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Moonpig has ovarian cysts

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AndreaJane

AndreaJane

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After our last vet's check up and the vet pronouncing Moonpig's teeth " a bit uneven " we'd been told to keep an eye on her weight. She's also been guzzling a lot of water so that was the other reason.
Anyway, her weight dropped by 50 g this week so I made an appt and got a wee sample ready - just got back. On the wee front it's good news: no sign of utis, bladder stones and not diabetic - phew. As far as she could see her teeth seemed okay but she had a lot of food in her mouth and to be 100% she'd need a G.A which of course has big risks for an older piggie so again it's a case of " watch her weight" while she's eating a good mixed diet and seems happy in herself.
She said she could feel ovarian cysts which may be squashing her tummy a bit and so that may cause the weight loss, obviously spaying is a last resort because of the risks but they can try daining them with a needle to shrink them a bit ( obviously this also has risks attached ) so for now we've agreed to keep an eye on her weight, hoping that the cysyts don't get any bigger because then she'll need then draining :... her hair's going darker too and the vet thinks that may be hormonal. Soooo I s'pose what I'm really asking for is lots of positive vibes for my gorgeous girl - hoping she doesn't need anything serious doing ( I really don't think I can cope with another loss so soon after my darling Mr M ) and wondering if anyone's been in a similar situation in which case how likely is it that the cysts will shrink/stay the same?
Thanks for reading all of this.
x
 
Lots of love and healing vibes for Moonpig.

We've just been through an ovarian cyst nightmare. We elected to have a spay mainly because our vet didn't have a clue about hormone injections and talked us into a spay. Still not sure if we made the right decision and our pig Peggy took at least 3 weeks to recover from the operation.

It was very scary and so much hard work to get her through it. Not something to be taken on lightly. I don't have personal experience of other treatments for ovarian cysts but I'm sure lots of people will be able to help with the different options available.

Just wanted to say I'm thinking of you and lots of love x
 
sorry i've not been thru this....
but whee'd like to send some positive healing vibes and loves for......

GET WELL WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEKY LOVES FOR YOU MOONPIG XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

from us all xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
 
I would highly recommend Molly Varga, she is one of the top cavy savvy vets in the country - one of the very few I would trust to spay one of my pigs.

http://cheshirepet.com/clinics/holmes-chapel-clinic/

Suzy x

ETA

I very recently asked her about cysts/spays/hormone treatment.

Guinea pigs - what is the rate of ovarian cysts/uterine complications and would routine spaying be a wise choice to prevent them, or would the risk of the op and post op complications be better avoided as the cases of cysts etc that require drastic treatment (surgery/hormonal injections) are few and far between?” From Suzy Gpr via Facebook

Molly says…

Approximately 75% of guinea pig sows between 1.5-5 years old will have some type of ovarian cyst. Not all of these sows will experience any ill-effects. Cysts may be associated with tumours within the uterus, overgrowth of the uterus lining and inflammation or infection within the uterus. When I see these guinea pigs as cases it is usually for hair loss, reduction in appetite or blood in the urine. It is difficult to predict which females will show clinical signs of cysts however if they are not intended for breeding neutering can be a good option. I would agree that surgery can be drastic; however the flank technique where only the ovaries are removed through two incisions high on the sows side is very easy and very well tolerated by most sows. It is less invasive than the more common abdominal approach (the incision in this case is on the bottom of the belly) and recovery is faster. Hormone injections can be effective for some ovarian cysts, but not all types respond, and all hormone injections can cause side effects so these are not my treatment of choice.
 
Last edited:
clairelove said:
i would be happy to check her teeth if you bring her to helen at the rescue x
Click to expand...

Thanks Claire, I was thinking I might get in touch and ask you to have a look at her teggies as Helen told me you'd been doing some piggle teeth training - you've beaten me to it! :))
Will see when hubby can drive us over - I just know I'll get lost! :{
 
Suzygpr said:
I would highly recommend Molly Varga, she is one of the top cavy savvy vets in the country - one of the very few I would trust to spay one of my pigs.

http://cheshirepet.com/clinics/holmes-chapel-clinic/

Suzy x

ETA

I very recently asked her about cysts/spays/hormone treatment.

Guinea pigs - what is the rate of ovarian cysts/uterine complications and would routine spaying be a wise choice to prevent them, or would the risk of the op and post op complications be better avoided as the cases of cysts etc that require drastic treatment (surgery/hormonal injections) are few and far between?” From Suzy Gpr via Facebook

Molly says…

Approximately 75% of guinea pig sows between 1.5-5 years old will have some type of ovarian cyst. Not all of these sows will experience any ill-effects. Cysts may be associated with tumours within the uterus, overgrowth of the uterus lining and inflammation or infection within the uterus. When I see these guinea pigs as cases it is usually for hair loss, reduction in appetite or blood in the urine. It is difficult to predict which females will show clinical signs of cysts however if they are not intended for breeding neutering can be a good option. I would agree that surgery can be drastic; however the flank technique where only the ovaries are removed through two incisions high on the sows side is very easy and very well tolerated by most sows. It is less invasive than the more common abdominal approach (the incision in this case is on the bottom of the belly) and recovery is faster. Hormone injections can be effective for some ovarian cysts, but not all types respond, and all hormone injections can cause side effects so these are not my treatment of choice.
Click to expand...

Thanks Suzy, that's very informative. The vets we go to are Birch Heath in Tarporley - they specialise in exotics and also do referrals for guinea pigs to specialists when needed so I should imagine they already know of Molly Varga but I will ask next time just to make sure.
I know ovarian cysts can come and go ( had some myself ) and some are more serious than others so it's good to know that there's someone not too far away if it gets serious ( let's all hope it doesn't ).
I'm hoping her weight will stabilize now but obviously if it doesn't we're going to have to figure out if it's her teeth ( which thankfully Claire can double check for me ) or her ovaries causing the problem. Thanks for all your kind words everyone - she's fine in herself, looks her usual bright eyed bushy-tailed ( well, you know what I mean! ) self. It's me that's a nervous wreck! :{
 
Interesting to hear stuff about vets local to me. I'm currently with Abbeycroft/Willows in Northwich and am planning on switching to Molly. Also interesting to hear about the Tarporley vets though as I nearly took my budgie there this year but ended up at an Avian vets in Knutsford x
 
I just want to say I am so sorry about moonpig. I really hope they do not have to be removed.
 
Really sorry to hear about Moonpig, sending postive healing vibes your way xx
 
From my own experiences I have not had to resort to any treatments - of the many females I have had live out their lives with me, I have only had 3 that had obvious cysts, none showed any problems except LilyPig who would occasionally lose hair on her sides. She lived to be over 7 years old despite having large cysts.

HTH

Suzy x
 
Sorry to hear this. I hope they dont have to be removed.

Sending lots of healing vibes up to you and Moonpig. Suzy has put some interesting and positive info on so I hope that makes things a little easier.
 
Thanks, it does. I'm also going to take Claire up on her offer so that we can make sure it's not her teeth behind the weight loss. Thanks for all your support and advice. x
 
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