• Discussions taking place within this forum are intended for the purpose of assisting you in discussing options with your vet. Any other use of advice given here is done so at your risk, is solely your responsibility and not that of this forum or its owner. Before posting it is your responsibility you abide by this Statement

Dark big mole like mass appeared

ceciliaxdee

ceciliaxdee

Junior Guinea Pig
Joined
Jul 5, 2021
Messages
122
Reaction score
78
Points
270
Location
Melbourne, Australia
Hi there, we are trying not to freak out but found this mole like dark mark near Luna’s vagina (nearly 3 years old female desexed - ovaries removed uterus still there). Have booked first available vet appointment for later this week. Is this something serious? It wasn’t there previously and seems to have just popped up or grown. Texture is smooth. 8293AA1A-1FD9-4914-BB9E-838D36B20F58.webp6D84FACE-D0BB-4741-B7F4-D6EA3C0E1703.webp47407CD2-0D1C-4961-8101-3E574AF275D6.webp6D84FACE-D0BB-4741-B7F4-D6EA3C0E1703.webp
 

Attachments

  • BF7C8187-24A1-4D04-87C8-1041194C9FE4.webp
    BF7C8187-24A1-4D04-87C8-1041194C9FE4.webp
    60.6 KB · Views: 5
I'm not one of the forum health experts but I'm sure someone will be along soon to offer advice. Although, it is Christmas Day here and all the experts here volunteer their time. So it might not be until tomorrow.

However, I would recommend you get a vet appointment for your piggy. They will be able to do a hands on examination and identify the problem. Treatment varies depending on what is found. Piggies get all sorts of lumps including sebaceous cysts, abscesses and fatty lumps. Most are harmless but if they are not, the sooner they are treated the better.

Fingers crossed for your piggy.
 
Hi

It is impossible for us to say from your pictures whether it is just a change in skin pigmentation, a burst cyst or other lump or something else. I would recommend to see your vet for a hands on examination once they reopen.

It is not an emergency unless it is a very fast growing lump.
 
If it is just skin pigmentation, you don’t need to do anything. My late Eliza was covered in moles that just appeared overnight. However, if there is a lump there, please see a vet when they reopen unless it’s a fast growing lump in which case this is an emergency x
 
Thank you all for your replies! My partner is a registered nurse and we’ve had a look at it and there’s no lump but is so dark it does look concerning and it has seemed to appeared almost overnight or very recently and quite large to her size. She does have another small mole on her nose which vet has just said is a mole so hopefully just pigmentation/mole that has appeared.
Have dealt with an abscess and sebaceous cyst and doesn’t seem to be either of those. I will post an update once she is vet checked by our exotic vet.
 
Hi everyone, I took Luna to our usual exotic vet yesterday and he took a skin scraping and had a look under the microscope. He could only see skin pigmentation cells but he said the texture of the mark was thin and a bit odd. We decided to take a sample to send off for biopsy.
He could not feel any tumour or lump below it, so I think the main concern would be to rule out something with the skin.

He ended up removing the whole mark while she was sedated for the biopsy and stitch up, as when he biopsied it, there was only half the mark left and it made more sense to just remove it all. So thankful as if we had to remove after biopsy would have been a surgery under general anaesthesia. This is our long term vet and he is an absolute gem!

Now to wait for the results of the biopsy to come back next week. Fingers crossed and I will post an update when I have them.
 
ceciliaxdee said:
Hi everyone, I took Luna to our usual exotic vet yesterday and he took a skin scraping and had a look under the microscope. He could only see skin pigmentation cells but he said the texture of the mark was thin and a bit odd. We decided to take a sample to send off for biopsy.
He could not feel any tumour or lump below it, so I think the main concern would be to rule out something with the skin.

He ended up removing the whole mark while she was sedated for the biopsy and stitch up, as when he biopsied it, there was only half the mark left and it made more sense to just remove it all. So thankful as if we had to remove after biopsy would have been a surgery under general anaesthesia. This is our long term vet and he is an absolute gem!

Now to wait for the results of the biopsy to come back next week. Fingers crossed and I will post an update when I have them.
Click to expand...

All the best!
 
Thank you all. Our vet called and it is not cancer/melanoma however the biopsy did show that the area wasn’t 100% normal and there was some inflammation. What that means we’re not sure potentially precancerous maybe? He said the fact that it isn’t cancer is a great outcome and we’ll just monitor the area to make sure it doesn’t come back!
 
Claire W said:
Excellent news. The inflammation could be from the needle going in. One of Elizabeth’s lumps showed some inflammation and that’s what the vet told me
Click to expand...
Yes indeed! Thanks for sharing this, that could explain the inflammation. Hoping for continued good health for our piggies :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top