Tumor Ovarian Tumors 6 year old pig

[xXMaggieXx]

Hi everyone,

One of my guinea pigs, Emily has what appears to be an ovarian tumor and a mammary tumor along with hair loss on her hind legs. She is 6 years old and has been previously treated for ovarian cysts with hormone injections about 6 months ago. We took her to the vet today, and the vet wants to spay her and says it should remove the cancer.
I am worried if this is the right thing to do since she is 6 years old. The vet was very insistent about doing the spay. She doesn't have any other health issues but I have had her for 6 years and i'm terrified she will not survive or recover from the surgery. I want to do everything possible to give her the best life and keep her around for as long as possible, but of course I am biased. I am looking for advice from other cavy owners that have been in a similar situation. I spent $500 today for ultrasounds, x-rays, and blood work, and I am looking at another $430 for the spay surgery. I currently have the surgery scheduled but I don't know if it is the right thing to do for her. She is currently not in any pain or exhibiting symptoms, I just noticed the lumps during cuddle time.

What would you all do? Have you heard of any other treatments for ovarian tumors?

 

[stray hares]

It's a hard one... and I think it depends on the pig.

A few years ago, back when my little pig Olive was still alive (and 6-years-old too!), I found her collapsed in her enclosure covered in blood. She was floppy and unresponsive. I rushed her to the vet and they could feel a growth inside her as well and the ultrasound confirmed it. She was very close to death, but I knew Olive was a fighter and if any pig could get through anything it was Olive. I decided to proceed with treatment, even though she was extremely weak. I brought some of my other pigs to the vet surgery that day and they donated 10mL of blood in total which was transferred into Olive. She stayed at the vet surgery that night, and the next morning when I visited her the vet actually said, "I think you need to considered putting her to sleep," but when Olive saw me, despite being extremely weak and flopping out of her cuddle sack (I actually thought she was dead initially), she perked up a tiny amount and started eating. I said to operate but if the tumour is too difficult to remove then please don't wake her up.

(Sorry, this is a really intense story...) Anyway, it turned out she had a 5cm (around 2 inches) sphere of tumour neatly encased in her uterus. Her uterus (and tumour) were removed, and her bladder and vaginal passage had actually fused from the pressure of the tumour so that was somewhat corrected as well. It was a long surgery. She was weak for days afterwards, but once the tumour was gone and she was no longer bleeding, she recovered and was back to her cheeky self. The vet said they had never had a piggy so close to death come back like that. The tumour was also benign, it had caused a blood vessel to rupture and that's what nearly killed her.

It's hard to say whether you should go ahead with the surgery, but tumours in pigs can grow really rapidly, and even if benign cause a lot of issues. If your girl is healthy and easy going, I would personally ignore her age and go ahead with surgery. But, a crystal ball would be helpful, it's so hard to know what the 'right' decision is. Good luck, I hope whatever you decide your little one lives a long, happy life.

 

[xXMaggieXx]

Thank you for the advice, a crystal ball would be very helpful right now. I am waiting for the results from her blood work to shed some light on her current health. I am very torn because she is so sweet and is always begging for food. I don't want to lose her, but I also don't want her to suffer.

 

[Pammers2169]

I'm really sorry that you have to make a decision that either way can go bad. If things go wrong you might always feel you made the wrong decision. Just had to say no matter what you do stay strong. I hope your little fur baby will be ok.