Few month old Guinea pig has large hard knot, please help!

[Samantha Rose]

I have several Guinea pigs but one of them, who is only a few months old, developed a dime sized hard knot on his thigh. Everything i search says tumor or cyst but I almost feel like its a spider bite. Last night, before the knot appeared he was crawling under my bed and then i heard him yelp and scitter out from under it. The knot has a head that was white or possibly just had dried white disharge coming from it. I soaked it in warm water and put triple antibiotic cream on it and took photos of the size. What could this be, a spider bite? Or is this a tumor?

 

[Piggies&buns]

Please have your piggy checked by a vet.
I'm afraid we cannot tell you what it is and only a hands on check by a vet will provide you with answers.
Please don’t put any creams or treatments on to it yourself. It may not be the right thing, may hide any evidence the vet needs to make a diagnosis and may interfere with the correct treatment. Please make sure he cannot lick at any of the cream you’ve put on as these things are not meant to be ingested.

 

[Samantha Rose]

Please have your piggy checked by a vet.
I'm afraid we cannot tell you what it is and only a hands on check by a vet will provide you with answers.
Please don’t put any creams or treatments on to it yourself. It may not be the right thing, may hide any evidence the vet needs to make a diagnosis and may interfere with the correct treatment. Please make sure he cannot lick at any of the cream you’ve put on as these things are not meant to be ingested.

The problem is I can't take him to a vet, all vets that treat Guinea pigs are hours away

 

[Piggies&buns]

The problem is I can't take him to a vet, all vets that treat Guinea pigs are hours away

I'm afraid seeing a vet is all you can do to get the correct diagnosis and treatment for any medical issue. I know it’s not easy in the US but any lump could be a multitude of things including abscesses etc (which can come up exceedingly quickly), perhaps a spider bite is a possibility but we cant know nor tell you what correct and appropriate treatment is as we are not vets nor can we have access to your piggy

I hope he is ok

 

[Swissgreys]

As piggies&Buns has already said, your piggy really does need to see a vet.

It is a good idea to have your pets registered at a vet, even if they aren't a specialist who regularly sees guinea pigs.
The problem is that at some point in their life most piggies will require veterinary treatment, so having a plan in place to deal with this is essential.

 

[Bill & Ted]

Do have a look at this link and see if you can find a vet near you, these are a recommended list for all countries including US
Guinea Lynx :: GL's Vet List
Good luck

 

[weepweeps]

I hope your piggy is ok?

 

[Samantha Rose]

Thank you for trying to help, i understand no one can tell me 100% what it is, I really just wanted someone to give me hope that maybe he'll be ok so i can stop crying for a little while.

I'm afraid seeing a vet is all you can do to get the correct diagnosis and treatment for any medical issue. I know it’s not easy in the US but any lump could be a multitude of things including abscesses etc (which can come up exceedingly quickly), perhaps a spider bite is a possibility but we cant know nor tell you what correct and appropriate treatment is as we are not vets nor can we have access to your piggy

I hope he is ok

As piggies&Buns has already said, your piggy really does need to see a vet.

It is a good idea to have your pets registered at a vet, even if they aren't a specialist who regularly sees guinea pigs.
The problem is that at some point in their life most piggies will require veterinary treatment, so having a plan in place to deal with this is essential.

I truly do not understand what you people are not getting. I dont have a drivers license a car and there are no vets anywhere within 4 hours and none of them will even look at a guinea pig, i live in hick town Arkansas and Guinea pigs are considered exotic animals here. Please stop telling me to take it to a vet, i can't, i have to be the vet so please just know none of this is helping that poor pig get better, i just need advice of how to care for him, hes my baby, trust me i would of taken him to a vet waaaaay before asking a bunch of people who dont know anything about Guinea pigs but think they do since they own one.

 

[Samantha Rose]

I hope your piggy is ok?

Thank you for showing you care, no one understands I cant take him to a vet, but he is acting perfectly fine, he's eating like normal and very happy and still race cars around my floor like normal just has an alarming hard knot on his thigh that appeared overnight. It hasn't grown any so I'm sure its just a cyst but i have been monitoring it doing everything i possibly can so hopefully my baby boy will be fine.

 

[Samantha Rose]

I just wanted everyone to see this handsome boy, god if he dont make it its truly gonna tear me apart. Please pray for this handsome baby

 

[Adelyn]

I truly do not understand what you people are not getting. I dont have a drivers license a car and there are no vets anywhere within 4 hours and none of them will even look at a guinea pig, i live in hick town Arkansas and Guinea pigs are considered exotic animals here. Please stop telling me to take it to a vet, i can't, i have to be the vet so please just know none of this is helping that poor pig get better, i just need advice of how to care for him, he's my baby, trust me i would of taken him to a vet waaaaay before asking a bunch of people who don't know anything about Guinea pigs but think they do since they own one.

I'm so sorry about your piggy . He's very handsome!
You said you have pictures of the lump. Upload them here, maybe we can tell you what it is!

 

[weepweeps]

He really is gorgeous . Everyone on the forum really does care. Obviously the advice would have to be to get your piggy seen by a vet. Sometimes this isn’t practical. But we still have to advise it as it’s in the best interest for the piggy.

You joined the forum for advice. Please don’t be rude to other members. They are just trying to help.

 

[Samantha Rose]

He really is gorgeous . Everyone on the forum really does care. Obviously the advice would have to be to get your piggy seen by a vet. Sometimes this isn’t practical. But we still have to advise it as it’s in the best interest for the piggy.

You joined the forum for advice. Please don’t be rude to other members. They are just trying to help.

I understand trust me I'm not trying to be rude but when you see an actual human baby in pain the mom does get mean when she feels like no one will help. But everyone repeatedly saying go to a vet isn't really advice or helpful especially since someone already said it once. And no i joined this forum not for advice but to save my pig, isnt obvious to go to a vet? But i cant, so i seen this forum and expected that this was for people to help otheres find out what could be wrong with their guineas. Sorry that i just wanted to help save his life.

 

[Adelyn]

He really is gorgeous . Everyone on the forum really does care. Obviously the advice would have to be to get your piggy seen by a vet. Sometimes this isn’t practical. But we still have to advise it as it’s in the best interest for the piggy.

You joined the forum for advice. Please don’t be rude to other members. They are just trying to help.

I know it's really hard to have a piggy that's hurting. You feel sick with worry, and little prods make you feel like you want explode. But if your piggy has a tumor or a cyst he DOES need to see a vet. It's his only chance of survival. Then again, it could just be a spider bite. Could you upload some pics please?

 

[Swissgreys]

Thank you for trying to help, i understand no one can tell me 100% what it is, I really just wanted someone to give me hope that maybe he'll be ok so i can stop crying for a little while.



I truly do not understand what you people are not getting. I dont have a drivers license a car and there are no vets anywhere within 4 hours and none of them will even look at a guinea pig, i live in hick town Arkansas and Guinea pigs are considered exotic animals here. Please stop telling me to take it to a vet, i can't, i have to be the vet so please just know none of this is helping that poor pig get better, i just need advice of how to care for him, hes my baby, trust me i would of taken him to a vet waaaaay before asking a bunch of people who dont know anything about Guinea pigs but think they do since they own one.

I understand your frustration, but the reality is we simply want to help your guinea pig and offer you support.
The harsh reality of pet ownership is that sometimes animals get sick, and require medical treatment - no amount of home remedies or over the counter treatments will help, and it is our responsibility as owners to ensure our pets don't suffer.
We can't diagnose things over the internet and it is clear you love your guinea pig very much, so we are simply sharing our experiences.
It would be irresponsible of us not to offer the best possible advice for helping him and you.

You say you are in Mountain View and there are several very highly rated veterinary practices both in and around this area, including at least two that specialise in (or at least see) exotics like guinea pigs. You say you don't drive, but maybe you could find a friend or family member who could help you out in this case?
If concern for his welfare is causing you such distress then it sounds like you would feel a lot better to have him properly checked over and given treatment or a clean bill of health.

 

[Princess Dustmop]

I know that without driving options, any distance can seem unreachable, though I'm afraid that I have no idea what options you'd have to get them. You could try calling vets in the area to see if they have any form of telemedicine, or if they know if there's another vet that does or that might be somewhere you could get to. You might also reach out to the place you got your piggy from ... where do they get their veterinary care from? Maybe they could assist you.

Without pictures of the issue, we're flying blind, and a description only does so much. Lumps are, unfortunately, one of the issues that generally involve more tactile diagnoses, since the feel of the lump can tell a lot in addition to the appearance, and your version of hard knot may be different from my version of hard knot may be different from someone else's version of hard knot. You are being advised to see a vet because there is no way for us to confidently advise any other action with the information provided. No one wants to give you a suggestion that could make the situation worse because there was something we didn't or couldn't know that would have led to a different diagnosis and treatment.

We all know that your goal is to save your piggy; that's our goal, too. Since we cannot actually handle and treat the piggy, all we can do is offer advice on what you can do, so yes, you did sign up for advice, but I really don't think the semantics are important. I apologize if my suggestions for how to reach a vet are adding to the redundancy and obvious answers, but sometimes the obvious answer just is the answer, even if it isn't ideal for you.

 

[Free Ranger]

That's actually a good idea about calling round vets to see if they can do a video appointment or maybe pictures by e-mail. They'll charge for this sort of consult I'm sure but it's worth an ask?
If it came up all overnight I can't see it being a tumour. We don't have much experience of nasty spider bites here in the UK as we don't really get nasty spiders.
I hope it works out OK for your baby boy. Weigh him regularly and keep an eye on his eating and pooping to pick up on whether he starts to deteriorate is all I can offer really. We'll be praying for you x