[Gpdd] Blossom's hair thinning

Carrie Edgerton cdedgerton at gmail.com
Mon Mar 2 22:37:23 EST 2009


Regarding Blossum's hair thinning and her vet....symmetrical thinning
on a guinea pigs flanks is very very consistent with ovarian cysts.
Many vet's familiar with GP's can feel this simply based on abdominal
palpation, but if the vet is not familiar it's very easy to miss or
mistaken.
Some vets will try Lupron depot injections every 5-7 weeks to try and
suppress hormones, shrink the cysts, and allow more normal behavior.
Lupron is different from HCG. I'm not familiar with HCG therapy. GP
skin is thick, but that shouldn't pose any problems at all with
someone who knows how to do injections and normal needles can easily
penetrate their skin.
 (you can be taught how to subcutaneous injections (under the skin) at
your vets office easily depending on how you react to needles :-)  ),
Lupron goes in the muscle and in my experience is done at the vets
office.
As for letting a vet that is not familiar with GP's do surgery... I
would strongly advise against it. As already mentioned, anesthesia can
be more tricky in them esp if they are only used to cats and dogs.
Spaying is certainly an option to treat cystic ovaries and can
successfully be done on older pigs. But I would recommend confirming
(ultrasound is the gold standard, but an xray may show the cysts) the
cysts before doing it. With cystic ovaries your risk certainly goes up
because the tissue is more fragile than a normal uterus/ovaries.
Plus regardless of health status most GP dont' really "enjoy" surgery
and it's important to be able to do correct supportive care on them
post -op - including as indicated,  assist feedings with something
like critical care, Reglan (a pro motility medication for the stomach
and intestines), fluids, and pain management. After surgery in many
cases you have to support their GI tract to keep things moving through
and keep them healthy and if your vet is not familar with this, that
may be the riskiest part.
If you can find a vet that is familiar with GP's it's worth the drive
to go consult with them even if they wont' be your main vet.
GOOD LUCK with everything!
Carrie




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