Conditions Uterine Tumor: What Would You Do?

[zsquidtastic]

Hi all. My 3-year old girl, Opal, has recently began bleeding from either her urethra or her anus. It's down around her legs and I'm terrified. Before anything else is said, she's going to the exotic vet at 9 a.m. tomorrow.

About a week ago, I noticed she had some brown around her bum. She's been messy before, so I didn't think much of it and just gave her a light bath. Thinking this was a similar situation, I took her out for a bath today, but found the blood this time. There was also a regular shaped poo stuck to her leg. I am uncertain if this was hers or her cage-mate's. I washed her as well as I could and fed her some fresh washed lettuce and peppers. She's still eating, but definitely not as much as usual. She isn't eating much pellets, and not nearly as much hay, though some. She is also more lethargic than general. I have not heard any squeaks from her while urinating.

She weighs the same, if not a little more than her usual weight. I weigh her weekly. I should also mention, that even today after I bathed her, she still spiked her hair up around her neck and half-rumbled/chased her cage-mate around. Before all of this, her and her cage-mate had been in heat and doing the whole rumble/humping thing quite adamantly. They always do every couple of weeks. I don't know if it's related.

Is there any certain way to tell if this is urinary or diarrhea-related? Do you have any advice on what to look out for or what to do tonight? I need to make sure she makes it through the night. I will be providing veg, hand supplying water, and her cage is covered in hay. I'm just really worried, and I also don't know what this could be.

Any and all thoughts and advice is appreciated.

 

[bpatters]

Re: Blood and Lethargy

There's no way to really tell whether it's from the reproductive system or the GI tract. I'm glad you're getting her in to the vet tomorrow.

The most important thing to do is to make sure she's eating. Feed her Critical Care if you've got some, or make a slurry of pellets. Try to get about 15 cc. at a time down her every few hours, and I'd feed her in the middle of the night.

 

[zsquidtastic]

Re: Blood and Lethargy

bpatters It turns out I have some critical care, though with an expiration date of Dec 2016. Do you think this is too far expired to use?

 

[zsquidtastic]

Re: Blood and Lethargy

I also have the Oxbow Digestive support tablets - would you suggest making a slurry out of that versus pellets if the critical care is too far gone?

 

[bpatters]

Re: Blood and Lethargy

The CC should be OK to give. The vitamins and minerals won't be as fresh as we'd like, but you're mainly trying to get food in her. I don't think the tablets would make a slurry that's very easy to give, but I've never used the digestive support ones before.

 

[Guinea Pig Papa]

Re: Blood and Lethargy

The digestive tablets can be ground into a powder using a zester, and mixed with water which is easily syringe fed. I used to do the same with the oxbow joint support tabs that both my elder boys used to get. They would absolutely NOT eat the tabs on their own, but powdered and mixed with a little Critical Care always did the trick.

Please keep us posted on how your little girl is doing.

 

[zsquidtastic]

Re: Blood and Lethargy

I tried to make a post earlier but it wouldn't submit - so apologies if it decides to post & double up.

I just got back from the vet. They did an x-ray and determined there to be a mass in or around her uterus. There was some striation on the mass and the vet pretty much said it was cancerous/a tumor, rather than an ovarian cyst. It's pretty large and it's pushing on some of her organs. She said she didn't think it has spread, but they can't be sure. Her airways and lungs all appear to be okay; her heart has a slight murmur said to be because of the bleeding.

They wanted to do surgery immediately. They wanted me to decide to do $1400 surgery in which my baby has a 50/50 chance of coming out of it immediately. Jesus.

Anyway. I was overwhelmed. Went out to my car, made a phone call, thought about it. I decided to bring her home for the weekend. They don't do surgeries on Fridays anyway, so I have it scheduled for Monday. Either way, I knew I wanted at least one more night with my baby girl if there's a chance she'll be taken away from me.

The blood had dried overnight and that whole area looked better this morning. But when they did the x-ray and moved her around in all sorts of ways that brought on quite a bit on blood and she was bleeding afterwards. She still has an appetite, and even after all of that painful mess, she was eating peppers and hay. I got some metacam and critical care for the weekend.

They told me that if she loses too much blood or if she loses her appetite she may not be a good candidate for surgery. And besides the crazy expensive, invasive surgery - my only other option is euthanasia. Torn right now, but thought I would update you guys.

 

[spy9doc]

Re: Blood and Lethargy

Sorry the news wasn't better. Jeez.....that is an absolutely outrageous price for a surgery for a cavy! If she were mine, I would immediately get another opinion before I made any move.

 

[zsquidtastic]

Re: Blood and Lethargy

It's like every other one of my posts seem to need moderator approval and I have no idea why. Was trying to say that today's visit which included the 'emergency visit', x-rays, anesthesia for x-rays, blood draw, critical care, and metacam was $360. I don't know if I can afford another one of those visits for a second opinion.

How much does this kind of surgery generally cost in your experience?

 

[spy9doc]

Re: Blood and Lethargy

How much does this kind of surgery generally cost in your experience?

Sorry, but I have no experience with "this" kind of surgery. Most of my experience is with boars. I'm sure that others will come along and be able to provide more information

 

[bpatters]

Re: Blood and Lethargy

I'm not sure why the system is auto-moderating some of your posts. It just does that sometimes. It's set to catch profanity, of course, but I swear it sometimes develops a mind of its own and flags the most innocuous posts.

I'm sorry you're faced with such a decision.

One thing you can do is ask for an itemized estimate and make them go over it with you. It may contain things like sending the x-rays out to be read by a specialists, which they may or may not need to do. Ask them what they can get by without, and if there's any way to reduce the costs.

 

[zsquidtastic]

Re: Blood and Lethargy

I'm mad - I keep running into moderator issues. For no reason. Thththththhthhhankkkkkkyyyyyouououoou.

 

[zsquidtastic]

Re: Blood and Lethargy

"I'm sorry you're faced with such a decision."

What would you do here? I am honestly so upset about the idea of her dying on a steel table with unknown humans operating with their tools inside of her. I also hate euthanasia because, obviously, it's the worst, and also there are these humans nobody knows surrounding you. But yet, I also do not want to lose her. And I'm very said about the existence of this thing inside of her.

 

[zsquidtastic]

Re: Blood and Lethargy

"One thing you can do is ask for an itemized estimate and make them go over it with you. It may contain things like sending the x-rays out to be read by a specialists, which they may or may not need to do. Ask them what they can get by without, and if there's any way to reduce the costs."

They provided this list. Upon review - they have 4-5 counts on anesthesia. Is this normal?

 

[bpatters]

Re: Blood and Lethargy

I apologize for the moderation issues. I'll kick this off to tech support and see if they can figure out what the problem is.

It looks like everything on the list is reasonable as far as needing it for a surgery -- there are no "skippable" charges like a radiation consult. But gosh, that's expensive.

 

[bpatters]

Re: Blood and Lethargy

Just to let you know, your auto-moderation problem has been fixed. The word "meds" was on the forbidden list, as was "cialis," which is in "specialists." They've been removed from the list, so ought not cause any more problems.

 

[zsquidtastic]

Hi all, I am looking for your opinions, your experiences, stories, suggestions, etc at this difficult time. I could not find a way to update the title to my previous post, but I am linking it here per forum rules.

In short, my 3-year old girl, Opal, began bleeding last week. She visited the vet on Thursday and a uterine mass was detected. The vet also detected striations on the mass, which led her to believe it was cancerous. They said they wanted to perform surgery immediately to spay and check if it had spread to any other organs. This surgery is $1500, in addition to the $350 I spent on the initial vet visit. They also said, that it's essentially a 50/50 chance - as even if the surgery is successful, many guinea pigs die from the anesthesia or upon waking from the surgery.

I told them I could not do the surgery immediately and that I needed time to think. I'm glad I took her home and that I didn't rush into a decision, potentially having lost her without saying goodbye. The vet provided metacam upon request, and she's currently taking 0.3 cc per day. She's eating and drinking almost like normal again, and the blood has dried; there has not been any fresh blood for a day or so. That being said, I know her days are numbered. But, upon reflection, I'm not so sure I want to go through with the surgery. Besides the cost - which I would hands-down consent to if I knew there was a high chance of survival - I hate the idea of her dying on a surgery table, or with people she doesn't know, or in a heightened state of pain and panic. I feel like it's unnatural to put her through that whole mess. As I said, I'm torn.

I would almost prefer for her to live out her days here with me and her cage-mate on pain meds & with buckets of veg, until her lethargy takes over and she either passes or I take her in for euthanasia. I don't want to lose her. She's been my baby since a couple weeks after she was born. But the last thing I want to do is make this a painful situation for her.

Anyway - asking any and all opinions on the matter. What would you do? Thanks guys.

 

[Guinea Pig Papa]

Of course, I can't tell you what to do. What I can say is this:

In my humble opinion, some chance is better than no chance. If you do nothing, she has NO chance of survival. If you do the surgery, there is a chance. A chance she could live another 3 years with no other issues.

Whatever you do, this will be a painful decision for her. No matter what you do, she will hurt. There is no getting around it.

The anesthesia is a risk. It always is, for people and for pets. I was told every single time that there's a chance of death due to anesthesia. I had a boar, who was 5 years old when his dental issues started. Thankfully, I have a wonderful vet who treated Sly like his own. Over the next 18 months, Sly endured, I believe it was 13 dental surgeries. He bounced back every single time except the last one. Sometimes it took a little longer, but we always had our little man back. And I wouldn't change it. Had we not done the surgery the first time, he had days left to live. The next 18 months, though at times painful and nerve wracking, were a gift.

If your girl were mine, cost of surgery aside, I would do it. Every time. Because of that chance.

 

[bpatters]

Re: Blood and Lethargy

I merged your threads. You get ONE medical thread per pig. It's too hard for responders to keep up with everything that's going on if the info is spread all over the forum. If you want the title of a thread changed, just ask one of the admins or mods.

At three, I'd probably chance the surgery. If she were older, probably not. But only you know your financial situation, and that can definitely be a factor in any decision like this.

Good luck, and let us know what happens.

 

[stray hares]

Re: Blood and Lethargy

So I feel like I'm in a good position to comment on this. I have a piggy with a uterine tumour currently, and I've had a piggy with a uterine tumour previously.

My current piggy is Lottie, a at least 4.5 year stressnut who hates being handled and being at the vet. She has no symptoms apart from having a really large mass in her uterus. She's not bleeding, losing weight, etc. She is not in pain. I've chosen in her case not to operate because I know that she won't cope well with surgery. There's a chance that it will extend her life, but there's also a chance she will crash and burn because surgery is stressful and she doesn't cope with stress. She's always been like that, ever since she was caught in bushland after being dumped. The wild never left her.
I'm monitoring how the tumour is growing, and she seems okay for now. She is palliative, and this is what is going to kill her. But I have to live with that choice because my gut is really, genuinely telling me not to operate because that will kill her sooner. I don't want her final days to be post-surgical and sore. We take things one day at a time.

My previous pig was Olive. I found Olive collapsed in her enclosure one morning half-covered in blood. She had a 5cm ball of uterine tumour that had grown silently inside her for however long and it ruptured a blood vessel. She was severely anaemic from blood loss, she could barely move. She was 6-years-old at the time. Olive was (and still is, of all the 50+ pigs I've cared for over the last few years) my toughest cookie. She was never afraid (she had neurological issues and just didn't process fear like a normal piggy), and she was a fighter. I knew that if any piggy could live through this, it would be Olive, so I pushed for treatment. I brought in some of my other piggies as blood donors (Seymour donated 6mL of blood and Wolfgang 4mL) to get Olive to the stage where surgery was even possible. Her chances of survival were still extremely slim and the vet said I should consider euthanasia. I knew Olive though, so I said operate, and if when she's under it looks like you can't save her don't wake her up.

The tumour was perfectly contained in her uterus and was able to be removed, along with her uterus. The surgery was long, however. The pressure from the tumour had fused some of Olive's organs together (adhesion is common) and the vet had to do some reconstruction. Olive survived, recovered slowly at first, and then was completely fine. The vet said she's never seen a pig so close to death not die.

So, really, it depends. I've seen a lot of death over the years. Euthanasia is not a bad death. Dying whilst being under anaesthetic is not a bad death. There are deaths that you do not, absolutely do not, want your piggy to have, but those two options are not them.

If your piggy was my piggy I'd weigh up how they cope with novel situations, being at the vet, and stress. Pain is unavoidable, but there are medications that can help manage it.

If it helps, Olive's entire bill was around $4000. Having an entire suite of veterinary professionals stay back one evening after closing time to save a dying pig through blood transfusions is not cheap. I have zero regrets with Olive. She was a genuine spark, and when she passed away a little old lady I was completely gutted. Seymour and Wolfgang are both old man piggies now and I still like to think about how they helped save her life all those years ago.

I don't know what's going to happen with Lottie, but she's okay for now. I wish I had a crystal ball, but all I have is my knowledge of my pigs and how I think they'll cope (or not cope) with things. It's my responsibility to make choices for them, and then have to be at peace with the outcome, whatever it is.

I don't know if this helps at all, but all you can do is make the best choice you can knowing what you know. Best of luck.