Ovarian Cysts?

[annaa]

Hi all,
I'm after some more piggie health advice please. On Tuesday we noticed that our girl Patch was limping and her abdomen seemed much more distended than normal so took her to the vet. She has had always seemed a little bloated ever since she had to have a course of antibiotics for an abscess. The vet palpated and said she seemed full of gas and he couldn't feel much faecal matter so she was admitted for the day. She was given some metacam and metaclopramide, they syringe feed her and we were able to take her home that evening as she was urinating and passing faeces fine. Her tummy has gone down a lot since - we have carried on with the metacam and she is eating an drinking well. We are also boosting her with some probiotics.
The vet mentioned that the bloating could be due to ovarian cysts and given that she has seemed persistently bloated for a while now I wondered if this could be the case? What other signs and symptoms should I be looking out for? And how much of a problem can cysts be?

 

[annaa]

Hopefully this shows her 'bulge'

 

[sport_billy]

I would get a scan done to confirm ovarian cysts and to see what is going on. Cysts can be treated with hormone injections.

The bloat can be caused by many things, I would ask for a supply of metachlpromide to keep in also in case she bloats when the vet isn't open. I have had a persistent bloaty piggy in the past and drugs are a life saver. Have a read of this thead Bloat, Gi Stasis ( No Gut Movement) And Not Eating

 

[Guineautopia]

Hi, sorry your piggie is poorly
I had a piggie, Daphne, who was diognoised with ovarian cysts. We opted for the hormone injections and she did just fine on them and lived until she was 7 years old.
Also this was actually going back some 10 years ago, so at that time hormone injections seemed quite experimental to me! But piggie copped fine.
Good luck.

 

[annaa]

Thanks both. I had read the bloat thread, but she has never seemed to suffer much with it (until this week) which is why the suggestion of cysts seemed a better explanation for her shape. She also has large nipples, which I didn't think much of previously assuming that sows, like women, come in a variety of shapes and sizes! But apart from being a but grumpy, she doesn't seem to be displaying the typical 'ovarian cyst' behaviour.
I've been googling a bit and the advice about what to do seems conflicting - from "don't operate: the risk is too high" to "they need to be removed as there is a risk they will burst" and "they can be treated by hormone injections" to "hormone injections may shrink them, but they then come back more aggressively".

I'm rather confused! Though obviously the first thing to do will be to go back to the vet for an ultrasound to confirm what the problem is.

 

[VickiA]

I’ve had 5 sows spayed in the last 2 1/2 years. It’s a safe operation in the right hands.

2 were laparoscopic spays (incision on each side and removal of ovaries only) for ovarian cysts. Both piggies were home same day, back to normal pretty much the following day.

I’ve had 3 undergo full spay - one for persistent bleeding, one for suspected tumour and one for pyometra. This is a much bigger operation but all 3 came home same day. One needed support feeding for several days but she had been very poorly before the surgery. The others were pretty much back to normal within a couple of days.

If any sow of mine had issues confirmed with cysts (confirmed by scan) I wouldn’t hesitate to have the ovaries removed. But then I have faith in the experience of my vets. So I think it depends upon the advice and experience of your vets to be honest.

 

[Sue and Smartie]

I suspect that Tufty has ovarian cysts. I'm going to get her to the vet tomorrow for a consultation. These vets have operated on an elderly pig of mine before so I have every confidence in them. I think I would prefer the surgical option if it's offered as once the ovaries are out they won't be getting any more cysts.
Tufty is exactly the same shape as Patch and also has hair loss on her sides.

 

[Merab]

Hope all goes well