Advice needed

[Lady Masa]

Hello, I'm looking for advice, personal experience, anything really. My guinea pig, Dasa, has a cyst on her back right leg. She is 3 years old, there has been no change in her appetite and is behaving like usual.

This is the second time this has happened. The first time was almost 1 and half year ago, it ruptured and needed emergency care. Dasa recovered well.

The vet gave me 3 options but recommended I go with full cyst removal and given she is relatively young, she should be fine, but they cannot guarantee it or if she would even survive, if any complications arise during surgery or recovery. The cost of that surgery is £370, and they want to send it to a laboratory to test to see if its just the cyst and nothing more, this would bring the total cost to £640, something I can't afford, (I am student).

The other option was to treat it with antibiotics hoping it would get smaller but given the state it was in, there would be no point.

Lastly and I'm not completely clear on this but something like a minor surgery done under local anesthesia to treat the cyst without removing it completely. This would carry similar risks as that of the full removal surgery, would eventually come back and I would have to go through this again. Also the vet never said the price but it would be slightly lower that the removal surgery, so it would be better to go with the removal.

I had opinions from family and friends, majority argued that spending £400 or £600 on a guinea pig that could live for another 2-4 years or if she would even live after the surgery is not worth the risk and it if she was unlucky it could come back in another place. Also, I have 2 other guinea pigs and there is no guarantee that any of them wouldn't develop it. I don't know what to do since I cant afford just the surgery and I don't want to be a bad pet owner by not getting Dasa what she needs. I love her and my other guinea pigs with all my heart but I'm not sure what to do, especially since they are my first pets.

 

[KathT]

I’m so sorry you are in this situation, and can fully sympathise with your dilemma. I have no experience of cysts in guinea pigs, but have been in the situation of either paying a large sum for an op or having them put to sleep. Could you afford just the cyst removal and not the analysis? Is the antibiotic treatment really not appropriate, even though she did pull through last time? The cost of vet treatment has rocketed over the past few years and made it almost impossible to afford in some cases. Some vets offer a payment service where you can spread the cost over a period of time - might that help? There is always a risk small animals may pass during or after the op, that’s just the way it is, and we have to accept that - even though it’s hard. As long as you can keep her from pain with a good quality of life and keep within your budget if you have one, then I’m sure you are doing all you can. In the end, only you can make the decision as to the best way to deal with this problem. I wish you all the best.