Emerald_Toucanet
Junior Guinea Pig
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).
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).
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 just hope it isn’t less effective at treating her issue.