The Great Piggie escape vet visit

[Alisa3114]

Some of you might have read about Alisa's little escape adventure and how I found a lump on her back when I was checking her over. Her vet visit on Sunday was cancelled due to an emergency so we had to wait until yesterday to go but it wasn't with the piggie vet as he was on holiday. The vet we saw is a training to be an exotics vet. Apart from the lump Alisa has no other issues her weight is stable the vet checked her teeth and said they were perfect. The vet discounted it being an abscess or cyst as she said there doesn't seem to be any sign of pain or inflammation or a puncture wound to cause infection She recommended either doing a needle biopsy which she said isn't always accurate and costs £150 or just removing the lump completely for £250 but will cost a further £200 to send to the lab to check if it's a benign fatty lump or cancer She said there wasn't much point in doing anything yesterday as there would be a delay because of Christmas so She's put her on a dose of Metacam for two weeks to see if it makes a difference and the lump reduces or gets bigger and then we can decide what course of action to take next.

I don't know what to do next, should I get a second opinion when the exotics vet is back from holiday or take her to different vet to get their opinion ?

 

[YvonneBlue]

That sounds terribly expensive for a needle biopsy. Our exotics vet charges £90. I have had one done recently on a lump on my skinny pig Ginger.

 

[Alisa3114]

I also took Ariel to get checked over. I don't know if anybody would remember but back in October she got treated for a URI. The only symptoms she she had was a slight runny nose just in the one nostril she didn't loose any weight, or have a lose of appetite and it never appeared her chest or lungs and after 3 courses of Baytril and Metacam it cleared up. In the week her nose started to run again from the same nostril it's not much and you can only see it's a bit wet if you look closely the vet couldn't tell until she used her magnify lens. As before she hasn't lost any weight and there's nothing on her chest or lungs. Vet said she doesn't think it's a URI, it might be a foreign body but she said she would expect to see some pus if it was not clear like it is. She checked her teeth just in case there was a problem with them and that was causing it but they were fine. She said it might be a polyp in her nose and she wants to put her under anaesthetic and X-ray her skull and put a probe up her nose even though she said as she is still technically a baby as she's only 6 months old she don't think they have a probe small enough so wouldn't be able to get it completely up her nose with the ones they have which I don't see the point in doing especially as it costs £300 and seems pretty drastic when she don't think it will work. So for the next two weeks she's put her on Metacam like Alisa and also wants me to nebulise her for an hour everyday with F10 so had to go and buy a nebuliser as it would have cost £20 a week to hire it from the vet.

 

[Alisa3114]

That sounds terribly expensive for a needle biopsy. Our exotics vet charges £90. I have had one done recently on a lump on my skinny pig Ginger.

I though it sounded quite a lot. It just seemed to be all about the money What did it show, was Ginger ok ?

 

[Claire W]

That does sound terribly expensive for a needle biopsy. The last one I had done was less than £150 but he had two lumps tested. It’s around £60-£80 for one.

I would look for a second opinion from the exotics vet when they are back from holiday of it was me.

It could just be a harmless cyst

 

[Bill & Ted]

So sorry Alisa has a lump, it sounds quite expensive to me. Bill had two lumps (one <1cm and another tiny one behind it) removed likely to have been aggressive mammary cancer it cost about £250 which included his incisor tooth burred under anaesthetic at the same time and £30 of drugs, one large bottle of dog metacam and ranatide. The lump was not sent off for diagnosis because there would be no other treatment if it returned (no chemo for pigwigs) so Simon said there was little point but that would have been a further £100 for the results of the lumps.
The main thing is having it done by an experience vet that knows exactly what he is doing, money is a secondary issue, so sendinggood luck and lots of healing vibes for her x

 

[Claire W]

I also took Ariel to get checked over. I don't know if anybody would remember but back in October she got treated for a URI. The only symptoms she she had was a slight runny nose just in the one nostril she didn't loose any weight, or have a lose of appetite and it never appeared her chest or lungs and after 3 courses of Baytril and Metacam it cleared up. In the week her nose started to run again from the same nostril it's not much and you can only see it's a bit wet if you look closely the vet couldn't tell until she used her magnify lens. As before she hasn't lost any weight and there's nothing on her chest or lungs. Vet said she doesn't think it's a URI, it might be a foreign body but she said she would expect to see some pus if it was not clear like it is. She checked her teeth just in case there was a problem with them and that was causing it but they were fine. She said it might be a polyp in her nose and she wants to put her under anaesthetic and X-ray her skull and put a probe up her nose even though she said as she is still technically a baby as she's only 6 months old she don't think they have a probe small enough so wouldn't be able to get it completely up her nose with the ones they have which I don't see the point in doing especially as it costs £300 and seems pretty drastic when she don't think it will work. So for the next two weeks she's put her on Metacam like Alisa and also wants me to nebulise her for an hour everyday with F10 so had to go and buy a nebuliser as it would have cost £20 a week to hire it from the vet.

My Elizabeth often makes a hooting noise. She’s been checked by 3 different vets who can’t find anything wrong so we think she has an abnormality in her nose. Of course it would cost a fortune to run expensive tests so we’re just leaving her B as I have been assured by the rescue and the vet the rescue uses before she came to me. My vet just gave her lungs and heart a little listen too when I mentioned it so it can be put in her notes. But I’m not worried.

sometimes it’s best to just leave well alone

 

[YvonneBlue]

I though it sounded quite a lot. It just seemed to be all about the money ☹ What did it show, was Ginger ok ?

Yes he is fine. Ginger has two lumps. One on his back which is a sebaceous cyst and the one in his tummy is a fatty lump. Neither seem to bother him.

 

[Alisa3114]

Yes he is fine. Ginger has two lumps. One on his back which is a sebaceous cyst and the one in his tummy is a fatty lump. Neither seem to bother him.

That's good to know glad he is ok

 

[Alisa3114]

My Elizabeth often makes a hooting noise. She’s been checked by 3 different vets who can’t find anything wrong so we think she has an abnormality in her nose. Of course it would cost a fortune to run expensive tests so we’re just leaving her B as I have been assured by the rescue and the vet the rescue uses before she came to me. My vet just gave her lungs and heart a little listen too when I mentioned it so it can be put in her notes. But I’m not worried.

sometimes it’s best to just leave well alone

I came out of there really depressed, I don't want to put either of them under any unnecessary procedures and I don't want to not get them both sorted but when she was saying what she wanted to do with Ariel it just sounded horrifying to put her through that when at the moment it's not affecting her.

 

[Alisa3114]

So sorry Alisa has a lump, it sounds quite expensive to me. Bill had two lumps (one <1cm and another tiny one behind it) removed likely to have been aggressive mammary cancer it cost about £250 which included his incisor tooth burred under anaesthetic at the same time and £30 of drugs, one large bottle of dog metacam and ranatide. The lump was not sent off for diagnosis because there would be no other treatment if it returned (no chemo for pigwigs) so Simon said there was little point but that would have been a further £100 for the results of the lumps.
The main thing is having it done by an experience vet that knows exactly what he is doing, money is a secondary issue, so sendinggood luck and lots of healing vibes for her x

I think I will have to get a second opinion I can't bear the thought of it might being cancer

I don't know if her pricing is different to the vet I normally see but I paid £120 yesterday for the consultation,1 bottle Metacam and 1 bottle F10. Last time when Ariel and Avaleigh went it cost £107 for the consultation 2 bottles of Baytril and 2 bottles of Metacam. I know it has to be paid either way but it left me not knowing what to do for the best it was just a case of this costs this amount this costs that now it's up to you to decide.

 

[Claire W]

I came out of there really depressed, I don't want to put either of them under any unnecessary procedures and I don't want to not get them both sorted but when she was saying what she wanted to do with Ariel it just sounded horrifying to put her through that when at the moment it's not affecting her.

All the can really suggest is to go with your gut instinct. I know that doesn’t really help you though But I would get a second opinion

 

[Bill & Ted]

I think I will have to get a second opinion I can't bear the thought of it might being cancer

I don't know if her pricing is different to the vet I normally see but I paid £120 yesterday for the consultation,1 bottle Metacam and 1 bottle F10. Last time when Ariel and Avaleigh went it cost £107 for the consultation 2 bottles of Baytril and 2 bottles of Metacam. I know it has to be paid either way but it left me not knowing what to do for the best it was just a case of this costs this amount this costs that now it's up to you to decide.

Go with your gut instinct like @Claire W says, so sorry I can’t advise you more, we had the op done straight away that day. We could have taken him home then decided what to do for the best but my gut instinct was get it done now, luckily Simon said he’d do it there and then and put him top of the list that afternoon, he had had it done within the hour so we could get him back home to Cornwall that day, we got back around midnight!

 

[Alisa3114]

Go with your gut instinct like @Claire W says, so sorry I can’t advise you more, we had the op done straight away that day. We could have taken him home then decided what to do for the best but my gut instinct was get it done now, luckily Simon said he’d do it there and then and put him top of the list that afternoon, he had had it done within the hour so we could get him back home to Cornwall that day, we got back around midnight!

Simon is a fab vet and I would totally trust him, I don't have that trust in the vet I saw . I am really against putting Ariel through that procedure but I think I want to get the lump removed from Alisa but I think I'm going to try a different vet . I think I will try the vet Suzy uses at the rescue , I haven't taken them there before as they only seem to see Piggies on a Thursday morning. I will try and get an appointment and see what he says.