Post by rockinrodent on Feb 24, 2009 19:01:28 GMT
I lost my piggy Spike last night- he was my first piggy and will always be my special boy. It al lhappened so quickly and I thinkI am still in shock, have cried all day and will miss him terribly.
He had been under the weather for a couple of weeks and had diarrohea on and off. He lived in my lounge with me and would come in and out of his cage at his own leisure- this had been happening less and less and he just seemed to be lying in one place.I had also noticed that his breathing had seemed a little laboured
Anyway,on Saturday, I noticed that he had what looked like small growths on several of his feet. On weighing him, I found that he had put on 7oz in a week.I knew this was not right so I dashed down to Vedra Stanley Spatcher at the Cambridge Cavy Trust on Sunday and she found what she thought was a tumour. I Left him with her and he went into surgery Mon morning. The tumour it turned out was attached to the kidney so Vedra thought to give Spike a fighting chance it would be best to remove the kidney also. Apparently piggies can survive okay on one kidney.
Well my little darling made it through the op but sadly died soon after from loss of blood -there had apparently been a lot of blood in the tumour.
I have heard that cancer is relatively rare in guinea pigs so I am wondering if others have had any similar problems.If so, what was the outcome? Do tumors always grow, or if left ,can they occasionally shrink or just stay the same size?I am wondering if the lumps on his feet could have been secondary tumors now?
I also wanted to highlight the importance of regular weighing- I normally weigh my pigs monthly but will now do so weekly- this tumour had grown 7oz in a week- quite frightening!
He had been under the weather for a couple of weeks and had diarrohea on and off. He lived in my lounge with me and would come in and out of his cage at his own leisure- this had been happening less and less and he just seemed to be lying in one place.I had also noticed that his breathing had seemed a little laboured
Anyway,on Saturday, I noticed that he had what looked like small growths on several of his feet. On weighing him, I found that he had put on 7oz in a week.I knew this was not right so I dashed down to Vedra Stanley Spatcher at the Cambridge Cavy Trust on Sunday and she found what she thought was a tumour. I Left him with her and he went into surgery Mon morning. The tumour it turned out was attached to the kidney so Vedra thought to give Spike a fighting chance it would be best to remove the kidney also. Apparently piggies can survive okay on one kidney.
Well my little darling made it through the op but sadly died soon after from loss of blood -there had apparently been a lot of blood in the tumour.
I have heard that cancer is relatively rare in guinea pigs so I am wondering if others have had any similar problems.If so, what was the outcome? Do tumors always grow, or if left ,can they occasionally shrink or just stay the same size?I am wondering if the lumps on his feet could have been secondary tumors now?
I also wanted to highlight the importance of regular weighing- I normally weigh my pigs monthly but will now do so weekly- this tumour had grown 7oz in a week- quite frightening!
I have never had a piggy with a tumour so I can't really be of much help sorry 
