Lumps/tumours on rump

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Wheekers3

Post   » Wed Mar 15, 2006 10:08 am


The Silvadene Cream is only dispensed through a Vet. I suggested it to use until you locate a appropriate Vet or the Cavy Trust arrives, which I hoped would be sooner as opposed to later.

As you have figured out, the quicker these growths grow the more urgent it is to have them out.

I am also sorry it is so hard to find a Vet in your area. You also have my sympathy.

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Mum
I GAVE, dammit!

Post   » Wed Mar 15, 2006 10:13 am


My experience with vets is that for surgery, find one who's well-known as a wonderful surgeon. There are vets, and then there are skilled veterinary surgeons. For surgery I would choose someone who's the latter!

Debbie Jones

Post   » Thu Mar 16, 2006 3:47 am


Chris, one of the rodentologists at Cavies Castle, rang last night. From the photos they're thinking either benign tumours or burst cysts. They're hoping to come over towards the end of this month, if they can arrange for someone to mind all their resident piggies. They think they may be able to remove the lumps using just a local anaesthetic, which they have themselves. They've told me just to make sure both lumps stay clean, which thankfully is not hard as they are on top rather than underneath where they'd get mucky.

They are very experienced with guineas pigs, and I trust them more than I would a vet here. If they do not feel removal under local anaesthetic is an option, I think I will try to persuade them to take Pirouette back to Britain with them and get her to the Cambridge Cavy Trust - I know they go there a lot anyway. Getting her back would be a problem, but I would work something out.

I didn't try for the Silvadene. The vet probably wouldn't prescribe it without seeing the piggie (understandable), and I'm nervous as to what she might want to try. It's not too long before the end of the month .... .

I keep doing searches for guinea pig vets in French and thinking I've come up with an answer - then find they are in Quebec or Montreal, not France.

Please keep your fingers crossed for us.

Debbie

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Thu Mar 16, 2006 9:25 am


Somehow I can't imagine a local anesthetic being adequate. I'm sure around here it would be an inhalant anesthetic and major surgery. I'm betting tumor instead of abscess. You would see purulent material and perhaps smell it if it were an abscess and would be able to clean it out (since it is so large).

Your pictures doubtlessly helped. Updates will be appreciated. Good luck, Debbie.

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Mum
I GAVE, dammit!

Post   » Thu Mar 16, 2006 9:28 am


Ditto what Lynx said.

Spot had an 'exploded' cyst removed, but the 'mess' was actually attached to some muscle so the surgery was somewhat invasive since the vet followed protocol and removed all surrounding tissue also.

Debbie Jones

Post   » Fri Mar 31, 2006 2:59 am


True to their word, the Cavies Castle rodentologists came all the way across the English Channel and across Normandy to see Pirouette and her lumps, and to do health checks on my other 16 piggies, plus 4 local piggies whose slaves I invited along. I cannot praise them highly enough, and I learned so much.

Pirouette's lumps were diagnosed as erupted sebaceous cysts. Each was dealt with on a different day, and without anaesthetic, the decision having been made that the injection of anaesthetic would be more painful than the intervention itself.

With the utmost attention to hygiene, Chris firmly held Pirouette on a towel on top of a pillow. Titch first shaved the area around the lump, then squeezed as much sebum as he could out of it - long, odorless "worms" of thick, whitish stuff. Piri wheeked a little with discomfort, but no more than previous pigs have when abscesses have been squeezed. But then, there was no cutting. Instead, he used sterile tweezers to pull out the remains of the gland, which were like little white worms.

He was working under a spotlight, so they were reasonably easy to see, but it was a long, painstaking process such as I suspect most vets would not have time for. He explained to me that the gland had long tendrils very similar to roots, and like the persistent ground elder with which I have such problems in my flower borders, if one tiny tendril was left in, the cyst would grow again.

This process did not appear particularly distressing to Piri, and he stopped periodically to let her have a nibble on a veggie treat, which was accepted so readily that it was evident to me that the piggie was not unduly stressed. There was hardly any blood. He flushed the cavity with "Dermisol" liquid solution from time to time, and wiped it out with a clean cotton bud, and once satisfied that every trace of the gland he or Chris could see had been removed, he covered the cavity with a thin layer of "Dermisol" cream.

We kept an eye on the cavities afterwards. The cavity from the first, and smaller, lump treated had already reduced considerably in size before they left. The second one treated, larger and deeper, left a larger cavity, and Titch did say he had doubts as to whether he had successfully removed every trace of the gland. I must monitor it, let it heal, and if the lump recurs, must repeat the "squeeze and tweeze" procedure, which I would feel confident to do now I have watched it being so expertly done.

The lumps are benign, so if either does recur, it will not be life-threatening. I believe the cavities are itchy now, because they are healing, but other than that, Pirouette has shown no sign of distress or anxiety. She is still in with Cherry, as there is no risk of cross-contamination, and eating, drinking and pooping well.

I am sending a couple more photos to Lynx so you can see what the cavities look like now, and will keep posting as the wounds hopefully heal. If the outcome is as successful as I am hoping it will be, this thread could maybe become a useful resource for others in a situation similar to that I was in a few weeks ago, panicking over these huge ugly "tumours" on their precious piggie.

Many thanks to all who insisted I should not just "wait and see"!

Debbie

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Fri Mar 31, 2006 8:47 am


Thanks so much for checking back in. I am surprised (but happy) that some progress could be made on these lumps. Was there any infection present?

They still look pretty darn awful. Did they tell you what to expect? How do they figure the skin will close up if it is not stitched? Any prognosis on this?

Josephine, does this sound to you like a sebaceous cyst?

Here are the pics you provided:

Image

Image

Image

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Mum
I GAVE, dammit!

Post   » Fri Mar 31, 2006 9:17 am


Interesting. Those pics now look just like Spot's cyst. But his was stitched up - those look like awfully big holes.

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Fri Mar 31, 2006 9:22 am


I'm thinking that too. I'm also thinking about another pig -- don't remember his name -- maybe Helmut? -- who had a really big cyst removed. One of the problems can be finding enough skin to stretch over the area. It also sounds like there were multiple blocked ducts that allowed a large buildup of material under the skin.

I sure do hope it heals up though.

Debbie Jones

Post   » Fri Mar 31, 2006 11:16 am


Thanks, Lynx, for putting the photos on. So far there is no sign of infection. I was told the holes would "granulate", and this made sense to me only because once, years ago, I had a cat who had an abscess removed from her cheek. It left a huge, gaping hole in her face, but the vet said it would "granulate", and we had to take her back a few times to check it was "granulating", and he reckoned it was - the hole kind of filled up with small granules of um ... well, I guess it was flesh. Sorry I can't be more explicit. The hole from the first one removed is already much smaller than the cyst was. The hole from the larger one is more worrying - the white in the photo is the remains of the cream that was applied.

I promise to keep you posted. I agree that, when her brother, Claude, had a cyst removed from the same position by the Cambridge Cavy Trust, the hole was stitched. But abscess holes must never be stitched, I know. Titch could have stitched the holes - I mean, he has the ability/skill. Maybe he thought they'd heal quicker with access to the air?

Debbie

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Fri Mar 31, 2006 3:15 pm


So there were many follicles that had to have the waxy keratious material removed? Or was there a single blocked duct? I too hope it was all gotten out.

Debbie Jones

Post   » Sat Apr 01, 2006 3:01 am


The diagram I have of a guinea pig's integumentary system, in part one of the British Association of Rodentology course (as far as I ever got - not what I wanted), shows lots of hairs growing out of one sebaceous gland, and I think a lot of follicles. As I understood it, Titch said it was the one sebaceous gland that he removed for each lump. I got the impression that the gland in each case had become "rogue" or something like that. There were lots of little white tendrils going down into her flesh.

I'm sure he'd explain further if I wrote and asked, but they are so busy treating other piggies and caring for their own that I wouldn't bother him so long as Pirouette seems to be healing okay. I am just relieved that something has been done, and I haven't lost her under an anaesthetic.

Titch did warn me that he didn't think he would have got everything out of the second and larger lump, but like I say, he said if it came back I was just to repeat the procedure. I know it doesn't sound as ideal as surgery at a competent exotics' vet, but that really was not an option for me here.

Debbie

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