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Lump found at vet visit

Helen82

Helen82

Teenage Guinea Pig
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Got a bit more than I bargained for today... I've had my three piggies 4 weeks today and I took them to the vets to have their nails cut as I thought they were getting too long. Felt a bit of a fool as the nurse didn't think they were due to be cut, however they all had a nail trim. The nurse thought that Jess was rather skinny and I was lucky enough that one of the vets was able to come in and check her over. They weighed her and she was 800g which I gather is the lowest end of acceptable weight. The vet could feel some form of lump/mass which she said could either be some form of intestinal/digestive/waste blockage, cysts or a tumour. It doesn't seem to be painful as the vet was prodding and squeezing her and she didn't make any noise ( just wanted to get away, quite naturally). Jess is eating fine, has a good appetite, as far as I know she is weeing and pooing okay (I've never seen any of them do their business, I just find a tonne of it in the cage, but none look odd) so I don't think she's bunged up and I would have thought she'd go downhill rapidly if it was something like that. So perhaps more likely cysts or tumour. Jess is rather highly strung so maybe cysts? The vet suggested spaying her if this was the problem. The next step is to get Jess x-rayed or scanned - I'm going to ring the vets tomorrow to try and book it for next week. (I should've booked it when I was there but I was so distracted with the news and trying to keep them in their carrier safe from any of the dogs in the waiting room I forgot to do it.) I feel bad that I didn't pick up on her being underweight sooner - it's hard to tell as she's rather hairy and I haven't handled them much yet as I've been trying to take things like handling, lap time etc at their own pace and hadn't started weighing them yet. Will be weighing them tomorrow though!
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Not the kind of news you want to get! All the best with a scan to figure out its nature!
 
Wiebke said:
Not the kind of news you want to get! All the best with a scan to figure out its nature!
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Thank you - I was fairly calm about it at the vets but it's sinking in now. Obviously I will wait and see what is found but ovarian cysts would make sense with her general behaviour as she comes across like she's always in season...not having had them long I wasn't sure if this was me being paranoid and that perhaps being flighty and grumpy was her natural personality!
 
Sorry you’re going through this.
My Jemimah has just been spayed for ovarian cysts which blew up within the space of 10 days.
She was booked in to have an abscess removed when the cysts were found so she got spayed as well.
After an anxious few days post op she has made a full recovery.

It’s hard on you though so I hope all goes well for beautiful Jess and you too
 
Merab's Slave said:
Sorry you’re going through this.
My Jemimah has just been spayed for ovarian cysts which blew up within the space of 10 days.
She was booked in to have an abscess removed when the cysts were found so she got spayed as well.
After an anxious few days post op she has made a full recovery.

It’s hard on you though so I hope all goes well for beautiful Jess and you too
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Thank you - and I'm glad that Jemimah has made a full recovery. I don't know yet if it is cysts but to me that seems the most likely thing. It's only been in the last few days that I feel that Jess has started to warm to me (or at least she's made the connection that I am the bringer of food!) so to now have a health issue and potentially an operation in the future all feels a bit much!
 
Helen82 said:
Thank you - I was fairly calm about it at the vets but it's sinking in now. Obviously I will wait and see what is found but ovarian cysts would make sense with her general behaviour as she comes across like she's always in season...not having had them long I wasn't sure if this was me being paranoid and that perhaps being flighty and grumpy was her natural personality!
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Hopefully it is an ovarian cyst, as spaying is an option. I have have had two older sows spayed and am saving up for another non-urgent spay for a hard ovarian cyst that I have been warned could cause problems in the longer term.
 
Wiebke said:
Hopefully it is an ovarian cyst, as spaying is an option. I have have had two older sows spayed and am saving up for another non-urgent spay for a hard ovarian cyst that I have been warned could cause problems in the longer term.
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Yes it sounds like an odd thing to say (and obviously I would prefer it if there was no problem at all) but I hope it is cysts, as that seems at least in the short term the least worse scenario and there is something that can be done about it. I don't know exactly how old Jess is, the rescue thought she was about 2 and a half years old, so at least she is reasonably young. As I said, she is eating fine but I shall be monitoring her weight from now on.
 
I've been in touch with the vets - Jess is booked in first thing Monday morning to check on the lump again (as presumably if it is some sort of waste blockage it will have either unblocked itself or stayed blocked and she will have deteriorated in the meantime). If it's still there it sounds like they then may keep her in on Monday to x-ray or scan her. She ate her veggies this morning and then moved on to the hay so whatever it is doesn't seem to be affecting her usual routine and appetite.
 
@furryfriends (TEAS) Sorry those are my very untechnical words written quickly. What I was trying to say was that if she's having any sort of input and output problems I will be able to monitor that for the next few days over the weekend. Obviously if something were to start going wrong with her I would take her back to the vets straight away. The vet who I saw at short notice yesterday and picked up on the lump will see her again for a check on Monday morning and we'll take it from there re x-ray/scan. If what shows up is cysts or something more sinister I will ask to see the specific vet at the practice who is recommended on the forum vet locator.
 
Helen82 said:
@furryfriends (TEAS) @Claire W Thank you both for your concern. I've just rung up the vets to double check and the vet I'll be seeing on Monday is the exotics vet who is on the vet locator resource here so hopefully Jess will be in capable hands.
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Ah, so you won't be seeing the vet you saw the other day? Good! Was concerned that the vet couldn't distinguish between a blockage, a cyst or a tumour when palpating the abdomen. Even I can feel a cystic ovary and I am not a vet!
 
Thanks everyone for your best wishes - Jess' appetite remains undiminished this evening! And after quite a bit of protesting I've given them all their first weigh-in: Stanley 700g (though he's not fully grown yet), Jess 820g and Primrose 1080g.
 
Helen82 said:
Thanks everyone for your best wishes - Jess' appetite remains undiminished this evening! And after quite a bit of protesting I've given them all their first weigh-in: Stanley 700g (though he's not fully grown yet), Jess 820g and Primrose 1080g.
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They'll get used to it! Mine hated it at first. They're still not keen but put up with it.
 
Well it's been a bad day...took Jess in this morning where she was seen by the more gp experienced vet - she ruled out cysts. They kept Jess in to take an x-ray; they couldn't get a decent pic without sedating her so I gave them my permission to do so. She came round from the sedation okay and I went back at 5 to pick her up and speak with one of the vets. Unfortunately it looks like she has a large tumour, at this point we don't know how long it's been growing. The problem is it's seemingly been growing up and round her intestines so they would be very wary of attempting to operate as they wouldn't be able to remove the tumour without doing damage. So essentially it looks like a terminal diagnosis, just don't know how long she has left until I have to start thinking about her being pts. At the moment she's eating and drinking fine, the vets have seen that she's peeing and pooing fine without discomfort, and she doesn't appear to be in pain with it yet. So it's just a matter of monitoring her until she starts showing signs of illness. I've only had them all for a month...I know I've just got to enjoy the time I do have with Jess, but I'm just devastated at the moment.
 
Oh dear what a sad start to piggy keeping, poor girl! The uncertainty must be awful, but whatever happens next she's lucky to have a caring home and good vet care x
 
I am so sorry to hear this news.
Treasure the time you have with her, make lots of memories and take lots of pictures.
We are here for you
 
Merab's Slave said:
I am so sorry to hear this news.
Treasure the time you have with her, make lots of memories and take lots of pictures.
We are here for you
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Thank you so much - I will do what I can for her in whatever time we have. She's such a tough little character; with all she's had to put up with today she was at the front of the cage wheeking for her veg at tea time!
 
PigglePuggle said:
Oh dear what a sad start to piggy keeping, poor girl! The uncertainty must be awful, but whatever happens next she's lucky to have a caring home and good vet care x
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Thank you - still reeling from the news but I suppose at least I have advance warning so I can try and make the most of the time we have before it starts to affect her.
 
I went in to give the piggies their veg for breakfast and there was no sign of Jess; normally she's running about wheeking at the chink of the bowls. I found her hiding in the hay, I picked up (she didn't run away as would be normal) and she's got diarrhoea, it's not gone everywhere just on her back end and there might be blood aswell. The exotics vet was not available til 11.40 so I've booked her in with another vet at 11am. I'm not sure whether this is my sign that she should be pts or a temporary illness?
 
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