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Hormone Treatments

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LeahsPiggies

LeahsPiggies

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Me again, apologies! This is the only place I can rely on decent answers.

Does anyone have experience with hormone treatments for ovarian cysts? My Pringles has one on her right ovary. What are the success rates? Price? Do they work first time?
 
My vet says they do sometimes work,but they dont have a very high success rate - quite often the piggy will eventually need spaying.there are others on here who have had success though and they will be able to give you an iead of cost.
 
I don't want to do it if it won't work first time as we just can't afford 3 treatments which are £50+ each, aswell as a spay for my other female and antibiotics for the other. The consultations at this vet alone are £30 :(
 
I know how you feel - I had £2000 worth of vets bills last year all in the space of 6 months! - nothing for 3 years then everyone had something wrong with them (nothing that was catching) luckily mine were all insured but I still had to pay £50 excess for each pig - so that was £250 on top of my monthly £50 premium!
 
I really don't know what to do! Neither of my piggies illness are contagious either, it just all comes at once!
 
They didn't work for our little Piggy Marie unfortunately. We tried the hormone injections and the implant before actually going through with a spay. I would never recommend the implant again though - I think it has subsequently been proven to be ineffective and is very expensive. Unfortunately it is almost impossible to tell how a piggy will react to hormone injections until she has them.

They didn't work for Piggy Marie, largely I think as her Cysts were very large. Our vet says she always recommends a spay over the injections as she always strives for a 'gold standard' of treatment and care and injections are just too variable. Given that a spay is a lot more work, higher risk and cheaper than the injections, she isn't just saying this to make a quick buck.

That said, depending on the age of the pig and the size of the cysts, I would still consider hormone injections in the future.

I also know the feeling of coming all at once, with seemingly never ending bills so I do feel for you.

Good luck with your Piggy problems - and you are right this Forum is great.
 
Thank you for your advice, it's really kind of you. I initially had hormone treatments in mind but now I'm thinking if its worth just going straight for a spay along with her sister. I will be seeing what the vet suggests but it isn't going to be a decision I am taking to lightly.

If the hormone treatments fail to work then I'll be kicking myself and probably wont be able to afford any further treatment, whereas if I go straight for the spay and all goes smoothly then that would be very worth it. BUT if I go through with the spay without trying hormone treatments and something happens to her then I will have to live with that guilt forever.

Definitely not an easy choice to make.
 
Hmmmm it's a tricky one to answer but I have had 2 females in the past both successfully treated with the injections. I think they should be around £28 each time, usually 2 are needed, sometimes 3. Mine have not needed a spay as yet. Currently 2 out of my 3 have cysts, Petal's had a very large one aspirated recently then 1 injection. I have a very experienced vet who knows when they need an injection or whatever by feeling Petal's tummy. You should not have to pay a consult when you go for these injections, at least my vet doesn't charge, only for the jabs. To be sure of the cost ring your vet & ask :) After having all 3 undergo some sort of op since I had them & knowing how difficult recovery is I will definitely be trying to avoid spaying them if I can.
 
Oh thank you, that's reassuring. The cyst is only on her right ovary and the vet didn't mention anything about it being overly large so maybe the injections would be successful. I heard hormone injections were £50+ each time? if they are only £28 then I will definitely opt for them.

Pringles is a very nervous piggie and I don't believe she would take to to spaying and recovery too well :(
 
I think I've made the decision to opt for the hormone treatment depending on costs of each go. I don't want to risk putting her through a spay with such high risks involved when it's not needed!
 
Yes it's a very difficult decision, I really don't envy you it.

It does seem vets give different advice on the number of injections and the cost. I seem to remember we had to buy a 'pot' of the hormones which was about £60 and we had 1 injection per week for 5 weeks and the vet charged about £1.80 to inject it, so the total bill was just under £70. However some vets seem to do only 2 or 3 injections with a longer period in between. It's worth bearing in mind that at the time we were with out old 'non cavy savvy vet' at the time. We had changed vets by the time we had her spayed to a real exotics vet.

Does the cyst appear to be giving her any discomfort at all? I have heard of people with piggys with small cysts who have left them and see how they progress. This would require reasonably regular vet visits though and if they got larger I would worry that it would make hormone injections less likely to be successful.

It is a quandary. I would nail the vet down on a price first and take it from there. If Pringles is nervous and she was mine, I would try hormones first. Piggy Marie was very nervous and 5 years old which is why we went down the injection route to start with. That said she survived the spay and recovered well despite being under anaesthetic for 2 hours and having to have the cysts peeled from her kidneys (that's how large they were!). I put the success largely down to the skills of the vet though.
 
The cyst is only on her right ovary, it isn't bothering her as such but I have noticed she squeaks when weeing every so often, but not always. Well really its not a squeak, like a little mumble.

I will definitely take the vets advice as they are very knowledgeable and if they think hormone treatments then that's the route I shall go for!
 
maisie has just had two, 7-10 days apart. i can't remember how much they were, but definitely not near £50. more like £30 i think. x
 
If its any help my Ellie is 6.5yrs old &has a lump that looked like it was liquid filled ovarian cyst from an ultrasound scan on Monday.
She is going in for the first of 2 injections tomorrow, another to follow in 7-10days.
The vet said the chorulon injections would be about £20 each &I'm guessin the consult fee will be extra.
Because of her age the vet said she was reluctant to give her a general anaesthetic it would be too risky.
She hasn't used them before &can't say if they will be successful but she is happy to give it a go.

Good luck with your choice. I know its a balancing act :(
Healing vibes coming your way.
Xx
 
Pecan had hormone treatment in my opinion it's done wonders! Her fur has grown back on her belly and sides and she's not as snappy either

She had to have 3 injections - 1 every 2 weeks. So pleased it was worth every penny! I think I was lucky I was told its 50/50 it might work might not and if it didn't work spaying was always an option but an extreme option.
 
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