Teejay
Adult Guinea Pig
Hi all, my new baby sow, Coco, came from the pet shop with a huge abscess on her neck, so I took her immediately to the vets (with the promise from the pet shop that they would foot the vets bills).
At the time, the vet thought there might be two separate abscesses, one on the skin surface and one more deep in the skin tissue, but she thought that the deeper one might actually be Coco's lymph glands being swollen due to the abscess/infection.
Anyway, the vet lanced the first abscess and put Coco onto antibiotics for a week. We went back last night for a check-up; the first abscess has cleared and healed completely, but I already knew that the second, deeper lump was another abscess....so poor old Coco had to have the second one lanced as well.
She's been through so much in her young life, poor little thing, and she has the nicest character ever - none of this pain and messing around has made her anti-humans at all, she's still as sweet and trusting as ever, bless her.
She's still on antibiotics for the next week, but she's gotten quite used to the twice daily medicine sessions now! The vet also said that I should keep the wound clean and 'flush it' with saline twice a day........but the wound has already closed up and started to heal (the vet only made a small slit in the skin). I tried to really dampen the wound this morning by holding a saline soaked cloth on it for about 5 minutes in the hope of softening the wound and re-opening it gently, but no joy, it stayed firmly closed.
It still feels a bit 'abscessy' to me, but the vet seems to thing that the 'lump' I can feel is the capsule of the abscess, and not pus.
Poor Coco, I suspect that this abscess may have to be surgically removed......my heart bleeds for her, it really does.
Tracey x
At the time, the vet thought there might be two separate abscesses, one on the skin surface and one more deep in the skin tissue, but she thought that the deeper one might actually be Coco's lymph glands being swollen due to the abscess/infection.
Anyway, the vet lanced the first abscess and put Coco onto antibiotics for a week. We went back last night for a check-up; the first abscess has cleared and healed completely, but I already knew that the second, deeper lump was another abscess....so poor old Coco had to have the second one lanced as well.
She's been through so much in her young life, poor little thing, and she has the nicest character ever - none of this pain and messing around has made her anti-humans at all, she's still as sweet and trusting as ever, bless her.
She's still on antibiotics for the next week, but she's gotten quite used to the twice daily medicine sessions now! The vet also said that I should keep the wound clean and 'flush it' with saline twice a day........but the wound has already closed up and started to heal (the vet only made a small slit in the skin). I tried to really dampen the wound this morning by holding a saline soaked cloth on it for about 5 minutes in the hope of softening the wound and re-opening it gently, but no joy, it stayed firmly closed.
It still feels a bit 'abscessy' to me, but the vet seems to thing that the 'lump' I can feel is the capsule of the abscess, and not pus.
Poor Coco, I suspect that this abscess may have to be surgically removed......my heart bleeds for her, it really does.
Tracey x
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), she's always climbing on top of things to get a good look at what's going on, and she's very vocal, wheeking and chirruping at the top of her lungs most of the time.
