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Tumor of the abdomen, advice?

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My guinea pig was diagnosed with a tumor in his abdomen by a vet yesterday, who said he'd operate but the chances of removing it were very slim and he'd probably just have to put him to sleep afterwards. I couldn't bare this news so I went to another vet for a second opinion and he agreed with the first vet and said that in his own personal opinion, chances of the operation working were minuscule and if it were him, he'd just put the guinea pig to sleep rather than put him through the whole procedure.
I woke up this morning to bring him to the vet but I just physically couldn't do it; my guinea pig is still eating, still making sounds, still looking around curiously, and he does move around from time to time. I cancelled the vet appointment, because I think if I brought him it'd be like putting him down before his time, he still has life left in him and still seems happy!
I can't bring him to the vet to end his life when he still seems so healthy, it would be so much easier if he was actually acting sick, so I'm going to wait until I see signs of sickness until I bring him to be put to sleep. I just need to know I'm doing the right thing?
 
Welcome to the forum, I am sorry your pig has had this diagnosis. Did the vet say what the tumour is attached to?

For what it is worth, your experience mirrors one of my own. Charlie was diagnosed with a kidney tumour, vet said surgery held a 1% chance of success either during or after the surgery. Vet suggested euthanasia as the tumour would put pressure on his internal organs. We said no, he is otherwise absolutely fine, we agreed that his condition would be managed with pain relief. He survived for nine months past diagnosis; the tumour was large and took up over three quarters of his abdomen by the time he passed, but he always ate and pottered around. It was only when he suffered a suspected stroke and he would not (or could not) swallow anything, that the decision was made to put him to sleep.
 
No he didn't, but he said that it might be attached to the kidney.

It's so wonderful that your guinea pig was able to last another nine months, and your story really cheered me up! But did you ever regret keeping him alive? or not getting the operation? I'm planning on getting him pain relief because he's a little under the weather today but he's still eating/drinking. Just hope things get a little easier for my poor Val.
 
I am glad my experience has helped you. Back then (2007) I wanted to find someone else who had been through it, and found nobody; it was difficult having that decision with no other cases to compare to.

I never regretted keeping him alive or not putting him through surgery. He had three days in total throughout his illness where he seemed to be feeling low, and although he was still eating I wavered on whether it was time, but he always picked back up the next day. The fact he was entirely himself and he maintained his appetite is why he was not PTS, for months there was simply no sign of this tumour - the only thing that led to the diagnosis is that I actually had him x-rayed as I suspected a bladder stone because he was peeing blood, and his tumour was found, and the peeing blood was just a simple infection that may or may not have been related to this tumour; the infection did not return once it was treated.

The vet was happy enough to send him home with pain relief, his dose was only introduced when he showed signs of discomfort, and increased as and when necessary.
 
I had a similar experience with my rabbit.

For around a year I had been saying Fudge had a pot belly, felt different to any of my other rabbits tummys, but the vet always said there was nothing wrong with him.

I don't live at home but went home one day and could just tell something wasn't right with Fudge so took him to the vets who said he had a tumour in his abdomen but would do an ultrasound to be sure. I went to collect him later and sure enough he had a massive tumour...he looked and felt like a balloon.

The vet recommended we should have him PTS but we new he wasn't ready for that he was still eating and wandering about albeit slightly difficult for him. Our house became like a rabbit intensive care unit. Gradually Fudge deteriorated as the tumour became too heavy for him to carry and hop about with. We would have him propped up with cushions but sometimes in the morning he would have fallen over and have been stuck....we knew it was time then. Even as we loaded Fudge into the basket to head to the vet he tried to make one last bid for freedom trying to hop it was just so hard to watch because other than the tumour he was still the same bunny as always.

He lived around a further 3months than the vet had initially thought, and believe the tumour had been growing for years. Having him put to sleep was the worst thing ever, we just kept wishing him to go peacefully on his own but it wasn't to be. You will know when the time is right and if he needs PTS but if he is still him self and eating and would say the time is not now.

Hope this helps x
 
Thanks so much for your replies! It really does help when other people have been through it because for a while I was so mad at the fact that my guinea pig had to get a tumor as this seems kind of rare?

The vet said that Val's tumor is actually the size of a golfball, so it's already large and I'm just really hoping he can last a few months even though it's already that big. Kind of worried today, he ate and drank for me in the morning, but when I returned in the evening to feed him, he kept running away from me? I guess it's good that he's still moving.
Just wondering, how did yous feed your guinea pig/rabbit the pain relief? and were their feces much smaller than usual? Val's have decreased in size by half, compared to my other guinea pig's. It's really upsetting for some reason. This whole ordeal is; I just don't want him to be scared, or in anymore discomfort.
 
My rabbit was given metacam to deal with pain which we would give on piece of apple....however we actually stopped giving the metacam as we felt he became very spaced out on it and was actually far more himself without the metacam.

The vet said he had never seen a tumour like it in a rabbit it actually doubled fudge in size it was so large and full off fluid.

As for his poops they did decrease in size as the tumour put pressure on everything internally.

It is so hard to know what to do but you know your piggie and if he is still showing interest in life then he is still able to be with you.

Are you considering surgery?
 
He's not eating anymore, my mother said she'd get painkillers today but was unable to. It's like he pretends to eat. He did get up and scratch himself though, and does run away a lot, but that's probably out of stress. More worried than ever to be honest. I don't know what I can do to try and make him eat. :(

Absolutely not considering surgery, the chances of it working are too low and I can't put him through anymore stress.
 
Have you had him up for a cuddle?

Had he been displaying different behaviour as that what made you take him to the vet in the first place?
 
Yeah, he's beside me right now sleeping on my dressing gown!
He just wolfed down half an apple slice, i think I just had to find his favourite food, but he hasn't been eating his dried food since I noticed he was sick, only apples and carrots everyday, but not too much! I'm afraid of giving him too much treats in case it might be bad for him?

Well the reason I took him to the vet was because he was losing lots of weight and squealed in pain whenever I picked him up. I noticed he was more quiet than he used to be and he still is but other than that he's still kind of showing the will to live. I just hope once I get the pain relief he'll be a little more himself again.
I heard baby calpol can be used for pain relief, is it true? And can I use it for pain relief against his tumor? how would I even feed him baby calpol... I'm horribly clueless to all of this!
 
I'm sorry to hear he's not doing well. I'm afraid I can't offer you any medical advice but I'd say if you find something he wants to eat, let him have it. Some food is better than no food and if it's apple he fancies then it might just get him interested in food again. You know what it's like when you don't feel well, sometimes there's only one thing you fancy.
Sending healing vibes x
 
Ye I think you can give children's calpol but I have never so don't know dose. You would just measure the dose in a syringe and you can either just syringe it into his mouth or give it to him on a piece of his favourite food.

Towards the end Fudge would only eat favourite foods such as apple and we just gave him this as something is better than nothing and even if it wasn't great for him he didn't have long left anyway :( so I wouldn't worry if he is only taken selected foods.

Any change getting to the vets to get the metacam today?
 
He's doing a little better today! I got him medicine from the vets today, grinded up the tablet and smeared it on the apple and he wolfed it down! He seems more peppy, it's great!
I just hope this can sustain him for a little while and he'll be happy~ Thanks so much for all your replies, I really really appreciate it :) xx
 
Out of interest what are the tablets? I have only ever had metacam in liquid form as a painkiller for my pets.

So glad to hear he is feeling a bit better.....it is all about quality of life for him now hope he does well for some time to come x
 
My vet didn't actually say what tablets they are! He gave me around 15 of them in an envelope with a prescription written but it doesn't say what kind they are.. or I just can't read his writing!
He just said that with cancer, people as well as guinea pigs don't really feel much pain but rather they're just really tired and drained all the time and don't feel like moving. So these tablets have pain relief as well as steroids!
I'm to give my guinea pig half a tablet every second day, or a quarter of a tablet every day.
 
i'm so sorry to hear your little one has a tumour.

i had the same thing with Parsnip.

when i first got her after a few months she started having blood coming out of one her nipples so the vets operated and removed the tumor. when she was about 4 she started weeing blood so i took her to the vets and they said she had a tumor in her tummy and that the weeing blood was an infection. they said they didn't want to operate because she wouldn't make it through the surgery. they cured her infection and about three months later i took her back to the vets because she got a piece of hay in her eye (she was always doing that!) the vet was surprised she was still alive!

when i new that i didn't have long left with Parsnip i gave her all her favourite veg and cuddles. about 4 months after she was diagnosed i took her out of her cage to give her cuddles and she wouldn't eat anything. she died in my arms that night. towards the end i new that something was wrong as she would sometimes have little fits when you stroked her. my mum said it was because the tumor was pressing on her nerves.

i am so glad i was with her at the end.

you will know what to do when the time comes :)
 
I'm sorry to hear that about your Parsnip! It's really such a pity when piggies get something so.. untreatable.
I really hope I do know when it's time, I just can't stand the fact that the tumor is so big already; the thought of it putting pressure on his little organs makes me so upset.

I'm just trying to think of ways to make his last few weeks/months (hopefully) really loving and enjoyable for him, any suggestions? :)
 
just give lots of extra cuddles and nice treats and put him where you can see him lots. he may live longer than you think.

my ferret Boris had a tumor on his back. i took him to the vets after 6 months from when it was diagnosed and they had to resurect him from the data base, as the last vet that saw him had already put him down as dead when he last visited! :)p Boris lived till he was 12 which i'm told is quite old for a ferret :)
 
I would say just lots of cuddles and favourite veggies.

I can't remember if you said...does he have a cage mate?
 
Yeah he does! Just one though. The two of them snuggle up in my dressing robe and watch TV with me every night now! Poor Jimmy be so alone when Val goes. :( And I'd love to get him another friend but I just don't think I can go through this over and over again.
 
i know its hard.

when i new Parsnip was dying i stared to look for a new companion before she died to keep Jimmy company. i know this might sound horrible and it was a very weird thing to have to do, but i new it was the best thing for Jimmy as i didn't want him to be alone.

everytime a pet has died it seems to get harder and i always question why i do it when they die, but then i think about how much joy they have brought me and they are my little family.

if i can bring happiness to an animal then i feel like i have achieved something :)
 
That is good that he has a friend around and getting lots of cuddles.

What age are they both?

It is so hard losing pets I have had pets since I was 8 so 14 years and it never gets any better but I love having pets sooo much x
 
I love having them so much too, but I'm so accustomed to my two boys and I don't want any others. Well not at the moment, at least. I don't know what to do, I don't think I could bare seeing Jimmy depressed and alone in his cage..

They're both brothers, two years and four months old, so they're quite young. Jimmy is a really big and strong piggy, and the vets said he was fine! But Val was always a good bit smaller and unfortunately he had to get this tumor.
It's just heartbreaking but it's really comforting to know that other people have been through it and I can't thank yous enough for your help! x
 
((HUGS))- I'm sorry you're going through this! I had an african pygmy hedgehog with a large abdominal tumour... because she was so old the vet said that she would be very unlikely to survive surgery. As it progressed, it made it harder and harder for her to walk because the tumour began to press on the nerves in her legs. However she always ate and drank and never seemed to be in pain, and eventually she passed away in her sleep about four months after the tumour become visible to the naked eye (who knows how long it had been growing without us being able to see it!) She was six when she died, which is a good age for a hedgie. I've had to have other pets put to sleep and always put it up to quality of life... if they were puttering along like usual and I didn't see a dramatic lifestyle change, I was happy to let them live out their days. But if I could see that they were suffering or scared or in pain or just having a miserable time of it, I knew it was time because it was the last thing that I could do for them. ((HUGS))- it's so hard when pets are sick. When my piggie Frenzy was dying last summer, I can remember bawling and saying I was not getting anymore pets because I couldn't stand it anymore... but that didn't last, and we did get another pig to keep her cagemate Linney company. And I'm glad that we did... it hurts so much to lose them, but it doesn't cancel out how much happiness and love they give while they are here!

Just to add, I know it makes it that much harder when they are still young. My Frenzy was only 18 or so month old when she died... we thought we had so many more years with her. It hurt all the more because it just wasn't fair. And my kids were so heartbroken because they didn't expect her to die when she was young. It's been six months or so but I still sometimes find myself sitting there thinking of her and being angry because she had such a short life, in spite of how much we loved her and how much we tried to help her.
 
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I'm sorry you had to go through the same thing!
I guess you're right, I've never regretted getting animals or anything like that, but I'm so damn sentimental about death I find it so hard to deal with. I wish I could just get on with my life and be done with it but I can't! But I know that I'll definitely have to get Jimmy another cage mate eventually.

Val is absolutely fantastic at the moment because of the pain killers, you wouldn't even think there's anything wrong with him! He's almost completely back to himself, it's so wonderful to see, and I'm really happy with my decision now. :) I'm not sure whether it's better for them to go in their sleep or to be euthanized but I guess I'll just have to see how things go..
 
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