Rolo- Another pig, another lump

[Rachy1412]

I've posted over on GL but thought I could ask around here too. Rolo is my fourth pig in the last two years to have grown a mammary tumor. Back in late 2006 I discovered my first lump on a 2yr old female guinea pig, the vet then discovered she had two mammary tumors. They were removed but had severe post op problems which eventually lead to her being PTS.

A month later after losing Smartie I checked my other pigs and came across another two pigs with similar lumps. Both pigs, one male and one female both 2years of age had two mammary tumors as told by the vet. Now Rolo, two years later and at 3 1/2 years of age has a single lump on her nipple. All four pigs are siblings. Must say that none of the females are spayed but the male is neutered.

So has anyone encountered mammary tumors as hereditary? Rolo is from a litter of six. And out of those six four have mammary tumors. One other male passed away and the other, the runt of the litter appears to be in good health now but I will be checking for lumps this evening.

At the moment the other two with tumors have not been operated on yet. Vet said to leave them until they affect their quality of life which honestly is fine by me. However I am thinking of getting a biopsy done to make sure none of these lumps are malignant, do they need to be put under for this? Hope not.

I am certainly not having much luck with these guys. Their father has a stone at the moment *sigh* This is obviously a side affect of bad breeding when I was younger. Another reason for NOT BREEDING.

[salana]

Did you have histopathology on the other mammary tumors?

I would not go for JUST a biopsy. That can breach the skin of the tumor and let it spread. Either remove the whole thing or leave it alone (preferably remove it, of course, before it can spread through the lymph system).