My daughter has a guinea pig - she’s had him for almost three years now and he was approx three when we got him. He has been healthy all the way along until a few weeks ago she noticed he had a hard, largish lump between his two front legs on his chest. I googled it, and apparently they are prone to tumors and fatty deposits.
He was in no discomfort and seemed fine with going on with his guinea pig life. Last night, she commented it’s bigger, now down along his stomach and softer, not so firm.
On the one hand, I don’t want this little guy to be in agony or anything, he seems happy, doesn’t react when you touch the lump or anything. I am not a monster, but considering his age and everything, I don’t want to rush him off to the vet.
Not guinea pigs, but I have rats and according to my vet a lot of small animal medicine is very much the same.
Rats, Guinea Pigs, Hamsters - all small mammals are prone as you found to tumours and fatty deposits. One of my boys has a lump on his belly that’s about an inch and a half/ two inches now. It’s not hard, it’s soft but it’s not painful and it is causing him some issues because of location, but there doesn’t seem to be any major impacts on his health.
These sorts of lumps CAN be removed, but there’s two issues. One is that if the lump is large, removing it may require removing a lot of skin which means suturing and healing may be difficult if not impossible. The second issue is that small mammals/rodents tend to have VERY fragile pulmonary systems, and it can be quite dangerous to put them under anaesthesia. Not to mention an animal prone to lumps/lipomas often develop others when the first is removed.
When I took my boy to the vet, she said that it’s ultimately my decision but if it’s not affecting his appetite, he otherwise looks healthy and happy (bright eyes, no weight loss, good coat quality, playful nature), and more importantly if the lump isn’t showing irritation, it’s not split or bleeding or seems painful, then it may be best just to let it go and see how he fares, and if it gets too bad to put him to sleep.
I decided not to operate. I didn’t want to risk his dying under anaesthesia if he’s otherwise happy despite the lump.
6 years is a decent life span for a guinea pig from what I know.
Personally I would just take him to the vet. 6 years is getting quite old, but I’d rather not the risk of my pet being in pain. I don’t think guinea pigs are especially expressive about it.
We had an older guinea pig who was prone to getting cysts on random parts of his body. They didn’t seem to bother him at all and he lived to be around 5 or 6.
Out of nine guinea pigs my family had while I was growing up, five lived to be in the 5-6 year old range and at that age going to the vet seemed pretty traumatic for them.
I did have a guinea pig develop something similar on his back, except this one was definitely painful (it looked quite nasty at one point). I don’t remember if he survived it. But maybe it is better to just keep a close eye on him, make sure he’s eating, acting normally etc. and that the lump isn’t looking gruesome.