Urgent medical disgnosis suggestions needed for Leeland pleeeease!

[Dusty_bugs]

Hi guys,

Will try and get the photo from ym vet again (when he's not busy), but I took Leeland in again for suspected tongue problems again. He knocked her out and had a look but instead of tonge necrosis he found 2 white lumps embedded in the soft palate tissue. It looks like spurs poking through the back of the throat (ie. where there are no teeth) so looks really weird.

My first guess was Tonsiloliths.

 

[Pound Shilling & Pig]

Hi, it is possible she has an oral fungal infection. Your description sounds similar to what my vet once described to me in a piggy i had suspected had dental issues ( her teeth were fine). Hope this helps

 

[Amanda1801]

I would suggest samples need to be taken for analysis

 

[Dusty_bugs]

thanks guys, He said when he touched it, it was gritty. He didnt want to biopsy because the location was too risky, a heavy bleed would have likely killed her (he said it takes a brave man to biopsy a guineapig back there). We're going to do some research first. He's reluctant to jump into anything until he's found out more - hence why I'm desperate for advice on here incase anyone's seen it aswell.

We're also keeping our eye on the size of her ovarian cyst (It's as big as a baby's fist at the mo). He's reluctant to operate on it just yet incase it goes down, he says cysts arent always a cause to operate unless they put strain on other organs and then its worth knocking her out again.

Alan's email to me last night:



Focal spots of infection can cause calcium to be deposited. But if this is the case to find infectious cause need a sample of affected tissue - it may be possible by doing a fine needle aspirate of the affected tissue - I would need to speak with lab about likely this would give a result.I am all for reassess this in 2 to 4 weeks before commit to any thing. I send a dog fro a specialist opinion for calcinosis cutis and the decision was to leave alone and it gradually resolved on its own


Trauma low grade repeated could do it.


Spontaneous occurence for other unknown reason

He's a fast thinker so his notes are quite jotty but you get the point!

 

[Dusty_bugs]

So we've since had several diagnoses that these are either lipid deposits (which we aren't sure because of the texture) or just calcium deposits which are relatively harmless. Either way nothing chronic. We'll review in a few months.

 

[sport_billy]

Poor Leeland, she has been through so much She is such a fighter. Lots of love to your gorgeous girl

 

[Lilly]

I'm so sorry Leeland is having health problems. It must be hard not knowing what is wrong exactly. I have no suggestions but as you and your vet seem on top of things, I certainly hope a diagnosis and solution comes about soon.

 

[Pebble]

Having looked at the piccies, here are Some comments for your vet to consider:

DIAGNOSIS/TREATMENT
If it is calcium deposits then surely there would be some others elsewhere in the body that would show up on xray?- how likely is it that "metastatic calcification" would first show in the throat?

It's more possible that this is a chronic infection with ongoing pathology/granuloma formation -and looks more likely to be bacterial rather than fungal from it;s appearance. If Leeland has already had antibiotics ie baytril or septrin recently - perhaps t;s worth trying a heavy hitter first - such as oral azithromycin or long-acting tetracycline or even gentamycin injections - my pigs have had nasty eye and ear infections with multi-drug-resistant pseudomonas that is ONLY sensitive to gentamycin. Beechie had cheek abcesses that were only removed by surgery and LA-tet.

Ideally it would be better to perform a fine needle aspirate/antibiotic sensitivity culture to identify the bugs before any antibioitics are given - however I do understand your vet's reticence given the location

PALLIATIVE CARE

Most important is to keep her eating and drinking. The soreness in the throat may be preventing her eating her noraml hay'fibre content and migth make accessing a water bottle spout too painful.
Weigh daily
Try a water bowl in the cage
Try softened/hydrated nuggets

With ref to the soreness - I am hesitant to ever give daktarin oral gel to a piggie as this is just an anti-fungal and will be ingested with, over time, potential consequences to the liver. Metacam might be an option but if it doesn;t relieve the pain then maybe consider tramadol as this has proven to be a much heavier hitting pain relief for guineas.

HTH
x

 

[MargaretB]

I hope it's nothing serious and that Leeland feels better soon.