Please help! Lump just keeps growing. :(

[Fudge and Rainbow :)]

Fudge is 5 years old and has had 3 what we think are cysts on her. One underneath her, one on her back and another towards her bottom. She has had them for about 2 years now. When we took her to the vet, he said she was healthy and seemed fine so nothing to worry about He never suggested getting them removed. Well the one near her bottom is huge now. :0 About the size of a golfball. It feels quite hard whereas the other too are soft squashy. They are all loose though, not connected.

We will be taking her to the vets on Saturday because this one lump has grown too far now. We want her to have it removed if not all of them but I'm worried that she will have to go under aesthetic and I've heard they don't do well under it. Especially now because she is quite old.

I will get pictures for you today but do you think they will be able to be removed or any idea what they are? They don't seem to be bothering her but bless her she waddles when she walks because the one on her bottom is so big. I'm also scared it could turn cancerous. 8...

Please help, any advice will be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

 

[Shellza]

I have no real advice for you, but wishing you all the best. Hopefully it's nothing serious and they'll be able to sort it for you. And if she does have to go under I really hope she'll be ok. Some of them are fine with it . Good luck at the vets . All fingers and paws crossed.

 

[Little Piggles]

Hopefully they may be able to just drain it for her and give her some antibiotics so that it doesn't become infected.

Hope it turns out to be easily fixable and Fudge is okay x

 

[Fudge and Rainbow :)]

Hopefully they may be able to just drain it for her and give her some antibiotics so that it doesn't become infected.

Hope it turns out to be easily fixable and Fudge is okay x

Thanks when you say the vet will may just drain it, would they do this when she's awake?

 

[Claire W]

I hope all goes well at the vets. You are doing the right thing xx

 

[Freela]

It definitely worth getting it checked by the vet- at the end of the day, if you aren't sold that the risk of surgery is worth the benefit of removal, you can always say no.

Treatment might depends on what exactly the doctor says it is (cyst, abscess, tumour, etc.) Sometimes cysts and tumors can be drained rather than surgically removed- this can be done without general anasthesia. However, they also have a tendancy to fill back up, so it might not be a lasting solution to the problem.

One of my pigs, Linney, had an abscess on her lower back, just above her tailbone. Our first effort was to have the vet lance it, drain it, and give her an antibiotic to try to knock out the infection. The abscess was left open so I could squeeze any additional infection and rinse the area with sterile saline. Unfortunately this still did not clear the abscess, so she ultimately had a general anasthesia and had the encapsulated abscess removed- I was worried, but she recovered fine post-op... no more abscess and only a minimal scar where it was removed.

Good luck- definitely ask your vet any questions you have and then all you can do is make the best decision you can under the circumstances.