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Kidney problems or ovarian cysts

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Hoshishi

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Hi everyone,

One of our 5 guinea pigs has been loosing a lot of weight - she's now 915g. Her name is Maya and she is about 2 1/2 years old. She is eating and drinking as much as my other ones but lately she's been sitting all hunched up and isn't as active as she used to be. Saying that, when I put the blanket next to the cage and settle down to give them some corn on the cob, she's the first one to climb out of the cage to get her share :)

Anyway, I took her to the vet yesterday. He said she had two big lumps either side and it could either be kidney related or ovarian cysts. He couldn't have been any nicer. He really took his time and was super nice to Maya! He said that if it is ovarian cysts, these would be operable but also stressed numerous times how dangerous anesthetics are for small animals. We are to take her back beginning of next week for x-rays.

So here my questions:

Can anyone give me some advice/information re ovarian cysts?

Can anyone give me some advice/information re kidney problems?

Can anyone suggest a vet who might have more experience with guinea pigs in/near Fife? As I said before our vet couldn't have been nicer but he also said that they were mainly set up for cats and dogs and I am considering getting a second opinion.

Does anybody have an email address for Thistle Cavies? - I wanted to email them to find out which vet they are using but couldn't find any contact details.

Thanks for any advice
 
welcome to the forum from us in oz :smitten: :smitten: :smitten: our guinea pig had ovarian cysts and a mass growing on her uterus and had surgery in january. there is a wonderful memeber called maryh and her vet emails vets all over the world and helps them to help guinea pigs. zoe never had xrays she had an ultra sound. up the top there is a thread recomended vets maybe there is one in your area. there is also a thread important health and illness links which may help. zoe was losing blood around her private area and was on antibiotics but when they stopped the bleeding would return.
i am guessing and would say if kidney related she would be drinking more. here is a name of a person who is great with guineas if she can't help you she can put you onto someone who can. even if she is too far from you ring her and just ask about a vet near you or ask a rescue for a vet near you. really hoping maya gets better sending hugs and healing vibes for you both :smitten: :smitten: :smitten: good luck O0
Vedra runs the Cambridge Cavy Trust which is a fantastic facuility for guinea pigs

The Cambridge Cavy Trust (Info on the Gorgeous Guinea site)
Cambridge Cavy Trust (Registered Charity no 801103)
1 Splash Lane
Wyton
Huntingdon,
Cambs
PE28 2AF

Membership £25 per year includes quarterly worming, nail clipping and routine dental work free of charge, no consultancy fee.

Tel/Text Vedra's mobile 07721 026401
Hop ethis is helpful
 
Thanks for the contact details :)

Maya's always been drinking a lot more than my other guinea pigs... but I don't think she's drinking more than normally.

Also there's no blood. And no hair loss. She's looking quite healthy - but thinner than she used to.
 
http://thistlecavies.tripod.com/ is Thistle's website, I remember Wendi saying she has a marvellous vet and they now travel miles to see this particular one, I think the vet is based around the Perth area, but Daftscotslass may know which one they use. It's so hard to find a guinea savvy vet, so it's definately worth the travel once you find them!

I recently took our Boomer to a very good vet as we were concerned about his drinking, his 330ml bottle was being re-filled twice every 24 hrs, (it turned out he was playing with the spout) - but diabetes and kidney problems were foremost at our mind, but we took a wee sample which discounted diabetes. The vet also had some kind of tool to see how concentrated the wee was, she put a drop on it, closed it, then looked through it and said there was nothing there to suggest kidney problems, so not sure if the vet you used had this kind of tool?

I only have boys, so don't really know about ovarian cysts, but I do know that common signs can include moodiness, aggression and thinning/balding hair.
 
I now found the big "email us now botton" on their website - how could I not have seen that earlier on?

Perth isn't all that far - and I really don't mind travelling at all, even much further than Perth, to get her the best help.

I've never had much troubles with our girls, so I have no idea how you take a wee sample?
 
Yep, just pop the pig into a clean plastic pet carrier or similar and just wait until they pee! Then carefully tip the urine into a suitable pot.

We thought "huh?" when we first had to get a sample, but it doesn't take that long to do it O0

If you can do it either the night before your vet visit or very eary in the morning to get it as fresh as possible.
 
Thank's for the advice. ;) will give that a try before we take her to the vet next. Felt a bit stupid asking, but glad I did!
 
No problem, and no it's not a silly question at all! When we were first told to get a urine sample I had visions of me running around after the pig with a paper cup waiting for that opportune moment! 98) ;D
 
Just heard back from Thistle Cavies and phoned the vet they suggested. He's in surgery just now but the lady I spoke to said he would call me afterwards! Will keep you updated....
 
Hi there and welcome from us in OZ :)
I'm so sorry to hear about your dear little Maya (pretty name :smitten:)
Wishing you all the very very best with her and the visits to the vets O0
Please keep us all posted, we'll be having our paws crossed for little Maya :smitten: :smitten: :smitten: :smitten: :smitten:
I've only had boars so no experience in this area, i hope our good wishes will help you tho :-* :-* :-* :-* :-* :-* :-*
 
Many thanks for all the well wishes... appreciate it!

Quick update:

I haven't spoken to the vet yet. He hadn't called back by 1pm so I gave them a call and spoke to another woman who said that they were closed now apart from emergencies and that I'd have to call back on Monday morning. I thought that maybe surgery was quite stressful and he forgot to call back - after all vets do get really busy. So went out food shopping but had my mobile with me just in case. When I came home I noticed a missed call from the vet. So gave him a call back but no response. Argh, I can't believe I missed his call. I wish he had tried to call the mobile as I left both numbers. So annoyed that I'd gone out! But really thought he forgotten as the woman said they were closed now apart from emergency and that I'd need to call back on Monday.

So I will call him first thing on Monday morning and get something sorted out.

As for Maya, she is just now munching away on some fresh grass after having a wee drink....
 
hoping all goes well for the vet visit, so glad you got the link to the thistles website. sending hugs and healing hugs to you and maya. :smitten: :smitten: :smitten: it is a shame we don't have something like thisle website for us in oz. :tickedoff: :tickedoff: :tickedoff: please keep us posted on how you go and on maya. :smitten: :smitten:
 
Ovaryan cysts do not cause weight loss in piggies (not in my experience anyway). If anything they cause weight gain as the cysts fill up with liquid. My sow Fluffy has had ovarian cysts for about 3 years now and they can be treated very easily and are not life threatening. Ovaryan cysts should not cause her to be hunched up in a corner either. the only change in behaviour I have seen ovarian cysts cause is maybe a bit of moodiness and the sow trying to be more dominant than usual because of an hormone unbalance.

I don't know much about kidney problems to be honest and I don't know if they cause swelling.
I hope you find a good vet who can help you soon.
Let us know how you get on.
 
I had a pig with ovarian cysts and it DID cause weight loss. She was eating the same, pooping the same and as healthy as ever in general but lost weight, hair and became very hormonal/humpy as well as having enlarged nipples. Sows with ovarian cysts often have a noticable weight redistribution - they become skinny around the shoulders and round in the belly - almost pear-shaped. Ovarian cysts can be treated with hormonal injections though Wendi's vet does have a very good success rate and experience with piggy surgery.
 
Thanks for your feedback.

I've now separated Maya from the other girls as they kept pushing her about. Extended their c&c cage to the side and now Maya has her own enclosed space.

Just really waiting about for Monday so I can call the vet again. It's good to know that he's quite experienced with guinea pigs. Really hope he can see us soon.
 
was wondering how you got on at the vets today, when zoe had ovarian cysts she lost weight and was eating normally. sending hugs and healing vibes to you and maya and hoping all goes well. :smitten: :smitten: :smitten: i would suggest ultrasound please keep us posted. O0 girls send :-* :-* :-*
 
Thank you. :)

Got an appointment for tonight with the vet that Thistle Cavies suggested! Really happy he'll be able to see us tonight.

Also managed to get a wee sample last night although Maya didn't look very pleased with having to sit in a bucket without blankets and was a bit puzzled about the whole procedure. ?

Will keep you updated...
 
That is great news, let us know how you get on. Wish all owners were as willing as you to travel a bit to get proper help! Well done you.
 
Back from the vet. He was fantastic. Glad we went to see him.

He said that Maya has quite big ovarian cysts. He is also worried about her heavy breathing and gave us antibiotics for now. He wants us to call him back on Thursday with an update on how she's doing and we got another appointment for next week Tuesday. He has a strong suspicion that she might need surgery although he mentioned that you sometimes can do something with injections as well. In any case he does not want to do anything drastic until she's a bit better and gains some weight and her chest is better.

So we are still very worried but glad that she's seeing the right person! Also we noticed this morning that she has gained some weight! Go Maya!
 
am so happy things went well at the vets and that you like him O0 also happy maya has put on a bit of weight. when zoe had hers they didn't wait for a weight gain, even now she is not back at her weight before she was ill. hoping you were given probiotics to protect her tummy from the antibiotics. sending hugs and healing vibes to you and to maya :smitten: :smitten: :smitten: and go maya O0 :-* :-* :-*
 
Glad Maya has gained some weight and you have a vet who knows what they are doing !
 
thanks for the well wishes.

I think the vet mainly wanted to wait a bit because of her breathing heavily and to see if we can build on her small weight gain so she will handle surgery a bit better.

Started her on probiotics yesterday... :)
 
Hi Hoshishi,

It's good news and at least you know what you are dealing with. O0

There are other things the vet can try before surgery as spaying is a fairly risky operation for a sow to go through.
Hormone injections are the first step. It is a hormone called Choralon (sp) and it sometimes works in shrinking them, it is worth trying a couple of courses of it. If your vet doesn't know about this treatment (they might not as this treatment is normally used on cows!), let me know as my vet is happy to advise other vets on dose etc...
The second step is to have them drained. This is again done without anaesthetic and if done by a competent vet carries as little risk as an injection. I had my sow's cyst drained a couple of months back and it has not filled up again, the vet removed almost 150ml of fluid!

I would consider spaying as a last option because of the risk depending on the piggy's age and overall health. My sow is 6 and so I have decided that I would not get her spayed regardless but luckily draining the cyst seems to have done the trick for now.
 
i agree with laurie as far as surgery goes, but our zoe had to have surgery to remove her reporductive organs as the ultra sound showed a mass on her uterus. so i would wait till you have an ultrasound and see if anything else is there and then talk to your vet and decide the best way to go O0 got everything crossed that surgery won't be needed for sweet maya :smitten: :smitten: :smitten: good luck and hope she continues to put on weight :smitten: :smitten: :smitten:
 
Thanks for telling me about alternatives to surgery; it's good to know that there are other things that can be tried. I'll keep them in mind when taking Maya back to the vet next week.

Maya has been putting a bit of weight back on; but when I came home tonight I noticed that she had hardly touched her food all day. I gave her some grass but she wasn't interested. So I put her into the big cage with the other girls who were munching away quite happily. And Maya started eating grass as well. Maybe she's a bit lonely and only eats in company. ? I'll leave her in the big cage overnight as the other girls seem fine with her. She's not much interested in veggies, but then again she always preferred hay and grass to veggies.

Sometimes I think her breathing has improved and other times I don't. So not quite sure what's going on there.

Also, she's now limping. So very worried about that. Seems a bit better now then earlier on in the evening, but will keep an eye on it.
 
Personally I would leave her with the other pigs. If she is usually with them then she is probably feeling a bit lonely.
I am not sure what the limping would be caused by really and also the cysts should not have put her off her food (although a URI would).
If she is not eating today ans she is still limping I would take her back o the vets as there might be something more to it.

Fingers crossed she is better today
 
If the cysts are very big they could be pressing on other organs,with the knock on effect of the breathing problem and the limping.
I had a sow years ago who became paralyzed because of an ovarian cyst.She had a hysterectomy and was fine,and her mobility returned.
I have a sow at the moment who had a hysterectomy fairly recently and she is fine.

However I do agree with Laure that chorolon injections or draining should be tried first as hysterectomy is major surgery. It would be a good idea to have a scan done as well,that would show the extent of any internal pressure by the cysts.
 
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