Yaya - weight loss ovarian tumor

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popcorn67

Post   » Mon May 24, 2021 4:04 pm


Hello everyone,

I would like to ask your opinion regarding to proceed with a spay sugary or not.

My guinea pig Yaya used to weigh little over 1000g. She was adopted so her exact age is not known. Maybe 3 or 4. She started losing weight slowly while still eats normally.

On 3/3/2021 her X-Ray, ultra-sound and blood work all came out good. My vet suggested to try Methimazole. After close to 3 weeks there is no any weight gain. So we tried heart medicine Fortekor and still no weight gain.

On 5/4/2021 she started bleeding and the X-Ray found out that there was an ovarian tumor. Given her weight was only 800g I did not want to put her through the surgery. Last week she had some bleeding again. Today 5/24/2021 we had another X-Ray. The tumor seems not getting any bigger but her weight is down to 770g. My vet brought up the spay surgery. It is a very invasive op. Giving Yaya's current weight, what is her chance? I assume that the tumor is the reason for her weight loss.

Without the surgery her weight continually goes down(she has already been fed critical care daily to supplement her eating). Anyone has experiences with this?

Thank you so much for your time!

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Tue May 25, 2021 7:37 am


A spay would require a skilled, experienced surgeon. If she has an ovarian cyst, you might want to look into hormone treatments like HCG (human chorionic gonadotropin) as an alternative to surgery.
https://www.guinealynx.info/ovarian_cysts.html

I am confused that your vet tried so many treatments - they are for widely varying conditions. Methimazole apparently is used to treat hyperthyroidism, a condition that occurs when the thyroid gland produces too much thyroid hormone.
Read more from a contributor:
https://www.guinealynx.info/hyperthyroid ... study.html

And heart medication. I think there might have been more signs of heart issues if that was the problem. Methods used to diagnose are listed on the page:
https://www.guinealynx.info/heart.html

I take it that with the weight loss, the teeth have been examined too?
https://www.guinealynx.info/malocclusion.html

popcorn67

Post   » Tue May 25, 2021 3:04 pm


Yes the teeth have been examined and she eats normally. Without the daily weighing Yaya looks like a normal happy piggy.

Because everything checked out fine in March, that's why the vet suggested that she may have thyroid issue and did experimental treatment with Methimazole. Without any progress and the weight was still going down after 3 weeks, I sent my vet https://www.guinealynx.info/forums/viewt ... s#p2300506 from pinta's post. And asked my vet to try Fortekor.

Here is she helps herself last night:

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Tue May 25, 2021 4:18 pm


What an adorable little face!!!

I wish diagnosing weight loss was easier.

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amanda_mcd

Post   » Mon May 31, 2021 4:08 pm


If you are considering the spay, ask your vet how many they have performed, what are their outcomes etc.

We had a piggie (Poppy) who had an ovarian cyst diagnosed around age 4.5. She coped with it without pain and in fact it was a cancerous mass around her rectum that took her from us just after Christmas last year. She was 5.5.

My now oldest was diagnosed with ovarian cysts in February however they were causing her pain so we went ahead with the spay. Little Cara, when opened up, had a lot of scar tissue and this lead the cysts to adhere to her kidneys. So she ended up with no spay but the large cyst was drained. She is now on daily metacam as maintenance pain relief and so far is coping well. Her only issue is cosmetic hair loss on her flanks.

I don't think I would have put my Poppy through it but she was 4.5 years and was a higher risk. The cyst caused her no obvious pain. Whereas Cara was tender and younger, although the op ended up unsuccessful.

It may be worth some critical care to top your little one up and try to stabilise/increase her weight.

Best wishes for her.

popcorn67

Post   » Tue Jun 01, 2021 7:22 pm


Thanks so much @amanda_mcd for sharing the information!

We have decided not to do the surgery. My vet rated it as 3.5 - 4 risk out of 5(the highest).

Critical care has been part of Yaya's diet for a while now. She seems enjoying it.

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amanda_mcd

Post   » Sun Jun 06, 2021 2:04 pm


How's her weight doing now? It's good if she likes critical care and takes it easily. I've found a brand on Amazon that's a white powder one and it's not clumpy when mixed so is much easier to administer. However I wouldn't want to say it's better than the brown one. It's just easier to administer. I'm sure if you search in Amazon you'd come across it if you wanted more info.

Poppy lived with her cyst for around 18 months with no known pain to us or the that the vet found. Cara however was tender to the touch so the op was suggested as she was in a healthy position.

I mentioned Cara's operation was unsuccessful - the adhesions from burst smaller cysts had made the ovaries stick to her kidneys so the cyst was drained only and now she's on daily 0.5ml of metacam. The vet says the cyst has refilled since her op (end of March) but she's showing no signs of it causing pain so we are continuing as we are for now. Given she handled anesthetic so well, the vet said in the future she'd consider a quick whiff of it to re-drain, but warned this can cause more adhesions so we'd only do it if she was in pain and there would be a limit possibly as to how many times it could be done.

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Tracy

Post   » Fri Jun 11, 2021 10:19 pm


Just want to say I'll be following...and wishing you well. I recently added to my post about Zuki (title mentions hormone injections). She has cystic ovaries, diagnosed around 4.5 years old. Since I haven't found Philadelphia vets that give me confidence about a spay, we tried cystorelin injections with success. But she also has calcium issues. And she's down to about 700 grams.

The adhesions are interesting, and I wonder whether Zuki has something similar. I'm also curious about the white powder you mentioned, though I'm glad my gal likes Critical Care and loves it mixed with sweet potato baby food.

I've wondered about hyperthyroidism or heart issues, but don't think vets would prescribe those meds just as a trial. I'm probably going to repeat Xrays soon to see if Zuki has another stone (she whimpers with discomfort several times per day), we'll give cystorelin injections again to possibly shrink the cysts (last year her hair grew back and she seemed to feel better), and I'll ask if long-term metacam might be a good idea.

I agree your piggy is adorable! Best wishes to both of you.

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amanda_mcd

Post   » Sun Jun 20, 2021 3:03 am


Hi Tracy,

How is your little one doing? I'm in the UK but the critical care formula from Amazon was Vetark. (I hope it's okay to post this info).

Cara's cyst was causing her discomfort and it why she is on long term metacam. The drained cyst has regrown already to quite some size (3 months later) but given the metacam is keeping her comfortable another drain isn't on the cards quite yet.y bet has mentioned the injections but they haven't had much success with them so we haven't went down that route.

Note also it could be luck but coconut oil rubbed on to Cara's skin seems to help the hair regrow. Certainly moisturises the skin at least.

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Tracy

Post   » Sun Jun 20, 2021 7:23 pm


Hello again, and thanks for asking. Zuki may be gaining weight slowly from the Critical Care and baby food I'm giving. I've been scared to try oats but will read some more about them.

She still whimpers several times per day, so something inside is hurting her. My vet needs advanced payment to purchase the hormone (special order), which I may authorize this week. And I'll schedule the first repeat injection. Last year she seemed to act a bit "brighter" after first injecton, if memory serves, and grew back hair after the second injection 2 weeks later. So for Zuki's particular cysts (I think there are at least 3 different kinds), the cystorelin may have worked to shrink them or deactivate the negative effects.

And I'm thinking to do a repeat Xray during either the first injection appointment or the second appointment, to see if maybe she has calcium issues again causing her whimpering. Right now I'm mostly glad she takes Critical Care willingly most of the time and I'm home to offer it periodically throughout the day. Oh, and I'll ask vet if she should be on metacam... or if maybe I can keep some on hand to give as needed.

Hope your gal is doing alright, and how interesting about the coconut oil!

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Sun Jun 20, 2021 10:00 pm


Thanks for the update. I hope things work out for the better.

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