Free Ranger
Forum Donator 2023/24
Well it's been one of the saddest weeks ever. Gentle old George (6) died last Sunday and our lovely long-haired Louise (5) followed him over the bridge yesterday. But I'm going to put that shock and grief to one side because Flora (4) is still here and it turns out that she's got some mighty big ovaries.
This is Flora...
Flora, bless her, was sad to lose George but in truth not overly worried about Louise. This is fortunate because she's rattling around in a big space in the kitchen right now. This is actually the second time it's happened to Flora who came to us as a last piggy when a very bossy sow passed and the boar followed within a week. I can't imagine what Flora must be thinking. She's always played her cards very close to her chest.
Flora went to the vet a couple of weeks back because of little bouts of 'honky' breathing. It only went on for a few minutes at a time and it sounded like she was almost grunting on each outbreath. Lungs sounded OK though, and resp rate was fine. We got antibiotics and agreed that if it started to happen more frequently we'd give them a go. But it didn't. Then there's the fact that she sometimes seems to tense when she poops. A bit of hunching? But the poops looked fine. And sometimes - but only sometimes - she goes a bit wide-eyed when she pees... quiet husky under-your-breath squeaks but not the pained chirps of a UTI. No blood, no wet bottom, but often a drip round the back when she's picked up. Weight nearly 1.3 kilo, glossy coat - no shedding - and shiny eyes (that never blink - remember that penguin from Wallace and Grommit? Like that!) She's a stealthy piggy ninja who can move silently through the room and startle you. She's also a nimble slippery eel who dislikes being handled. She was the only one of the trio young enough to popcorn properly.
The last few days there's been a subtle change in behaviour. My pigs had breakfast veggies and then went to rest while they waited for the grass pile to arrive. Flora generally retreated under the same shelf with nose poking out to spy the rustling bag when it arrived with the prize. But for the last few days she'd been sitting facing the other way. This morning she'd pulled up a corner of fleece to put her head behind despite being completely covered under the shelf. Maybe it was the loss of her cage mates but she's a tough old bird and I thought that I'd rather get everything over in one go because it's been such an awful week. So we bagged the last Saturday appt with our piggy vet who immediately spotted what the previous vet hadn't - Flora has great big ovarian cysts. This came as a surprise because she's not balding or moody (and tbh the other vet didn't check anything further down than lungs whereas this vet went straight in for the full feel-over). Flora had an ultrasound - her ovaries are 3cm one side and 5cm on the other. No bladder stones (I asked for this to be checked while they were at it). She now has a shaved window on each side and a similar trap-door underneath. She was pretty brave all things considered. I had tea with her when we got home - well she had metacam - and after an hour or so to hide and recover she was popcorning round finding hay to munch and checking out the softest places to sleep. So we have a dilemma.
Flora is not old, but she's not young. She seems in pretty good nick and I think stands as good a chance as any girl of surviving a spay - which should sort this out permanently. It's quite possible that all her symptoms originate from large, painful ovaries. Vet mentioned injections and drainage options but these would not be permanent and might not work anyway. I'm no expert in cysty ovaries but she's not showing any 'hormonal' symptoms and she'd still have to have GA for the repeated injections. I asked about just taking out her ovaries through the flanks but they don't routinely do that whereas rabbits at least are regular spay customers. And I also learned something today which surprised me: I was expecting a quote of £600 or £700 for piggy abdominal surgery (like George's bladder stone) but it was £160. £160! I mean it's not buttons but it's much cheaper. Very do-able, especially as a one-off because of course Georgie reformed his big stone as soon as we'd taken out the first one but she's not going to be growing her ovaries back. And today's consult plus UltraSound was £159 already for pity's sake. And if she makes it through she should hopefully have a brighter future, whereas if we just tried to manage her discomfort she'd be getting older and with bigger, lumpier ovaries. Would they get bigger? I don't know. If we're going to do it now is the best time. But my issue is that it's a big op, it's a risk, and right now she's actually physically OK, she was popcorning again tonight. If things go wrong... but after this week I know I'm not thinking straight.
The final point is that I don't want Flora to be alone but I'm struggling with the idea of bringing in another piggy at this point in case she doesn't make it through surgery. I don't want to leave a new pig freshly bereaved. So assuming her symptoms don't suddenly become worse we're going to think about things for a little while. I'd appreciate any thoughts people might have on decisions to spay or not to spay, or things to watch out for. Then I can cogitate on everything together. Thanks for listening!
This is Flora...
Flora, bless her, was sad to lose George but in truth not overly worried about Louise. This is fortunate because she's rattling around in a big space in the kitchen right now. This is actually the second time it's happened to Flora who came to us as a last piggy when a very bossy sow passed and the boar followed within a week. I can't imagine what Flora must be thinking. She's always played her cards very close to her chest.
Flora went to the vet a couple of weeks back because of little bouts of 'honky' breathing. It only went on for a few minutes at a time and it sounded like she was almost grunting on each outbreath. Lungs sounded OK though, and resp rate was fine. We got antibiotics and agreed that if it started to happen more frequently we'd give them a go. But it didn't. Then there's the fact that she sometimes seems to tense when she poops. A bit of hunching? But the poops looked fine. And sometimes - but only sometimes - she goes a bit wide-eyed when she pees... quiet husky under-your-breath squeaks but not the pained chirps of a UTI. No blood, no wet bottom, but often a drip round the back when she's picked up. Weight nearly 1.3 kilo, glossy coat - no shedding - and shiny eyes (that never blink - remember that penguin from Wallace and Grommit? Like that!) She's a stealthy piggy ninja who can move silently through the room and startle you. She's also a nimble slippery eel who dislikes being handled. She was the only one of the trio young enough to popcorn properly.
The last few days there's been a subtle change in behaviour. My pigs had breakfast veggies and then went to rest while they waited for the grass pile to arrive. Flora generally retreated under the same shelf with nose poking out to spy the rustling bag when it arrived with the prize. But for the last few days she'd been sitting facing the other way. This morning she'd pulled up a corner of fleece to put her head behind despite being completely covered under the shelf. Maybe it was the loss of her cage mates but she's a tough old bird and I thought that I'd rather get everything over in one go because it's been such an awful week. So we bagged the last Saturday appt with our piggy vet who immediately spotted what the previous vet hadn't - Flora has great big ovarian cysts. This came as a surprise because she's not balding or moody (and tbh the other vet didn't check anything further down than lungs whereas this vet went straight in for the full feel-over). Flora had an ultrasound - her ovaries are 3cm one side and 5cm on the other. No bladder stones (I asked for this to be checked while they were at it). She now has a shaved window on each side and a similar trap-door underneath. She was pretty brave all things considered. I had tea with her when we got home - well she had metacam - and after an hour or so to hide and recover she was popcorning round finding hay to munch and checking out the softest places to sleep. So we have a dilemma.
Flora is not old, but she's not young. She seems in pretty good nick and I think stands as good a chance as any girl of surviving a spay - which should sort this out permanently. It's quite possible that all her symptoms originate from large, painful ovaries. Vet mentioned injections and drainage options but these would not be permanent and might not work anyway. I'm no expert in cysty ovaries but she's not showing any 'hormonal' symptoms and she'd still have to have GA for the repeated injections. I asked about just taking out her ovaries through the flanks but they don't routinely do that whereas rabbits at least are regular spay customers. And I also learned something today which surprised me: I was expecting a quote of £600 or £700 for piggy abdominal surgery (like George's bladder stone) but it was £160. £160! I mean it's not buttons but it's much cheaper. Very do-able, especially as a one-off because of course Georgie reformed his big stone as soon as we'd taken out the first one but she's not going to be growing her ovaries back. And today's consult plus UltraSound was £159 already for pity's sake. And if she makes it through she should hopefully have a brighter future, whereas if we just tried to manage her discomfort she'd be getting older and with bigger, lumpier ovaries. Would they get bigger? I don't know. If we're going to do it now is the best time. But my issue is that it's a big op, it's a risk, and right now she's actually physically OK, she was popcorning again tonight. If things go wrong... but after this week I know I'm not thinking straight.
The final point is that I don't want Flora to be alone but I'm struggling with the idea of bringing in another piggy at this point in case she doesn't make it through surgery. I don't want to leave a new pig freshly bereaved. So assuming her symptoms don't suddenly become worse we're going to think about things for a little while. I'd appreciate any thoughts people might have on decisions to spay or not to spay, or things to watch out for. Then I can cogitate on everything together. Thanks for listening!
