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Bea's Abscess & Mystery Weight Loss

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stripeybeanie

stripeybeanie

Junior Guinea Pig
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I don't seem to be having much luck with my pigs lately. Its not yet been 2 months since we lost our beautiful Leeloo, and now Beatrix has an abscess on her neck skin and has lost some more weight. I took her to vets (highcroft in Bristol) where Vim prescribed septrin paediatric & critical care feeding twice a day & continued metacam. Follow up visit showed small weight gain but abscess not reduced so he's booked her for surgery this week - I'm obviously very nervous after Leeloo but he is confident & thinks she's strong enough. She drinks a lot too so we did a diabetes blood test = negative, but possible kidney stones too so he's going to do an X ray while she's under (& check her back teeth properly).
On Thursday he also prescribes metronidazole & this w/e she's been a bit off colour. Not eating properly (even refusing the critical care & metacam, which she loves) looks down, bit cold. So I got a pro-biotic today & put it in the water. I think it could be working as she's done quite a few poops & seems brighter.
So I'm hopeful she'll be ok but quite worried about her. I hope I'm doing everything right & haven't missed anything...?
It's all a bit of a mystery really with the weight loss... I couldn't bear it if she didn't make it through... She's my most favourite and adorable piggy.
Any tips gratefully welcomed
 
Sorry to hear that your girl is not well. Hope your vet can sort her out. I would definitely give pro-biotics whenever a piggy is on anti-biotics. I always syringe a dose direct into their little mouth about an hour or two after every anit-biotic dose. Most piggies oive the taste of pro-biotics. I'm not sure diluting it in their drinking water is such a good idea..
 
Ok thanks... that's just what it said to do on the packet... If I syringed it do you know what ratio of liquid to powder?
 
I don't think the ratio is too important, it's not a medicine as such, but getting some in is the imortant bit. You can sprinkle some on the food too if that is easier. My pigs aren't that keen on the taste to I sometimes wrap a bit of the powder in a mint or parsley leaf and they wolf it down before they notice! Sounds like surgery is the best option to sort out the abscess. Healing vibes to Bea. x
 
So this morning she was pretty down & not keen to have any critical care (but we managed to get 2-3ml into her). We gave the meds as per, but she seemed sad so I called the vet back & we took her in this evening. It was a non exotic specialist vet as that's all they had available but she agreed looking at the notes it could be tummy problems possibly caused by the metronidazole. She gave us Zantac and advised to lay off antibiotics for next 24-36hrs to see if any change. This evening we managed to easily get 5ml critical care in but she was very sleepy and cuddled with me for ages. I gave her water & parsley too which she happily took so fingers crossed everyone!
 
Also thanks @Elwickcavies for the tip with the probiotic - I hadn't put it in the food as she wasn't eating it anyway but hiding it in leaves would work I think!
 
Lilly said:
Sorry to hear that your girl is not well. Hope your vet can sort her out. I would definitely give pro-biotics whenever a piggy is on anti-biotics. I always syringe a dose direct into their little mouth about an hour or two after every anit-biotic dose. Most piggies oive the taste of pro-biotics. I'm not sure diluting it in their drinking water is such a good idea..
Click to expand...
The only thing we have over here for piggy pro-biotics is the human Inner Health Plus dairy free. I open the capsules, mix the powder with 16 millimeters water and syringe 2 mls per session. I keep the mix in the fridge, which is where you have to keep the original capsules as well. So, it would depend on the pro-biotic you're using I guess, although as @Elwickcavies said the exact ratio is probably not all that important.
 
Update: so she perked up over the last couple of days and was deemed well enough for surgery today to remove the lump. Turns out it wasn't an abscess as vet said it was vascular and fibrous. So they've sent it off for analysis but he thinks it could be a carcinoma. I really hope not! But if it is then maybe it's good it's out now, but who knows. They're keeping her overnight and we visited earlier. She hadn't eaten post surgery (although they'd syringe fed her) but she perked up a bit when we came and ate a bit of parsley & cucumber (her faves). We've taken her friend Dotty in to keep her company as well. Fingers crossed everyone, we'll hear more in the morning! We love little Bea so much, I really hope with all my heart she will be ok <3
 
Hiya, Bea's been ok the last couple of days since she's been home but she's not really eating or pooing enough. I know some antibiotics can upset their guts - she's on baytril, but they also gave us Zantac and also something called emiprid which I've not heard of but they said its for her tummy as well. She seems to be straining a bit but with not a lot of luck. She's also turning down carrot, corn, tomato and only really eating cucumber, herbs and some pellets and hay (but not much). We are also syringe feeding critical care but I don't want to make her burst!
Is there anything else we can do to help her tummy along?
 
Sorry to hear that Bea is unwell. My Florrie has an abscess at the moment and we're also feeding critical care as she's not eating anything by herself now.

Has Bea had wheat bran before? I'm not sure whether this would be okay to give her right now but it does help keep them "regular". You can mix it with a bit of warm water to make it wet for her. I would want to see what other members thought of giving her wheat bran before actually doing it though. I'd imagine it'd be fine but I'd just want to see what others think too.

I hope you can find a solution.
 
Hope she starts improving soon!

My Itsy had a mammary tumour removed a couple of months ago and lab analysis came back saying it was an aggressive cancer. It is a shock and I did have a good cry when I found out but I suppose it's better to know than not to know. She has a secondary lump which will probably also be removed soon.

But about the weight, Itsy also developed a chin abscess at the same time, stopped eating and lost weight. The abscess causes pain in her jaw which led to her eating less and teeth problems developed. Did the vet check her teeth (molars)?
 
Empeprid is Metachlopromide and is a gut stimulant, apparently works on a different part of the gut to Zantac. Has she been xrayed to check for a blockage? If your vet is confident there is no blockage I would also introduce massage therapy on a massage pad if you have one or if not an electric toothbrush can be used as long as it is one that vibrates.

Fluids are essential too especially as she is on Zantac as there is a risk of torsion if she is dehydrated.

Also if you are giving probiotics make sure they are given at least an hour after the antibiotic or they won't work. Therefore it is best to syringe them rather than put in the water bottle.
 
Thanks for the good advice all!
@Puzzlepigs I will investigate this wheat bran thing further and see if it's an option. Hope Florrie feels better soon!
@MrsSuzy so sorry to hear about Itsy. That must have been tough, I hope the secondary lump removal goes well and she can still have a good life. I'm honestly dreading getting the analysis results back but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. Yes the vet has checked her back teeth & done a full X-ray, she has a slight misalignment of her jaw which means her teeth are a bit wonky but nothing serious.
@helen105281 good tip on the probiotic thanks! she had a follow up check on wound healing today and with a few well positioned prods and massages from vet, as well as massage from me this morning she has produced some squishy poos but seems to be getting a bit brighter. I've also been stringing water to make sure enough fluids are going in, so hopefully that helps too.
So I'm going to continue all this stuff & hopefully she'll be ok soon. Next step is results back from the lab....
 
Update: vet signed Bea off yesterday and said she's recovering well.
However....(there are 2 howevers):
- lump turned out to be a thyroid adenoma. There are 2 risks; it could come back in the same place and/or could have already spread but he thinks the latter is unlikely as x-rays showed nothing. If it does come back / spread it could turn malignant but we'll deal with that if it happens. For now she's ok!
- 2nd issue is we separated her & Dotty after surgery to give her some peace but now having trouble getting them back together. Floor time is fine, & we've seen progression but if we put Dotty back she gets aggressive and (usually dominant) Bea doesn't put Dotty in her place. Is this normal? Anything we can do to help them?
When they're on the floor Dotty loves her to bits so it's weird why she changes in the house.
Does anyone have experience of this or any advice? Thx
 
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