Specialist Cavian Leukaemia And Lymphoma

[cavy love]

It has been a very difficult few weeks for me and my herd and writing this does not come easily; however, I want to seek out other members' experiences, so I might be able to provide the best possible chance for my guineas. My beloved little girl, Bubble, died early Tuesday morning after weeks of antibiotic treatment for what was assumed to be a respiratory infection that had spread to the lungs. Her primary symptom was sharp, laboured breathing. After about a week of treatment, she stopped eating. Though still interested in food, she found feeding difficult and would only try to eat soft veggies - lettuce, dill leaves, coriander leaves. She obviously lost weight at this point, but there was no evident weight loss leading up to the illness - just 10 grams here and there - and after putting her on the syringe, she gained weight back spectacularly. She was initially on Baytril for a week, then Baytril and Septrin for another week, then taken off the Baytril right before the Bank Holiday weekend, when she passed. She was always a bit of a weaker girl, slower at eating, more susceptible to stress.

What I am now worried about are the results of her post mortem and lab tests. The following were found on the post mortem: (1) fluid in the lungs and body cavity, (2) enlarged and hemmoragic lymph nodes in her dewlap area, (3) pitting on her liver. None of her other lymph nodes were enlarged, and no lumps/nodules were found otherwise. The lab results found no pathogens (bacteria, parasites, etc.), found that she had a genetic abnormality where she could not salivate properly, and inconclusively stated that the primary causes of the fluid build up in her body and the lymph node and liver problems were the result of either cavian leukaemia or late stage lymphoma. They were inconclusive because of the time lapse between death and the post mortem and because both sicknesses look very similar.

I have three others at home, and they have advised me to be on alert in case it was leukaemia. This is why I come to you for your experience. My primary questions are:

1) If you have had experience with cavian leukaemia, if one of your guineas had it, did the others get it too? Were they related to each other? How soon after the first pig did others start to develop symptoms/pass away? What symptoms did you notice in your guineas - early and late stages?

2) If you have experience with lymphoma, how did it manifest itself in your guineas? What were some early stage symptoms? I want to use this as a comparison with Bubble's full history to see if there is any difference in how the two manifest themselves.

I'm sorry for the long post, but I wanted to get all the information out there, just in case anyone has seem something similar. @Pebble, I think I read that you've dealt with these issues before? I would appreciate some insight, as these are not well-documented/studied illnesses. It's been quite the day between Bubble's cremation and finding out about her worrying results within minutes of each other.

 

[Elwickcavies]

I'm so sorry that you have not only lost your piggy, but have all this worry on top of it all. I'm afraid I have no experience with leukemia or lymphoma, but I didn't think leukemia was infectious (although I am happy to be corrected on that one). I'm sure @Pebble will be on shortly with better info.

 

[Poppy'sMum]

Has your vet indicated that it can put the others at risk? I am seeing my vet next Thursday, I will try to remember to ask her about it as she has a vast amount of knowledge & might have come across this before. I am sorry for your loss. The fluid in her lungs could possibly have been down to a form of pneumonia which could have caused her passing.

 

[cavy love]

Has your vet indicated that it can put the others at risk? I am seeing my vet next Thursday, I will try to remember to ask her about it as she has a vast amount of knowledge & might have come across this before. I am sorry for your loss. The fluid in her lungs could possibly have been down to a form of pneumonia which could have caused her passing.

Yes, the vet mentioned that the lab said that we should be on alert because the others may be at risk. He also said that it is believed to be caused by a virus - meaning, possibly transmissible - but there isn't much that is known about how it acts, is carried, transmitted (if at all). It's assumed it can be transmitted from mother to child inside the uterus and possibly by other fluids (blood, saliva), but this is unclear. There are no known markers to test for like feline leukaemia, so you can only do a blood test, and if there is an elevated or depressed white blood count, it indicates that it might be a possible diagnosis. It would be great to get a second opinion - my vet is rather knowledgable, but it seems like for a condition like this, more heads are better!

Thank you for the condolences. The fluid was initially thought to have been from pneumonia, which she did have, but the antibiotics cleared that up - no pneumonic infection was found in the necropsy. It is believed that the pneumonia was a secondary infection that came hard and bad because of her lymphoma/leukaemia. Unfortunately, because the pneumonic symptoms were rather pronounced, nothing else was checked, as there were no other symptoms pointing to anything more sinister.