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lily possibly has lymphona

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bsjlmb

bsjlmb

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last thursday i found myself at the vets with lily, one of blossoms 6 month old girls. i couldn't put my finger on what was wrong - she just didn't seem right. she looked wrong too. the only way i can describe it is that she looked big from her middle towards her head. a bit like a bison - big at the front and smaller around the back end. her fur is also falling out in handfuls. anyway we saw the vet who was very thorough with her and he is sure she has lymphoma. at that point he didn't want to do a biopsy as he didn't think she would come through it. instead she had some medication - steroids etc and i had to take her back today. all her lymph nodes except the ones around her back legs are enlarged and she has odeama throughout the body from the middle to her shoulders and neck. that explains why she looks the way she does. he also wondered whether she may have an infection that is affecting the lymph nodes but after seeing him today he thinks it is more likely that she has lymphoma. we had seperated from her mom and 2 sisters as they were attacking her. i have now put her back in the 8' hutch but with a divider between them to see if she picks up. she is a very nervous girl and we weren't sure whether she had slowed her eating down etc due to being by herself. since putting her back by them she has started eating and drinking. i now have to see how she is on monday and decide whether to put her through the biopsy. the vet explained that the results take about 5 days to come back and from what i have managed to find out of the internet the chances of her getting through the illness if that is what she has are not good anyway. i hae spoken to a few individuals from here on facebook and by email last night and i am extremely grateful for all the advice i received from you. sorry i cannot remember names - i'm hopeless. if there is anyone out there that has had a pig with this illness i would love to hear from you to see if lily is presenting symptoms in the same way and also to see what you decided to do for the best. from what i have read elsewhere she's looking at 2 - 5 weeks left if she's lucky - if she has lymphoma8...:(
 
:( i'm so sorry to hear about Lily, I know nothing about this but wanting to send you both hugs x
 
I am so sorry for your sad news. Cherish every moment you spend with her. If you ever need to talk then please pm me.
 
i've just been to give her the second dose of meds and it is so sad to hold her and know that she probably won't be here very much longer. i am weighing her daily now to keep an eye on what is happening to her along with watching how she is in herself. she is so young but i found on the internet that it is rare in pigs but when it happens its normally older ones or the younger ones. if this is what is wrong with her it must have been lurking without me noticing it. from what i understand she must be quite far into the illness with the symptoms she has. i'll find out soon enough i suppose:(
 
Amanda1801 said:
It should be on the medication bottles/boxes
Click to expand...

it is but i didn't recognise it as the same as what he called it so thought it was possibly shortened on the label. she is having 0.75ml twice daily of flagyl s?
and 0.2ml of baytril. i know he weighed her to work out what she needed of the first medication.
 
i had been told that in late stages of symptoms it may be present in the eye/third eyelid/conjunctiva. now i don't know what i am looking for with this but i do know that her eyes look 'droopy' and underneath the white of the eye looks quite red
 
Theyre both antibiotics, she really needs to be on diuretics for the oedema I'd have thought. I'm surprised she hasn't been given any ?/
 
Amanda1801 said:
Theyre both antibiotics, she really needs to be on diuretics for the oedema I'd have thought. I'm surprised she hasn't been given any ?/
Click to expand...

i'll give them a call tomorrow and ask about it. she feels really solid when you hold her. he said her skin seems thickened which is the way i'd describe it actually and you can really feel the lumps (lymph nodes). he did say they were antibiotics to me. i know baytril is but hadn't heard of the other one. i think the idea is that if it is some sort of infection rather than the lymphoma this may help.
 
Sorry, didn't mean to thank your post, stupid iPhone

Flagyl S is metronidazole. Big Dave is on it at the moment.

I'd give them a call tonight, if she's not shifting the fluid, it's goinG to affect we lungs and breathing
 
Amanda1801 said:
Sorry, didn't mean to thank your post, stupid iPhone

Flagyl S is metronidazole. Big Dave is on it at the moment.

I'd give them a call tonight, if she's not shifting the fluid, it's goinG to affect we lungs and breathing
Click to expand...

metronidazole is the word i couldn't think ofrolleyes. i'll have a word with the nurse and see if i can pick some up for her. thanks for that
 
Hi, i am so sorry lily is so unwell. i dont know if my experiece will be of help but a few years ago i very sadly lost 2 of my piggies to lymphoma within a few weeks of each other. both presented identically to each other but differently to your description of lily.

the first was Daisy, who was an 8 year old piggy who just seemed to be slowing down over a couple of days but otherwise was very well, eating normally, etc. so at first i just thought it was her age catching up with her but then found a swelling on her throat and took her to my cavy savvy vet. on exam in addition to the central swelling on her throat she had small swellings along both jaws, swellings under her armpits and in her groin. as i say she had shown no signs of pain or illness, just slowing down and becoming not quite with it. the vet thought it most likely lyphoma and explained it could be affecting her brain. sadly this seemed to be the case as within a few hours she became very disorientated and unable to coordinate and kept falling over, which was very distressing to see and i made the sad decision to have her pts.

a couple of weeks later an other of my piggies, Strudel, developed identical swellings, again with no other sign of illness or pain. she was only 2 but just as before within a few days it affected her brain just as it had done daisys. at the time i had around 20 pigs and these 2 girls lived in different groups and had no contact with each other and none of the other piggies were affected in any way.

a biopsy was taken pm but unfortunetly went astray so i did not get the proof to back up my vets diagnosis but he was pretty certain it was lymphoma and i have no reason to doubt him. i think losing 2 pigs close together to the same thing was just one of those weird coincidences, thankfully i have never seen this before or since.

i dont know how much help this is to you but at least it is something to compare lily's symptoms against. i wish i was able to say my piggies got better and give you more hope, i am so sorry you are having to go through this x
 
Your vet seems very clued up. And i am so so sorry to hear she's so poorly. My little Theo recently passed from suspected lymphoma. He had a fine needle aspirate that came back inconclusive as this was done in weeke one of symptoms and i dont think the cells had developed enough. And by the time we had the result he was too unwell for a biopsy which i would have done in hindsight as they are ther only sure way to know
Theos symptoms were hairloss initially with slightly inflammed lymph nodes in his arm pits. One week later the fluid retnetion started from his chin to under his arm pits. In the following week with a diretic and steroids all his nodes became so large he couldnt walk and the odeam spread. He looked like he was going to burst. He only lasted three weeks since the hairloss and what a terrible three weeks it was.
Although i believe he needed pts when he did I'm not 100percent sure he had lymphoma and i think he had LMCV as i got meningitis a few weeks later and LMCV is a cause of it and its passed from rodents to humans. But the only treatment for that is anti virals. Ive heard of a few piggies with lymphoma like symptoms but its suspected to be viral but again only a biopsy would tell you the answers. Lmcv is a lymphatic disease hence the lymphoma like symptoms. Its not common in piggies as its picked up outside and theo was outside a few months previously. So the symptoms etc are unknown.
This is my experience of lymphoma hope it helps. I have to say my vet is very cavvy savvy and is still 90percent certain it was lymphoma now x
 
hazeyg said:
Your vet seems very clued up. And i am so so sorry to hear she's so poorly. My little Theo recently passed from suspected lymphoma. He had a fine needle aspirate that came back inconclusive as this was done in weeke one of symptoms and i dont think the cells had developed enough. And by the time we had the result he was too unwell for a biopsy which i would have done in hindsight as they are ther only sure way to know
Theos symptoms were hairloss initially with slightly inflammed lymph nodes in his arm pits. One week later the fluid retnetion started from his chin to under his arm pits. In the following week with a diretic and steroids all his nodes became so large he couldnt walk and the odeam spread. He looked like he was going to burst. He only lasted three weeks since the hairloss and what a terrible three weeks it was.
Although i believe he needed pts when he did I'm not 100percent sure he had lymphoma and i think he had LMCV as i got meningitis a few weeks later and LMCV is a cause of it and its passed from rodents to humans. But the only treatment for that is anti virals. Ive heard of a few piggies with lymphoma like symptoms but its suspected to be viral but again only a biopsy would tell you the answers. Lmcv is a lymphatic disease hence the lymphoma like symptoms. Its not common in piggies as its picked up outside and theo was outside a few months previously. So the symptoms etc are unknown.
This is my experience of lymphoma hope it helps. I have to say my vet is very cavvy savvy and is still 90percent certain it was lymphoma now x
Click to expand...

thanks for telling me your experience. lily is at present on her meds and i am syringe feeding as she will not eat. i had some brilliant advice last night via a phonecall for which i am extremely grateful. i am hoping that with the meds she will pick up but in all honesty she seems worse today. i will be calling the vet tomorrow to discuss our next move. she also has hair loss, large swollen lymph nodes from her chin all the way down her body. she also has odeama which i actually think is a little worse today. i am weighing her each day to keep track of her weight and praying that the meds do something for her. i'll keep everyone updated on how she is doing each day. thankyou for all the support and advice
 
Oh Sally, I'm sooo sorry to read this about Lily, you must be devastated 8...
Hope a miracle can happen and she pulls through - she couldn't ask for anyone better to care for her, I'm truly sorry you are going through this :(
Hugs x>>
 
lily lost her fight today

it's with a very heavy heart that i have to say lily lost her fight today. she deteriorated over the weekend and was very weak today. she was pts at 11.20am this morning. RIP my little baby
 
oh no, i am so very sorry, my heart totally goes out to you.

Rip Lily, sleep well princess.

thinking of you hon x
 
Sally, we're both really sorry to read this. So sorry for your loss *hugs*

RIP Lily
x x
 
Hi Sally,

Sorry you had to make the decision, it's absolutely heart wrenching I know. We're all here for you, *** we understand.

Popcorn freely little one.

Big hugs
x
 
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