LabrynthLegond's Alice

labrynthlegond

Post   » Sat Sep 04, 2010 7:54 pm


Alice is one of my three girls, and has her first real medical issue. I assume she is between 2.5 and 3 years old. I have had her for 2 years, and she came to me pregnant with at least her second litter, which was a back to back pregnancy. Her weight holds right around 1130g.

I feel really bad right now as I just found a large lump to the left of her left nipple. I haven't had her out for a few days ( I've been sick), but when I had her out Monday, I didn't see anything on her. The lump is about the size of a walnut and looks a little bruised. It doesn't seem to hurt her to touch it and it isn't warm to the touch. My first thought was a mammary tumor, but I don't really know anything about them. She is still eating on her own, but I'm going to feed her some veggies away from the other girls, just to make sure she gets enough.

I do plan to get her into the vet as soon as I can. This just landed at a really bad time. My pigs have never been seriously ill, so I'm not sure how to proceed. I have her in with the other girls still, should that be okay? They get along really well and she hate's to be away from them. How urgent is this? It's Saturday night now, and I think she could wait until Tuesday(because of the long weekend), but could she wait longer if the vet can't get her in?

I'm not thinking clearly right now and I just need some direction from the experts. I am especially close to Alice as she has done a complete 180 since I first got her, and want to do whatever is best for her.

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Sat Sep 04, 2010 8:05 pm


If it does not seem to be a severe infection and she is acting normally and not in pain, I think you can see the vet early next week (i.e. not an emergency). It does sound like a mammary tumor. They are frequently removed without incident and the pig goes on to a good life. You would want an experienced vet who monitors anesthesia.

https://www.guinealynx.info/tumor_mammary.html

labrynthlegond

Post   » Sat Sep 04, 2010 9:29 pm


I read the link, as well as some threads I found, and I am leaning towards it not being an infection. I would guess that mammary tumor is correct.

I'm just so upset. There is a vets office in town that is open tomorrow, so I may try calling them, but I'm not sure what I can do. I have NO money at the moment, due to another urgent matter, so I need to figure out what I can do. At least I know I have a couple days to figure it out. I really appreciate the advice and support.

Talishan
You can quote me

Post   » Sat Sep 04, 2010 10:30 pm


See if your vet offers CareCredit or similar.

Do make sure you have a vet that is exotics experienced and has done this type of surgery successfully many times before. It's one of the better-outcome-prognosis ones, and most often the tumors do NOT recur. But any surgery is dicey and you need someone who knows what they're doing.

Best to her and to you.

labrynthlegond

Post   » Mon Oct 25, 2010 11:39 pm


I'm thinking that surgery may no longer be an option for Alice. The lump is indeed a tumor, and Alice has been fine until now. I've been trying to save the money for surgery, but I also don't know if I trust my vet to operate on her. I always check what he says with what is on here, and has so far been the exact same.

He knows our money situation and said that the tumor is either malignant or it isn't. If it isn't, she could possible live quite a while with it, or have surgery to remove it. If it is, she would go downhill fast, and surgery would not help her. I noticed tonight that the tumor has definitely grown. However, she is still herself, still eating and pooping normally, and seems fine with it being touched or poked. The only thing she isn't happy about is me constantly taking her out. She is not a people pig and now hides when I come near the cage.

Money is a definite issue here. It always is. Today, surgery would not be an option, but I might be able to in two weeks. It depends on the vet and his growing quotes really. The other problem is I'm not sure I should operate on her. If it is cancer, I don't want to put her through surgery. It most likely would not help and I would want her last days to be happy. I also don't want to kill a somewhat healthy pig with surgery. I am just so overwhelmed and do not know what to do.

CareCredit is not available in Canada, and nothing similar I can find seems worth it. The only program that does seem worth it, the vet is supposed to be in the process of applying for.

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Tue Oct 26, 2010 8:40 am


For what it is worth, I believe all the mammary surgeries have been successful on this board and the pigs have done well afterwards.

I am sorry you are struggling with this. I wish you had more confidence in your vet and it was an affordable option.

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murmeli

Post   » Tue Oct 26, 2010 12:29 pm


I second Lynx. Our Sissi had a mammary surgery back in December 2007, she survived it and had another surgery in May 2009 to have her reproductive organs removed (hormonal problems) where another tumour was found in the uterus. It’s close to three years from the first surgery now and we’re still going strong. I think the only real obstacle is to find a competent vet who has good record operating on pigs.

Before:
Image

Image


After:
Image

Image

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Tue Oct 26, 2010 4:47 pm


Your pictures are wonderful, murmeli! Would you like me to add them to this thread and to the mammary tumor page?

www.guinealynx.info/_mammary.html

labrynthlegond

Post   » Tue Oct 26, 2010 6:08 pm


See, part of my dilemma is how much bigger her tumor is than any of the others. It sort of appeared overnight and it was the size of a walnut. It is now maybe a little smaller than a golf ball. It seems so huge, but really doesn't seem to bother her. I think my plan now is to try to get half of the money ASAP. The vet will do a payment plan for the second half.

I am watching her pretty closely as we had problems with her eating when we first found the tumor. She started not eating well, so I supplemented with pellet mash and then CC. I then noticed she was a little bloated, so we had to deal with that too. She really perked up once I added pumpkin in though, and she has been fine since. It almost seemed like she felt weird and started to not care, but she perked up and wanted to eat then. She has been normal since, even doing zoomies. The thing I found helped the most with the bloat, besides quite a bit of canned pumpkin for fiber, was putting her in a bed on the dryer, and standing there with her while I ran the dryer.

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Tue Oct 26, 2010 9:30 pm


Appearing overnight and growing so quickly says to me this is an abscess. Has it been aspirated to check for infection? Is she on antibiotics?

labrynthlegond

Post   » Tue Oct 26, 2010 10:19 pm


The vet did a fine needle aspirate and it came back with some blood ( she has bruising) and tumor cells. He could also get his fingers completely under it, so it isn't attached to the abdominal wall. He basically said go home and love her, you can do surgery or bring her back when it is time to let her go. It's been rougher for me than for her, she's acting completely normal.

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murmeli

Post   » Wed Oct 27, 2010 2:21 am


Lynx: Go ahead. Also perhaps I should reframe the postop picture of surgery #1 to 500px wide. I have another shot couple of days later where you can see the suture drying up. I will post it here.

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