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Emergency Bloat Advice!

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I am sorry she has to have further investigations done :( My Petal had awful really soft poos for 3 months following her hysterectomy, I had a terrible time & was so exhausted, I was syringe feeding her day & night all that time, so you can imagine. I have spent a four figure sum on her, the hysterectomy, aftercare, x rays & ultrasound cost a £1000, so I was determined to get to the bottom of it. In the end the vet used a specific antibiotic & kept her in for 2 days, & a few days later she rallied & the poos returned to normal, even though she had bad diarrhoea when she was admitted, we thought that was it. She really is my miracle pig; so don't give up, their will to live is very strong & she has a good chance with such a caring owner like you x
 
Sorry for poor Scruff that she's still not right. Hugs to you too, you've certainly done all you can for her so far. Fingers crossed you can get to the bottom what's causing her troubles.
 
Thanks guys...

I just hope it's not something with her vital organs...

Financially so far I have been very lucky, this has currently all cost around £200. Our vet didn't charge us for a top up of the meds, and procedures like the X-ray she had originally was only around £70

I felt so horrible leaving her at the vets this morning, got to ring them in half an hour to see how they're getting on. Hopefully they'll have some answers... :(
 
Just spoke to the nurse, they said she's doing ok - not pooing as much as they would like by any means, but was a cheeky madam when they tried to give her her medicine earlier!

She's next in line for the tests so fingers crossed..
 
The amount of poos also depends on how much she's eaten in the last couple of days.
 
She had still been munching away, just maybe not quite as much as usual.

Ringing back in a minute... I'm scared
 
She has a cyst on one of her ovories - we are starting hormone treatment from today so that hopefully we can get it to disappear without having to think about spaying - something I'm really reluctant to do.

Does anyone have experience ovarian cysts? My knowledge is little to none... @Wiebke @Pebble @VickiA
 
Sorry - I have had no direct experience of this condition with any of my piggies.
 
That's ok pebble, thanks - hopefully someone else has some info, I've been reading a couple of useful threads on here since we got the diagnosis.

Apparently she's been munching away at dandelions and winning the hearts of all the nurses!
 
We have her back home now, she is one unhappy piggy after a day of being prodded poked and needles!
 
Alanaf said:
She has a cyst on one of her ovories - we are starting hormone treatment from today so that hopefully we can get it to disappear without having to think about spaying - something I'm really reluctant to do.



Does anyone have experience ovarian cysts? My knowledge is little to none... @Wiebke @Pebble @VickiA
Click to expand...

I do through the clinic I sometimes volunteer at and my own pigs too. What do you need to know?

A large cyst can affect the gut as it grows and cause issues like you have experienced.

I believe @GPTV may have experience too.
 
Thanks Helen, just the risks involved, do the hormone treatments have good results... If we are suggested to go through the spaying route are we then fighting for her or more for ourselves... And is there anything I can be doing for her to help in the mean time etc
 
Also she's just sitting very still at the moment, I'm assuming it's from the pain and stress of the day - but I wonder how long it may be before she starts perking up...
 
Alanaf said:
Thanks Helen, just the risks involved, do the hormone treatments have good results... If we are suggested to go through the spaying route are we then fighting for her or more for ourselves... And is there anything I can be doing for her to help in the mean time etc
Click to expand...

Obviously the spay is the most risky option and it really does depend on the vet doing it and how many times they have done the op etc. Hopefully the injections will help. My Terk had the injections but for an ovarian tumour instead of a cyst and they shrunk it so she had a whole extra year with us. My Madeline also had a cyst, this was drained by a piggy savvy vet and we were given some medication too for the following week but I can't remember what it was. I can check if needed. I think some vets follow draining with the injections. Sadly we lost Maddie a few weeks later due to a bladder stone that was in a very tricky position and so I don't know if the cyst would have reformed.

Then there is Millie, she had cysts a while back that caused her lots of gut issues with bloating, gas and stasis and we got her through with massage, fluids, and pain relief. Then all of a sudden she looked more slimline and it turned out when checked at the vets that the cysts must have burst and we had no issues since. Recently she has had a small cyst reform which we are monitoring and will opt for the injections as the first option for treatment if needed.

I think from what I remember that the hormone injection is more painful, Terk certainly shouted the place down and so that may be why your girl is subdued, but like you say it could also be the stress of the day. Is she on any pain relief still?

At the piggy clinic there were a few pigs with cysts but the main one I remember belonged to a friend who I had been helping, and she had to have an emergency spay as the cysts were so large and were encroaching on other organs. She came through it well as the vet was experienced with doing the op.
 
:soz: Oh I'm sorry to hear Scruff has ovarian cysts. Poor girl. Sorry but I've no recent experience of cysts. Hope she soon perks up x
 
Thanks for such an informative reply Helen it's really helpful to read.

She just had a good bit of CC from me and even a bit of hay that I gave her by hand :)

She's still not moved really at all, she had some painkillers at the vets by injection and I have just administered some metacam.

In a way the reaction to the baytri was a blessing in disguise because we spotted this early.

The cyst is on her right side and is 2cm round, the vet had a good look via ultrasound and didn't think it was currently posing any risk to major organs.

I'm just hoping she starts moving around soon...
 
You're right it was. I believe sometimes things happen for a reason.

Are you able to speak to your vet tonight if you are worried?
 
Unfortunately they use an external emergency vets as they don't have a 24 hour service - when do you think I should have been expecting her to start perking up?
 
Mine are now the same. I would say at least by the morning, Is she eating for herself at all?
 
It's like she knew I was typing that, she's just had her Zantac and emeprid and I put her down for floor time to see if that would encourage her and she started running around and eating hay!
 
No poops yet this evening but the bet said she ended up doing about 50 when she was there, and she's only had about 20ml of CC since she's been home - so hopefully the medicine and now a good bit of hay and I'll see some coming :)
 
This may sound silly - but should I be handling her extra carefully at the moment? (I am in general because of her being in a bit of pain withy the bloating and now cyst etc) but do I pose a risk to it bursting when I have to pick her up?
 
It should be fine, we handled Millie ok, including feeling for the cyst to check if it had grown. I have known cysts burst on touch when a pig is being examined but I think they were very small ones.
 
helen105281 said:
I do through the clinic I sometimes volunteer at and my own pigs too. What do you need to know?

A large cyst can affect the gut as it grows and cause issues like you have experienced.

I believe @GPTV may have experience too.
Click to expand...


I have Ellie who was about 6.5+ yrs at the time. She kept suffering reoccurring urinary tract infections with blood &sometimes heavy bleeding when she pooped.
None of the other classic signs such as -hair loss, crusty nipples &dominant behavior.

my vet told me my only option was to spay- but she wouldn't do a spay on such an old piggy! Due to general anaesthetic risks etc.

It was determined it was an ovarian cyst by a non intrusive,reasonably cheap ultrasound scan.
Ellie was fully conscious throughout&I was fascinated watching all the movement &bits n pieces at work!
A walnut sized lump was found.

So I suggested after research (mainly on here) could the (hcg)chorulon hormone injections be tried?

The vet researched it a bit &spoke to the drug manufacturer to find out dosage etc whilst I was there.
Its actually a cattle licensed drug. But a signing of a disclaimer/permission solved that.

The drugs were ordered&came 2-3days later. 1injection into the leg muscle (&lots of wheeking! DIVA PIG!) &some cucumber.
Then 7-10days later a repeat of the process.
Touchwood ellie has had no bleeding since &that was about March 2014 now I think.

The jabs were £20 ish each I think maybe less &there was a possibility of having a 3rd but the vet didnt in the end.

Consultation fee,metacam painkiller for a few days if needed &ultrasound so not even expensive considering. But well worth it :)

The cyst didnt seem to shrink but the bleeding has stopped.

Make sure she has a painkiller if needed, apparently ovarian cysts are very painful in humans. Might make her more comfortable.
Ellies 2 consultations,jabs, ultrasound &metacam came to no more than £60 at the time.

Although my vet isn't an exotics specialist &doesn't charge steep prices.
the vet locator (at the top of page) may have a few recommended piggy savvy vets near you ,https://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/pages/guinea-pig-vet-locator/


@biscandmatt had dealings with ovarian cysts so might come up with some other ideas for you. Xx

Ellie has just had a second batch of two injections as she was puffing up & the cysts seemed to have started grown again, she is now over 7 1/2yrs old & although steadily losing weight she is still happy munching away & enjoying life :)

I know others have had no joy with these but in my case it worked wonders &I would definitely try again.
Good luck with your furball baby &let us know how you get on.

Heres my original thread of Ellies link, have a look through a lot of members had some great advice on it :)
https://theguineapigforum.co.uk/threads/ellie-ovarian-cyst-maybe-stones-suggestions-please.112412/



Speedy recovery from Ellie, Grace & I.xx
 
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Thanks so much for such a detailed response - she is doing okay today, a bit subdued but is eating and drinking for herself well.

That is the hormone treatment we have started, I'm hoping that it works well for her...

My vet seemed confident in their abilities if we did have to go down the spaying route, although she is cavvysavvy and also a rabbit specialist I am nervous as piggies are obviously different in many ways. I know that they have performed successful gp spays but if that comes to head I may want to consider finding a more specialist bet to perform the procedure.

It's interesting her fur already seems much softer today than it has done in the past couple of weeks, and she wheeked a lot of me begging for some herbs earlier :)
 
my maisie had issues because of her cysts. they were small but seemed to be causing her issues with mainly her bladder. she was given the hormone injections aswell and they really worked well for her. i think she had a course of two, 7-10days apart. :)

eta: i think i remember posting on her thread that her fur seemed softer and her eyes brighter once she started them and was finally able to clear her other problems. the cysts can be an immunosuppressant so they struggle to beable to deal with other issues going on. for maisie, this was the bladder issues she couldn't shift.

also, if anyone is interested, our exotics vet said that most cyst cases they see don't have the most commonly mentioned symptoms on here, like crusty nipples, hair loss on the sides etc :)
 
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