[Gpdd] [HEALTH] Artie and fast-growing lump in chin. Urgent!

bunsnpigs at aol.com bunsnpigs at aol.com
Mon Jun 8 13:58:36 EDT 2009


Carole, as a guinea pig rescuer, I do have experience with this as being other than an abscess.??One is that it could be Cervical Lymphadenitis. ?I have seen it in other piggies. Read more about that here:

http://www.guinealynx.info/forums/viewtopic.php?p=160439#160439

My personal experience was not this, but something else. ?This might not be it for Artie, but it was for my Petey. It is called a thymoma. If this is what he has, it is not good news.?This is usually a fast-growing cancer and 2 weeks after diagnosis, I had to put my poor boy to sleep because it grew so large that it squeezed his?trachea and esophagus to where he had trouble breathing and eating. There is no cure for this for guinea pigs. 'Chemotherapy' consists of steroids to help keep the growth down. That did not work for Petey. Radiation in guinea pigs is not usually practiced. Surgery doesn't work, either, as it grows back.?Playing around with it can also cause it to grow faster (trying to drain it, etc.). 

I sincerely hope this isn't what is causing Artie's problem. 

Judi L.





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Message: 8
Date: Mon, 08 Jun 2009 01:26:13 +0000
From: Cazza177 <cazza177 at ntlworld.com>
Subject: [Gpdd] [HEALTH] Artie and fast-growing lump in chin. Urgent!
To: GPDD <gpdd at gpdd.org>
Message-ID: <C6521935.111B0%cazza177 at ntlworld.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"

Dear all

I hope you can help, as I am really desperately worried about Artie.

Poor Artie has now developed a lump in his chin.  You may recall a couple of
weeks back he had oral thrush.  Last Tuesday, I gave him his meds and
tickled his chin afterwards.  The lump at that point was about marble size
or a bit smaller than Malteaser size.  I took him to Cambridge Cavy Trust
that evening and was told it was an abcess and it was drained (about 1ml of
pus came out).  He's on Baytril 0.4ml once a day, and probiotics.

However, by last Thursday this lump was larger than a ping pong ball and
back to CCT he went.  The abcess (on one side of the mump) was drained
again, but little pus came out and it was felt that the what I was feeling
as a 'lump' was swollen lymph glands and it was recommended I see a vet who
used to practice at CCT.

I saw the vet on Friday, who felt that we were not dealing with swollen
lymph glands and that the abcess was secondary to the lump (which I agree
with).  Artie's chin was numbed with local aneathetic cream and an incision
made with a small blade.  No pus came out at all.

The vet wants Artie to finish the course of Baytril and come back this
coming Friday.

Artie is still eating and drinking and has lost around 40g (I am weighing
him daily).  This morning he weighed 1.071kg and 12 hours later he weighed
1.080g, so although he has only gained a little weight, he is maintaining
his weight and I am syringe feeding him as much as he will allow with both
Recovery Science and water.  He is bright and alert.

I feel the lump is getting bigger and that I need to encourage a swifter
reaction than I am currently getting.

Has anyone experience of a fast growing lump in the chin region that 
is not
an abcess, and if so, can they email me with anything that may help me to
help Artie.  I am worried sick about him.

Thank you.

Carole
BG and Artie









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