Hi all!
Cameo's surgery took longer than anyone would have liked - she was on the table for an hour start to finish - few complications, firstly the mysterious lump, secondly her tissues were very friable (very fragile and disintegratey) so the vet had to be super careful. One of her uterine horns came apart in the vets hand, and one of her ovaries literally fell apart, so he had to be really careful but make sure he removed all the ovarian tissue, without digging around :{
She came out of theatre at 2pm, was very cold and very sleepy. She was popped into her basket with lots of heat pads and blankets, and we checked on her every 10 minutes. At around 4 her temperature was back up to normal, but she was still far too sleepy to be left unattended, so she stayed in her basket while we monitored her. At 6pm she was still really sleepy, still not even lifting her head up, so we put her in the kennel with Jeff in the hope that it might perk her up a little.
I finished work at 7pm, and decided that 5 hours without eating was more than enough, and she was awake enough to be syringe fed without choking. Luckily, she decided a mixture of critical care, apple and banana baby food and vitamin C was just what the doctor (or vet!) ordered, and she took it quite well. I managed to get 5mls of critical care and 1ml of water in her. She still wasn't lifting her head at this point, but was taking the food better than I expected. She also had another shot of opoid pain relief at 8pm before I left. She went back in the kennel with Jeff (there's a divide between them!) with a newly microwaved heat pad and she seemed much brighter after having eaten.
She still wasn't lifting her head when I left, but was more alert. The night nurse is going to monitor her for poos and wees, and feed her every 2 hours, unless she starts eating for herself. All in all, she's doing well!
I took a few photos during her recovery, not many people get to see a guinea pig straight after her anaesthetic, so you may be shocked at just how sleepy she is - dogs and cats wake up quite quickly, pigs don't!
Warming up in the basket
About to have her temperature taken (again!) - very sleepy, very flat - she looked dead!
Jeffy being a good huspig and looking after her!
Back in recovery after having a syringe-fed meal
I'm working on the theory that no news is good news, so I probably won't hear anything until tomorrow morning. I'm going in early at 7am to give her a good feed and see how she is, so I'll update then!
Edit: The lump may either be a skin tumour or the result of an umbilical hernia, but Claire who I got Cameo from, myself, and the two vets that have seen Cameo have never noticed this before, so it's being sent off to the exotics pathologists for analysis
