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Lump on Guinea Pig's Back

Esirev

Esirev

New Born Pup
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20190226_205231_HDR.jpgHi,
Today I took Sinbad out for lap time when I noticed he had this lump underneath his hair. I took him out last Friday and didn't notice anything. Could this lump have appeared so quickly?
I have never seen this before. I'm guessing it is a sort of cyst from a wound, but I really don't know. Would be grateful for any info or advice before I take him to the vet.
Thanks for your time!
 
Lumps can be any number of things in guinea pigs, the majority of which are fairly harmless. However, lumps that come up from a wound are more usually abscesses where infection has got in to the wound and the wound has healed over the top. These need treating as early as possible as they are liable to increase in size quickly and can burst.
 
In the case of the fairly harmless lumps, will they go away on their own, need antibiotics, or treatment? We are going to the vet with him anyhow, but would like to know if lumps are very common in guinea pigs and can be treated at home? Thanks again for your time.
 
Sooty had a cyst on his back that the vet popped. He cleaned it up and gave us some hibiscrub to take home. All depends on what it is really.
 
Esirev said:
In the case of the fairly harmless lumps, will they go away on their own, need antibiotics, or treatment? We are going to the vet with him anyhow, but would like to know if lumps are very common in guinea pigs and can be treated at home? Thanks again for your time.
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They won't go away on their own. Harmless lumps will remain but may not grow any bigger. My daisy has a fatty lump on her side the size of a pea but it hasn't grown at all in over a year and doesn't cause her any issues
 
The Ever Beautiful Betsy has a couple of lumps one is on her back and is fairly mobile it moves up and down and the other is in her armpit. She has had them for a couple of years and they haven't grown any bigger and don't bother her at all. I monitor them every week at the weekly check. The vet didn't appear too worried about them and neither am I. If they do ever change I'll take her straight to the vet.
 
Thanks for all your help, we booked him in him to see the vet on Tuesday (closest date we could do).
 
The vet poked a needle into his lump (poor thing) and looked at it underneath a microscope. He said there was no pus and the blood looked quite normal and healthy. He thinks it is a cyst (probably benign) but in case it is something rare and dangerous he sent it off to a specialist to check and will get back to us soon. Is this something that usually happens?
 
Brave boy, fingers crossed the result show a harmless lump x
 
The vet called back yesterday, saying that it was probably harmless (but they couldn't be certain) and the two options were 1) either to remove it via surgery or 2) continue observing him. We decided on the second option as we didn't want to put Sinbad through such an event and because he didn't seem to be affected by the lump.
X
 
Lady Kelly said:
They won't go away on their own. Harmless lumps will remain but may not grow any bigger. My daisy has a fatty lump on her side the size of a pea but it hasn't grown at all in over a year and doesn't cause her any issues
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Dot has this aswell
 
My Edward has four lumps including one in his armpit which is the size of a marble. My vet took fine needle biopsies of two of the lumps (including the one in his armpit) and sent it off to the lab. Thankfully they came back as harmless fatty lumps and her advise was to leave them and monitor them. She checks them every time they go for nail cuts every 6-8 weeks and thankfully they haven’t grown since they developed last summer. I would only have a lump removed it it were dangerous or impacting their movement. Having said that, my Emma had a cancerous tumour whoch due to her age (nearly 6), we left and let her enjoy the remainder of her life. I think personally I’m these situations, you need to take guidance from your vet and I agree that leaving your piggies lump alone is a wise decision if it’s causing no problems
 
Thanks for the update.
Merab lived with a lump on her tummy for about 4 years which never caused any issues.
Hope the same is true for gorgeous Sinbad
 
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