# Advice needed - Tumor in foot. 90% removed - amputation?



## juicebybrittany (Mar 26, 2012)

Hello everyone. Long time lurker, first post.
My Daisy is just around 3 years old, maybe a month or two older. I've had her ever since she was old enough to be taken home from the breeder.
Around April or March of 2012, she had what the vet said was a cyst in her foot removed. It took about a month to heal and has been her usual self ever since.
However, about two weeks ago, I noticed the same foot in the same spot was swollen and black. I brought her to the vet immediately. They operated and said they removed 90% of the tumor, as the other 10% would be too intrusive. We brought her home and a week later her leg was even more swollen and it just didn't look like it was healing right. We brought her back to the vet, he removed the stitches and has us giving her medication (which we have the hardest time getting her to eat. She had no problem licking it last time  ).
He wants us to call back tomorrow to see how its healing. The next step is amputation if it doesn't heal. However I'm a bit concerned. I'm having a REALLY hard time googling cancer in hedgehogs since something about some other cancer thing called the hedgehog gene or something keeps coming up so I'm at a loss for information, so any help is appreciated.
What do you think her recovery rate is? Should we amputate asap, or should we wait it out? I don't want to take her leg if she has a chance of keeping it, but would take it off immediately if it means she'll live a longer, fulfilling life. She's still her usual, silly self, although she is a bit more grumpy lately, which is to be expected, and lays a little oddly because of her leg.
A bunch of really, super nice people just donated me some money to help pay for her medical bills (who knew good people still existed!) so I'm willing to pay for it, but these constant trips to the vet are becoming a little too much for me to handle.
What should I do? Help please. I'm a mess over her  Thanks for reading.









Here's her on her first time outside, the day I realized her foot was swollen


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## juicebybrittany (Mar 26, 2012)

Also, the medication she's on is called Enrofloxacin. Ever since she's been on it she's been itching like crazy! I did some search on this and a few sites said it could possibly be a side effect of it, but haven't seen anyone post that their hedgie experienced this yet, so I'm just curious if this is the cause or if it could be something more serious.


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## kat (May 11, 2011)

Mustard was on Enrofloxacin before. she had an upset stomach because of it. 

with regards to the amputation.. i have no experience but i have read hedgies on here that only have three legs and they are living a normal hedgie life.


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## juicebybrittany (Mar 26, 2012)

kat said:


> Mustard was on Enrofloxacin before. she had an upset stomach because of it.
> 
> with regards to the amputation.. i have no experience but i have read hedgies on here that only have three legs and they are living a normal hedgie life.


Aw, Mustard's a cute name 

Daisy was on Enrofloxacin before when she had her first surgery. Oh man, was her poop some interesting colors! Same thing is happening this time around. Her appetite isn't as big as it usually is, but she's still drinking at least!

And I am all for the amputation if it will save her. I know she'd be able to cope with it.
However, if the first 'cyst' was actually cancer (we didn't get a biopsy as my vet was pretty convinced it was a cyst), that means that she has had it in her system for about 5 months . Would it have spread by now, and would it be worth it for her to go through that if it's just going to show up somewhere else?


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