Cysts or abscess in lung - anyone ever experience this?

[4boipigs]

I've posted about this in USA forums but find this forum very useful. Has anyone dealt with more severe lung issues like cancer, cysts or abscess?

Since October, my 1.5 year old male has been dealing with suspected pneumonia. He's been on doxycycline/enrofloaxcin since Oct. He had a vet follow up every 4 weeks, and for a time was improving. On Dec 16, his xrays showed he was worse. He developed a cough as well. Last week we switched to chlormphenical, and added in a nebulizer and gentamicin (which I understand is not used in UK). Over xmas, he got gut stasis (which we have dealt with in much more milder forms during this ordeal, but this time he refused everything). He was hospitalized for 2 days on pain meds, oxygen, meds to get his gut moving, and syringe feeding. He then transferred to an exotics only dr (not our usual doctor), and had a CT scan. His left lung is full of fluid, so much that is not usable at all. He is working off only his right lung. We are waiting on the radiologist to read the CT, but in the mean time it's been suspected it is a cyst, abcess, or cancer.

I asked about euthanasia (both at the specialist and our normal vet), but they encouraged to try with the new meds. If he doesn't improve/gets worse, I would pts. His current prognosis is guarded.

So I'm wondering if anyone in the UK has ever deal with these things before. There is a lot of history but for the sake of keeping this short, that's the main info. I can't find much online about these sorts of issues.

 

[Wiebke]

Hi and welcome

HUGS

I am very sorry about the diagnosis. Antibiotics can impact on the digestive bacteria in the gut microbiome as well as the one they are used against; doxycycline and baytril are rather known for that.
Chloramphenicol is another very strong last ditch anitibiotic that is generally used topically for severe eye injuries/infections. I have no experience with gentamicin being used in guinea pigs for a bacterial lung infection (but for which it can be used in humans), only in eye treatment for humans so seeing the calibre of the medication used it is likely to have further impacted on the appetite. It sounds like your vet is throwing the kitchen sink at it.

Please step in feeding support and weigh daily first thing in the morning on the kitchen scales. Medically caused loss of appetite and gut stasis (the gut stopping to move altogether) are two very different things. The latter is very quickly fatal.
The first can be worked through by round the clock syringe feeding support since the lack of output reflects the lack on food input but the gut itself is still working.
You can find all the necessary information and practical how-to tips in this comprehensive support care guide here, including how to improvise in an emergency: All About Syringe Feeding and Medicating Guinea Pigs with Videos and Pictures

Has your boy been put on diuretics (active ingredient: furosemide) to help drain the fluid from the lungs? A fluid build up is not at all uncommon with pneumonia. Cancerous or other growths in the lungs are thankfully rare but they can occur. I am very sorry to say that diagnosis is never promising in these cases.

My thoughts are with you.

 

[Pound Shilling & Pig]

Hi, I have once had a piggy who had a mass in one of her lungs. She showed no signs until suddenly developing very noticeable laboured breathing, which I suspected to be pneumonia and took her to the vet but an x-ray clearly showed her to have a large mass in one lung. As it was inoperable and she was already struggling I opted to have her pts. I am sorry it wasn't a more positive outcome.

 

[Merab]

Just want to offer support