Ovarian Cysts And Spaying?

[unkinz]

Today I took the girls to the vet. First time for them while living with me at least. Marla got a perfect bill of health! Gives me a sense of peace to know she is doing well.

Charlette on the other hand has been having re-occurring bald spots. The vet has checked for mites and lice, and ruled out ringworm. She was worried this may be caused by her hormonal cycles, and felt for cysts, but thankfully there was nothing. She wants us to return once the bald spots grow larger in hopes she can do another check then.

It was recommended we spay her. Honestly the thought of little Charlette going under anesthesia is freaking me out a bit. What would you say? I would be relieved to hear some other experiences. This would be in hopes to protect her from her cysts, if she already has them, and would keep her safe from them in the future.

I've never had a piggy have surgery before.

 

[Lady Kelly]

Harsh treatment for a preventative in my opinion but I'm not a vet. I had one spayed, for sizeable cysts but there are hormonal injections now which treat cysts as well so spaying isn't usually the first port of call for treatment.

 

[Wiebke]

Today I took the girls to the vet. First time for them while living with me at least. Marla got a perfect bill of health! Gives me a sense of peace to know she is doing well.

Charlette on the other hand has been having re-occurring bald spots. The vet has checked for mites and lice, and ruled out ringworm. She was worried this may be caused by her hormonal cycles, and felt for cysts, but thankfully there was nothing. She wants us to return once the bald spots grow larger in hopes she can do another check then.

It was recommended we spay her. Honestly the thought of little Charlette going under anesthesia is freaking me out a bit. What would you say? I would be relieved to hear some other experiences. This would be in hopes to protect her from her cysts, if she already has them, and would keep her safe from them in the future.

I've never had a piggy have surgery before.

Hi! It is generally the small, active ovarian cysts that are causing the typical hormonal issues like bald spots on the bell, crusty nipples and aggressive behaviour from being in season nonstop.

There are now alternative treatments available for hormonal cysts in the form of hormone injections (usually chorulon) or hormone implants; these are however not licensed for guinea pigs, so your vet may not want to do them and you may need to see an exotics vet. Hormone treatment is not cheap, either, but it is something that you can ask your vet to research if you are too worried about what at this stage is an elective operation. Hormone treatment has become more common and more widely practised both in the UK and the US over the last few years.

A spaying operation still has its place when you are dealing with large non-hormonal cysts that are causing problems or with cancerous cysts (these are the ones that can cause bleeding from the anus) or when the womb is going wrong.

In very frail and elderly sows, draining large cysts is a less permanent but much less invasive procedure that does not require a full GA; it generally take several months before cysts refill.

I have had to spay some of my own sows for medical reasons so far (mostly older ones, one of them decidedly frail, who made a very good recovery nevertheless) and have adopted a couple of spayed sows from now defunct UK rescue.

 

[Abi_nurse]

I would spay her if she had cyst or potentially if she was very young (under 6 months) but I personally wouldn't do so without reason. Treatment with hormone implants are a bit hit and miss to be honest, not my got to in mine or exotic vets opinions but if people are adverse to spaying it can be tried. Has your piggie been treated for lice just in case they are missed. Have they also checked for a thyroid mass? Hair thinning can be caused by this also.

 

[unkinz]

I would spay her if she had cyst or potentially if she was very young (under 6 months) but I personally wouldn't do so without reason. Treatment with hormone implants are a bit hit and miss to be honest, not my got to in mine or exotic vets opinions but if people are adverse to spaying it can be tried. Has your piggie been treated for lice just in case they are missed. Have they also checked for a thyroid mass? Hair thinning can be caused by this also.

Thank you so much. x
They haven't checked for thyroid mass, I'll make sure to ask about it when we return. She was checked for lice, but how would you suggest we go about treating her? I don't want to give her any extra stress, she has no itchies at all.

 

[GPTV]

My Ellie was 6yrs old, she had none of the classic ovarian cyst symptoms(hair loss, aggressive/hormonal behaviour) & had the Chorulon (HCG) hormone injections for a walnut sized ovarian cyst (diagnosed by conscious ultrasound scan) she did really well on them, her cyst reduced in size within weeks & the UTI's & heavy genital bleeding stopped almost immediately.( i think only one bleed afterwards) she had another round of injections about 12months later & i lost her approx 12months after them aged 8yrs to multiple health problems.

If your girl is younger &generally healthy then maybe discuss with your vet their experience with doing spays &if you feel comfortable with their competence at doing them successfully, you know the cysts wont come back. but a spay is a lot more risky than the injections.
However if the injections don't work then time has passed that could have been used for recovery time for a spay.

i would say spay/surgery as a last resort if she was mine, try & rule out all the other less invasive possibilities first.

wishing your little lady a full & speedy recovery whichever you decide. xx

 

[Abi_nurse]

Thank you so much. x
They haven't checked for thyroid mass, I'll make sure to ask about it when we return. She was checked for lice, but how would you suggest we go about treating her? I don't want to give her any extra stress, she has no itchies at all.

Ivermectin spot on treatment can be tried for lice without any stress. Three treatments 10-14 days apart. I'm not sure however what is available in the USA?

 

[unkinz]

Ivermectin spot on treatment can be tried for lice without any stress. Three treatments 10-14 days apart. I'm not sure however what is available in the USA?

Thank you so much everyone for your replies. x
I'll look into your suggestion, @Abi_nurse!