Surgery on 6y/o girl

[vmorin918]

Hi, we found out at the Vet this morning our Lilly has a mammary gland tumor, most likely cancer but hasn't been confirmed yet. The Vet has done a few of these surgeries lately, and I don't question her abilities, but I'm worried about Lilly's age. She just turned 6 this past April, and up to now she's been fine. Her checkup back in February the Vet said she was in great health for her age. She's still eating and pooping, but she's resting a bit more (then again she's a senior). What has your experience been with senior piggy surgeries? Are there questions I should ask before we make a final decision? I think we're gonna do an x-ray and bloodwork first anyway to confirm cancer. If it's cancerous, it could have spread by now and the surgery may not matter anyway.

 

[Bill & Ted]

So sorry the vet has found a mammary lump on Lilly My old rainbow piggie Bill developed a very small lump just under his nipple and the vet confirmed it to be a mammary tumour. We had it removed that day under GA. Bill was nearly 4.5 years old at the time and sailed through the operation with no problems at all afterwards
It’s always a hard decision to make, but good luck and hope everything goes well for Lilly x

 

[Wiebke]

Hi, we found out at the Vet this morning our Lilly has a mammary gland tumor, most likely cancer but hasn't been confirmed yet. The Vet has done a few of these surgeries lately, and I don't question her abilities, but I'm worried about Lilly's age. She just turned 6 this past April, and up to now she's been fine. Her checkup back in February the Vet said she was in great health for her age. She's still eating and pooping, but she's resting a bit more (then again she's a senior). What has your experience been with senior piggy surgeries? Are there questions I should ask before we make a final decision? I think we're gonna do an x-ray and bloodwork first anyway to confirm cancer. If it's cancerous, it could have spread by now and the surgery may not matter anyway.

Hi!

Both my Tesni and my Hafren were 6 years old when they needed emergency operations for burst and infected lumps. They both have come through their ops and lived to celebrate their 7th birthday (Hafren was in fact just a month short of hers when she needed a 5 cm bleeding cyst removed that had promptly burst while my specialist vet was on summer holiday). Tesni's cyst was smaller but sitting right next to her genitalia, so it had gone infected and needed removing.

The mammary gland is nowhere near any crucial organs so removing it is often a comparatively straight forward operation while it is still small and encapsulated with a generally good recovery prospect. The problem with mammary tumours (which can be both benign or malign) is that they will just continue to grow if left.

Here is our practical post-op care information, which you will find helpful: Tips For Post-operative Care

 

[VickiA]

It's a tough decision to make, but I think I would also opt for the surgery, as mammary tumours can grow quite large and uncomfortable to the piggy, and the surgery then to remove a larger tumour leaves a larger wound and scar site. I hope that you soon get the answers you are seeking from the vet.