Massive lump

[gingerloversydney]

The other week, we noticed that our 7-year old guinea was having trouble walking straight and had a split head tilt. After taking her to the vet, we discovered that she had an ear infection and was given medication. However, a few days later I suddenly noticed that there was a quite a large inflamed lump near her genitals. Immediately, I call the vet and was able to get an appointment immediately. While we were there the vet said that they could send samples from the lump to the lab to be tested but after attempting to extract a sample, there was a lot of blood in the lump and the vet said this is not sufficient enough to get results from and there may not be a point in having surgery to remove as she is very old, so we were sent home. Does anyone know if is there anything that we could do to find out whether the lump is dangerous or not? Or any other suggestions?

 

[Siikibam]

Did the vet say what kind of lump she thought it was - abscess, cyst etc? And did she suggest what you can do apart from ‘wait it out’?
It’s night here so others will be on tomorrow and hopefully give you a better answer.

 

[Lady Kelly]

I've had similar before with an elderly piggy and my vet guessed they were fatty lumps based on the fact that he had them previously (removed during op and tested in lab) but as he didn't cope well with the anaesthetic and was older we decided not to operate further. The tests from the lump were the same though and remained inconclusive despite a couple of tries. If you trust your vet then let them guide you, it might be a fatty lump that causes no issues but it could also be something more sinister like a tumour. Anaesthetic always carries a risk, even more so at your piggies age with possible underlying health conditions. Sometimes the kindest thing is to allow the piggy to just carry on while they still have a good quality of life, if this is what your vet is suggesting then I would seriously consider this

 

[VickiA]

I've had similar before with an elderly piggy and my vet guessed they were fatty lumps based on the fact that he had them previously (removed during op and tested in lab) but as he didn't cope well with the anaesthetic and was older we decided not to operate further. The tests from the lump were the same though and remained inconclusive despite a couple of tries. If you trust your vet then let them guide you, it might be a fatty lump that causes no issues but it could also be something more sinister like a tumour. Anaesthetic always carries a risk, even more so at your piggies age with possible underlying health conditions. Sometimes the kindest thing is to allow the piggy to just carry on while they still have a good quality of life, if this is what your vet is suggesting then I would seriously consider this

 

[gingerloversydney]

Did the vet say what kind of lump she thought it was - abscess, cyst etc? And did she suggest what you can do apart from ‘wait it out’?
It’s night here so others will be on tomorrow and hopefully give you a better answer.

The vet was unsure about what the lump could be but because they was a lot of blood in the lump, the vet implied that it could be dangerous. They suggested that I could take my guinea pig to a specialist but the vet said they might not be able to do anything as well.

 

[Siikibam]

I’d take piggy to a specialist and see what they have to say. Then you can decide how to move forward.

 

[Piggies&buns]

 

[gingerloversydney]

I’d take piggy to a specialist and see what they have to say. Then you can decide how to move forward.

Yes, we took her to the specialist and the vet said that it was a mammary lump that doesn’t seem to be inflicting any pain to ginger. Instead, we were informed that Ginger had really bad arthritis and wouldn’t be able to walk properly. The vet gave us painkillers and advised that if pain worsens, we should consider euthanasia. However, Ginger became really weak and passed away 3 days later.

 

[Siikibam]

Oh dear. So sorry to hear about your loss there were probably some underlying issues that didn’t show or he hid well