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Ovarian cysts - advice needed!

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rachelsharp

rachelsharp

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This is leading on from this topic:

http://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=74609

My pig Meg is 4 1/2. She has recently become rather round. It was initially a suspected pregancy, but after a some advice on the forum and a trip to the vets they suspect that she does have ovarian cysts.

I have a few questions though:

She has been booked in for an x-ray on Tuesday.
1) Is an x-ray best, or would an ultrasound be better?
b2They have quoted me between £80 and £100 for the x-ray. Does this seem expensive, or is this a typical price? They also quoted me £120 for the ultrasound, but the vet said that was for a cat / dog, so there may be a price reduction.
3) When I booked the x-ray, they mentioned either a general anaesthetic or a sedation for the x-ray. Is this typical? I do not want her to have an unneccesary anaesthetic.

4) The vet did not mention anything other than an operation as an option for the cysts. Has anyone else had any other treatments for their pigs? Again, I'd not like to put her through an operation if there are other options.

x
 
I'm sorry to hear Meg is so poorly.

I have no answers to give you but am sending some well wishes.

x
 
Our 5 year old 'Putt' has an ovarian cyst. It was diagnosed by an x-ray which was done with a tiny bit of gas as a sedation. Piggies don't have to have an anesthetic to be xrayed. As far as I am aware an xray will pick up a ovarian cyst.

Because of Putt's age we are not considering having her spayed as the cyst is causing her no problems and spaying is very invasive and only should be used as a last resort, our vet is monitoring it regulary and has suggested hormone injections if it becomes problematic..

How is Meg acting, does she seem poorly at all?
 
Your 80-100 xray estimate is probably the sedation as well, your piggie will not need an aneasthetic or sedation to be xrayed tho. Ultrasound is a fab way of looking at ovarian cysts IF the vet is confident and skilled in ultrasound. Howerever an xray will help too.

Good luck with your piggie. Hope se feels better soon.

x
 
well meg had an ultrasound this morning. i saw a different vet when i took her in, and she was really lovely. she said it is best to have an ultrasound rather than an x-ray, and seemed to have been opting to do that anyway. she does have ovarian cysts, two, and one was bigger than the other, although not the biggest she's seen. she said the largest one was 2.5cm. they showed me a print out of the scan, but i could not make head nor tail of it, it had no reference point, it was just a big black space! mallethead

the vet was really lovely and explained everything over the phone when she rang to say she was ready to pick up. they gave her a hormone injection as we discussed earlier when i had dropped her off and said that would be the best treatment rather than invasive surgery. she told me the name of the drug but i can't for the life of me remember it other than it started with a c rolleyes.

she had her first injection today and then will go back in 7 days time for a second. the vet thought after the two, she would probably only need them every two months or so, or whenever she looks a bit bigger round her tummy again.

she didn't need sedating for the scan as you said abi. she's looking fine (apart from her shaved war wound tummy and side!) but she's out on the grass with the other two as if nothing's happened! :))
 
I have a pig who had ovarian cysts and she was spayed. She had a breast tumor so she was booked for a spay and to remove a lump, turns out she had cystic ovaries.
 
One of my sows had 2 lots of injections then never needed anymore after that, so hopefully you may be lucky & she may not need anymore either :)
 
Hi, I remember when my Suzy had ovarian cysts - she was losing hair quite a bit, so we had her spayed and the cysts were gone and now she is fine - that was over a year ago and her hair grew back pretty much straight after. I think I paid about £70 altogether to get her sorted. Good luck with your guinea pig.
 
IHorseCarzzy5 said:
I have a pig who had ovarian cysts and she was spayed. She had a breast tumor so she was booked for a spay and to remove a lump, turns out she had cystic ovaries.
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how has she been since? how old was she when she was spayed? did she recover ok from it? x

Poppy'sMum said:
One of my sows had 2 lots of injections then never needed anymore after that, so hopefully you may be lucky & she may not need anymore either :)
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i'm crossing my fingers for that, i've read a few guineas have only needed a couple and then not again, so hopefully meg is the same as she's not too keen on the bald patches i think! x

wales1000 said:
Hi, I remember when my Suzy had ovarian cysts - she was losing hair quite a bit, so we had her spayed and the cysts were gone and now she is fine - that was over a year ago and her hair grew back pretty much straight after. I think I paid about £70 altogether to get her sorted. Good luck with your guinea pig.
Click to expand...

it was strange because meg showed no other symptoms except the bigger tummy. did suzy recover well from the op, and how old was she when she had it done? glad to hear she's fine now x
 
it was strange because meg showed no other symptoms except the bigger tummy. did suzy recover well from the op, and how old was she when she had it done? glad to hear she's fine now x[/QUOTE]

sorry i forgot to add, her sides were really big also and with the hair loss - vet could feel the cysts. She recovered great from the operation - she was just over 2, maybe 2 1/2. Touch wood she is ok now.
 
i just wanted to restart this thread a bit seeking some more advice.

meg has now had a course of 3 injections, the third at a higher dose. she had a review a month after the last injection and the vet said it seems she does still have two cysts there, one larger than the other. she said they may have shrunk, but hardly at all. she does think though that they aren't painful for her. she's given me the options of either leaving meg to get on with things, and only coming back with her if she gets unwell with them, or continuing with injections every two months. she was very reluctant to try surgery, and didn't want to drain them unless she became unwell. what do you think is the best option? do pigs go downhill with these or can they live with them unaffected? xx
 
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