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Abscess Aftercare!

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chloe heslington

chloe heslington

Junior Guinea Pig
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Hi everyone!

Not been very active on here recently been so busy with college work and have recently become a fosterer for a guinea pig rescue near us!

So on Friday, we noticed a small lump on the side of Meeka's face, we managed to take her into the vets straight away, the vet took a look at it and gave us the option of her having surgery or to put her on antibiotic and hope whatever it was would clear up, we went for the surgery to be on the safe side. We took her back on Monday and she went under at around 4:30ish.
They found it was an abscess and the cause of it was a wobbly tooth, they removed this tooth and the abscess. After the operation, she wasnt eating or toileting so they wanted her to stay in until she was doing these to be certain she was good to go home, on Wednesday we went to visit her and took Jimmi along for some company, she started eating for the first time and even went to the toilet whilst we were there, the vet decided it would be best if we left Jimmi there with her to help her.
We have been visiting them and taking some vegetables to encourage her to eat.
Today we were able to pick them up from the vets and have come home with a big list of medicines including:
- 0.2ml of Loxicom twice daily
- 0.1ml Cisapride (Gut stimulant) twice daily
- 0.12ml Zithromax once daily
- F10 to flush the cavity twice daily
- and Manuka Honey to pack the cavity

We have an appointment next friday for a check up

Here is a photo of Meeka's Cheek
meeka cheek.webp

We were told to give her the medicines when we got home, she took those like a champ!

We also need to flush the wound out in a bit however this is the part I am quite nervous about doing, was wondering is anyone has any experience with doing this and could go through how to do it? the vet did tell me but want to get another idea before i do it!

At the moment shes resting back in the cage although hasn't eaten anything yet, i have got some recovery food for later if needed.
Is it best to give food on the other side for the while? i don't want to have to touch her face when syringe feeding her so am finding it difficult to find a way which actually works!

Would be really helpful if anyone has any tips on caring for the abscess or syringe feeding her!


Thanks :)
 
chloe heslington said:
Hi everyone!

Not been very active on here recently been so busy with college work and have recently become a fosterer for a guinea pig rescue near us!

So on Friday, we noticed a small lump on the side of Meeka's face, we managed to take her into the vets straight away, the vet took a look at it and gave us the option of her having surgery or to put her on antibiotic and hope whatever it was would clear up, we went for the surgery to be on the safe side. We took her back on Monday and she went under at around 4:30ish.
They found it was an abscess and the cause of it was a wobbly tooth, they removed this tooth and the abscess. After the operation, she wasnt eating or toileting so they wanted her to stay in until she was doing these to be certain she was good to go home, on Wednesday we went to visit her and took Jimmi along for some company, she started eating for the first time and even went to the toilet whilst we were there, the vet decided it would be best if we left Jimmi there with her to help her.
We have been visiting them and taking some vegetables to encourage her to eat.
Today we were able to pick them up from the vets and have come home with a big list of medicines including:
- 0.2ml of Loxicom twice daily
- 0.1ml Cisapride (Gut stimulant) twice daily
- 0.12ml Zithromax once daily
- F10 to flush the cavity twice daily
- and Manuka Honey to pack the cavity

We have an appointment next friday for a check up

Here is a photo of Meeka's Cheek
View attachment 48099

We were told to give her the medicines when we got home, she took those like a champ!

We also need to flush the wound out in a bit however this is the part I am quite nervous about doing, was wondering is anyone has any experience with doing this and could go through how to do it? the vet did tell me but want to get another idea before i do it!

At the moment shes resting back in the cage although hasn't eaten anything yet, i have got some recovery food for later if needed.
Is it best to give food on the other side for the while? i don't want to have to touch her face when syringe feeding her so am finding it difficult to find a way which actually works!

Would be really helpful if anyone has any tips on caring for the abscess or syringe feeding her!


Thanks :)
Click to expand...

Here is our illustrated step-by-step syringe feeding guide: Complete Syringe Feeding Guide

It is great that she is on zithromax; that is the best antibiotic to cut through an abscess!

You need a syringe. Use saline solution (about 2 tsp of salt per pint of boiled water) if your vet has not recommended anything else and push the tip of syringe into the opening and then press fairly strongly. Cotton pads and a towel will come in handy with dabbing off any effluents.

You will have to be ruthless and work off any scabs forming on the opening at least 1-2 daily, which can happen very quickly to keep the abscess open as long as possible. Abscesses need to heal from the inside out; any infection left can refill a pouch and start a new abscess. As long as your girl is still smelling of abscess (something you cannot miss), there is still pus in the abscess.

I am tagging @furryfriends (TEAS) for you, who is our most experienced member with abscesses as she runs a sanctuary for guinea pigs with chronic dental issues.
 
Poor thing- I'll find a pic of Sundae's huge facial abscess. It was quite a mess! Wiebke has given great advice. When I was flushing Sundae's abscess, I would do so twice daily, morning and evening. I had a dental syringe with a fairly small, curved tip, which made it easy to insert it right at the mouth of the opening or a tiny bit inside. I often would use a little bit of hydrogen peroxide to remove any scabbing- it fizzes up on contact with blood and made the scab very soft and easy to remove. I then would flush with the syringe and either an antiseptic rinse given by the vet or, lat on, sterile saline (you can made your own, I actually used a sterile saline for contact lenses at the vet's suggestion.) Once the wound was irrigated, I would use cotton pads to massage the area and to express any pus from the wound. It did take quite awhile to clear (although Zithromax is supposedly the best for clearing abscesses, it really isn't prescribed where I live.) She did eventually make a full recovery, although I was honestly shocked at how much pus I could get out of that wound in the early days! Once I actually had it shoot out over my shoulder and hit the couch behind me, much to my husband's horror!
Here's a pic of Sundae on her first day home after her op:
1391865_10153366678825557_1180505502_n.jpg


And here she is a few days later as she was starting to heal up:
1391596_10153374196315557_1140965737_n.jpg
 
Oh, just to add, I would clean out the syringe with rubbing alcohol to help sterilize it between irrigating the wound. I didn't want to reintroduce any bacteria in the syringe itself. I would soak it in rubbing alcohol for a bit after use.
 
Thank you for the responses, we're now having a real difficulty trying to get her to swallow, have tried just putting the syringe in without pushing any food or water out to encourage her to chew but she's just not?!
 
chloe heslington said:
Thank you for the responses, we're now having a real difficulty trying to get her to swallow, have tried just putting the syringe in without pushing any food or water out to encourage her to chew but she's just not?!
Click to expand...


Is Meeka eating normal food ?
 
she's had a big operation, she's not eating anything apart from the syringe recovery food when we can get her to, however we can't tell if she is swallowing now?
 
chloe heslington said:
she's had a big operation, she's not eating anything apart from the syringe recovery food when we can get her to, however we can't tell if she is swallowing now?
Click to expand...

Please feed very little but often round the clock, if only 0.1 ml of a syringe in one go if she is too weak to swallow. Please see a vet as soon as you can and keep monitoring her weight to see whether she is eating enough. Have you been able to keep the abscess open?

Look at the tip for guinea pigs in crisis in our syringe feeding guide: Complete Syringe Feeding Guide
 
Hope she gets better and is well. Nice piggy you have.
 
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