Poorly Guinea pig

[MsAwesomeDragon]

My lovely Guinea pig Ginger is currently at the vets where they are looking at a large lump on her neck. She's been under the weather for a few days, and has been having trouble eating since Friday. She's can't pick up chunks of food, but can still manage it if we grate the carrot/broccoli, etc and still nibbles.

She's 4.5 years old and has had lumps on her belly for a couple of years, so we weren't too worried about the one on her neck. Turns out they think that one is causing problems with her teeth, which is causing problems with eating. So we're all anxiously waiting for a phone call to tell us what they've found and what the plan is.

Has anyone had anything similar where the piggy was ok? We don't want to lose her just yet!!

Our pigs have had various lumps/swellings. The problem is establishing what the lump actually is. Could be cyst/cancerous. Firstly the vet has always, in our case, taken fluid off the lump. In one of our pigs it blood, so the vet thought it was prob cancerous. So then the next decision is whether to put her through an operation, and as she was elderly and still quite happy we decided against it. Our other pig had a lump and fluid in his chest, prob a cyst, so he was given a course of antibiotics which worked well. Wishing you the best of luck x

Thanks. We've just had an update from the vet. She believes it's cancerous. And it's pushed her teeth out of place so they stick out at the front and won't wear themselves down through eating as they don't meet any more. She has said that she doesn't think Ginger would come home at all if they tried to operate, as the position of the lump is too tricky and she would end up losing too much blood.

So she's filing down the front teeth, I'm bringing her home this afternoon, but she will probably not last more than a few weeks before she has the same problem again. At that point she's recommending putting her to sleep as the kindest thing. I'm rather heartbroken, but she's actually lasted a couple of years longer than we thought, as we thought the other lumps were cancerous as well and she's just sort of lived with them. We'll make her comfortable for as long as she has left. And I'm not going to worry about giving her too many treats, she can eat whatever she wants now!!

Oh so sorry to hear that, it's heartbreaking isn't it... Sounds like you're doing the right thing. We didn't want to put ours through any more trauma, when they've already reached a good age. So plenty of treats and snuggles now, it sounds like Ginger has had a wonderful life with you, but doesn't make it any easier I know 💐