.
 
Really sad update, Muffin has lymphoma :(

Found out on the 19th, and have to wait 4 days total (without metacam) to start her new steroid medication. (Any chance I could wait 3 or 3.5?!)

She is doing so much worse right now. I don’t know if it’s the Chloramphenicol, but she is pretty lethargic, cant really keep her head up, walks funny, has full on diarrhea, crustier eyes, still has a really high respiratory rate (~140 but used to be ~160?) and pretty much won’t eat.

Even getting her to eat critical care is insanely difficult. Ive don’t this is the past with her using a syringe, but this time she spits most of it out and will flail around after only giving her ~1/5 of ONE scoop :(

I mean, she is still eating, it’s just very little and she won’t even eat much of her favourite foods like watermelon or blueberries. I know those should be in moderation anyways, but figured so what is she gets diabetes now… and it’s not like shes eating a lot of it anyways :(

Next time I go to the vets (next Wednesday but I might make it earlier) I’ll ask for a compatible pain medication. I don’t THINK she’s in much pain, but she does make those tiny sounds when peeing and I know they try their best to hide their pain.

Lumps seem the same size or slightly larger, and the probiotics I’ve ordered should be available for me to get in a few more days.

I had a lot of hope for the Chloramphenicol, but maybe it’s best to switch back to the old antibiotics? The vet said I shouldn’t use all three at the same time, but at this point would it really be that bad to try? (Not doing that without other people saying it’s a good idea though don't worry).

Ughhhh I hate this so much. I wish Guinea pigs weren’t able to get cancer :(
 
Okay rereading that update I would assume she is doing worse than she is, so I’ll add that it’s not to the point where it seems she could die any second yet, and today I’m to try my best to force feed her enough critical care. It was only yesterday where she didn’t seem like she was eating more than nibbles of things. And today is the first day of diarrhea instead of just mushy poops. She is still interactive with me I guess, like, she’ll be a little feisty when I give her her medication and critical care and also jump off of my lap and onto my bed a lot, but she has lost a lot of energy and slumps her head down on everything where before she was kind of like a horse if that makes sense (she would always keep her head high up). I just want to give her the steroid asap to help her eat more.
 
BIG HUGS

I am very sorry about about the bad news. Lymphoma is unfortunately one of the nastiest things to come down with.

As tempting as it is, please try not to cut corners with steroids. They can really prolong life for guinea pigs with lymphoma but they are very iffy to use with rodents, even iffier when in combination with antibiotics; they are usually used only in palliative situations with rodent species when they short to medium term gains outweigh the long term damage.

The symptoms are unfortunately some of them lymphoma symptoms and not down to the chloramphenicol. I fully understand your desperation and how awful the wait is when it is touch and go.
 
*massive trigger warning for loss and dying process*

I was wrong. She was dying. She passed away right next to me an hour ago, and it’s was the worst thing I’ve ever had to watch. During her last hour, she became almost unable to move. She even purposefully tried to fall off my bed which has never happened before (I didn’t let her of course but she would’ve). And then in the last 10 minutes her breathing became less and less frequent until she started having horrible head-moving gasps for air. She made a couple pained noises during this part, and then her whole body lurched to the side in a massive gasp and she died :(

This never happened when I witnessed another piggy pass away… Was there something I did that made her die so horrifically? All I can think of is that it could be the chloramphenicol making her weaker or maybe me giving her the steroid 2 hours before she died?

I hate that it ended like this for her. She deserved to die peacefully :(
 
I’m so very sorry. I know it’s hard to watch but she passed in her comfortable surroundings with you right by her side. She would have been unconscious towards the end and wouldn’t have known was what going on. I witnessed my piggy Pepper pass last year. And I did find comfort that it happened at home with me next to him. He also did the open mouth breathing a few times and rolled over once and then he was gone. I think that was quite a peaceful passing and I think Muffins sounds quite peaceful too. Don’t feel bad. There was nothing you could do. Sending you massive hugs. ❤️

Popcorn high over the bridge pain free Muffin.
 
I am so very sorry for your loss. It’s natural when we lose someone we love to start Questioning everything about their treatment and what more we could have done for them. Rest assured that you did everything you could for her and she died at home surrounded by love. It’s always traumatic to observe a death but Muffin’s passing does sound to have been peaceful. Sending you a gentle hug as you grieve. Fly high beautiful Muffin 🌈
 
I'm so sorry for your loss. Please try not to feel bad, you did all you could. 7.5 is an amazing age too.

Popcorn beyond 🌈 bridge, Muffin. In peace and pain-free, reunited with Toffee.
 
I'm so sorry about Muffin, 🌈 RIP little one.

But I wanted to echo the others too - despite how it looks, it's much more peaceful for them than for us. Having seen two pigs through the same in the last year, and it looking much worse for one than the other, I know how jarring the difference can be. But that's for us, not for them. You did nothing wrong, please don't think otherwise.
 
I’m so sorry to not have seen your updates sooner but I’m so sorry that it turned out that Muffin had lymphoma and that she has passed away.

But as horrible as it is for us to witness them dying, it isn’t half as bad for them as what we imagine.

You did nothing wrong and there’s nothing you could have done other than comfort her which is what you did.

(((Hugs))) take good care of yourself while everything sinks in and you grieve your beautiful girl.

Sleep tight Muffin x
 
So sorry for your loss and for the distressing way that she died. As weepweeps said she would have been unconscious. I have heard this before on the forum as well.

She was clearly well loved and was able to pass away at home.

Rest in peace Muffin.
 
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