• Discussions taking place within this forum are intended for the purpose of assisting you in discussing options with your vet. Any other use of advice given here is done so at your risk, is solely your responsibility and not that of this forum or its owner. Before posting it is your responsibility you abide by this Statement

My guinea pig has an ovarian cyst, what should I do? :-(

  • Thread starter Thread starter Mellierose
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
M

Mellierose

Hi
I took my guinea pig Ruby to the vets today as I knew she was not right, and th vet says she has an ovarian cyst. I have to decide wether to have her oparated on. She is only 18 months old but the cyst is large. Has anyone had any success with there piggies? or would I be craul to put her through an operation. I don't want her to suffer and she is in pain with it so if I don't have her operated on I have to have her put to sleep. Has anyone else had this situation? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Many thanks
Melanie
 
this thread needs to be in health and illness so it can get viewed properly,could you pm a mod to move it please,
i know many piggies have survived when they have had cysts,i dont kow much more though x
 
Hi
I took my guinea pig Ruby to the vets today as I knew she was not right, and th vet says she has an ovarian cyst. I have to decide wether to have her oparated on. She is only 18 months old but the cyst is large. Has anyone had any success with there piggies? or would I be craul to put her through an operation. I don't want her to suffer and she is in pain with it so if I don't have her operated on I have to have her put to sleep. Has anyone else had this situation? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Many thanks
Melanie
 
Mellierose said:
Hi
I took my guinea pig Ruby to the vets today as I knew she was not right, and th vet says she has an ovarian cyst. I have to decide wether to have her oparated on. She is only 18 months old but the cyst is large. Has anyone had any success with there piggies? or would I be craul to put her through an operation. I don't want her to suffer and she is in pain with it so if I don't have her operated on I have to have her put to sleep. Has anyone else had this situation? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Many thanks
Melanie
Click to expand...

vickyt should be able to help her piggy had ovarian cysts x
 
Sorry, my piggie had bladder stones, not ovarian cysts, but you can find medical background on here:

http://www.guinealynx.info/ovarian_cysts.html

If your girls is so young and the cyst so large, an operation is an option. There are alternatives; but I leave that to more expert people on the board.

You may wish to find an exotic animals specialist within reasonable distance to you. There is a thread at the top of this section with recommended vets.
 
Vickyt said:
Sorry, my piggie had bladder stones, not ovarian cysts, but you can find medical background on here:

http://www.guinealynx.info/ovarian_cysts.html

If your girls is so young and the cyst so large, an operation is an option. There are alternatives; but I leave that to more expert people on the board.

You may wish to find an exotic animals specialist within reasonable distance to you. There is a thread at the top of this section with recommended vets.
Click to expand...

thanks,as i said in pm got my wires crossed:red
 
Ovarian cysts are quite common and can develop to a large size. They are not, in themselves, life-threatening. Treatment can vary from leave alone, drain the contents, hormone treatment or surgical removal. The latter option is best left as a last resort.
 
Agree with above. I would ask your vet about treatment by injection which I've known to be very successful for many people. It's usually HCG they use which is the human pregnancy hormone. The main surgical treatment is a spay which is a very invasive op and I lost a piggy to this despite her coming through the surgery.
 
The only decision you shouldn't choose is to have nothing done about the cyst. It's my understanding that cysts are uncomfortable and dangerous as they can burst if they become too large. The treatment is to either keep them small or remove them - this means you have two options, Mellierose.

One is, as your vet suggested, surgery. The surgery is NOT a cyst removal but a spay that will remove all of the reproductive organs and prevent a re occurrence of the cysts. All surgeries in guinea pigs are risky, but generally if the pig is in good health and you have a good vet it's not the worst option in the world.

The other is a temporary option that you should discuss with your vet before you make a final decision. It involves injecting a hormone into the pig which reduces the size of or stops the cyst from growing more. It's a good option for people who either don't want to do the surgery now (hoping the cyst can be managed with injections) or if surgery isn't an option (for example, if your pig has heart issues where anaesthetic is a BIG no).

http://www.guinealynx.info/ovarian_cysts.html

So, those are your options: surgery or hormone injection. With the hormones it may take a time for you and your vet to work out the correct dosage but once it's under control (you can tell because she will stop showing symptoms of having cysts) you can then switch to maintenance injections which are often months apart. You must choose one or the other; not doing anything could harm her.
 
Doing nothing is an option.
Cysts can sometimes rupture spontaneously or even when the pig is being handled.
External drainage is a possibilty.
May I suggest this thread is continued on the H and I section, where it is already in use?
 
Moderator, can you please merge the same thread on General Chat into this thread?
 
Hi
Thank you for all your reply's and advice. Doing nothing never was an option for me as I took Ruby to the vet in the first place because I knew something was wrong and I now know she was in pain. I decided to take her for the operation and see what they felt was the best thing to do. Sadly the cyst was too big to remove and Ruby had to be put to sleep. She was such a lovely little girl and I will love her always but I could not see her suffer :... I just hope the short time she spent with me (I adopted her in April) was happy for her and she is now playing with her old friend Rosie in the sky x>>
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top