Guinea Pig Lymphoma

[Moonkat1992]

Hi All,

I'm just looking for a little advice about lymphoma/abscesses.

Our guinea pig Winston developed a lump in his neck a few weeks ago that turned out to be an abscess. The vet drained it with a needle and gave us some Baytril/Metacam. The lump did seem to decrease in size but not go away completely, and then, unfortunately, it came back really big last week and almost seemed to be attached to another small abscess.

This time the vet was unable to syringe it and needed to lance it due to the thickness of the pus (yuck!) and sent us away with Baytril/Metacam again and asked us to keep draining it if necessary.

5 days later and his one and a half neck lumps seem to have turned into about 3 in the neck area and there seems to be some swollen tissue leading all the way from the neck lumps down his chest to his belly where he seems to have developed another two lumps.

The vet wasn't sure what it was so contacted the exotic specialists (which we are seeing on Tuesday) who thought it might be lymphoma.

The only information that I can find about it is that it presents as lumps under the skin and can occur due to inbreeding (Winston is from a large interbred group from a hoarder case in Bracknell).

Does anyone have any experience with Lymphoma in guinea pigs? Are these the usual kind of symptoms? Is it usual to find pus in these types of lumps if they are lymphoma? I know the prognosis is not good for lymphoma so I don't want to get my hopes up if his time is coming to an end.

Any info/experiences you can share would be really helpful.

 

[eileen]

i had a piggie at the beginning of the year with lymphoma,unfortunatley the lumps appeared to get big very rapidly,and I'm sorry to say she had to be PTS,so that she did not suffer any futher.x

 

[Wiebke]

Lymphoma is sadly becoming a lot more common these days. It is incurable. Lymphoma is cancer of the lymph nodes of which the body has a number of, most noticeably in the neck, in the arm and leg pits etc.
How much time you have left depends on how aggressive your lymphoma is and how far it has already spread. It can take anything from less than two weeks from the first symptoms to several weeks or even months in my experience on this forum. Unfortunately yours seems to be already well advanced.

I lost a piggy 10 years ago when lymphoma was not yet something recognised in guinea pigs to very similar symptoms, i.e. an sudden abscess on the side of the neck which was operated but the infection then quickly spread into the lymph nodes. I can of course not say whether it was lymphoma - my then vets were heavily discussing whether it was a pure abscess or an abscessed tumour -, but I have often wondered since.

All you can do is care for your piggy, make sure that you have got painkillers (metacam and if necessary tramadol), and have it put to sleep when the pain and discomfort is becoming too much. Refusing to eat and turning the head to wall even when on pain relief is usually the point where most of us draw the line when it comes to quality of life.

@sport_billy @Claire W
@helen105281 @Jaycey @Freela

 

[furryfriends (TEAS)]

We lost a piggy to lymphoma last week. She had over 10 lumps throughout her body, but initially they didn't seem to cause her any distress. However, she quickly went downhill last Wednesday and we made the decision to help her over the Rainbow Bridge. It all happened within two weeks. However, I have heard of some piggies going on for many months before succumbing to the cancer.

 

[sport_billy]

Sorry to hear this. We too had a piggy with Lymphoma. I will find Treacle's thread for you as it details everything from discovery to her passing. We ensured she had a great quality of life until we had to let her go.She was happy to the end.

EDIT Treacles thread Treacle has Lymphoma

 

[Katiedid]

I lost Dozy (my avatar pig) to lymphoma in the summer. He always had a lump under His neck then suddenly there were 3. The vet did a needle biopsy and there was no puss. He put Dozy on baytril as that can slow its progression. Quite rapidly his lymph nodes under his back legs came up as did those in his neck. He was happy and well for another 8 weeks then suddenly went downhill and we helped him over the bridge. He was only really poorly for a few days.

 

[Claire W]

I am so sorry for your news

I have lost two piggies to lymphoma. The first was Ena. We had a lump removed but sadly the wound didn't heal due to the lymphoma. We sadly decided to have her pts after she chewed all her stitches out as the wound was irritating her that much.

The second was Erika. The lumps spread through her body so we sadly had to have her pts two weeks post diagnosis as the lumps in her neck was making it difficult for her to breathe x

 

[Moonkat1992]

Thanks for your responses!

Winston is still pottering around happily but is finding it difficult to put his head up (with the lumpy neck) to the water bottle so we have resorted to a bowl! We're still a bit confused about his lumps being pus-filled but at least we are prepared for the worst case scenario now.

 

[Wiebke]

You have our sympathies! At this stage, you need to play it step by step.

If a strong antibiotic is needed, please ask your vet for zithromax or a combination of zithromax and marbocyl. that can help with a persistent abscess. Most antibiotics are too weak to cut through, especially baytril when it comes to really bad abscesses.

 

[Suze5202]

My piggy Coco first got a lump some 18 months ago. We were told to keep an eye on it due to its location but it was likely to be a tumour. About a month ago we noticed more lumps had appeared and she had tests. Unfortunately it was what we suspected and she also has lymphoma. My vets is seeking advice from a specialist in cancer in cavies to see what the next course of action is, but believe it’s likely just to be metacam daily until the disease runs its course and it’s time to say goodbye. But until then I’m enjoying the time I have left with her. She’s three and I’m devastated but she seems fine in herself and the vets think she may have months left rather than days, but we can’t tell.

 

[Betsy]

My piggy Coco first got a lump some 18 months ago. We were told to keep an eye on it due to its location but it was likely to be a tumour. About a month ago we noticed more lumps had appeared and she had tests. Unfortunately it was what we suspected and she also has lymphoma. My vets is seeking advice from a specialist in cancer in cavies to see what the next course of action is, but believe it’s likely just to be metacam daily until the disease runs its course and it’s time to say goodbye. But until then I’m enjoying the time I have left with her. She’s three and I’m devastated but she seems fine in herself and the vets think she may have months left rather than days, but we can’t tell.

Enjoy the time you have with Coco. She doesn't know there is anything wrong with her. It sounds like she is bimbling away as normal and enjoying herself still. Sorry to hear the news it must be very stressful.

Hi All,

I'm just looking for a little advice about lymphoma/abscesses.

Our guinea pig Winston developed a lump in his neck a few weeks ago that turned out to be an abscess. The vet drained it with a needle and gave us some Baytril/Metacam. The lump did seem to decrease in size but not go away completely, and then, unfortunately, it came back really big last week and almost seemed to be attached to another small abscess.

This time the vet was unable to syringe it and needed to lance it due to the thickness of the pus (yuck!) and sent us away with Baytril/Metacam again and asked us to keep draining it if necessary.

5 days later and his one and a half neck lumps seem to have turned into about 3 in the neck area and there seems to be some swollen tissue leading all the way from the neck lumps down his chest to his belly where he seems to have developed another two lumps.

The vet wasn't sure what it was so contacted the exotic specialists (which we are seeing on Tuesday) who thought it might be lymphoma.

The only information that I can find about it is that it presents as lumps under the skin and can occur due to inbreeding (Winston is from a large interbred group from a hoarder case in Bracknell).

Does anyone have any experience with Lymphoma in guinea pigs? Are these the usual kind of symptoms? Is it usual to find pus in these types of lumps if they are lymphoma? I know the prognosis is not good for lymphoma so I don't want to get my hopes up if his time is coming to an end.

Any info/experiences you can share would be really helpful.

Not had any experience with this but all I can say is so sorry to hear this. If Winston is happy in himself then enjoy your time with him.