Lump, arthritis, loxicom and possible barbering

[Helen82]

Hi - Primrose (age approx 7 1/2 years) is going to see the vet on Thursday but I thought I'd ask for any advice/views here in the meantime.

About a year ago she developed a large lump practically overnight (it is a lump and not an abscess or cyst). It is very large and attached to the side of her face/neck/top of front right leg. Not long after this she developed arthritis in her legs/hips. Between myself and the vet we decided not to operate to remove the lump because 1) it's in a tricky location and 2) at the time she was approx 6 1/2 years old and I didn't want to risk her going under anaesthetic. Since the onset of the arthritis she has been on loxicom and we settled at a dose of 0.9 ml of dog loxicom once a day.

She's a little bit rickety and has 'off' days, but generally since starting the loxicom she has been moving around and eating okay. (About six weeks ago we went for a checkup -to get her prescription- and it appeared like her arthritis was flaring up a bit, so the vet said to up her dose for a week and then go back down to the usual.) The past four or five days she's seemed a bit 'off'; she's still eating but she's doing it a lot more slowly than she normally would. I also thought maybe I could see a tiny bald patch on her lump. This morning when I went in to see them she had suddenly got a big bald patch on her lump. I found one little tuft of fur in the cage, but more than that has come out. I don't know what has caused this - my best guess would be she has barbered it herself, though I've not seen her (or my other guinea pig Stanley) doing so.

As I said, she's booked in at the vets on Thursday so hopefully we can work out whether that is what's happening or not and where to go from here. Does anybody have any advice/experience regarding upping the loxicom dose (temporarily or permanently), splitting the dose, any other medications or treatments that might help. (If indeed the problem is her arthritis getting worse and causing more pain; if she is getting irritated/frustrated with the lump I'm not sure what to do as I really don't want to risk operating on her at her age.)

 

[piggieminder]

I am not a health expert but I don't want to read and run/ My thoughts would be that possibly she is in pain and barbering the lump. I would ask the vet if you can give her the Loxicom twice a day. My two oldies with arthritis are on Metacam .5ml twice a day and .4ml Johnson's 4 joints once day.

 

[Helen82]

I am not a health expert but I don't want to read and run/ My thoughts would be that possibly she is in pain and barbering the lump. I would ask the vet if you can give her the Loxicom twice a day. My two oldies with arthritis are on Metacam .5ml twice a day and .4ml Johnson's 4 joints once day.

Thanks @piggieminder Do you think taking the dose in two parts works better than all in one go? I only give her it in one dose as Primrose wasn't keen on being picked up and syringed twice a day, but I could go back to that if it would make a difference.

Is this the Johnsons product: Amazon.co.uk I forgot to mention Primrose already takes Cystophan semi-regularly (to try and ward off cystitis) which contains glucosamine, but I see the Johnsons product also contains something called chondroitin. The Johnsons 4 joints looks like an easier product to give her than the Cystophan.

 

[Wiebke]

Hi - Primrose (age approx 7 1/2 years) is going to see the vet on Thursday but I thought I'd ask for any advice/views here in the meantime.

About a year ago she developed a large lump practically overnight (it is a lump and not an abscess or cyst). It is very large and attached to the side of her face/neck/top of front right leg. Not long after this she developed arthritis in her legs/hips. Between myself and the vet we decided not to operate to remove the lump because 1) it's in a tricky location and 2) at the time she was approx 6 1/2 years old and I didn't want to risk her going under anaesthetic. Since the onset of the arthritis she has been on loxicom and we settled at a dose of 0.9 ml of dog loxicom once a day.

She's a little bit rickety and has 'off' days, but generally since starting the loxicom she has been moving around and eating okay. (About six weeks ago we went for a checkup -to get her prescription- and it appeared like her arthritis was flaring up a bit, so the vet said to up her dose for a week and then go back down to the usual.) The past four or five days she's seemed a bit 'off'; she's still eating but she's doing it a lot more slowly than she normally would. I also thought maybe I could see a tiny bald patch on her lump. This morning when I went in to see them she had suddenly got a big bald patch on her lump. I found one little tuft of fur in the cage, but more than that has come out. I don't know what has caused this - my best guess would be she has barbered it herself, though I've not seen her (or my other guinea pig Stanley) doing so.

As I said, she's booked in at the vets on Thursday so hopefully we can work out whether that is what's happening or not and where to go from here. Does anybody have any advice/experience regarding upping the loxicom dose (temporarily or permanently), splitting the dose, any other medications or treatments that might help. (If indeed the problem is her arthritis getting worse and causing more pain; if she is getting irritated/frustrated with the lump I'm not sure what to do as I really don't want to risk operating on her at her age.)

Hi

Have a gentle stroke over the bald area - self-barbering leaves a tiny stubble. The other possibility is mechanical abrasion when she is rubbing the sore area against something as she can no longer reach it with ther mouth or legs. Skin parasites could be a third option; they can come through rather quickly in frail older piggies.

Are you supplementing with glucocamine based joint care for her arthritis? It is not a quick fix but it can make quite a major difference for the medium term once it has built up. We recommend Johnson's 4joints dog liquid as the current best UK product.

All the best for the vet check. It is always a worry when lumps start growing again in old piggies, even if it is something harmless like a fatty lump (lipoma) - they have a tendency to come up very quickly to a certain size, by the way.

 

[piggieminder]

Thanks @piggieminder Do you think taking the dose in two parts works better than all in one go? I only give her it in one dose as Primrose wasn't keen on being picked up and syringed twice a day, but I could go back to that if it would make a difference.

Is this the Johnsons product: Amazon.co.uk I forgot to mention Primrose already takes Cystophan semi-regularly (to try and ward off cystitis) which contains glucosamine, but I see the Johnsons product also contains something called chondroitin. The Johnsons 4 joints looks like an easier product to give her than the Cystophan.

Yes that's the one.

 

[Helen82]

Hi

Have a gentle stroke over the bald area - self-barbering leaves a tiny stubble. The other possibility is mechanical abrasion when she is rubbing the sore area against something as she can no longer reach it with ther mouth or legs. Skin parasites could be a third option; they can come through rather quickly in frail older piggies.

Are you supplementing with glucocamine based joint care for her arthritis? It is not a quick fix but it can make quite a major difference for the medium term once it has built up. We recommend Johnson's 4joints dog liquid as the current best UK product.

All the best for the vet check. It is always a worry when lumps start growing again in old piggies, even if it is something harmless like a fatty lump (lipoma) - they have a tendency to come up very quickly to a certain size, by the way.

Thanks @Wiebke - will check later if the bald patch is stubbly or not. I'd not heard of the Johnson's 4joints until today; I've just ordered some.

 

[Wiebke]

Thanks @Wiebke - will check later if the bald patch is stubbly or not. I'd not heard of the Johnson's 4joints until today; I've just ordered some.

I give about 0.4 ml once daily to a 1 kg piggy. It takes several weeks to build up around the joints.

 

[Helen82]

Update: I had a feel of the bald patch and its not stubbly. Primrose saw the vet today who thinks the lump has started growing again and this practically overnight growth has created the bald patch along with maybe some rubbing/wear rather than barbering. The increase in the lump has had the effect of making eating possibly a bit more difficult and/or painful, hence the slowing down in her speed of eating. She has lost a little bit of weight and there is some slightly uneven wear to her teeth which I hadn't noticed. At this point I don't know if the lump is going to continue to grow - I hope not, but I don't know. In the meantime I'm to increase her dose of Loxicom from 0.9 ml once a day, to 0.6 ml twice a day and to start giving her 0.2 ml of Gabapentin twice a day. Hopefully with more painkiller in her system it will make eating easier and she won't lose any more weight. So I'm going to do this and see how Primrose gets on. I'll probably see how she does with the new pain relief dosgae before introducing the Johnsons 4joints. (Just to add - the vet has ruled out lice/mites etc or any hormonal issues.)

 

[Wiebke]

Update: I had a feel of the bald patch and its not stubbly. Primrose saw the vet today who thinks the lump has started growing again and this practically overnight growth has created the bald patch along with maybe some rubbing/wear rather than barbering. The increase in the lump has had the effect of making eating possibly a bit more difficult and/or painful, hence the slowing down in her speed of eating. She has lost a little bit of weight and there is some slightly uneven wear to her teeth which I hadn't noticed. At this point I don't know if the lump is going to continue to grow - I hope not, but I don't know. In the meantime I'm to increase her dose of Loxicom from 0.9 ml once a day, to 0.6 ml twice a day and to start giving her 0.2 ml of Gabapentin twice a day. Hopefully with more painkiller in her system it will make eating easier and she won't lose any more weight. So I'm going to do this and see how Primrose gets on. I'll probably see how she does with the new pain relief dosgae before introducing the Johnsons 4joints. (Just to add - the vet has ruled out lice/mites etc or any hormonal issues.)

All the best! It is always so very worrying with elderlies.