Rizzo a.k.a "The Big Fat"

Over the past year and a half there have been several times that we thought that Rizzo was on his last leg.  One time in the summer of 2020, he was outside eating grass when all of a sudden he looked up at Meg and Cameron and then seemed to pass out on his side.   He woke up fine, but since then there have been other instances where he laid in his cage without moving.  He was good at it as we actually thought that he was dead then too.  During this year's Christmas break I was 100% positive that he wouldn't make it to New Year's.  Rizzo was extremely lethargic, had fluid coming from his eyes and his body kept twitching.  He would eat, but only very little.  I wasn't the only one who noticed how sick he was, and all of us prepared for the worst.  

Just as in the past, however, Rizzo rebounded and was actually back to his old self just before New Year's Eve.  That is until today when I noticed that he didn't look quite right.  His fat lump that he had had on his side for years seemed to have doubled in size.  His fur in that area didn't look right either.  I did some researching online, but didn't find any answers on what to do.  Thus, I decided to wait for Cameron to get home and check him out more thoroughly.

Cameron called on the way home to talk about his new stock purchases.  After he updated me on his losses, I asked him what he thought about Rizzo.  He said that he wasn't sure that there was anything anyone could do, but he'd take a look.  Once he saw how big the lump was and that part of the skin had split open, he thought that maybe we should call the vet.  Fortunately, the veterinarian that Cameron had been observing these past few months was free to see Rizzo, so we drove over right away.

Cameron went back with Diane and she did some cell testing.  She said that the lump really was a fat deposit.  They were common in guinea pigs and many times appeared on their heads.  Cameron was thankful that Rizzo's was on his side.  He was also glad to hear that the cells tested negative for cancer.  Diane gave Rizzo some eye drops for conjunctivitis and vitamin e oil for the skin tearing.  She was concerned about how fast the lump grew, but said that Rizzo had been fighting hard to live, so we should just keep him comfortable in the end stages of his life.  That we can do.