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Abscess Surgery - Specialist Needed In/near Southampton Uk?

Thanks PoppysMum and Furryfriends. That's what I was afraid of. I'm kind of annoyed now that she will have had it 6 weeks by Monday and hope that it hasn't spread to her bone or anything yet in that time. I took her to the vet straight away and back twice more but had I known about Simon and abscess risks I would have taken her straight there. These vets told me to wait and see if it went by itself and the second said surgery is very risky or she might be able to live with it -_- I will not be risking my little furbabies again with these other vets.

Thanks Betsy that's very very kind of you! I'll PM you xx
 
That's OK. I don't like to think of piggies in pain. We are after all mad guinea pig ladies!
 
Surgery always carries some risk, even with us hoomans but honestly Simon is such an expert, you should have no worries unless she has an underlying health problem which cannot be foreseen. My Ziggy's abscess was in her dewlap under her chin, not in the jaw or tooth related at all, it was soft tissue & very close to her jugular vein, however although it was tricky to get it all, Simon managed to remove it, capsule as well & Ziggy recovered really well with a neat a scar as you have ever seen, in fact Simon is so good I have even joked with him to ask if he considers doing human face lifts in the future I would book him to do one for me lol :D
 
Thanks Poppy's Mum :)

Ginger is still eating lots of hay and veggies not sure about the guinea pig food. But we don't think she's drinking much from the water bottle at all. Past few times we've seen her go up to it and then go away again or barely have a go at it. We've tried putting a bowl in but the pigs have never seem to get a water bowl. So I've been giving her cucumber, pepper and wet lettuce. She's not the biggest of drinkers anyway but we're trying not to worry about this as she's still walking around and comes up squeaking to you if she thinks you're getting food.

Can I syringe water into her mouth like I did with antibiotics? Maybe she's getting enough fluid from the vegetables.

Also I have the first day after her operation off work but should I get the next one/two off too to keep a close eye on her with her post op care? I am reading up on it and preparing my list of questions. Regarding bedding how often should it be changed to keep her safe from infection? I use fleece cage liners with sides which I only have two off but I also have bed peds, potty pads and some towels I can use as make shift bedding whilst the fleece dries.
 
You can offer her a 1ml syringe with about 0.2ml in it, just make sure not to squirt water directly into the back of her throat, or she could aspirate the fluid. If you bring her home the same day then one day off work is fine as she should be eating ptetty much as normal the day after her op. I had a c & c cage so I just seperated a section so mine could still see her friends but they couldn't touch her, just for a day or two as I found they recover much better if they are together as long as the others don't bully her. If you can put clean fleece or bedding in each day that is good, but as the wound will be under her chin it's not likely to get dirty. Don't bathe the wound unless Simon has told you to, or has instructed you to flush it if it is an open abscess.
 
Thanks for your advice. We caught her drinking from the bottle a few times tonight and she ate a few biscuits so that reassured us. I think we're just so eager for her to be seen now as it will have been 6 weeks since I found it and I took her to the vet the next morning because I wanted it addressed asap.

We have a C&C too and I thought about just dividing it with grids :)
 
That's great :) Are you ok with syringe feeding recovery food just in case she needs a bit after the op? We have a great guide by Wiebke on here :)
 
I've been doing lots of research on the forum and its recommended links on all aspects of post op care. I feel comfortable using syringe as have syringed antibiotics into her mouth very successfully. :) And I'm writing all my questions down to ask the vet :)
 
Hi everyone here's an update on Ginger...

She had her surgery yesterday afternoon. Simon said she did well and expects her to be absolutely fine. The second abscess was in one of her lymph nodes where the infection had spread. Simon removed the whole lymph node with the whole abscess and stitched it up. The first one he said he didn't want to risk removing the whole thing as it was very close to important things near her throat so he opened it up, flushed it and left it open. He only left like a 4-5mm slit as it's very shallow so it's too small to syringe flush it out.

They told me I've got to open it up 2-3x a day because it will heal closed very quickly. I was told to boil some water to which I can add a bit of salt if I want, let it cool to tepid then soak the incision with it and give it a clean. The nurse opened it up again when I picked her up last night at 6.30pm. I just tried to open it up this morning and it's firmly closed. I'm not sure if I will be able to open it again. :( Any ideas? Maybe soak it in the warm water first and try gain?

I'm to give her 0.5ml of Zithromax (antibiotics) and 0.25ml of Metacam (anti-inflammatory and pain relief) twice a day. I've just done it for this morning and she took it quite well.

She's in the C&C cage partitioned in her own half so she can see the other two and touch them through the cage but I can monitor what she's eating and drinking. Last night she ate some hay, some pellets and 6 slices of cucumber. It doesn't look like she's drunk much. This morning she's nibbled on some hay but it doesn't look like she's eating much of it. I tried cucumber again as it's good for hydration and she liked it last night. She's eaten about 4 more slices of it and maybe a tiny bit of pepper. She's pooed a lot and weed so that's good so far.

She's spending most of her time hiding in her tunnel at the back. I don't blame her. She went through 5 hours of car travel and an operation in strange environments so she probably just wants to stay away from me. I have put her food and hay near the hideys so she can stay hidden and eat which worked last night.

I'm worried already that she's not eating enough today. Although she weighs the same as pre-op this morning (although that is after what she ate last night and the cucumber). Simon told me to she how she eats for a while before stepping in with pellet mush or recovery food I have otherwise she might not eat real food but only want the recovery stuff. How long do I wait? I know you're supposed to step in within like 8 hours or if they lose weight. Maybe she's just having a rest right now.

They didn't give me probiotics as they don't believe they do anything much especially in guinea pigs and gave me some gut stimulants instead that I can give her if she's bloated after they check her over again on Friday. It was a very long trip for them and I'm supposed to take her back up on Friday for them to check her all over and maybe flush it again if needed.

So any advice on reopening the incision or how to encourage her to eat more / when to start hand feeding?
 
Lol thanks :)

Another mini update:
I've just cleaned her side of the cage and her poos are wetter than normal and there's some funny shapes but I'm not concerned about that.

She's not happy about being by herself even though she can see and touch the others through the bars. She was chewing on the dividing grids so hard I was worried she was going to damage her teeth so I've put her in the side with the other two to see if she perks up. She immediately started making exploring noises and was walking around the cage and went to the hay and food. I thought that's great if she's going to be eating more with them maybe I shouldn't separate her.

All of a sudden the other two decided to nip her and she darted into one of the hideys. About a minute after she was making so many LOUD noises sounded like she was complaining to them and the other two looked really put out and backed away. Ginger got even louder and the other two started chattering back at her very loudly. It settles down for a minute or two and Leia decides to approach Ginger in the hidey, Ginger starts 'talking' really loud at her again and Leia starts chattering and swaying her hips. Next thing I know they charge each other face to face so I intervene and tip the hidey up in between them. They're both chattering really loudly (at me or each other?) They've never done anything like that before so I gently lift Ginger up and put her in the other side where she goes and hides in the tunnel. She goes back out to chew on the divider some more before hiding in the tunnel and that's where she is now.

What happened? They rode home together after the operation fine so I didn't expect them to have a problem. Did I make a mistake by separating them or was it a mistake to put her back in with them?

Maybe they feel they have to reestablish the hierarchy or Ginger's really not in a good mood after everything?

Any help greatly appreciated as I've never seen any of them act like that to each other before and it's made me worried I'll have problems with them living together now.
 
Ginger was top piggy even when she was ill. We think Leia was next because Oreo's pretty submissive but Leia and Oreo do have little rumbling/rumblestrutting sessions every so often so I think they're pretty level. (Leia's the smallest by quite a bit)

Maybe it was because they've been separated like that for about 13 hours so the two have had that space to themselves then I went and plonked poor Ginger into an established space. If I keep her separated for the next couple of days so I can monitor what she's eating and drinking and when I'm to put them all back together I'll do a massive cage clean, all new washed bedding and spray the correx and put them all in at the same time so it's completed neutral. I've also got the hay from the road trip they were all in and a blanket they all had lap time on so I could stick those in the new cage so that there's a group smell.

The other two are curious to where she is and trying to stick their noses through the grids so I hope I haven't made them into a two and alienated Ginger entirely.
 
I have found the best way to deal with abscesses that close quickly, is to clean them with warm water and give them a firm scrub (sorry, that sounds awful, but you do need to be quite firm in how you do this) using one of those flat cotton wool pads. You can then massage around the area, so if there is any pus, it should start to come out. Does it look like pus is starting to build up? Don't be squeamish about pulling scabs off. You need to just do it. She won't like it, but in the long run it will sort this out quickly.

I tend to give a little syringe food for the first day or two. Just about 10 mls and then offer them their normal food. It just seems to get them more interested in eating again, but doesn't fill them up. I have never given probiotics with Zithromax as don't feel it is needed.

I think you had the issue with the nipping and teeth chattering because you popped her into the side of the cage that the other two had established as theirs. I would give the cage a good clean out and open it back up. You can always take her out and pop her in a pet carrier to give her extra food, but I feel they are far happier when they have their cage mates with them.
 
Thanks for your reply! I just had to go to shops for cotton balls and thought should i get the flat ones and didn't! Duh -__- I'll try with what I have or I have cotton buds Eesh she is going to like me even less! I will try my best to get it open and clean it for her.

I might do that and clean whole cage and new undivided set up and put her in with them again because I think she'll eat more being with them x
 
At the supermarket I bought lots of different veggies that they've liked in the past (their tastes change quite often just to keep me on my toes I think!)I was disheartened that Ginger wasn't eating much hay or pepper which she normally likes so I went and bought spinach, romaine, little tomatoes, parsley, basil, cucumber and bananas.

Their ultimate favourite is spinach and they get all excited when you shake the bag. I had a plan to shake the spinach bag lots to try and get her excited. The other two immediately ran up wheeking at me and after a while Ginger joined in and starting wheeking at me from inside the tunnel. When I put a handful in she started nomming it down as quickly as she ate before the operation. She's eating the whole lot! :D That's my girl! I'm happy she's eating the spinach so enthusiastically hopefully the hay will follow and I don't think feeding some pellet mush by syringe can do any harm so I think I'll do that too.
 
So I redid the whole cage. The only thing that wasn't new and neutral was the main fleece with sides but as most of it was covered in other fleece pads I tried it and so far so good. No squabbles yet and Ginger's keeping to herself but also showing an interest in the hay.

She doesn't like me much as somehow she'd laid in a whole load of wee or one of the others weed on her as she was very wet with it. So I gave her a quick wash and dry.

Then I had a go at opening up the incision. I soaked the scab for a while and I managed to get it open. Not fully open I couldn't get half the scab off but I gave it a good scrub with cooled boiled water with salt in it and gave a good squeeze around it. Nothing came out. Simon said it's shallow and he'd flushed everything out that was in there at the time. They said to do it 2-3 a day so I'll try again this evening to check nothing's building up.

I'm surprised I didn't get bitten as she wasn't happy! Towards the end she'd had enough and kept pushing me away with her paws. Considering she bit Kim quite a few times or certainly tried but after the first couple of times Kim was quicker than her.

Overall she seems a lot brighter and is even chewing on a new twig toy now, tried the pellets and is moving around. Going from one hidey to another probably to avoid me. :D

Thank you for all the help everyone! x
 
Pleased to hear things have gone well for Ginger. I'm sure they'll all settle down again soon.
Keep up the good work!
 
Fluffbabies said:
So I redid the whole cage. The only thing that wasn't new and neutral was the main fleece with sides but as most of it was covered in other fleece pads I tried it and so far so good. No squabbles yet and Ginger's keeping to herself but also showing an interest in the hay.

She doesn't like me much as somehow she'd laid in a whole load of wee or one of the others weed on her as she was very wet with it. So I gave her a quick wash and dry.

Then I had a go at opening up the incision. I soaked the scab for a while and I managed to get it open. Not fully open I couldn't get half the scab off but I gave it a good scrub with cooled boiled water with salt in it and gave a good squeeze around it. Nothing came out. Simon said it's shallow and he'd flushed everything out that was in there at the time. They said to do it 2-3 a day so I'll try again this evening to check nothing's building up.

I'm surprised I didn't get bitten as she wasn't happy! Towards the end she'd had enough and kept pushing me away with her paws. Considering she bit Kim quite a few times or certainly tried but after the first couple of times Kim was quicker than her.

Overall she seems a lot brighter and is even chewing on a new twig toy now, tried the pellets and is moving around. Going from one hidey to another probably to avoid me. :D

Thank you for all the help everyone! x
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I think you will soon be eligible for the 'abscess queen' title too! I have never quite decided whether to be pleased or offended by my title ha ha ha ha .
 
Ok guys I'm worried again. I thought they were okay together in the cage but Ginger and Leia keep fighting again. It's so much louder and more aggressive than it ever was before when they were figuring out the heirarchy. Do I let them carry on and go through it, hope they establish who's boss and then it'll be over? So far after they've both gone at each other I've tossed a tea towel between them to break it up. I'm worried about the level of aggression especially as they go for each other face to face that it will hurt where Gingers incisions are or that it's more stress for her post-op although I'm pretty sure she starts it.
 
Could this have been happening for a while but in a more subtle way? Just wondering if a bite could’ve caused the abscess in the first place. It just suddenly went through my mind as it seems strange it’s only just started. It may not be the case at all but just had that thought. Are things settling? X
 
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