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Abscess Advice

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Nic bee

Nic bee

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Hi, I've just noticed my piggie has an abscess on his lymph gland for the third time. I'm pretty sure it emptied and healed from the inside out last time, but about 3 months later he's got another lump (this does feel more central but a very similar place). Does anyone have any advice, I'm going to the cavi savvy vets tomorrow but would like some advice first. Do you think it never went or is it going to keep coming back, do I need it removing totally. The vet said she doesn't like doing this on little piggies....
 
Abscesses can be very persistent. Just the smallest speck of infection in one of the pouches can make to come back again. :(

What antibiotic has your vet used for the previous abscesses and where are you roughly located?

@furryfriends (TEAS)
 
I'm in Leeds, my vet has hundreds of pigs herself so I have full confidence. If there was still a spec of infection wouldn't it have come back straight away, rather than 3 months later? I was actually worried it wasn't ever going to heal over as the wound stayed open for nearly 3 weeks.. I'm so sad it's returned.
Can't remember what antibs they were sorry. I also put manuka honey in the wound.
Thanks for replying
 
Nic bee said:
I'm in Leeds, my vet has hundreds of pigs herself so I have full confidence. If there was still a spec of infection wouldn't it have come back straight away, rather than 3 months later? I was actually worried it wasn't ever going to heal over as the wound stayed open for nearly 3 weeks.. I'm so sad it's returned.
Can't remember what antibs they were sorry. I also put manuka honey in the wound.
Thanks for replying
Click to expand...

The longer you can keep a marsupialised (i.e. stitched open) abscess open and twice daily flushed with a mild disinfectant (saline solution, hibiscrub or very diluted F10), the better. The vet I am using gives me syringes with needles to use for flushing; not to poke them into the body, but to hold against the opening and create a strong and penetrating stream of fluid to really reach the farthest corners of the various pouches. He also uses zithromax, or in very bad cases a combination of zithromax and marbocyl.

And yes, if there was just the tiniest bit of infection left, it can take an abscess that long to come back.
 
Abscesses are difficult to eliminate, as any residual infection will just cause them to reform once the wounds heals over, and it can be hard to clear the infection completely. The two surgical options (depending on location) are to open and drain the abscess, which sounds like what you had done last time, or to remove the abscess capsule entirely and stitch the area closed (whether this can be done or not varies according to the location, whether there is enough laxity in the skin to make a full repair, and whether the abscess is far enough away from major structures and vessels to be safe.) Oral antibiotics should be given too, but are not enough to clear an abscess without some other intervention.
 
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