Face lump

[greatfieldsar]

Hi guys,

So Billy came in with a very tiny lump on his cheek that looked almost like a scar, funny bit of skin from an old wound.

However, that clearly wasn't the case as in the short time he's been with us, this has suddenly developed into quite a large lump.

He's been to our exotic vets and they aren't sure what it is. It's not painful, you can touch it, it's very moveable and soft. His mouth has been examined and it looks normal inside as far as they can see without sedation.

Our current action plan is a week of metacam unless it gets drastically worse, then back to the vets sooner. If it doesn't go down or improve after a week, back to the vets for antibiotics.




Photos from the fosterer, they're actually screen grabs of a video as I wasn't sure how to post a video on here lol!

[savvy]

Oh no! This sound like it could be a cyst, did the vet take a sample for a biopsy?

[greatfieldsar]

Jul 3, 2022 16:10:58 GMT savvy said:

Oh no! This sound like it could be a cyst, did the vet take a sample for a biopsy?

No they didn't, I presume that would involve putting him under and he's 8-9 years old so the risk is much higher, I guess that'll possibly be the next step if metacam doesn't help!

It wasn't our usual vet who regularly sees degus, however this vet is also exotics trained.

[moletteuk]

I think this would be probably be worth a light gas sedation to check inside the mouth properly and perhaps get a biopsy and/or drain it if it is a cyst. Am I right in thinking it's actually over quite a big area?

[greatfieldsar]

Jul 3, 2022 18:39:13 GMT moletteuk said:

I think this would be probably be worth a light gas sedation to check inside the mouth properly and perhaps get a biopsy and/or drain it if it is a cyst. Am I right in thinking it's actually over quite a big area?

It's about the size of a small pea, just on the cheek, but very very squishy. You can pretty much squash it flat, there's no resistance or hard lump. It's very odd!

[greatfieldsar]

Jul 3, 2022 18:39:13 GMT moletteuk said:

I think this would be probably be worth a light gas sedation to check inside the mouth properly and perhaps get a biopsy and/or drain it if it is a cyst. Am I right in thinking it's actually over quite a big area?

He will be booked back in this week regardless, for which we will try and get an appointment with our preferred vet.

[yasmin]

Wondering how it went at the vet?