Yogi Has An Ovarian Cyst

[Katie1988]

Hi all, as some of you are aware about the drama I'm having with my beloved Yogi today I took her to a vet due to her deteriorating again with her URI treatment.

I booked her in to the vet today and he felt her abdoman and advised that Yogi has an ovarian cyst! It is quite big and in an awkward position apparently. She was squeeking when he was feeling around her tummy so to me everything seems to make sense now, why she has become lethalgic and non communicative.

A good thing is I can put her back with Kiwi (probably more good news for Kiwi than Yogi bless), he thinks the URI is not contagious now and thinks it has been brought on by stress and pain of the cyst.

The options are to have hormone injections to shrink the cyst, vet said this may work 50% and may require repeat injections as it is likely to return, OR go ahead with the spray op to ensure it is removed completely and will not return. The vet thinks the operation may be the best bet as she is only 4 and has a good few years ahead of her yet, we just need to fatten her up over the next 7 days.

What do you guys think? Anyone had this problem with their sows? I'm in bits over this, I just want her to be pain-free!

Yogi has lost weight and said she will need to put on weight if I decide to go ahead with the spray operation.

 

[helen105281]

Cysts can press on other organs too so that may be why her breathing was compromised. I would usually say go with the draining and injections first but if her breathing is affected it may be better to go for the op. Though saying that, if the cyst is drained the pressure won't be there, so maybe that is the best option bearing in mind you need to get weight on her before the vet can operate anyway.

 

[Katie1988]

Thanks Helen for your thoughts. Yes the vet said cysts tend to press on other organs causing discomfort. The vet also said he has not had much sucess with the injections, so I'm thinking I don't want to put her through the uneccesary stress and pain of the treatment if she will need to have the operation anyway.

Btw she is loving this vet nutritional feed, so fingers crossed I can fatten her up for next week.

 

[helen105281]

Well that's good she is eating it, hopefully you will be able to get the weight on her. The injections did work for my Terk but hers was a tumour rather than a cyst. She was much older though which is why we didn't want to operate. The injections gave us an extra year with us before we had to make the decision.

 

[Katie1988]

I am glad it worked for little Terk, I would deffo choose injections if Yogi was older as the operation would be far too risky.
The vet said he has recently done the opp on one of the nurses piggies and it is progressing well. That assured me a little as he won't be trialing the operation on Yogi. I will still keep weighing it all up as it is a tough choice to make.

Yogi has been given some more of the antibiotic and metacam to keep that URI at bay. She's also on cisapride for her gut movement 0.05m 2 times a day. She's also on Emeraid recovery food 5m 2 times a day (although she won't stop at 5m haha)

 

[helen105281]

I have always wanted to get some Emeraid but my vets don't stock it. That is very reassuring.

 

[Katie1988]

I have always wanted to get some Emeraid but my vets don't stock it. That is very reassuring.

It smells like potato starch haha, doesn't seem to bother Yogi though. She doesn't really rate the recovery food I got her so it's good to see she likes the taste of this one. I hope this keeps up because she can be a right madam and get bored of foods lol.

 

[Poppy'sMum]

Emeraid is fab stuff, you don't need to give as much as Critical Care & it is great at weight maintaining With regards to the cysts, I've had sows over 16 years or so & several have needed the hormone injections, or cysts draining. Having a sow spayed is a very big operation, I would only consider it as a very last resort & choose a vet who has done the operation many times successfully. However the aftercare is what is crucial & involves a lot of syringe feeding for a while to maintain weight & appetite. I've had one sow spayed because of a womb infection & it's not something I'd like to go through again. I have one sow going for her 2nd jab tomorrow, she has had one already 2 weeks ago. She has had the cysts a while & had 1 lot of injections last year. I would definitely try the injections first as they have always worked for my piggies

 

[Katie1988]

Thanks Poppy's mum for your advice. How old were your sows when they had the injections? Did any of them have to have the surgery after the injections? How old was the sow that had the surgery. I just don't want it to work, or only work as a temp measure and then she suffers with an infection or cysts/cancer develops.

 

[Poppy'sMum]

I can't remember off hand the ages of the previous ones, generally between 1-5 years old I would think. Ziggy aged 4 is going for her 2nd jab tomorrow, usually that works & she doesn't need the 3rd one. She's had the jabs last year & only needed 2 then.

Petal is my bladder pig, she has an inflamed bladder & is on various medications. Her spay was a year ago when she was 4 1/2 . Her bladder had caused her womb to become infected so we had no choice but to get her spayed. She had never had a problem with cysts though.

 

[GPTV]

I had Ellie at 6.5yrs old who was diagnosed with an ovarian cyst she had an ultrasound scan &the cyst was approx walnut sized.

She had suffered with repeated uti's, usually with blood in her urine &undiluted looking blood when she pooped.
She didnt show any of the other classic signs of cysts... Crusty nipples, hormonal stressy behaviour, hair loss on her sides,etc.
But she did have a bit of lump on her side &she sometimes seemed to puff up a bit as though she was uncomfortable or in pain.

She was too old for a spay& my vet wouldn't drain them without a general anaesthetic either. so I had to go for the injections.
She had 2 hcg chorulon injections about 7-10day apart then 2 more again about 12 months later.
I think she had one or two bleeds after the first set of jabs &no more uti's or bleeds ever again.

I lost her when she was about 8yrs old to multiple health issues.
But they were definitely successful for her. The lump disappeared quickly &she even had a lovely shiny coat again afterwards.

I would probably opt for the the jabs first unless your vet is VERY Experienced in performing spays. The injections are less risky than a spay to start with.

If u want a short term weight gain, you could try feeding sweetcorn/corn on the cob. (they like the leaves & love the stringy cornsilks too). But go easy on it when she has put on enough weight as I think they are quite fattening.
Healing vibes.
Xx

Oh &ask your vet about painkillers such as metacam for her, as apparently ovarian cysts are very painful in humans so I guess they will be for guineas too.
Eating less can sometimes be a side effect of pain issues.
This may help her gain weight too.

Good luck. Xx