Lumps on Guinea pig :(

[MsAwesomeDragon]

Ginger has a big lump on her tummy, near her nipple. So we took her to the vet this evening who found 4 more smaller lumps elsewhere on her body. Sticking a needle in discovered that no they are not abcesses, but are rather more solid than that :(

So the vet took biopsies, but seems to think that getting a proper diagnosis isn't actually going to improve the outcome as there are so many lumps she wouldn't be able to remove them all. The vet gave us some baytril "just in case it helps", and some pain relief because piggies generally don't show pain. She'll get in touch when she gets some results from the biopsies.

It's not looking good for poor ginger :( although she is still quite happy in herself. She's running around, eating happily (beetroot is her favourite so she's getting lots of that now), and pooing as much as ever.

Has anybody got any experience of a guinea pig with lumps? How long till they went downhill? Did they have to be pts? Or did they go peacefully? I don't want to lose her, and her sister will be devastated without her.

Ah - sad to say I recently had one of my females PTS (she was 4 and a half)

She was a lumpy little hog from the start (we got her as a 2yo)

She developed a really fast growing lump under her chin, I thought it was an abscess due to the speed. It wasn't.

Our pig was happily eating and poohing right to the end (even on the vets table!)
I had the decision made by the fact it was in her neck.
Other less vascular areas might have a better outcome. I watched a video of a middle aged pig having a huge lump taken off his leg, he went to to recover well.

Wait to get the results and go from there. From the location it sounds like a mammary tumpur. The lumps might be fatty benign tumours, in which case you can watch and wait. The risk of them growing big and being a hinderance has to be weighed up with the risk of surgery.
And at the very centre, think "Who am I doing this FOR"?
Is it for the piggie , or for me, or her cagemate?

They are quite fragile little souls when it comes to surgery , I think "Do I really want them going through operations and treatment? Will it extend their life? Or do I let them have whatever time and decide when there's no quality of life to let them go"?

Pigs eating is good though

Thanks for the reply.

We've already decided we won't be putting her through surgery, it would be too much for her we think. She hated being examined by the vet yesterday and is very unimpressed about having to be caught twice a day for medicine.

DH has been out and bought her favourite treats so she can have some parsley and beetroot after her medicine.

Any update on results for AwesomePiggie ?