Lumps & hCG Injections

[thalestral]

I'm looking for anyone who is or has treated their female pig with hormone injections more than once. Rosie has had two courses to date and may need another one. She gets two hCG injections 10 days apart and I am wondering about getting her a course of 3 injections instead. I'd really like to hear from anyone who has had to give their own piggie multiple course of hormone treatment, or who knows someone who has.

Also, on top of all that Rosie also now has a lump on her bum. It's between her bits and her grease gland but over to the left side if you are facing her rear end. It's about the size of, I think a large pea. It's quite spherical and hard, just under the skin, nothing on the skin is out of the ordinary, no sores or hair out of place, and when I fiddle with it she's not concerned at all.

I'll take Rosie along for an exam and a biopsy on Monday.

Any ideas guys on what a lump like that in that location is likely to be? I've posted on GL too but any advice is welcome :optimist:

[Wheek Weak]

This is our experience with the hCG hormone:

Our Ruby had two hCG injections about 10 days apart for ovarian cysts. The cysts reduced in size between injections, but increased again by the time the second one was due. The second injection didn't reduce the cysts at all. The vet who did the treatments was not experienced enough with cavies to attempt a hysterectomy.

We took her to a more cavy saavy vet who told us that the hormone treatments were a waste of time and money. She said that the the hCG would shrink the cysts temporarily, and then (most likely) just stop working altogether.

In our case, she turned out to be right. Right after the hormone treatments, Ruby's cysts actually increased in size (even though they decreased for that short period of time). So, we knew that a more aggressive (and risky) treatment was needed.

By the time Dr. Hamilton did the hysterectomy (about a month after the hormone treatments), Ruby's cysts were the size of goose eggs (one on each side). The doctor showed them to us when we went to take her home. They were absolutely huge. And this was after two hormone treatments.

While looking into treatments for ovarian cysts, I read about some success stories with the hCG. But, the cysts were much smaller than Ruby's. The hCG may not have worked for her because of the size of the cysts, and the fast rate at which they were already growing.

Hopefully, Rosie's lump is just a normal fatty cyst (I can't for the life of me remember the medical name of it. Sorry).

I hope this helped you in some way. I'm thinking about Rosie and I hope she gets better real soon.

[thalestral]

Thanks Wheek Weak :] We caught Rosie's cyst pretty early and the first treatment shrunk it for quite a while. Rosie isn't able to be spayed due to her heart condition so I'm just trying to weigh up how aggressively I can treat her with the hormones. There isn't a lot of data out there for potential side effects in piggies unfortunately :S

Thanks again for the input, you're one of three people now suggesting a normal cyst being behind her lump so that makes me feel a lot better while waiting for Monday!

[Wheek Weak]

In doing my research, the only adverse side affect that I kept coming across was problems with the injection sites.

I just dug through my guinea pig folder and found a printout regarding treatment with GnRH vs. hCG. Here is the link for it:GuineaLynx::Topic-Ovarian Cysts--Drug Treatment