Guinea pig standing on hind legs and sniffing/lump - any ideas?

[Vix]

Please forgive the rant – I’m a long time lurker here and have really appreciated the advice and ideas given. It's been an eventful and sad month or so for us and I wanted to get a little advice and to vent a little!

For four years, our indoor guinea pigs Bernard and Manny have been happy and healthy pigs and we’ve never needed to take them to the vet. Manny sadly passed away a couple of weeks ago leaving a lost and mournful Bernard.
Bernard has remained active and healthy and we waited a little while before finding him a companion.

After finding another young boar to introduce, we’ve quarantined and introduced Basil. We were really lucky, the bonding was almost instant and there were no real fights for dominance.

However, tonight when we were clipping Bernard’s nails we’ve found a lump on his belly that is bleeding very slightly. We’re taking him into the vets first thing tomorrow and he’s eating and drinking fine and not complaining when being held.

The only thing other than the lump that has changed at all is that he is more inclined when out to stand almost fully upright sniffing the air. He does this quite a bit and we’ve no idea why and he’d never really done that until very recently. It seems particularly to be around one area of the sofa but we’re not sure why.

Has anyone else experienced any of these things? Thanks in advance.

 

[Wiebke]

I would think that there is some interesting scent on that area of the sofa. Guinea pigs have much stronger sense of smell than humans.

I am very sorry about the lump! it is always very worrying. All the best for that!

 

[Vix]

Thanks for your reply. We're wondering if the scent is something to do with Manny as Bernard has never paid such an interest before.

We're waiting to hear about the lump - we have an appointment for tomorrow. The vet seems to think it may be an abscess and is happy enough that Bernie is currently eating and drinking (in fact he's obviously feeling ignored and currently wheeking for more veg!)I'm probably overreacting a bit as Bernard and Manny were our first pigs and had seemed to take everything in their stride until recently.

On the plus side, little Basil has settled in fully and is a really affectionate pig both with us and Bernie. He even managed to submit to a first nail clipping with good grace

 

[sport_billy]

Hi, welcome to the forum. Very sorry for the loss of Manny.


It sounds like he can definitely smell something of interest on there, hence the standing up.

Hoping the lump is nothing sinister and all goes well at the vets for Bernard. It is worrying when you start noticing things wrong, I always think back to the 4 years of no health issues with Pitch and Putt when we first ad them, then wallop something board sides you.

Please let us know how he gets on at the vets, will check back in for news on him. Lots of healing vibes his way.

 

[Vix]

Just back from the vets - he's got another smaller lump starting as well and they seem to be solid. We've got Baytril for now in case it is an infection and are going back in a week. It sounds like our options are to leave it be or to line him up for surgery if things don't improve. We've been told to weigh up whether the risks of surgery in an older and otherwise healthy seeming pig are worth it.

Has anyone experienced looking after a guinea pig before and after this kind of surgery? Any advice on care or other people's experience with their own cavies and this kind of surgery would be really useful. Thanks!