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Abscess

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Ikklepiglet

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In dilemma.... my four year old piggy has had abcess drained on cheek last week along with dental, he still wont eat so I'm syringe feeding him. His abcess looks like its full again. He is loosing weight fast. Due to go to vets tomorrow night for check up I'm thinking there is nothing more they can do. Any one else had this.
Worried piggy mommy :(
 
Sorry to hear your piggy is suffering. How much are you syringe feeding him? Are you weighing him daily to decide that you need to increase the amount? For a piggy not eating by itself, you need to give minimum 60ml in a 24 hour period. The weight loss is due to not eating enough hay. If he’s recently had a dental he may be in pain and scared to eat.

Was he given any meds following the draining and dental? And what exactly was done for the dental?

You can try cutting the veg into strips but the important thing is getting fibre into him as he’s not eating enough hay.

I’ve no experience with abscesses so won’t comment on that. I would be guided by your vet. I’ll tag @furryfriends (TEAS) who does have extensive experience with abscesses and dentals.

All the best and I hope your boy turns a corner soon.
 
Hi and welcome

Has the abscess just been lanced and then allow to heal up or has it been marsupialised (stitched open) so you have flushed it twice daily to allow any infection to drain out in order to allow the abscess to to heal from the inside out?
What antibiotic have you been prescribed?

Here is our syringe feeding guide. Please check whether you are feeding enough.
All About Syringe Feeding and Medicating Guinea Pigs with Videos and Pictures
 
So did your vet think that the pain of the abscess stopped him eating and led to the overgrowth?
After a dental I was given a week of painkillers and also antibiotics (although that was in some ways a precaution to try and identify whether it was an infection which had caused the overgrowth through stopping my girl eating)
We had a piggy once with a huge growth under the chin which had to be left open and rinsed out twice a day with diluted hibiscrub (the pink stuff vets wash their hands in to get rid of bacteria). They said if it was stitched up it would just refill. It looked alarming but my girl was a trouper and it did heal from the inside out in a couple of weeks. But it'll just be keeping him going until then. Abscesses can be a bit of a battle sometimes but don't give up just yet x
 
I've been through a couple of dental abscesses with pigs and have a couple questions.

-Did your vet leave the wound open to drain after lancing the abscess? Did he give you instructions on cleaning the abscess if it was left open? Basically, abscesses will continue to refill and need to be left open to continually drain. It will help if you use a syringe of sterile saline or a cleaning solution from the vet a couple of times a day and gently express out any pus or discharge. It looks unpleasant but unless the abscess capsule can be removed completely, keeping the wound open and aftercare are really important.

-Did you vet give your piggie any antibiotics? Any pain relief? Although guinea pigs have really thick pus and an antibiotic won't be enough to clear up on abscess all on its own, it will help if it's used along with lancing/draining and cleaning. Likewise, pain relief like metacam may be needed. This is probably pretty painful and guinea pigs are often not good at dealing with pain. It's important to give pain relief so that chewing isn't so uncomfortable that the piggie just won't chew.

-For syringe feeding, how much are you giving and how often. Is he wanting to eat the syringe food or is he fighting you on it? If he's losing weight quickly, he is probably not taking enough in despite your best efforts. Wiebke posted a really good guide for syringe-feeding above so give that a read to figure out how much he's getting and whether it should ideally be more.

Definitely see the vet again, ask about some of these things, and see what they say. Does this vet regularly treat guinea pigs and their dental issues, because sometimes a vet with more limited experience will not cover all the bases as far as antibiotics, aftercare, etc. But abscesses generally are not always an easy fix and can take a lot of time. If your vet is limited in their knowledge about this, it might be worth seeing a more experienced vet as a second opinion, as guinea pig teeth can be really finicky and the more experience the better.

Hang in there and hoping things turn around for you and your piggie!
 
... I wonder if you're near enough to Northampton to consider asking for a referral to a very good clinic there?
 
I hope this is just a blip and with draining it and good pain killers and more syringe feeding he will recover🤞
 
Been back to vets this evening with Freddie. Plan is wait for abcess to mature continue with pain relief and antibiotics then they are going to lance it and leave open so i can flush and drain. As before they left open but its healed quicker than they thought.
 
Ikklepiglet said:
Been back to vets this evening with Freddie. Plan is wait for abcess to mature continue with pain relief and antibiotics then they are going to lance it and leave open so i can flush and drain. As before they left open but its healed quicker than they thought.
Click to expand...

You need to work the scab off the opening after about 2-3 days or so (not at pleasant for you and the piggy) and the opening also needs to ideally be marsupialised (the edges stitched open) to slow down the healing process and allow longer flushing.

Having been up against with a very fast healing boy with a recurring jaw abscess in 2017, I feel for you.
 
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