Today...

[theravensclaw]

So I took Wilhelmina to the vets today and they did an ultrasound to discover an ovarian cyst. So $400 later, they removed 15mL of fluid (about half a fluid ounce)and gave her a hormone implant to hopefully stop/slow the re-occurrence. Back in 2 weeks for checkups but she's okay :)

Comments

[lisianthia]

Wouldn't spaying her solve the cyst problem? I had a pig spayed for about $200.

[theravensclaw]

it'll cost me about $600 for surgery they said (im in australia, its $100 for a consult alone at my vets and theyre the only ones that will touch pigs in my area). Apparently this option usually works in most cases and is less risky.

[thalestral]

Spaying is quite risky even in health pigs - after that much weight loss she'd be at too much risk sadly.

[thalestral]

The hormone implant sounds interesting - do you have more info? A lot of my girls ended up getting hormone (hCG) injections to manage ovarian cysts as they do reoccur and spaying is horribly risky.

Did she have other symptoms of ovarian cysts - being stuck in heat, rumbling, enlarged/crusted nipples etc? The stats on ovarian cysts in female pigs are unbelievable - something like 75% of them will develop ovarian cysts at some point in their life.

[theravensclaw]

according to the invoice its called a Suprelorin Implant. It is a gonadotropin releasing hormone (GnRH) that apparently can stop the cysts in most cases (if they are hormonally caused). it's put in like a microchip and lasts up to 2 years.

Symptom wise, apart from weight loss (which was my main concern as my late Nymphadoras weight dropped like that before she passed away), she's had big nipples and a few bald patches on her tummy on and off but she's always been an odd pig since we rescued her so I never really saw them as symptoms. She came from a particularly horrible backyard breeding situation where she was in a 2 x 1 ft cage with 2 boars and had already been bred several times, was underweight, beaten up and very timid.

I couldnt believe how common the vet said ovarian cysts were! She's had 3 cases in the past 2 weeks, on of which had 35 mL of fluid taken out!

[thalestral]

Thanks for the info on the implant! I'll maybe see if I can get that for Tahini if her hormone troubles reappear :)

I hope it helps your piggie quickly - ovarian cyst symptoms can be tricky to spot sometimes. With one of my girls the only change was behavioural, while with others it was the non-stop rumbling etc.

They are horribly common sadly, piggies just aren't very healthy animals all round. Yet still people breed them, bleh :(

[theravensclaw]

So far so good. Her and her cage mate have been joined at the hip and the poor thing has been just constantly eating since I got her home. She's already putting weight back on (up to 1.14kg (2.51lb) from 1.11kg (2.24lb)) I'm finding her even more placid than before. Her original weight was 1.2kg (2.64lb) so we're getting there.

Even with all the health issues (my other pig has cataracts and is nearly blind :( ) I love them to bits.

[maypirate]

I hope she's feeling much better soon!

[theravensclaw]

not sure if she's stopped eating since we got home.