Tumor Mavis Medical Thread - Skin Tumor

sallyvh · May 18, 2017

Photo's will be slightly graphic.

Last night while topping up hay and distributing pellets I discovered Mavis had quite a bit of blood on the side of her neck. I instantly took her out to see what was going on and I discovered she has what looks like a tumor that has burst on the one side of it.

I honestly don't know how I missed it but I guess her fur has been covering it and she isn't huge on petting. I never felt it during her weekly weigh-ins of periodic health checks and nail trims.

I decided not to rush her to the emergency vet, as she was acting like nothing was going on. She was eating, drinking and even doing some laps. I have her an appointment for Friday at 2:30, that's unfortunately the soonest I could get her in and we are visiting a new clinic as I recently moved and am hoping to find a more local vet.

I'm just shocked about the whole thing as I had no idea she had anything wrong. I imagine the course of treatment will be to remove the lump, it's almost like a blood filled skin tag. A bit bigger than pea sized and she didn't seem to really care about me shaving the fur around it so I could get a better look. I thankfully have metacam and antibiotics on hand so I've given her pain management and decided to start her on a course of sulfatrim to hopefully prevent infection.

Anyway, here's some pictures. I'll update tomorrow after our vet visit.

bpatters · May 18, 2017

It looks like cervical lymphadenitis, which is extremely contagious, and which needs an antibiotic. It also needs to be flushed twice daily with sterile saline and kept open to heal from the inside out. She definitely needs a vet.

sallyvh · May 18, 2017

@bpatters Isn't CL a kind of abcsess that would be under the skin and drained?

This just doesn't seem like that to me. It seems to be more a tumor and not something that could drain. There is also zero pus.

She lives alone so there's little risk of it spreading. Regardless, I'll be sure to wash my hands and change clothes between feeding, cleaning and interacting with the other pigs.

We have a vet appointment tomorrow so we will see then.

Guinea Pig Papa · May 18, 2017

Best wishes from myself and wheeks and grumbles from my herd that everything goes well for Mavis tomorrow at the vets. Hope she's healthy in no time!

bpatters · May 18, 2017

@sallyvh, you may be right. I was looking at that as the dried skin where the abscess had burst open. I'd still see a vet. It might be easily snipped off.

sallyvh · May 18, 2017

We're definitely going to the vet, we have an appointment for 2:30. I'm anticipating needing to have it removed. I do think it would come off fairly easily though, it doesn't seem attached to anything under the skin.

I could also be wrong but I just don't feel like it's an abcsess. The pictures are hard to see exactly what's going on. That dangling bit is dried blood on her fur, It's kind of stuck and I don't want to fiddle with it too much because I don't want it to start to bleed again.

Just want to get this dealt with, especially as we have long holiday this weekend... vet troubles always seem to happen at the most inopportune times!

sallyvh · May 19, 2017

We just got back from the vet. The vet feels it's most likely a benign trichofolliculoma. We both agreed that the only real course of action was to surgically remove it so Mavis is going in for surgery on Tuesday morning.

I probably won't send the mass for pathology as it would be an extra $180 on a surgery that is already almost $400. Regardless of what it is, it needs to come off.

I feel confident with the new vet, she seemed quite knowledgeable so I'm going to have her remove the mass. Just hoping for a smooth recovery.

bpatters · May 19, 2017

That's good news. I've never heard of a malignant one. Keep us posted on how she does.

Guinea Pig Papa · May 19, 2017

sallyvh said:
We just got back from the vet. The vet feels it's most likely a benign trichofolliculoma. We both agreed that the only real course of action was to surgically remove it so Mavis is going in for surgery on Tuesday morning.

I probably won't send the mass for pathology as it would be an extra $180 on a surgery that is already almost $400. Regardless of what it is, it needs to come off.

I feel confident with the new vet, she seemed quite knowledgeable so I'm going to have her remove the mass. Just hoping for a smooth recovery.

View attachment 82424

She looks rather happy munching in there, sally! I'm curious, to whom did you take her to? I know you're only 30 minutes from me and I'm all about options for my boys when their current vet retires.

sallyvh · May 19, 2017

I took her to see Dr. Egbers at the Animal Hospital of Stoney Creek. She isn't a certified exotic vet but has a special interest in little guys and has been working with them for years.

She works at a predominantly cat and dog clinic but she seemed knowledgeable about guinea pigs while I was there. She's done a lot of surgery and in all honesty this one will be quite easy. The mass is just attached to the first layer of skin and should be quick and simple to take off.

I actually reached out to this clinic because Dr. Egbers spayed and neutered my two rabbits that I had as a child nearly 20 years ago.

If I have a complex issue I will most likely return to my preferred clinic in Guelph but this works out great here in this situation where I really couldn't get into Guelph as this clinic is literally a 3 minutes drive from my house.

Guinea Pig Papa · May 20, 2017

Thank you sally. I know there is also another Vet in Grimsby that is a pocket pet vet, and also has guinea pigs herself. I was going to look into her if and when Dr Ker in Thorold retires.

sallyvh · May 23, 2017

Just had a call from the vet, Mavis up and alert after surgery and is recovering well. I get to pick her up in a few hours at 2:15.

Guinea Pig Papa · May 23, 2017

Fantastic news, Sally! I'm glad everything went well!

spy9doc · May 23, 2017

That's wonderful, Sally! Keep us posted on her progress.

sallyvh · May 23, 2017

We are back at home and she is doing well! She was eating at the vet clinic and they said she had a smooth recovery. She was under anesthesia for less than 10 minutes.

We have metacam twice a day for 3-5 days, derma gel to apply to the incision for 3-5 days and 14 days of sulfatrim.

She seems a little subdued (understandable!) but is doing well. I've got her in a smaller recovery cage for a couple days so that everything is close by. She hopped into her favourite bed as soon as I put her in her cage and started munching on some hay.

I'm going to keep a close eye on her to make sure she's eating well, if not I have critical care, pedialyte and all the equipment to hand feed, as well as a couple days off work!

Here's photo of her incision. I would say it's a bit less than an inch long.

Guinea Pig Papa · May 23, 2017

The vet did a nice job. I'm so glad she came through it well, great sign if the first thing she did was hop in her favourite bed and eat!

sallyvh · May 26, 2017

Just a little update on her recovery. It's been 3 days since surgery and she is doing really well. She's completely back to her normal self.

About 24 hours after surgery she was obviously "down" feeling, didn't want to move around much or eat and drink so I was handfeeding for about a day and half. She turned around though about 48 hours after surgery and was eating much better and looking happier. Since yesterday night she's been 100% eating on her own, drinking and quite active.

I'm pleased with her recovery, everything has gone as I would expect it to. Here's some photos of her incision over the days. It's looking great, no redness, swelling, discharge or irritation. She's thankfully not picking at it either.

Guinea Pig Papa · May 26, 2017

Wow, she's healing up well! Way to go, Mavis!

sallyvh · Jun 13, 2017

Just thought i would do an update. It's been 3 weeks today since surgery and she has done very well.

The last bit of the incision scab fell off today and it looks great. She will have a bit of a scar but her fur is growing back and should cover it completely.

Overall her recovery was uneventful, she had some gas issues last weekend but a few doses of metoclopramide, cisapride and metacam fixed her right up. I don't think the gas was related in any way to the surgery either as it happened about 16 days after the operation... just an unlucky occurance i was fortunate to catch early before it became full on bloat/stasis.

Here's a photo of 3 weeks post op though!

Guinea Pig Papa · Jun 14, 2017

Awesome news, Sally! Looks like everything went great!

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Tumor Mavis Medical Thread - Skin Tumor

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