Hi, I’m new to this so forgive me if I don’t describe anything properly. My guinea pig has a soft lump on the middle of her back. I’ve also noticed black flakes in her fur and her skin is black around the area of the lump. I’m just wondering what it could be? I have made an appointment with my vet for Monday but should I get her seen sooner? My other little piggie passed away last year due to tumours and I’m terrified the same will happen to Daisy.
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Soft Lump On Guinea Pigs Back
- Thread starter Lisau21
- Start date
This could possibly have to do something with parasites or mites.. But i'm not too educated in guinea pig illnesses. i would suggest you weigh her once or twice a week, to track her weight. also make sure that she gets the proper food/water intake. And also once you go to the vet you can bring them a sample of the hay that you feed Daisy. Mabye the hay might have something in it that caused the lump. Again I'm not too sure about the lump these are just tips. I hope Daisy feels better.
This could possibly have to do something with parasites or mites.. But i'm not too educated in guinea pig illnesses. i would suggest you weigh her once or twice a week, to track her weight. also make sure that she gets the proper food/water intake. And also once you go to the vet you can bring them a sample of the hay that you feed Daisy. Mabye the hay might have something in it that caused the lump. Again I'm not too sure about the lump these are just tips. I hope Daisy feels better.
Hi! Please see a vet; your lump can be a harmless sebaceaous cyst, another cyst or an abscess. Only a hands-on examination can tell. Thankfully, most lumps in that area turn out to be harmless. Nevertheless any lump should be vet checked.
They can also tell you whether your guinea pig is suffering from mange mites (burrow their eggs very painfully in the skin) or hay mites (fix their egg cases to hairs at the back end); mites are not visible to the naked eye. Or whether it is a potential fungal skin infection or just dry skin due to radiators running at full speed in this cold winter. Treatment is accordingly and should never be just on spec with low dosed shop products are not able to clear the problem, only suppress it temporarily.
This could possibly have to do something with parasites or mites.. But i'm not too educated in guinea pig illnesses. i would suggest you weigh her once or twice a week, to track her weight. also make sure that she gets the proper food/water intake. And also once you go to the vet you can bring them a sample of the hay that you feed Daisy. Mabye the hay might have something in it that caused the lump. Again I'm not too sure about the lump these are just tips. I hope Daisy feels better.
Thank you for your help
Tiamolly123
Senior Guinea Pig
Let us know how you get on Lisau21
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Hope all goes well at the vets
I forgot to update you guys! The lump on her back is apparently nothing to worry about however I started seeing blood around Daisy’s cage and I wasn’t too sure where it was coming from. As I said I lost a guinea pig almost a year ago to a certain disease that caused tumours in her womb and it was causing blood in her urine and I thought the same thing might be happening to Daisy. So I told my vet who is wonderful and she tested her urine which did have blood in it but said she wants to give her a course of antibiotics before we assume anything but the blood continued and I took her back today and my vet found a lump in her abdomen that wasn’t there 2 weeks ago. She is worried that it is cancerous because it is growing very quickly and she thinks it could of already spread. She said Daisy isn’t in pain like my other guinea pig Belle was so she doesn’t think surgery would be fair on her. We did surgery on Belle and she deteriorated very quickly after it. We think it is a genetic thing and that’s why it’s happened to both of my guineas. She assured me it wasn’t my fault but I feel so guilty. I wish I could do more She thinks it might be easier if we just give her anti inflammatories until it’s time to let her go. I don’t know what the right thing to do is but I do know that I don’t want to let either of my guinea pigs down. What happened to Belle was traumatic for all of us. Including Belle. It even took a while for my vet to get over it. I’m still not over it. I don’t think I ever will be. She was my best friend and my baby as is Daisy and I don’t know how I’m going to cope if I lose both so close together. What would you guys do if it was your guinea pig?
She thinks it might be easier if we just give her anti inflammatories until it’s time to let her go. I don’t know what the right thing to do is but I do know that I don’t want to let either of my guinea pigs down. What happened to Belle was traumatic for all of us. Including Belle. It even took a while for my vet to get over it. I’m still not over it. I don’t think I ever will be. She was my best friend and my baby as is Daisy and I don’t know how I’m going to cope if I lose both so close together. What would you guys do if it was your guinea pig?
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So sorry - this must be so tough for you.
Only you can decide what is best for Daisy and for you.
We don’t get over loss quickly, not if we have loved.
That’s true whether our loss is human or animal.
Holding you in thoughts - you are not alone in whatever decision you make
Only you can decide what is best for Daisy and for you.
We don’t get over loss quickly, not if we have loved.
That’s true whether our loss is human or animal.
Holding you in thoughts - you are not alone in whatever decision you make
Betsy
Anniversary Herd
What a difficult situation to be in. As @Merab's Slave has said only you can decide what is the best thing to do.
If she were one of my piggies I would look at what the quality of life is and ask these questions:-
Talk it over with your family and your vet before you make any decisions.
If she were one of my piggies I would look at what the quality of life is and ask these questions:-
- Is Daisy in pain?
- How long do you think you can keep her pain free?
- Is she able to do normal piggy things?
- Is she eating, drinking, weeing and pooping?
- Are you keeping her alive for you or for her?
Talk it over with your family and your vet before you make any decisions.
Cavy Kung-Fu
Adult Guinea Pig
I'm so sorry you're going through this. How old is she?
It depends on how piggy savvy your vet is but I'd imagine there are more options available? My Cissy is 2 and a half years old and developed a massive mammary tumour and I feared the worst. She had a mastectomy and has been right as rain ever since! Considering my first vet wanted to have her pts when she was 4 months old due to lack of experience (I got a second opinion of course!) she's doing pretty well now!
I'd imagine the blood in the urine could be a stubborn UTI? It doesn't always go away first time depending on what antibiotics were used, how long and what strength.
Lumps aren't always cancerous and could be anything from a cyst to a fatty lump. If it were me personally I'd want to find out what the problem was exactly and look at treatment options. Maybe a second opinion might be worth a try? There are lots of vets on the locator on the forum that would probably be able to help.
I hope she gets better soon!
It depends on how piggy savvy your vet is but I'd imagine there are more options available? My Cissy is 2 and a half years old and developed a massive mammary tumour and I feared the worst. She had a mastectomy and has been right as rain ever since! Considering my first vet wanted to have her pts when she was 4 months old due to lack of experience (I got a second opinion of course!) she's doing pretty well now!
I'd imagine the blood in the urine could be a stubborn UTI? It doesn't always go away first time depending on what antibiotics were used, how long and what strength.
Lumps aren't always cancerous and could be anything from a cyst to a fatty lump. If it were me personally I'd want to find out what the problem was exactly and look at treatment options. Maybe a second opinion might be worth a try? There are lots of vets on the locator on the forum that would probably be able to help.
I hope she gets better soon!
My vet said she doesn’t think Daisy is in pain. We have given her the anti inflammatory/pain killer just in case. She is still eating, peeing and pooping ok. I would say she isn’t eating as much veg as usual though. She is eating her hay and nuggets ok though. She is still her bright self. She still runs around a lot. My vet is very honest, she would tell me if she felt the need to let her go and reassured me that she still seems bright and happy enough for now but said she could go downhill very quickly as the lump has appeared and grown very fast. If Daisy ended up in too much pain or became ill and stopped eating I would let her go. As much as it would break my heart, I couldn’t let her suffer. I have to see my vet again in 2 weeks to make a decision whether to do surgery or not. But after seeing what it did to Belle I don’t think I could do it again to Daisy.
Hi thank you for your advice! Daisy is almost 4. There is still hope that it isn’t cancerous but because it has appeared and grown very quickly my vet said it is more likely to be. I think I am going to ask her to x ray Daisy to see exactly what is going on and in case it is cancer, we will be able to see if it has spread then I will be able to decide with the help of my vet what is best for Daisy. My vet is very highly trained in exotic pets. She studied for a good few extra years and she even offered to come in on her day off for Daisy
. She’s wonderful .
Betsy
Anniversary Herd
You are lucky to have a good vet that you trust. If Daisy is her normal happy self then that is good.
My Christian has a lump about an inch in diameter that came up quickly where one of his plums would have been if he hadn't visited the plum fairy. The vet didn't think it was cancer. He has had it for a while and it doesn't bother him. It hasn't grown any and is still soft and pliable and hasn't adhered to anything. He is his normal happy self bimbling away doing guinea pig things. I am reluctant to put him through the trauma of an operation but I will if it starts to bother him. When I give him his weekly check he purrs away when I check his lump and doesn't complain. He's his normal cheeky self rumble strutting away doing his sexy bum wiggle.
My Christian has a lump about an inch in diameter that came up quickly where one of his plums would have been if he hadn't visited the plum fairy. The vet didn't think it was cancer. He has had it for a while and it doesn't bother him. It hasn't grown any and is still soft and pliable and hasn't adhered to anything. He is his normal happy self bimbling away doing guinea pig things. I am reluctant to put him through the trauma of an operation but I will if it starts to bother him. When I give him his weekly check he purrs away when I check his lump and doesn't complain. He's his normal cheeky self rumble strutting away doing his sexy bum wiggle.
I’m glad Christian is ok
. Daisy’s lump is firm unfortunately. I hope it’s not cancer but I’m terrified in case it is. I don’t know if I want to put Daisy through surgery either. I am going to ask my vet if we could x ray her in case it is cancer because we will be able to see if it has spread or not then decide from there what the best thing to do is. We didn’t expect to find the lump as she only had a feel at her tummy 2 weeks ago and it wasn’t there so it was a shock for all of us.
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Hope all goes well when visit the vet.
Glad to know you have a vet you trust and who understands guinea pigs.
Keep us posted
Glad to know you have a vet you trust and who understands guinea pigs.
Keep us posted
rhymer
Adult Guinea Pig
Hi, I understand totally what you are going through. My piggy George (6 years old) has a lump on his shoulder. I too an reluctant to put him through surgery. At the moment he is OK, so we are monitoring the lump. Glad Daisy is OK and happy too. It's good that you have a cavy saavy vet. Sending you and Daisy hugs.xx
Aw I’m so sorry to hear about George
. I hope he gets better soon . Sending you and George hugs too xx
lauraboara
Adult Guinea Pig
I wasn't sure whether to post this in case I sound to be Mrs Doom but just going off my own experience it isn't great to wait long with suspicious lumps. Statistically I have been pretty unlucky and out of 4 boys with lumps over the last few years, 3 had cancerous lumps on different bits of body (back, testicle and thyroid) . I opted to have surgery on all three (all 5 yrs old when lumpy) and it bought them extra precious months but only months. The one with the back lump had a bony sarcoma and that felt very firm. I also think that people don't always send off lumps to be tested in lab (for valid reasons) so we don't know how common cancerous lumps are. But cysts etc are still much more seen.
Has your vet suggested biopsy? A scan or X-ray will only tell you so much and depends what tissue the tumour is made of I think. Am I right with that @pig in the city? I am just worried that your vets wait for 2 weeks approach may mean that if it is fast growing, the lump will be bigger and then harder to remove if you do opt for surgery?
Great that you have a good relationship with your vet so you can have these discussion. Sending vibes for your little Daisy. No decision is wrong in this kind of situation. Hugs.
Has your vet suggested biopsy? A scan or X-ray will only tell you so much and depends what tissue the tumour is made of I think. Am I right with that @pig in the city? I am just worried that your vets wait for 2 weeks approach may mean that if it is fast growing, the lump will be bigger and then harder to remove if you do opt for surgery?
Great that you have a good relationship with your vet so you can have these discussion. Sending vibes for your little Daisy. No decision is wrong in this kind of situation. Hugs.
Yes @lauraboara an x-ray isn't much help in these circumstances unfortunately. A needle biopsy or excision biopsy would hopefully give answers but l am sure your vet is looking at the whole picture and avoiding unnecessary stress on your piggy
Lisa96
Junior Guinea Pig
Hi thank you for your reply. My vet is off next week that is why we have decided 2 weeks but she said if I decide I want to sooner to bring Daisy in and discuss it with the person who is standing in for her. I am unsure for a number of reasons but the main reason is I saw what it did to Belle. It went horribly wrong and although that normally doesn’t happen because my vet hardly ever loses animals it was very traumatic. Belle wasn’t the same after surgery and then one day I woke up and she had stayed in the same spot all night. So I took her out to give her her medicine then I put her back to feed her but she started tipping to one side and she wouldn’t eat anything. I don’t know if she maybe had a stroke but it was horrible seeing my little baby like that. We took her into the vet first thing that morning and she was drooling then she collapsed on the table so we made the decision to put her to sleep as she had been through so much and was still suffering. She could hardly breathe because she developed a chest infection too. I felt terrible, I blamed myself for what happened and I still sometimes do. My vet was trying very hard not to cry when I went to get Belle’s ashes and has said it has taken her a while to get over what happened. We aren’t sure if the same thing would happen to Daisy but I don’t know if I want to take the risk.
Lisa96
Junior Guinea Pig
I typed this in my old account that I forgot I had and logged into it by accident as I thought I didn’t know the password! Sorry for any confusion!
lauraboara
Adult Guinea Pig
Completely understandable that you feel this way after a traumatic death. Hope little Daisy keeps doing well for as long as possible