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Possible Ovarian Cysts!

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Toffeewoffee

Toffeewoffee

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Now that Lilly is fully recovered we have Poor Minnie with possible ovarian cysts!

We took them to have their nails trimmed, be wormed, teeth checks, general health check last night, and Minnie's hair has thinned on one side on her shoulder and rib area, the skin looks healthy and its is generally thinning not falling out in clumps like mites/fungal.

Jan had a really good feel and couldn't feel any cysts or masses, but we are going to get her checked at the vets with an xray if necessary.

I would just like to know, is this that start of the end for minnie or can it be controlled? I know we could have her spayed, but i wonder if this is a good idea at her age - just over 3?

Also read about some hormone injections...... How often does this need to be done? And what effect does this have. i.e does it shrink the cysts, slow the growing of them down....?

Also an implant, dont really know anything about this, so any info would be appreciated.

Thank you xx
 
Forgot to say nd too late to edit, they were all bathed last night and cage was cleaned thoroughly. Minnie was given a double dose of wormer.

She hasn't been showing any odd behaviour like humping the others or anything, her tummy doesn't seem any bigger or feel any different and she doesn't mind us touching it. I will weight her more regularly, is weight gain a symptom of Ovarian Cysts?

x
 
I've had 2 pigs with ovarian cysts, both were treated with hormone injections by the CCT in Cambridge. After 2 lots of injections they never re-occurred & they both lived healthy lives, passing away of unrelated problems later in life. From what I remember the injections were given 2 weeks apart I think!

Personally I would try the injections first, if you can get to the CCT they can do x-rays without GA but will probably be able to diagnose them without the use of x-rays. :)
 
You have no idea how relieved i am to hear they can carry on living normal happy healthy lives! If it can be done with an injection or 2 i would like to do this and then if something further needs to be done then i'll go down the spayed route if necessary.

I cant get to the CCT but i do 100% trust my vets to do the best job and treat her.

Thank you for the reply xx
 
Moonpig has ovarian cysts, she is six and so too old to be spayed. At the moment we're just monitoring her weight ( she did lose about 150g when they first appeared but that has thankfully stabilised now) and making sure they don't start bothering her, she has regular check ups with Vicki our vet to make sure they're not getting any bigger. If they do become problematic Vicki will try the hormone implants or the injections. We're trying to be as non invasive as possible as she's happy in herself and her coat's in great condition too so Vicki is happy for her to continue as she is for now but obviously if anything changes we'll have to think about the injections or the implants.
 
I asked Molly Varga (top piggy vet) about ovarian cysts recently. I have had several sows with cysts and not needed to have any treatment for them - I feel as long as they are not impacting on the life of the piggy there is little reason to intervene, monitoring them is important though. My oldest pig was 7.5 yrs old when she passed away and had large cysts which caused her no problems in the 3 years that he had them. She was just pear shaped.

"Guinea pigs - what is the rate of ovarian cysts/uterine complications and would routine spaying be a wise choice to prevent them, or would the risk of the op and post op complications be better avoided as the cases of cysts etc that require drastic treatment (surgery/hormonal injections) are few and far between?†From Suzy Gpr via Facebook

Molly says…

Approximately 75% of guinea pig sows between 1.5-5 years old will have some type of ovarian cyst. Not all of these sows will experience any ill-effects. Cysts may be associated with tumours within the uterus, overgrowth of the uterus lining and inflammation or infection within the uterus. When I see these guinea pigs as cases it is usually for hair loss, reduction in appetite or blood in the urine. It is difficult to predict which females will show clinical signs of cysts however if they are not intended for breeding neutering can be a good option. I would agree that surgery can be drastic; however the flank technique where only the ovaries are removed through two incisions high on the sows side is very easy and very well tolerated by most sows. It is less invasive than the more common abdominal approach (the incision in this case is on the bottom of the belly) and recovery is faster. Hormone injections can be effective for some ovarian cysts, but not all types respond, and all hormone injections can cause side effects so these are not my treatment of choice."

HTH

Suzy x
 
Thank you so much Suzy,

So would anyone recommend a vet visit just to confirm it is cysts then? Then take it from there, or would you say i monitor her closely and as long as her weight is stable, she is peeing and pooing and no blood present in urine to just leave her be?

At the moment i am not sure what to do for the best, however i feel relieved that in some cases nothing is ever done atall and they carry on l happy healthy lives.

Thanks xx
 
I always get them checked, so that I know what I'm dealing with. Then it's a case of monitoring their behaviour, weight, etc , just as you would do normally for all your piggies. If there are changes then further investigation and treatment is an option, it will just mean that you are more aware of the symptoms to look out for and their cause if they do occur.

Suzy x
 
I had my girl Peggy spayed for cysts last year. The recovery was very, very tough.

If I was in the same position again, I'd definitely try a hormone therapy first. Saying that, I'd be interested in the spay that Suzy describes, which would be a lot less invasive.

Your vet should hopefully be able to confirm with an ultrasound which doesn't require any anaesthetic.

Lots of love

xxxxx
 
Putt had ovarian cysts and lived with them diagnosed for 1 year and passed away when she was 5 1/2 years old.
I would probably get them confirmed through an xray/ultrasound just to be sure, so you know what you are dealing with.
We used a watch and wait technique and would have treated with hormone injections should they have impacted negatively on her life. Personally unless it was absolutely necessary I wouldn't spay an older piggie.

We weighed Putt more regulary than any other of our pigs to pick up on any changes etc...

Love to you and Minnie x
 
Thanks everyone for your responses, i will get her checked out to be sure, hopefully she wont need any treatment however, needless to say, if she does she will get whatever is necessary.

I suppose this might be a daft question, but obviously i should worry about weight loss, but what about weight gain - is this likely?

She is a small pig anyway, only weighs approx 870 ish grams, never been any more, so she cant really afford to lose any weight, but i will monitor closely of her behaviour and weight.

It wasn't that long ago i was thinking, "i am so lucky with my pigs, had them just short of 4 years and never had a single problem, yet there are so many illess threads from other people" Sounds selfish but i wished i had never had that thought!

xx
 
Toffeewoffee said:
Thanks everyone for your responses, i will get her checked out to be sure, hopefully she wont need any treatment however, needless to say, if she does she will get whatever is necessary.

I suppose this might be a daft question, but obviously i should worry about weight loss, but what about weight gain - is this likely?

She is a small pig anyway, only weighs approx 870 ish grams, never been any more, so she cant really afford to lose any weight, but i will monitor closely of her behaviour and weight.

It wasn't that long ago i was thinking, "i am so lucky with my pigs, had them just short of 4 years and never had a single problem, yet there are so many illess threads from other people" Sounds selfish but i wished i had never had that thought!

xx
Click to expand...

I am wary of weight going either way to be honest. Treacle has been having recurrent bloat of late (still trying to find what's causing it) and will go up by 50g from her normal top weight when bloated...

I always think to myself it's the 'trend' which is important - constant loss or totally unexpected gain once they are fully grown can be indicative of a problem. I have come to realise that weighing is the most importnat thing to do with piggies.

I know how you feel about problems, we were Lucky with Pitch & Putt for 4 years, then the vets visits have never stopped. After Putt passed we had 2months off from vet visits, now Treacle has decided it's her turn to be ill - typical piggies they like to keep us on our toes :))
 
Both my six year old girls have them, but since they see to cause no problems we're leaving well alone.

I had a girl about 5 years old a while back who had hormonal hair loss with them and was successfully treated with hormones?
 
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