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Abscess Causes

I have found today a guinea pig specialist vet in the local area who treats lots of rescue piggy's
I'm so pleased - I just saw this thread and was going to suggest you maybe call the dbarc rescue and see which vet they use. I personally go to 'the veterinary practice' in Henley - not a specialist practice but two of the vets there keep pigs and have done my operations. One of my older girls had a throat lump a few years back - seriously can't remember what it was but it had to be left as an open wound under her chin to heal from the inside. Luckily I'm not squeamish!

I think you'd know if they were fighting and biting. They don't pretend to like each other when they're being watched!
 
Hi everyone, thought I would give you a quick update. I put the girls back together and spent a lot of time watching them. There is definitely some dominance behaviour going on. Maisy, the bigger piggy chases Stella and pushes her bum. Climbs on top of her and generally just being a bit of a moo with her. If Stella gets in the hammock, Maisy jumps in and pushes her out. But, Stella also does the odd bit of this if Maisy is somewhere she follows her and tries to get in the same place. All very similar to all the info in the behaviour sow section on here. Although they seem to be squabbling they are not fighting as such but it may well be the vet was right and there may have been some gentle nipping or something that maybe caused the abscess's, I guess we won't know unless the new vet finds something different on Tuesday. Both taking their meds well and still eating really well and other than the lumps seem pretty happy. Poops seem better since putting the ProC in their water. I have also put 2 of everything in their cage and made a separate area upstairs that has hay in etc too so hopefully that will help. I will fill you in after we see the vet on Tuesday. :)
 

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So a quick update. New vet thinks as they are both only 5 months old and both have lumps, that it could be cervical or caseous lymphadenitis and one piggy has passed it to the other. She has taken samples and they were being sent off tonight and should get results by the weekend and then that should tell us what antibiotic we need and then whether they need to lance them or operate. She said often, if it is lymphadenitis, then they keep getting them in different parts of their bodies. So, feeling sad but hopeful and I guess just taking one step at a time. They seem happy and are eating etc.. xx
 
Hi everyone, thought I would give you a quick update. I put the girls back together and spent a lot of time watching them. There is definitely some dominance behaviour going on. Maisy, the bigger piggy chases Stella and pushes her bum. Climbs on top of her and generally just being a bit of a moo with her. If Stella gets in the hammock, Maisy jumps in and pushes her out. But, Stella also does the odd bit of this if Maisy is somewhere she follows her and tries to get in the same place. All very similar to all the info in the behaviour sow section on here. Although they seem to be squabbling they are not fighting as such but it may well be the vet was right and there may have been some gentle nipping or something that maybe caused the abscess's, I guess we won't know unless the new vet finds something different on Tuesday. Both taking their meds well and still eating really well and other than the lumps seem pretty happy. Poops seem better since putting the ProC in their water. I have also put 2 of everything in their cage and made a separate area upstairs that has hay in etc too so hopefully that will help. I will fill you in after we see the vet on Tuesday. :)

You definitely DO NOT want to put vitamin c in their water. But you definitely DO want to make sure that your piggies are getting a sufficient amount of vitamin c everyday! As long as they’re eating a good diet, the vitamin c should be covered by their veggies. (A medium-large slice of bell pepper has a piggy’s daily vitamin c needs within it.) For my boys, I do supplement vitamin c just to be safe. I give them 1 mL of child life liquid vitamin c everyday. My boys very briefly developed a couple scurvy symptoms in the beginning when I was putting the vitamin c drops in their water and wasn’t ANYWHERE nearly as informed about proper guinea pig care as I am now. Please make the switch stat!
 
So a quick update. New vet thinks as they are both only 5 months old and both have lumps, that it could be cervical or caseous lymphadenitis and one piggy has passed it to the other. She has taken samples and they were being sent off tonight and should get results by the weekend and then that should tell us what antibiotic we need and then whether they need to lance them or operate. She said often, if it is lymphadenitis, then they keep getting them in different parts of their bodies. So, feeling sad but hopeful and I guess just taking one step at a time. They seem happy and are eating etc.. xx

All the best! Good that your vet is testing for it and for the best possible antibiotic.
 
Sorry @Wiebke someone brought an old(ish) thread to life.

@abrennan110 the poster hasn’t been on since March so not likely to see your response. We also don’t recommend you supplement them with vitamin c, unless they are ill. Doing so when they’re okay can lead to issues with levels of vitamin c in the body. Once it gets used to the ‘supplemented/higher’ dose, they may be ill when it falls below the new ‘normal’. There is vitamin c in grass, hay and veg like coriander and bell pepper. The latter two are recommended to be fed daily.
 
Sorry @Wiebke someone brought an old(ish) thread to life.

@abrennan110 the poster hasn’t been on since March so not likely to see your response. We also don’t recommend you supplement them with vitamin c, unless they are ill. Doing so when they’re okay can lead to issues with levels of vitamin c in the body. Once it gets used to the ‘supplemented/higher’ dose, they may be ill when it falls below the new ‘normal’. There is vitamin c in grass, hay and veg like coriander and bell pepper. The latter two are recommended to be fed daily.

That’s actually the reason why I do still supplement the vitamin c. I originally only wanted to do it for a brief period of time when 2 of my boys lost mobility in their back legs (due to me being not as educated at the time and putting it in their water for a while). As soon as I stopped putting it in their water and started supplementing with child life liquid vitamin c, the mobility was regained almost miraculously. Then I became more and more educated and learned about what you said.. about how they can get sick or develop scurvy symptoms again if they start receiving less vitamin c than they became used to. This is why I still give it to them everyday. They do also get bell pepper everyday and cilantro most days. I provide as healthy of a diet as possible as I worry about them like crazy. My babies ❤️
 
That’s actually the reason why I do still supplement the vitamin c. I originally only wanted to do it for a brief period of time when 2 of my boys lost mobility in their back legs (due to me being not as educated at the time and putting it in their water for a while). As soon as I stopped putting it in their water and started supplementing with child life liquid vitamin c, the mobility was regained almost miraculously. Then I became more and more educated and learned about what you said.. about how they can get sick or develop scurvy symptoms again if they start receiving less vitamin c than they became used to. This is why I still give it to them everyday. They do also get bell pepper everyday and cilantro most days. I provide as healthy of a diet as possible as I worry about them like crazy. My babies ❤️

If your piggies have become used to those high levels, you have to wean them off them very gradually; allowing the body to get used to lower levels. You can do this safely over the course of about 2-3 months by gradually lowering the amount you supplement them with. ;)
 
If your piggies have become used to those high levels, you have to wean them off them very gradually; allowing the body to get used to lower levels. You can do this safely over the course of about 2-3 months by gradually lowering the amount you supplement them with. ;)

Okay if you think that’s better for them then I trust your judgement. I should wean them off of it completely?
 
Sorry @Wiebke someone brought an old(ish) thread to life.

@abrennan110 the poster hasn’t been on since March so not likely to see your response. We also don’t recommend you supplement them with vitamin c, unless they are ill. Doing so when they’re okay can lead to issues with levels of vitamin c in the body. Once it gets used to the ‘supplemented/higher’ dose, they may be ill when it falls below the new ‘normal’. There is vitamin c in grass, hay and veg like coriander and bell pepper. The latter two are recommended to be fed daily.


And sorry @Siikibam, I didn’t realize I shouldn’t give feedback to anything more than a couple months old. Thanks for the help.
 
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