Lump Guinea pig lump

Is the lump firm or soft? Can you move it under the skin or is it fixed in place?

Its firm & you can't really move it. Its under her skin. She doesn't seem hurt or anything when I touch it.

It it is firm it is likely either a tumour or an abscess, given her age my bet would be abscess. Either way having it assessed by a good exotic vet would be the best course of action to take. If it is an abscess your options are to have it lanced or surgically removed encapsulated. Lancing requires intensive after care as you can not allow the resulting pocket to close as you need it to heal from the inside out, regularly flushing the pocket is necessary. If it is a tumour then surgical removal would be the only option.

For this I wouldn't take her back to the pet store vet as they likely don't have the surgical background or training necessary for either of these issues.

Also here is my thread about my Theodore's abscess and surgery as I chose to have his abscess removed encapsulated https://www.guineapigcages.com/forum/threads/102295-Pictures-of-encapsulated-abscess-removal

I'll be talking to the vet at the pet store tomorrow to see if they know what it is or what I should do. Thank you so much for your advice. Do you remember how much it cost to get removed & such?

Some links you might like to read
https://www.guinealynx.info/lumps.html
https://www.guinealynx.info/abscess.html

For my boy's surgery it was about $350 but I live in Australia and prices do vary vet to vet. Do you know which vet your petstore uses so you can look into their training, as I said before this isn't an issue I would trust anything but a trained exotic vet with.

Thank you I'll take a look. Im just super upset cause we get her back & she all of a sudden has this huge lump & I have no idea where it came from or why it's there, or what to do

I'm honestly surprised they didn't notice it while she was there being treated, it is quite large so it's not something you could miss for long and if they were giving her medication they should have been handling her every day. You have every right to be upset.

That's what I didn't understand. We noticed it after handling her for about 2 minutes once we got her home. Hoping they give us some answers tomorrow, and its something they can treat cause I don't really have $300-$350 dollars to treat it myself

Do keep in mind lancing is normally cheaper then encapsulated removal for abscesses, I chose the encapsulated removal despite the higher costs as I didn't want all the after care.

If it is a chain petstore you got her from and you are unhappy with the response you get tomorrow then you do have the option of complaining to corporate. She came back from treatment with them with an even larger issue then she first went in with and they failed to even mention the new issue to you despite it being so obvious.

Be prepared for anything. They may even offer to "replace" her if it is something they can't treat, other members of this board have gotten that as a response from petstores before and when they asked what they would do with the guinea pig they can't treat if they accepted the "replacement" the answer was either they would send it back to the supplier or put it down.

I got her from Petco! So yes I'll definitely complain.

Be wary of their vet! I got a hamster from Petco a year or so ago and he became ill pretty quickly. I called the store and they told me I could return him and they would treat him. I asked about their vet. Turns out they don't have their own on staff vet, they have a local vet come in ONCE A WEEK. They told me the name of this vet and it was a vet I had already called myself and they told me they didn't treat exotics. So not sure why Petco is using them to treat exotics (well, I guess I do know... cost...). The hamster ended up dying while they had him (he had bad wet tail, so I knew his chances weren't good).

It doesn't say much for them that they gave you your pig back with this very noticeable lump - either they are so incompetent they didn't notice, or they are hoping you won't notice. So if you see their vet, ask lots of questions: about the vets training and experience with guinea pigs, if they have treated this condition before, if they treat the pig there who handles the aftercare (like is there a store employee who is in charge of that or do they just shove them in a back room).

Good luck!

One of my friends works there & they all handled her I'm assuming at the store. But I have no idea what happened at the vet. The store manager is calling today to see if they noticed it, why they didn't bother to tell Petco, etc. I'm also very annoyed cause she seems very different. Its hard to explain but something is off!