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Lumpy Cinnamon

  • Thread starter Thread starter Porcellus
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Porcellus

My girl Cinnamon has been lumpy as custard for a little while now. It started with a lump on her tummy, which seemed to grow, and more, smaller ones appeared on her underside too. So we have decided to take action, and are taking her to the vets this Saturday (18th). She's not bothered by them, but I want them checked out: I couldn't forgive myself if they harmed her from me not doing anything about it. :(
So... wish her luck. ^_^
 
Thanks, petcrazy!

I'm going to bring her some nice dandelion leaves to nibble: I'm sure she'll be very talkative to the vet!
Not being overly optimistic too soon, but my dad was told by a senior vet that herbivores can't get tumours... so fingers crossed that he was right!
 
Not heard that before! Tumours are very uncommon, but not unheard of. Mammary tumours are a classic example. Lumps are most usually cysts, abscesses or "fatty lumps".

Are the lumps quite near the surface of the skin? What sort of size and how many? It sounds possible that it could be a series of fatty lumps or sebaceous cysts, but there are one or two conditions which would require treatment. Fatty lumps and cysts can usually be left alone.
 
The word tumour, basically, means a "lump"
Tumours can be further claasified as either malignant or non-malignant.

Tumours in guinea pigs are very common. The majority of which are non-malignant, for example, cysts, fatty lumps, or fibrous lumps.
Even a mammary gland tumour needs further classification, the majority of which are non-malignant.
Tumours are common in guinea pigs, the majority of which are non-malignant.

Malignant tumours are very uncommon in guinea pigs.
 
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Thank you everyone.

We took her yesterday to a very good little veterinary surgery. Thankfully, I've never had to take an animal to the vets before, so I didn't know what to expect. The lady who looked at Cinnamon seemed to know her stuff -- she had a good feel (plenty of wriggling and squeaking from Miss Cinny Pig) and said the lumps were attatched to the skin underneath. She said there was no easy way of telling what they were -- if they could get Cinnamon to hold still, they could use a syringe to get some cells to look at under the microscope, but that wouldn't tell us for sure whether it would grow. So we've been advised to take a photo of the lumps (have done so this morning), so that we can check her ourselves to see if it changes.

The vet told us it was unlikely that it could cause much trouble internally if it grew, but it could get uncomfortable on the outside -- rubbing on the ground and things, or getting sore. If we notice anything, we'll take her back. She said they weren't eager to go for the 'chop-it-all-out-and-burn-it' method, because she knew that guinea pigs and anaesthetic aren't very good friends at the best of times.
Cinnamon's back with Pepper now: nice and chirpy, happy as can be. And, fingers crossed, we won't be needing the big cardboard box with the newspaper and hay in the bottom again!
 
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