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does anyone know anything about tumours in guinea pigs

biscandmatt1

Wise Old Thumper
wednesday - took ches to the vets because he had a bloated tum and gas. he passed the gas, his tum de-bloated but when i felt it i could feel a lump and all around it was swollen. the vet checked him and said it was in the stomach area, right in the middle of his underneath, but they couldn't be sure what it was as it could be the stomach area, spleen, other things etc. he said it was fairly big and hard rough edges. it wasn't smooth like most non-problematic lumps. ches was eating slower but still eating. he had normal gut sounds and was pooping, weeing and drinking normally. he was booked to have xrays on friday morning. he was put on metacam and marbocyl. the vet wanted him on a high metacam dose which makes me think he knew he would be in alot of pain?? the lump was tender to touch for him.

wednesday - he was eating bits but not enough so i began syringe feeding him recovery food and water. and also his meds. he took them fine for the first couple of feeds but through the night he didn't seem to want them. i have syringe fed him before and did it the same this time, and tried to make sure he was swallowing aswell, but i few times it seemed like he was having trouble swallowing anything. he wouldn't eat anything at this point. he refused his favourite foods. once or twice he went to eat them, but when his lips touched the food, he pulled away from it. at this point he was resting alot in the cage, and wouldn't move from the spot he was in, although when i put the carrier in, he ran and got in it so he could move. he seemed a little wheezy almost the last syringe feed, but not alot. like tiny puffs of air out of his nose.

thursday - when i got up i could hear a very loud crackling noise from the cage and got ches out. again, he got into the carrier and on my knee i could hear loud wheezing and loud crackling. when i listened to his chest it was crackling and clicking very loudly. he was unsteady walking when he went back in the cage. we immediately rang the vets and rushed him in. he sounded quieter by this point and in the vets he looked fairly bright, just sounded a bit wheezy.

the vets said later on that he was taking syringe feeds well and his gut sounds were good, he must have been nibbling bits of food at home and with them aswell. he was still pooping etc. they said he was not maintaining his temperature very well but they had managed to rectify that and he was now nice and warm and snuggled up with maisie. they said he was doing ok. the vet had checked him and he seemed to be doing well, the lump and swelling was still there, but ches was comfortable and they wanted to keep him in overnight for xrays the next morning as already planned. they were hopeful he would begin eating more and more on his own.

not long after the vet rang to say that on his checks he noticed ches was breathing alot louder and the crackling was very loud. he was on the verge of collapse so they gave him pain relief and something to make him comfortable and transferred him to an incubator. he was very cold again. by the time they moved him to the incubator, he had passed away. the vet said he thinks it was a tumour in chesneys stomach region - either the stomach or somewhere else in that area. he thinks this because it had already grown more overnight and he thinks it affected chesneys lungs and breathing etc. he was also doing a choking noise, kind of looking like he was heaving, like pushing his throat forward and his body. that was aswell as the crackling. he passed quickly. he was doing well and then just was gone.

what i want to know is - do you think the vets are right in thinking it was more than likely a tumour? and that is why his breathing was affected?

i am thinking i might have caused him to get fluid in his lungs maybe with syringe feeding. they didn't think so but would they tell me if they did, you know. i don't know if this is my fault. :cry::cry::cry:

i have read that alot get bad breathing at the end, but i don't know :cry: could this have been because his body was shutting down? :cry:
 
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Firstly very sorry for your loss. What an awful week you hage had (((hugs)))
I don't know much about guineapig tumours but people tumours I do.
Firstboff you get your primary cancer, this may have been the lump you felt. My thought was could it have been in the liver as this is a common place for secondaries, these are the cancer spreading to other organs. It sounded large and you said it was rough, rough lumps are bad lumps as cancer lumps are sort ofblike a starburst.
It is possible that thd crackling was due to secondaries in the lungs. It is a common place, as is the liver, for these secondary tumours to present. I would say that the speed of it all to me, seems like the lump was a secondary, pesky thing this cancer as primary could be hidden from a pet owner.as they can be in people too. It is hard to know though without tests.
All you did was love him and seek medical attention ASAP so nothing else you could have done. Don't beat youself up.
 
I really don't think you caused anything to happen with the syringe feeding. Honestly, I don't. It sounds as though what was growing was growing fast, and that more than likely caused the lungs to become affected. And really, what else could you have done other than attempt to syringe feed, given the symptoms?

Thinking of you x
 
Firstly very sorry for your loss. What an awful week you hage had (((hugs)))
I don't know much about guineapig tumours but people tumours I do.
Firstboff you get your primary cancer, this may have been the lump you felt. My thought was could it have been in the liver as this is a common place for secondaries, these are the cancer spreading to other organs. It sounded large and you said it was rough, rough lumps are bad lumps as cancer lumps are sort ofblike a starburst.
It is possible that thd crackling was due to secondaries in the lungs. It is a common place, as is the liver, for these secondary tumours to present. I would say that the speed of it all to me, seems like the lump was a secondary, pesky thing this cancer as primary could be hidden from a pet owner.as they can be in people too. It is hard to know though without tests.
All you did was love him and seek medical attention ASAP so nothing else you could have done. Don't beat youself up.

the liver was mentioned aswell. because the lump and swelling was so central, the vet said it could be anywhere really in that region, and the xrays would tell us where. as it turned out he didn't make it to the xrays.

we were at the vets about 4 weeks ago and he was checked over. there was nothing there then. i specifically get him double checked due to the lesion lump he had last year. that went away and he was fine after.

he was fine on tuesday, completely normal, then wednesday he was like i described. i didn't feel anything until wednesday, then i saw he was bloated/swollen and a bit gassy. obviously when i checked him, i felt the lump. because he had gas though, i gave him a massage to help him pass it, and i'm worried i could have ruptured something???

i just don't understand any of this. :cry:
 
I really don't think you caused anything to happen with the syringe feeding. Honestly, I don't. It sounds as though what was growing was growing fast, and that more than likely caused the lungs to become affected. And really, what else could you have done other than attempt to syringe feed, given the symptoms?

Thinking of you x

i thought this, and o/h said the vet wouldn't have recommended syringe feeding or sent ches home again if he thought it would cause any problems. ches was still eating at this point and after the vets it slowed down and i began syringe feeding. he took the first couple fine but then just seemed to not want to try. he just wanted to snuggle against me. x
 
We recently lost Nookie to a lymphoma, confirmed by a pm. They are apparently common in guinea pigs and being in the lymph nodes are highly prone to secondary tumours, he probably had ones in his liver and lungs. My vet did not think Nookie was in great pain, he was on steroids and pain relief ( not a NSAID), I'm guessing your vet was using the Metacam as much as an anti- inflammatory as pain relief ( same idea as the steroid for Nookie). Sadly if they have cancer, there isn't a lot you can do, especially with lymphomas.
 
I doubt you ruptured anything, decline would have been much faster. You can't always find cancers until it's too late. The only way to settle it all would be a PM but that might not be something you can comprehend or imagine doing right now.
Halfpenny is right too, seriously nothing you could do in this situation.
You syringe fed in the past and all was ok so I don't see you could have caused a problem here, time.
 
I don't know anything about guinea pigs, but it sounds like you did everything right, and it was probably cancer with other tumours involved in the lymph nodes and lungs, and there was nothing more that could be done :cry:

Sending hugs xx
 
thank you everyone. i have read alot and asked on the piggy forum aswell and i think the vets are right with what happened. it's so sad but i am glad they were there to make sure ches felt no pain. i think his body was shutting down. :cry: in my heart i felt he had something really wrong, and i was expecting to be told after the xrays and to not have him for much longer, but i really didn't think he would pass that day. it was such a shock. :cry:
 
I'm pleased you no longer have that huge weight of guilt needlessly on your shoulders. Its been a terrible shock to you so I hope you give youself some you time and feel less pain soon. Vibes to you xx
 
I'm pleased you no longer have that huge weight of guilt needlessly on your shoulders. Its been a terrible shock to you so I hope you give youself some you time and feel less pain soon. Vibes to you xx

thank you. i really think it was just his time. :cry: can't believe it has been a week already though.
 
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