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Ovarian Cysts

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FozzieBear43

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My two and a half year old female guinea pig has had fur loss since the summer and after a couple of visits to the vet has been diagnosed with hormonal problems probably ovarian cysts. The fur loss appears behind the ears, back of neck and on abdomen. The vet we saw advised us to leave her alone since intervention often makes things worse. At the moment she is eating well and doesn't appear to be in any pain but seems bonier than the other pigs (she lives in a group of four). I would just like to know that I'm doing the right thing. Has anyone had a similar experience?


Thanks to anyone who posts and helps me out. I'm a newcomer to using a computer forum!
 
ovarian cysts are not in themselves painful or harmful, the worry is if they become large they can put pressure on other organs and cause pain or problems as a result.

if she has cysts and is not overweight a cavy savvy vet will be able to palpate them. if they are very small then not intervening is probably the best option but they will require close monitoing as can become very large very quickly.

i assume your vet has ruled out other causes for the fur loss such as mites? the back of the neck is a very common place for fur loss caused by scratching due to mites and it is not uncommon pigs with mites to lose fur from their bellies too.
 
Has your girl had an X-ray or ultrasound to diagnose the cysts? This is really the way to get a 100% diagnosis.

We had one of our girls 'Treacle' cysts were treated with homone injections to shrink them. It was successful and our vet has done this as a treatment before.

Also In the past one of our first girls had ovarian cysts and we just kept our eye on them as they caused her no problems.
 
I have had a sow spayed before, and she was never the same again. :( I would either leave well alone, or ask the vet to try to shrink the cysts with injections. A good vet once told me that, beyond a certain age, it was a question of how many cysts sows have, not whether they have them at all.
 
Pound Shilling & Pig said:
i assume your vet has ruled out other causes for the fur loss such as mites? the back of the neck is a very common place for fur loss caused by scratching due to mites and it is not uncommon pigs with mites to lose fur from their bellies too.
Click to expand...

Yes this, and fungal skin infection can cause extensive fur loss too.
 
My baby Bo died last week, its been really sad. She had ovarian cysts and had a hormone implant 1 year ago she returned to her beautiful self. Last month she started losing hair again and I was thinking of having another injection or spay her this time. She died last week of heart failure. I blame myself for not spaying her ? if the implant or large ovaries caused her harm, but I did not want to lose her. She may have died anyway? My other baby was spayed less than a week ago due to losing a tumour from her womb. Day 4 going ok after last few stressful days. I am not sure I can advise, spaying my baby with cancer was a no brainer for me. I am not sure what to advise, its all been a bit hard for me in the last week.
 
Pound Shilling & Pig said:
ovarian cysts are not in themselves painful or harmful, the worry is if they become large they can put pressure on other organs and cause pain or problems as a result.

if she has cysts and is not overweight a cavy savvy vet will be able to palpate them. if they are very small then not intervening is probably the best option but they will require close monitoing as can become very large very quickly.

i assume your vet has ruled out other causes for the fur loss such as mites? the back of the neck is a very common place for fur loss caused by scratching due to mites and it is not uncommon pigs with mites to lose fur from their bellies too.
Click to expand...

sport_billy said:
Has your girl had an X-ray or ultrasound to diagnose the cysts? This is really the way to get a 100% diagnosis.

We had one of our girls 'Treacle' cysts were treated with homone injections to shrink them. It was successful and our vet has done this as a treatment before.

Also In the past one of our first girls had ovarian cysts and we just kept our eye on them as they caused her no problems.
Click to expand...

pelicano said:
I have had a sow spayed before, and she was never the same again. :( I would either leave well alone, or ask the vet to try to shrink the cysts with injections. A good vet once told me that, beyond a certain age, it was a question of how many cysts sows have, not whether they have them at all.
Click to expand...

pelicano said:
Yes this, and fungal skin infection can cause extensive fur loss too.
Click to expand...

Wiggie said:
My baby Bo died last week, its been really sad. She had ovarian cysts and had a hormone implant 1 year ago she returned to her beautiful self. Last month she started losing hair again and I was thinking of having another injection or spay her this time. She died last week of heart failure. I blame myself for not spaying her ? if the implant or large ovaries caused her harm, but I did not want to lose her. She may have died anyway? My other baby was spayed less than a week ago due to losing a tumour from her womb. Day 4 going ok after last few stressful days. I am not sure I can advise, spaying my baby with cancer was a no brainer for me. I am not sure what to advise, its all been a bit hard for me in the last week.
Click to expand...

Thanks for all your help. I will have a think about options.
 
my piggy maisie (age 4, nearly 5) has just been diagnosed aswell. she has a few small cysts on each side. we have been advised the same as you by a very good exotics vet. so we are also leaving them alone for now, but monitoring them closely, but hopefully if they don't grow they shouldn't cause any problems. if they do grow then he has advised that there are a few treatment options but we can discuss that at the time if it comes to that. i'm just trying not to worry and getting them checked out regularly to see if they have grown.
 
My girl Ethel (aka Mrs Mop) had lost her mojo and her appetite, and was losing weight when I found her crusty nipples in September 2012. Searching on this forum made me realise that these were ovarian cyst symptoms and the vet confirmed this. She gave her 2 injections of Chorolun and Mrs Mop is now a changed piggy - the one with the sharpest ears (tuned to rustling bags) and the loudest wheek! Her appetite is pretty good now and she has gained a little bit of weight. She still has the crusty nipples and I keep a close eye on her to watch out for cysts to come back.

Doing nothing but monitoring sounds a good idea for you and your pig so long as she is still eating well. If/when you need to act then Chorulon injections or a hormonal implant may be treatment options and alternatives to spaying.
 
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