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Elderly with ovarian cyst

Sara’s Piggies

Sara’s Piggies

Junior Guinea Pig
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Wilma recently started losing some hair on the sides of her belly and has had some hair thinning. She is a Peruvian mix so she hides the hair loss well. I took her to the vet and as I suspected she has an ovarian cyst. She’s 6.5 years old and surgery isn’t a promising option for her. Right now hair loss and some crusty nipples are her only symptom. She eats and drinks normal. She seems happy and goes about her days like normal. The vet agrees that surgery at her age isn’t necessarily the best option if her only problems at the moment are cosmetic. The plan for now is to continue monitoring her for pain, weight loss, or other concerning symptoms if they develop. Has anyone else had experience with their piggo having cysts at an old age and not pursuing surgery? Obviously if she was younger or in pain we would consider surgery. At this time her vet thinks it would do her more harm than good.
 

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@Sara’s Piggies Here's a quote from one of my previous posts about Ellie my 6+ year old piggy who had HCG injections.
Click on the expand wording to read the whole quote.
GPTV said:
Hiya sorry I've not been on here much lately, I've not had the chance to read through the rest of the thread yet.

But yes Ellie had the HCG Chorulon injections.
2 injections 7-10 days apart both given in her rump (she shrieked a bit with both, but forgot seconds afterwards with scoffing veggie bribes in her face!)
Ellie was 6yrs old, had persistent genital bleeding & ongoing uti's. She had a conscious ultrasound scan & a walnut sized ovarian cyst was discovered.

The vet wasn't happy to operate on/spay Ellie due to her age with related anaesthetic risks, they're not exotic vets & that they didn't have many gpigs though the doors.

She suggested palliative care was the way to go...

My suggestion of the hormone treatment after others had mentioned it on here was bit of a research bonus for the vet I think.

The vet contacted the hormone manufacturer for advice & dosage info.

Its normally used as a cattle hormone so usually provided in a large vial dose & the vet only used a fraction of the vial. The rest had to be discarded, although I had to pay for the complete vial.

Not sure how much your vet would charge.... But I see that you can get the vials from
Chorulon 1500IU Powder & Solvent (5 x 5ml) From £48.20

For £57 with free P&P, you will need a veterinary prescription to purchase this, so you'll need to factor in the vets charge the prescription.

I use Viovet for a lot of products, but it's currently out of stock & a lot more expensive from them.
It might be worth asking the vet if this is the correct treatment & to get it delivered to them if it's cheaper than buying directly from the vet?

Ellie's coat became really glossy, smooth and silky within days, she seemed more relaxed generally & within a few weeks her cyst had reduced in size so much you could hardly find it.
Ellie had one more bad bleed after the injection, then never again :D

The treatment lasted approx. 12 months and then she had a repeat of the first treatment, this also lasted about 12 months.
I lost Ellie aged 8yrs to other health issues. :(

The injections worked brilliantly for Ellie, but sometimes they don't seem to make any difference - it depends on the individual piggy & the cyst.
There seems to be very little information to be found on side effects of using the hormone. It either seems to work or it doesn't generally.

Good luck with the decision on pretty Patsy & hopefully she'll soon feel better, whatever treatment you decide to have.

:luv: :luv:
Click to expand...

It looks like the price has increased a bit since my previous post.
But here's a link for the cheapest I could find at the moment.
https://www.vetimed.co.uk/pet/produ...MImLqt36WE_gIViO3tCh3Llg4CEAQYAiABEgJjyvD_BwE

I'm not sure how relevant or accurate this is - but my vet said they would only do a cyst drain with an anaesthetised sow, my vet at the time wasn't used to operating on guineas & wasn't an exotics vet. That's why I opted for the injections.

Hope this helps?
Xx

Ooh edit... Sorry these links are for the UK, but try any equivalent US sites & discuss with your vet if its suitable or if to there's a cheaper alternative?
 
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Aww good luck for Tuesday, it might help to take a big handful of grass or a quantity of her favourite food?

Apparently the injections hurt - Ellie's was in her rump (which seems to be the norm) she shrieked very loudly whilst having the injection, but as soon as it was over she had her face buried in a pile of freshly picked grass & I was forgiven! :wub:

Fingers crossed 🤞🏻 Wilma xx
 
I did have one of my girls diagnosed with a likely ovarian cyst. This was a little over ten years ago. She was around 6.5 years old. She wasn't exhibiting any signs of pain, just some fur thinning. I don't think we fully confirmed it, but we ruled out other causes (like ringworm, which was a different incident a few months earlier). She was monitored but that was about it. She lived several more months as a happy, normal piggy until she passed of old age (age 7). (Picture in the cage is her at age 6; picture in the carrier is her at age 7.)

Good luck with the injections!
 

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Princess Dustmop said:
I did have one of my girls diagnosed with a likely ovarian cyst. This was a little over ten years ago. She was around 6.5 years old. She wasn't exhibiting any signs of pain, just some fur thinning. I don't think we fully confirmed it, but we ruled out other causes (like ringworm, which was a different incident a few months earlier). She was monitored but that was about it. She lived several more months as a happy, normal piggy until she passed of old age (age 7). (Picture in the cage is her at age 6; picture in the carrier is her at age 7.)

Good luck with the injections!
Click to expand...
That’s exactly what is going on with Wilma. The only reason I noticed was hair thinning. The vet ruled everything else out and figured it was a cyst. Out of curiosity she did an ultrasound to see if she could see one and was able to see a fluid filled mass near her ovaries. Your piggie was very pretty :) It’s nice to hear stories of others who have had similar situations and their piggies don’t well.
 
Our now 6 year old Oreo got them around 4 years old. I believe her only symptom was enlarged nipples. The vet said they were a bit crusty but I didn't see that. You could feel them when they had grown (the cysts, not the nipples :D ). She had no other health issues so she was spayed when they had grown, before they grew larger. No issues at all. She sailed through. Didn't even had to support feed like we did Ginger at a very young age after having two abscesses removed.

Nugget got them aged 5 but she had quite substantial arthritis by then in her legs and spine so we weren't going to put her through an op. We noticed the shape of her belly was different so took her to vets thinking cysts as we had seen in Oreo. Nugget lost some hair on the sides of her belly but she was a huge pom-pom of a piggy (the black one in my photo... nowhere near full pom in that one though as she just had a hair cut!) so it wasn't noticeable for ages. I just thought maybe there was some barbering going on. Then those bits went very short. Then all of a sudden her whole belly was bald! She was still a walking afro on top though. But I felt bad for her skinny belly! The cysts didn't bother her at all. She suddenly went downhill 2-3 months later from several hidden ailments that all came to the fore at once and we lost her suddenly. You never know what's round the corner. I'm glad I didn't put her through an op for something that wasn't bothering her.

Our Effie has them and she's only just turning one and a half. We noticed a few months ago and she was diagnosed. I felt like her belly didn't feel the same as the others' and more full/pushed forward. No other symptoms and they're very small. One vet couldn't even feel one of them. Vet said as no behavioural changes and they're not causing her issues then they advise to leave her. They said they would likely grow bigger but would not advise us to do any operation that wasn't needed due to the risks. I guess we cross that bridge if we come to it.

Personally, at 6.5 I wouldn't consider putting a piggy through an op. But that's from my limited experience with my piggies. Every piggy is different. Some can seem to get to 6/7 without many issues and others get health issues at a young age. If your piggy seems well in itself and the cysts aren't affecting them then I would let them live happily with them. There's a risk from surgery at any age. A vet will weigh up the benefits vs the risks. Your Wilma is beautiful :love:
 
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