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Lump in guinea pig neck

@Lydi.aimee we seem to have digressed a bit here.

Hope the lump proves to be just an abscess and all goes well with the surgery.
Let us know when it’s happening so we can be holding you in our collective forum thoughts
 
Merab's Slave said:
@Lydi.aimee we seem to have digressed a bit here.

Hope the lump proves to be just an abscess and all goes well with the surgery.
Let us know when it’s happening so we can be holding you in our collective forum thoughts
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Thank you I will keep updating it’s been really nice to have people’s advice and well wishes I really appreciate it.

pippins appetite has been a lot better today and he has eaten a lot more than he has been (I was really worried about him the other night as he only wanted three basil leaves so critical care was the only option) I bought some new scales today as my others broke and he has dropped to 1095g so a 29g loss from when he was weight at the vets on Monday but he hadn’t been eating well until last night. He seems brighter as well. Appointment on Monday/Tuesday then booking in for surgery 😊
 
Lydi.aimee said:
Thank you I will keep updating it’s been really nice to have people’s advice and well wishes I really appreciate it.

pippins appetite has been a lot better today and he has eaten a lot more than he has been (I was really worried about him the other night as he only wanted three basil leaves so critical care was the only option) I bought some new scales today as my others broke and he has dropped to 1095g so a 29g loss from when he was weight at the vets on Monday but he hadn’t been eating well until last night. He seems brighter as well. Appointment on Monday/Tuesday then booking in for surgery 😊
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29g is nothing to worry about, that can just be weight fluctuation
 
I am now on week nine of neck mass, mobile, moves from side to side but when midline , irritates my lil 6 year old girl and I either move it or she gets anxious, rapid breathing and requires pain meds. Thank God I’m not working right now so other than gym , I’m home w her and her beloved male partner. My exotic vet says IF vessel attached, then we will loose her at surgery. Keep her comfy and let her live out her life. She eats, loves her pellets , fresh veges…i just wish it could come out. On ultrasound we know this is solid, not abscess, painless, sometimes I hold it to the side while she chills in my lap. I tried using all types of medical tape but being round, it moves. I may meet w vet again about shaving hair off to better keep it immobilized. Was marble in size , slight growth, more like fat green olive now. She has great blood work xray , just this mass out of nowhere
Its so hard to know right thing to do. I think we will do surgury if she starts having breathing issues and otherwise just put up with it and figure out ways to keep it out of midline.
 
Kay4real said:
I am now on week nine of neck mass, mobile, moves from side to side but when midline , irritates my lil 6 year old girl and I either move it or she gets anxious, rapid breathing and requires pain meds. Thank God I’m not working right now so other than gym , I’m home w her and her beloved male partner. My exotic vet says IF vessel attached, then we will loose her at surgery. Keep her comfy and let her live out her life. She eats, loves her pellets , fresh veges…i just wish it could come out. On ultrasound we know this is solid, not abscess, painless, sometimes I hold it to the side while she chills in my lap. I tried using all types of medical tape but being round, it moves. I may meet w vet again about shaving hair off to better keep it immobilized. Was marble in size , slight growth, more like fat green olive now. She has great blood work xray , just this mass out of nowhere
Its so hard to know right thing to do. I think we will do surgury if she starts having breathing issues and otherwise just put up with it and figure out ways to keep it out of midline.
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Hi

Thank you for the update.
I am very sorry; lumps of all sorts tend to become more common in older piggies. You have to go along with your vet's advice. I hope that she continues to have more time with you and her husboar. Make sure that you make the most of this special and precious time to create as many memories as possible.
Enrichment Ideas for Guinea Pigs

Unfortunately, can't give you any advice of how to keep the lump from getting in the way. The neck is unfortunately a tricky area to operate in.
 
Thanks! Appreciate your advice and kind words. I do read where benign masses are removed easily and it’s just if a vessel attached anywhere, but I move mass from one side to the other…? Will definatly go surgery route if air obstruction becomes an issue…it’s easier for us mentally to know we did Everything…I bury her minus that mass and it gets sent off to learn what is was.…or, surprise! No vessels and I get her back! Just changed after 8 wks so slow growing at least! she a rescue and a fight pilot lil girl🙏🙏🙏
 
Kay4real said:
Thanks! Appreciate your advice and kind words. I do read where benign masses are removed easily and it’s just if a vessel attached anywhere, but I move mass from one side to the other…? Will definatly go surgery route if air obstruction becomes an issue…it’s easier for us mentally to know we did Everything…I bury her minus that mass and it gets sent off to learn what is was.…or, surprise! No vessels and I get her back! Just changed after 8 wks so slow growing at least! she a rescue and a fight pilot lil girl🙏🙏🙏
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I've had two successfuly lumpectomies in 6 year old sows but they were both at the other end of the body and nowhere near any critical organs.
One, with a large potentially cancerous burst cyst, was a make or break operation that could have gone either way had it been cancerous; thankfully it turned out to be a harmless but unusual sebaceous cyst with a thick fleshy wall and a fleshy inclusion (which is where the heavy bleeding when it burst did come in, which meant an emergency trip to our local general vet in the middle of the summer holidays).
The other other op was an infected burst small sebaceous cyst starting to swell up right next to the genitalia.

Unfortunately, every lump needs to be seen and judged on its own merits because there is quite a range of them and where they are located also plays a big role. Your vet's confidence/experience in operating on guinea pigs is a third factor.
You can however always seek a second opinion if you wish to. What we cannot tell you sight unseen and without touch whether it is comparatively safe to risk an operation or not.

PS: Keep in mind that 6 years is slap bang in the middle of the average healthy life span, so your girl has already beaten half of the guinea pigs... :)
 
Thanks so much! This guy is ONLY a exotic vet in Orlando, does tons of surgery, his biggest concern is vessels possibly running thru it, and like you said, keep her comfty and she is Six! today a bad day, her am and pm tramidol today has been 5 doses and it’s only 7pm.it’s grown and when it goes midline , presses on her trachea causing increased breathing …I discussed worse case, putting to sleep vs surgery, go w surgery…then We know we tried,get mass out and send off and both choices end up with her gone, but I bury her minus that Sob mass and we learn what it was…..he did agree to that when I explained how I felt, most humane thing to me, last ditch try vs putting to sleep and i have issue w not trying …I’m so crazy for these special pets…prayers and day by day😞🥲
 
Latest update…Girlfriend went into respiratory distress on a Sunday, kept her sedated w pain meds and stayed w her , she passed as we were about to go to vet, 24 hrs later, never suffered.
Her male mate, went into depression, under a blanket always, no fluids,minimal eating. I rescued a 3 year male, meet and greet great! Day 6 fighting started, a week of hell til I got a new c and c cage and now I’m back where I started. Babybear lonely, new guy ok as he has never had a friend …a sad mess….
 
Kay4real said:
Latest update…Girlfriend went into respiratory distress on a Sunday, kept her sedated w pain meds and stayed w her , she passed as we were about to go to vet, 24 hrs later, never suffered.
Her male mate, went into depression, under a blanket always, no fluids,minimal eating. I rescued a 3 year male, meet and greet great! Day 6 fighting started, a week of hell til I got a new c and c cage and now I’m back where I started. Babybear lonely, new guy ok as he has never had a friend …a sad mess….
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I'm so sorry for your loss, and sorry to hear of subsequent bonding issues.
Unfortunately once a boar has lived with a sow then they are not likely to accept living in the same cage with a boar afterwards. Going back to bachelor life is a demotion in status which most boars won’t accept.

If the two boys can interact through the bars then that will stave off loneliness but if he really is struggling to be alone, then finding him another compatible sow friend would be safest thing (of course you’d need to make sure the other boar cannot eacape the c&c grids and get in and risk getting a sow pregnant if he isn’t neutered).
 
Thanks…that must be it, just shocked it waited past meet and greet and then 6 more days…I thought it went from get go …, yes cages are next to each other, grieving 6 year old sad and sleeps mostly😞
 
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