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Primrose has a lump - op next week

Helen82

Helen82

Teenage Guinea Pig
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Hello all - my lovely Primrose has developed a large lump just above her right leg in the hip area. It literally just seems to have appeared out of nowhere yesterday. Didn't see anything in the morning, a bit later on I noticed her fur in that area looked a bit fluffed up but it sometimes looks like that when she's been vigorously cleaning herself so I didn't think anything of it. But when they had floor time late yesterday evening it looked like her hip was sticking out, so I investigated and found a big lump. I took her to the vets this morning and she said the best thing to do was have it removed as even if it's benign its in a place which might impact on her mobility. So Primrose is booked in for an operation to have it removed in a week's time next Tuesday; whatever 'it' is as we don't what the lump is. She's fine in herself except she's fed up if being handled and prodded. But about an hour ago I went to give them their tea and the lump has bled. I've rung the vets again an hour ago and e-mailed them some pictures as requested, but they haven't rung me back yet. I'm just worrying about the op and the anaesthetic she'll have, worried as to what the lump is and worried because it's bleeding and how she's going to cope with it for a week if it keeps bleeding and risk of infection and if it will start to hurt her etc etc. Some healing thoughts would be welcome! These are the two pics I've sent to the vet.
 

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Poor girl- that looks sore! Wishing her all the best for her operation and hoping she has a smooth recovery!
 
Freela said:
Poor girl- that looks sore! Wishing her all the best for her operation and hoping she has a smooth recovery!
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Thank you! I'm wondering whether she'll need some pain relief in the meantime before her op and wishing the vets would ring me back...
 
Helen82 said:
Hello all - my lovely Primrose has developed a large lump just above her right leg in the hip area. It literally just seems to have appeared out of nowhere yesterday. Didn't see anything in the morning, a bit later on I noticed her fur in that area looked a bit fluffed up but it sometimes looks like that when she's been vigorously cleaning herself so I didn't think anything of it. But when they had floor time late yesterday evening it looked like her hip was sticking out, so I investigated and found a big lump. I took her to the vets this morning and she said the best thing to do was have it removed as even if it's benign its in a place which might impact on her mobility. So Primrose is booked in for an operation to have it removed in a week's time next Tuesday; whatever 'it' is as we don't what the lump is. She's fine in herself except she's fed up if being handled and prodded. But about an hour ago I went to give them their tea and the lump has bled. I've rung the vets again an hour ago and e-mailed them some pictures as requested, but they haven't rung me back yet. I'm just worrying about the op and the anaesthetic she'll have, worried as to what the lump is and worried because it's bleeding and how she's going to cope with it for a week if it keeps bleeding and risk of infection and if it will start to hurt her etc etc. Some healing thoughts would be welcome! These are the two pics I've sent to the vet.
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Hi!

Please see an out of hours vet if the lump is bleeding to help stop this; they don't usually operate but can help to stabilise it if that is possible. Lumps of any description can suddenly blow up and need to be operated as soon as possible, ideally within 24 hours.
Ring up your own vets again first thing tomorrow morning. Many vets have an emergency slot on the day for things that cannot wait for a regular appointment.
How to contact a vet out of hours

If it is a blood filled lump, then it unfortunately needs to come out as otherwise sepsis will set in; and that is a much nastier way to die. :(

PS: Does it help you to know that my Hafren ended up with a large cyst, which promptly burst while my piggy savvy vet was on summer holiday? I needed to rush her to my local vets to stop the bleeding; in her case it was a harmless cyst that the vet and I had been monitoring in the hope that it would stay put, but it was one with a thick fleshy mantle and fleshy inclusions connected to the blood supply, which is not that common. She was just a month short of her 7th birthday and did make a full recovery from her removal op.
I have had to rush several piggies with runaway lumps of all sorts to the vets; a year ago it was Gethin with a sudden large lump on his chest. He is still with me a year on.
 
Sending hugs to you, what a worry for you x
Hope little Daisy can been seen soon, wonder if they can book her op in a bit earlier x
 
Wiebke said:
Hi!

Please see an out of hours vet if the lump is bleeding to help stop this; they don't usually operate but can help to stabilise it if that is possible. Lumps of any description can suddenly blow up and need to be operated as soon as possible, ideally within 24 hours.
Ring up your own vets again first thing tomorrow morning. Many vets have an emergency slot on the day for things that cannot wait for a regular appointment.
How to contact a vet out of hours

If it is a blood filled lump, then it unfortunately needs to come out as otherwise sepsis will set in; and that is a much nastier way to die. :(

PS: Does it help you to know that my Hafren ended up with a large cyst, which promptly burst while my piggy savvy vet was on summer holiday? I needed to rush her to my local vets to stop the bleeding; in her case it was a harmless cyst that the vet and I had been monitoring in the hope that it would stay put, but it was one with a thick fleshy mantle and fleshy inclusions connected to the blood supply, which is not that common. She was just a month short of her 7th birthday and did make a full recovery from her removal op.
I have had to rush several piggies with runaway lumps of all sorts to the vets; a year ago it was Gethin with a sudden large lump on his chest. He is still with me a year on.
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Thank you. I took Primrose straight back to the vets. The lady I spoke to said that Primrose had scratched the lump open but that it's not bleeding too fast it's just that if she rubs it it starts bleeding again but she didn't think it was bleeding at a life-endangering level so I've brought Primrose home for tonight. I will now be taking her in to be operated on tomorrow. She was booked for next Tuesday as that is the next surgery day for the guinea pig specialist vet, but instead she will be operated on tomorrow by one of the other vets who is unfortunately not as clued up on guinea pigs but is very experienced in surgery. I decided that it would be better to have her operated on quickly rather than wait a week for the specialist. I'm going out of my mind with worry but I think I'm doing all that can be done as soon as possible soI've just got to hope that everything goes well tomorrow.
 
Helen82 said:
Thank you. I took Primrose straight back to the vets. The lady I spoke to said that Primrose had scratched the lump open but that it's not bleeding too fast it's just that if she rubs it it starts bleeding again but she didn't think it was bleeding at a life-endangering level so I've brought Primrose home for tonight. I will now be taking her in to be operated on tomorrow. She was booked for next Tuesday as that is the next surgery day for the guinea pig specialist vet, but instead she will be operated on tomorrow by one of the other vets who is unfortunately not as clued up on guinea pigs but is very experienced in surgery. I decided that it would be better to have her operated on quickly rather than wait a week for the specialist. I'm going out of my mind with worry but I think I'm doing all that can be done as soon as possible soI've just got to hope that everything goes well tomorrow.
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Glad that the lump is not looking like it is blood-filled.

All the best for tomorrow. That lump really needs to come out, the sooner the better. It can't wait for another week. It is not near any delicate organs so the operation will hopefully not be too tricky. A decent surgeon should do.

Here is our post-op care information guide with practical tips in case you need it: Tips For Post-operative Care
 
Just to update: the op has been done, the lump has been removed and Primrose is awake! I'm massively relieved! I can pick her up at 4.30pm so I've just been redesigning the cage layout so I can put a divider up so that she and Stanley can still smell and see and talk to each other. But I think it's best they're separate as he's likely to be rumblestrutting all over the place when she gets back, and I don't want him pestering her too much. Got a follow-up appointment on Friday and then at a later date she'll have to go back and have her stitches out: she's got a mix of 'proper' stitches and dissolvable ones. They're not going to send off the lump for analysis so that's still an unknown (though I can try and get the vets' opinion on Friday) but whatever it is, it's good that it's out.
 
I’m glad it went well. Did they say why they wouldn’t send off a sample? Wishing your gir a good recovery.
 
What a relief that the lump has gone! I'm sure she'll make a full recovery with Stan the Man looking after her.
 
Just to update - three days on from Primrose's operation and she is slowly recovering. Of course I've been stressed out the whole time but I think things are heading in the right direction. She's been gradually eating more hay, pellets and veg and perking up at her veg tea time, though she's still sleeping a lot and not interested in drinking from her bottle or water bowl. One morning I found she'd been lying in her wee over night, but thankfully it was a one-off. Her poos have been very stinky and mis-shapen, but this evening they look a lot better shape so I'm pleased it seems her digestion/pooing is beginning to get back to normal. We had a near catastrophe on Wednesday night as I came in to see lovable idiot Stanley run at full pelt towards the dividing grids (he must have completely forgot they were there) and he bounced off it face first at considerable speed. Thankfully, apart from being a bit stunned for a few minutes, he is fine but for a terrible moment I thought I would have two poorly piggies on my hands... I took Primrose to the vets yesterday for her follow-up appointment and the incision site/stitches seems to be looking okay. I wasn't able to speak to the vet but I got the nurse to ask her about Primrose's lump - they don't know what it was but it wasn't actually attached to her which is good and so they were able to remove everything. They don't often send off lumps for analysis as it is expensive but it's a bit annoying that I wasn't even given the option. Anyway, all being well Primrose is back at the vets next Friday to have her stitches out. It's Primrose's 5th birthday on Wednesday (that is to say it's her official birthday as being a rescue I don't know exactly how old she is or her real dob) so I'm hoping that by then she'll be feeling a bit more like herself again.
 
Betsy said:
Poor Stan the Man so pleased he's OK. He must be that desperate to be with Pretty Primrose!
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I think it was more he got spooked and ran and completely forgot that the grids were there... They have been chatting between the bars though, or rather Primrose sits next to them to eat her veg and Stan has been talking to her and nuzzling her and she's been ignoring him, which is as it usually is! He thinks he's the husboar in charge whereas she sees him more as a bratty little brother...
 
Well...Saturday evening Primrose seemed a bit brighter. Sunday I let Stanley and Primrose be together again which has been a bit fraught as Stanley has been trying to assert his dominance and Primrose has not had the patience for it. I think we are through the worst and things will be okay but there's an occasional fractious moment. On the positive side now she has the full run of the cage again Primrose has started drinking from the bottle again. On the very negative side I noticed yesterday evening that she has started crying when urinating and there is now red in her wee. So I've rung the vets this morning and Primrose has got an appointment with the specialist guinea pig vet tomorrow afternoon. I hope it's a cystitis flare-up and nothing more sinister. She's had two mild cases of cystitis before - once two years ago when she had a course of cystease or cystophan, and once about a month ago which had pretty much gone by the time of her vet appointment so she didn't need meds. In both cases she had red wee but there was no crying so hearing her pain/discomfort now is distressing. Any healing thoughts for my lovely Primrose would be very much appreciated.
 
Aw Primrose sending you healing vibes for that naughty bladder playing up again, hope it gets better very soon and peeing is not a pain x
 
Primrose has been to the vets today (well, yesterday now) and has some cystophan to take aswell as a slightly upped dose of painkiller (Loxicom) that she was already on following the operation. Apart from her bladder trouble she's almost back to her usual self - poos are a normal shape, more lively now she can get out for floor time, eating hay like a champ and has started drinking from her bottle again. The vet also took her stitches out (they weren't meant to come out til Friday); it still looks a bit sore and bloody to me but the vet knows what she's doing and Primrose doesn't seem bothered. She's going back a week on Thursday to see if her bladder/weeing situation has improved. (One negative: I took Stanley with her in the carrier as I didn't want to separate them again so soon after putting them back together, but we were only a few minutes into the journey and Stan was getting very agitated so we had to pop him back home and take Primrose on her own, as I didn't want to risk any squabble escalating. They've always been fine together in the carrier before; it's not an immediate problem but, covid-allowing, we're going on holiday to Norfolk in June so I need them to be able to share the carrier by then.)
 
I’m glad that Primrose is more or less back to normal. I hope her bladder problem improves. I can’t comment on the carrier situation. Hopefully Stan will be ok to share a carrier with her by June x
 
Glad things are moving in the right direction. Hopefully things between them will settle once she is fully recovered.
 
There's always something isn't there?! Her operation scar has obviously bled a bit this afternoon but I don't think it's enough to worry about just yet; I just need to keep my eye on it. (Though of course I am worrying about it.) It's Primrose's official birthday today - she's 5 (or thereabouts). (Primrose says to excuse the mess in the picture.)
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