Ovarian Cysts Ovarian Cysts in Two-Year-Old

ILoveMillie said:

My 3-year old sow began losing hair on her sides, on her neck (behind her ears), her nipples were enlarged, and she even developed two extra very tiny nipples. Everything pointed at ovarian cysts, so we tried the hormone shots before we tried the surgery because of her age. The shots didn't help at all. The vet did say the hormones had been expired for a month (she gave them to her for free because of that) and wasn't sure if it was going to work. Millie was getting worse, so we opted for the surgery. Probably the best decision I've ever made. We had it done by a very cavy-savy vet who works at a 24-hour emergency vet hospital so there was always someone there checking on her. She did have one little issue where the very top of her incision became a little bit inflamed, but it's healed nicely. Millie acts like her normal self and all of her hair has grown back! It made me realize how miserable she must have been before. I was scared out of my mind the entire day of her surgery, but it's was so worth it. Even though the hormone shots might not have worked on her because they were a little expired, I would still opt for the surgery over the shots just because it fixes the problem completely whereas the shots seem to be more hit or miss.

Millie also is prone to sludge, and so I pretty much cut out all romaine lettuce. She maybe gets one leaf of it every 3 months. I stick to green leaf because even the red leaf started her sludge again. She's probably only had parsley a couple times in her life, and I switched her from Oxbow to KMS pellets and it also made a huge difference! She gets mostly green bell pepper, but sometimes red or yellow. Cilantro has never brought up her sludge, and she has it weekly and loves it! The butterhead lettuce also seems to do well with her.

Hope this helps! Let me know if you have any questions

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bpatters said:

No interaction between pain meds and probiotics, but I'd tend to separate them anyway. Just give the probiotic halfway between the pain med doses.

Glad to hear she's eating and pooping. It took a couple of days for Flourish to really chow down on everything, but as she was eating steadily, if sparingly, during that time, I just watched her carefully and didn't intervene.

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bpatters said:

If she's that sleepy, you may want to try hand-feeding her some hay and pellets. She really must eat, whether she thinks she's hungry or not, or even if she'd rather sleep. She won't eat as much as normal, but she should be eating every hour or so.

You can syringe her the probiotics, or just sprinkle them on her food.

ETA: The other option is to look at her pain med schedule. My vet prescribed just one dose per day, but told me that if she stayed really groggy, to give half at a time, twelve hours apart. She was much more awake and active that way.

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