Tumor Tumor - Caring for a dying piggy

[S3xy0ldBAG]

My friend has me caring for her 6 year old Guinea pig, who once upon a time use to be mine. I had given Snickers to my friend after her guinea pig had passed from cancer and heart failure.

Anyways, after 3 years Snickers has developed a rather large tumor which was only discovered after I visited her a few weeks ago. She took her to the vet and got an xray confirming the tumor.
The vet apparently told her thay she could either euthanize her then or wait it out until it became painful to Snickers. She does not seem to be affected by it though she IS going bald all over and to me seems far less active. I guess that could be her age though.

Anyways, my friend is staying in a hotel while they wait for her new house to become available. She dropped off Snickers with all of her belongings EXCEPT veggies. She said she would bring them bh the next day. Its been over a week and she still hasnt brought any.
I have a garden so I've been giving her some tomatoes and some leaf lettuce but I need to go get some from the store since it's apparent that my friend isnt going to do it.


I'm wondering what sort of care, special food etc you all would recommend I give to a dying pig to make her final days more comfortable and happy?

I feel bad because she is in a small cage temporarily since I have huskies that would love to eat her, but will it hurt her if I handle her too much with the huge tumor?

Picture of tumor xray included.

Thank you all!

 

[bpatters]

Poor piggy. That has to be uncomfortable.

Lettuce and tomatoes should be fine. I'd try bell pepper. And I'd sneak her some watermelon and some blueberries.

 

[S3xy0ldBAG]

Oh for sure she will be getting better veggies. I was just waiting to see if my friend would buy her veggies.

When I owned her she was fed leaf lettuce, tomatoes, sweet potato, cucumber, bell peppers, carrots as a treat, baby spinach etc....

I'm sort of looking for things that might help her feel more comfortable with the big tumor.
What should I do for her?

I didnt really want to give her up in the first place and had offered one of the babies I had at that time, but she kept saying she loved Snickers and at that time she was a very attentive owner who spoiled her pig before. That obviously changed at some point.
I am deeply regretting it now because I feel like this is partly due to a poor diet and could have been corrected if caught early.

Snickers is the black and orange piggy in my DP. She looks sad and mangy now.

 

[bpatters]

I'm not sure anything you can feed her will help with that growth. My concern would be whether it causes her pain or not.

If she were mine, I'd feed her pretty much anything she wanted and make sure she's comfortable.

 

[Party Guineas]

I just had a piggie pass away from a stomach tumour a few months ago. She was unfortunately a very young 2.5 but had suffered a dog attack before I adopted her, so was a rather stressy girl, though had a happy life with me, I hope. We caught the tumour a little less than a year before she passed - it didn't really seem to grow after a certain point and was attached to her small intestine.

If she shows signs of pain (hunching, puffed out, etc.), you can try her on Metacam or temgesic from the vet and see if they help clear up those signs.

Mine started to lose large quantities of hair, too. She was spayed, so it wasn't ovarian cysts. I realised after watching her that she was self-barbering - sometimes that's a sign they know something is different in their body. Her growth also slowed down, and she never got to the larger adult size of my other piggies.

Mainly, we kept her comfortable and kept things as routine as possible to minimise stress. The tumour can suck up a lot of energy and make it difficult to do basic things like keep warm, so she preferred warmer temperatures in the house. Feed her what she will eat and what she likes, but it's important to keep her nutrition levels up. I found pellets helped a lot because they're effectively high-energy and fortified little nuggets compared to just veggies.

Be ready to step in and hand-feed. I weighed mine daily because she could randomly drop weight significantly in a 24 hour period for no apparent reason (maybe just a change in temp or daily routine) - this happened every few months. I would hand-feed her supplementally (like 2x that day if I could monitor her eating herself, too, more if she wasn't) and continue that for about two days until she picked up again. She lost a lot of weight through that year in total (maybe 300g), the majority was at the beginning and then about 50g shifts, but she was weight-stable for months after each weight loss bout. Healthy teeth and healthy appetite during it all, it was just part of the cancer.

Despite her weight loss and semi-baldness, mine still ran around, popcorned loads, screamed for her food (her wheeking was very loud for such a tiny pig!), and liked to climb on my dominant female for fun - all up until the day she passed. I've lost a few guinea pigs to various cancers - it's different every time, some are more quiet and like cuddles and some are more active; it can happen fast or slow. But don't blame yourself or her diet with your friend - six is a good age and cancer just happens however much it stinks. Just enjoy your time with her now - I'm sure she appreciates your love and care!

 

[Artista]

If it were my pig, I'd give her what bpatters mentioned and her favs.

 

[spy9doc]

I just had a piggie pass away from a stomach tumour a few months ago. Just enjoy your time with her now - I'm sure she appreciates your love and care!

Thank you for taking the time to craft such an intelligent, compassionate, and informative post. If only more Forum members would follow your lead! We'd love to see you around more often.

 

[Party Guineas]

Thank you @spy9doc for the kind words. It's hard to lose a piggie, but it's also difficult to know that it might happen soon and feel a bit helpless about what to do. I remember trying to find similar cases when mine was ill, so I just thought I'd share my experience in case it might help.