Mass in stomach

[Jessrcx]

Hi everyone,

My Guinea pig has been having bleeding in his urine for about a week. He was treated for a UTI with Baytril and metacam, symptoms did not go away.

Yesterday he seemed very unwell, his stomach distended on one side, puffed up, more bleeding. However, he is still eating, drinking and moving around just fine.

He has been in the vets this morning and we have found a lump on the side of his stomach. He has an appointment with an exotic vet first thing tomorrow morning for an ultrasound.
We have been given two options of what it might be - a tumour or a bladder stone. With the bladder stone potentially being able to be dissolved with medicine, or surgery may be needed.
My issue is that I am a young girl working retail part time, I don’t really have spare money to afford all this testing and surgery. My question is whether even doing this testing is worth it, it is horrible seeing him in pain and I have had a guinea pig with similar issues before who passed before he could get his first dose of medicine. I don’t want to pay for all this testing again for him to pass before treatment begins.
So I guess I am wandering what are the potential outcomes and if anyone has a positive experience similar to mine so I can be hopeful that the treatment will work?

My guinea pig is a 4 year old male for context.
Many thanks for reading.

 

[Piggies&buns]

I’m sorry to hear this.

All we as a forum can do is speculate which really won’t be helpful to you. Once the ultrasound is carried out then you can make informed decisions based on an actual diagnosis rather than what ifs.

What we can say is that there is no reliable medication to dissolve stones. Stones always need surgical removal.

Do let us know what the ultrasound shows and we can then help you take it from there.

Wiebke's Guide to Pees and Stones

 

[Jessrcx]

Ah I understand, my apologies I’m a bit clueless here!

Thank you for the response, I will update on the results of the ultrasound.

 

[Piggies&buns]

No need to apologise, we are here to support you and will what we can to help and advise.

In the meantime our advice is to switch from the routine weekly weight checks and instead weigh him daily (each morning) so you can monitor hay intake more closely and step in with syringe feeding if he is losing weight.

Keep us posted and we can help further once you have a diagnosis.

Weight and Weight Loss Explained: BMI, Weighing, Poos and Feeding Support
All About Syringe Feeding and Medicating Guinea Pigs with Videos and Pictures

 

[Jessrcx]

Update:
So he’s been to the vets, they began with saying that he needs an X-ray for an investigation. And then from there it’ll either be a bladder flush or a surgery to remove the bladder stones if there are any present.
She said his bladder is very clearly inflamed and angry, but no signs of a tumour and she believes the lump I could feel is just a fat sack.

I then asked what the cost of all of this would be, she said it’ll be around £600 which I agreed with. But then she changed her mind and said that she doesn’t believe the investigation is necessary right now. She has sent us home with three different meds to try to reduce his pain, suspecting that it might just be cystitis which can flush out itself.
We are to go back next week and if he hasn’t improved then he’ll be straight in for surgery.
Could I get any thoughts on this please?

 

[Merab]

Welcome to the forum.
So sorry that your piggy is unwell.
I don’t have any experience of this so can’t really comment, however please be assured of my support