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Poppy Has A Lump

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*Nibbles&Nugget*

*Nibbles&Nugget*

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This is not about one of my piggies by one of a friends. Poppy is about a year and a half and has always been on the small side. She weighs 1000g exactly and has a good appetite and is always very bouncy. Three months ago she developed a small lump that wasn't to much bother. Recently it has grown and is now the size and shape of half a walnut. It is soft but doesn't move much and doesn't seem to hurt her.

A vet diagnosed an abcess and prescibed antibiotics. I believe it was baytril. Instead of going down like the vet said it would it has grown. It appears to be growing more rapidly and I am concerned. They are going back to the vets but could you please advise on what it might be and courses of treatment.

I will post some photos in the next post.

Amy
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Interesting, as my piggy Ziggy has just had an abscess removed today by the wonderful Simon in Northampton :) I have always taken mine straight to the vets, leaving any abscess for too long can mean it's harder to treat. I think Simon prefers to remove them rather than wait & see what happens, & this is the 2nd piggy this year that I've had to take for an op. I would definitely look into having it removed surgically :)
 
Thanks Poppy's Mum. I had been encouraging them to go to the vets for awhile. Since I was told about it three weeks ago in fact. I get the feeling surgery is something that would frighten their owner (who is thirteen) and I'm not sure what her parents will say but I will definitely mention this. I have absolutely no idea what an abcess is or anything beyond fatty lumps Nibbles has had!

What are the risks in surgery and what is recovery like? Also could it be anything else as the local vets aren't all that cavy savvy?

Amy
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I can't speak for other vets but this was Ziggy about 3 hours post op :

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In fact if I ever needed a facelift I am seriously considering asking Simon lol! Ziggy's lump was at least 1.5 cm across. He said I had caught it early, the longer they are left the harder they are to treat as they start to attach themselves to tissue or muscle. Get her to ask the vets how many removals they have done, & if they aren't happy then to get a second opinion with a more cavy savvy vet :)

As for recovery, they were both a little slower than normal that evening but by the next day as active as usual. They have to be monitored afterwards to check they are eating/pooping etc ok.
 
Hi
As a matter of interest,having taken in a piggy recently with a lump (that is attatched to muscle ) how much did the op cost? as my vet has quoted £60 - £100 all in ,depending on time it takes to remove the lump - on another note my vet took a biopsy with a needle (which came back inconclusive ) - but he said that should be seen as a positive thing because nothing nasty had shown up,and have been advised to monitor it at present,but his lump does look smaller than the lump in the picture.
 
Mine was a little bit more than £100 as I have a course of Zithro-max & Metacam & the consultation on top. If it heals well though I won't need a follow up or any other antibiotic as Zithro-max is pretty much the best for this sort of thing.

Definitely worth having a vet fund for though I would say :)
 
My piggies are insured,but I said I would take in this pair of boars and try and re-home them,as soon as I said yes, they malletheadthen they said "and he has a lump on his side " !
 
Have passed on your advice and spoken to them about it. It's up to them what happens from here. I cannot force them to make the decision I would. Thank you for educating me though. I hadn't got a clue about any of this!

So glad my boys aren't to much trouble at the moment. Nibbles has a few fatty lumps but that comes with age and each lump has been checked by my cavy savvy vet!

I hope Ziggy is all healed up and feeling better soon. Though as he was treated by Simon I wouldn't be surprised if he was popcorning tomorrow!

Amy
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