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Big&nasty Infection After Castration.

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F&G

F&G

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Hello everyone,

I was wondering if anyone had ever had a guinea pig with nasty infection after castration.

My little fella was castrated over a year ago there and quickly after the surgery developed an infection in that area. The nurse we saw for the check-ups after the surgery completely ignored the problem and said that it will heal over time. But it got to the point where he developed a huge, nasty, smelly infection that eventually burst, leaving huge bleeding wound. We rushed to the same vet (I wish we went somewhere else back then) and the vet there said that it's a serious infection that obviously was nurse’s fault since. She didn’t reacted when she saw developed infection (We did everything as they've instructed after the first surgery). The vet hasn't cleaned his wound and only prescribed him metacam (0.13ml) & (0.4ml) baytril oral for the treatment of bacterial infections of the respiratory and alimentary tracts for a few days.

(Please never go to Vets4Pets with your wee one)

Also we've been handsomely charged for their second treatment (!) but never mind because it seemed to have healed and he was (seemingly) fine for a year. Last week though we've noticed that he wasn't feeling well so I checked the place where the infection was a year ago and, much to our shock, there was big open wound again. This time we went to a proper vet surgery and today he had a very complicated surgery which originally was only going to involve flushing his wound and taking antibiotics but after the vet there cut him open she realized that there is a massive infection all over his groin and penis area which required a very risky surgery and removing a lot of tissue, to the point where they couldn't remove any more due to the risk of damaging his organs. Now he's back home.

For the first few days he was on (0.13ml) Metacam & (0.4ml) baytril once a day but after second check-up the wound still wasn’t looking good… The vet said that probably te baytril it’s not working properly and we still have two options to help him. They decided to increase baytril to (0.4ml) twice a day + now I have to flush his wound by lodine (0.2ml with 10ml water) + purt manuka honey into his wound twice a day. The next appointment is on Tuesday. He said that If there will be no improvement last chance is to give him penicillin by injection (but it’s really risky)…Hopefully manuka honey will help..

Has anyone had similar problem? Please help.. I don’t want to lost him.
He’s only 1.5 years old :(



P.S I will try take some pictures of his wound later.
 
F&G said:
Hello everyone,

I was wondering if anyone had ever had a guinea pig with nasty infection after castration.

My little fella was castrated over a year ago there and quickly after the surgery developed an infection in that area. The nurse we saw for the check-ups after the surgery completely ignored the problem and said that it will heal over time. But it got to the point where he developed a huge, nasty, smelly infection that eventually burst, leaving huge bleeding wound. We rushed to the same vet (I wish we went somewhere else back then) and the vet there said that it's a serious infection that obviously was nurse’s fault since. She didn’t reacted when she saw developed infection (We did everything as they've instructed after the first surgery). The vet hasn't cleaned his wound and only prescribed him metacam (0.13ml) & (0.4ml) baytril oral for the treatment of bacterial infections of the respiratory and alimentary tracts for a few days.

(Please never go to Vets4Pets with your wee one)

Also we've been handsomely charged for their second treatment (!) but never mind because it seemed to have healed and he was (seemingly) fine for a year. Last week though we've noticed that he wasn't feeling well so I checked the place where the infection was a year ago and, much to our shock, there was big open wound again. This time we went to a proper vet surgery and today he had a very complicated surgery which originally was only going to involve flushing his wound and taking antibiotics but after the vet there cut him open she realized that there is a massive infection all over his groin and penis area which required a very risky surgery and removing a lot of tissue, to the point where they couldn't remove any more due to the risk of damaging his organs. Now he's back home.

For the first few days he was on (0.13ml) Metacam & (0.4ml) baytril once a day but after second check-up the wound still wasn’t looking good… The vet said that probably te baytril it’s not working properly and we still have two options to help him. They decided to increase baytril to (0.4ml) twice a day + now I have to flush his wound by lodine (0.2ml with 10ml water) + purt manuka honey into his wound twice a day. The next appointment is on Tuesday. He said that If there will be no improvement last chance is to give him penicillin by injection (but it’s really risky)…Hopefully manuka honey will help..

Has anyone had similar problem? Please help.. I don’t want to lost him.
He’s only 1.5 years old :(



P.S I will try take some pictures of his wound later.
Click to expand...

Hi and welcome!

Abscesses are sadly still one of the most common post-op complications and baytril is often not strong enough to cut through it. They can flare up months after the op in rare cases or if a previous abscess has not quite fully healed out and a tiny speck of infection has remained.

Please ask your vet to use Zithromax and not penicillin. Zithromax is a very strong last ditch antibiotic that is safe for guinea pigs and that has the ability to cut through a bad abscess where other antibiotic can't. Sometimes, the combination of zithromax and marbocyl can also work in persistent cases. The correct dosage for guinea pigs is 0.1 ml of zithromax per 100g of body weight once daily. Make sure that you give plenty of probiotics with zithromax.

My own several abscess piggies over the years have been on zithromax. It has saved my Hywel's life after he developed some more unusual life-threatening post-op complications at the same age as your boy 6 years ago and had been given up by the operating general vets. However, thanks to the zithromax, Hywel did live the happiest of boar lives with up to 13 sow-wives for another 5 1/2 years within in spitting distance of his 7th birthday even though he was on zithromax and metacam for 6 weeks post-op (and again several times for a recurring dental root abscess in the last year of his life - but he had that extra year of his life and met new love). I have lost piggies to bad abscesses in the olden days when there was only baytril.

Please keep the abscess open for as long as possible, even if that means that you have to peel off the scab on the wound every time you flush; ideally you do that twice daily. The longer the more chance the abscess has to heal from the inside out and not leave any pockets of infection that can flare up again. It may take a month or longer for a large abscess to heal and it is not a pleasant, but vital job. You may also require two courses of zithromax with a really nasty abscess, but it is worth it!

If your vet has concerns, please ask him to contact Simon Maddock at the Cat&Rabbit Care Clinic in Northampton.
He is a general vet, but one that only treats cats, rabbits, guinea pigs and other small furries (sometimes from all over the country), so he has got oodles of experience. He's not just saved my Hywel, but a fair number dental and abscessed forum piggies over the years where their regular vets were at their wit's end. The Cat and Rabbit Care Clinic

All the best with your boy! All is not lost yet! :tu:

@furryfriends (TEAS) @MintyAndGarry (TEAS)
 
Zithromax is the very best antibiotic for dealing with abscesses. It is safe to use and really sorts out the problem. For very deep and aggressive abscesses a combination of Zithromax and injectable Marbocyl works incredibly well. The after care is just as important as the surgery to marsupialise the abscess, and it is essential that you keep the abscess open and flush it twice daily to ensure that it doesn't start to heal too quickly and trap infection inside.

The Metacam dosage you are giving is very low. Ask your vet if it is okay to increase it. We tend to give 0.25 - 0.3 mls twice daily of the dog strength Metacam.
 
You are stars guys !

He never got other antibiotics such as Zithromax.
I am going to suggest those medications on Tuesday - I just hope he will agree.

Later I will try to clean his wound with ear buds with lodine before flushing :( to make sure it doesn't start to heal.
Btw. we are using puppy pads as a bedding to keep him clean.
Any experience with manuka honey?
 
F&G said:
You are stars guys !

He never got other antibiotics such as Zithromax.
I am going to suggest those medications on Tuesday - I just hope he will agree.

Later I will try to clean his wound with ear buds with lodine before flushing :( to make sure it doesn't start to heal.
Btw. we are using puppy pads as a bedding to keep him clean.
Any experience with manuka honey?
Click to expand...

You need to be tough when it comes to scabs forming over the opening. It is very unpleasant for your piggy and you, but it is crucial and can make all the difference in healing up the abscess properly.

If your vet has doubts, I have added the contact link to a vet who has years of experience with zithromax and who sees lots of dental and other abscesses in guinea pigs and rabbits although he himself has as close to a 100% problem-free neutering record as anyone can reasonably get.
 
Just sending hugs as I have had problems post neuter with three of mine. I can't add to the excellent advice, but just wanted to send hugs - I know how absolutely helpless you feel and, in my case, very guilty as it was optional surgery.
 
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my old piggie pablo had a very nasty infection after his neutering op back in 2015 - he'd reacted to the internal stitches and then after they'd been removed pulled out the staples so the infection just got worse, it eventually looked like he'd never been castrated at all :eek:
i had to take him to a different vet as the vet that did the op wouldn't give him anything but baytril - i believe he was on zithromax and improved absolutely massively in such a short time, the vets i now use is a vets4pets and to be honest it's brilliant for my piggies but i suppose that's because they deal with all the rspca walsall pigs and are very knowledgable on guineas!
pabs never had any problems after treatment with zithromax
hope you manage to get some asap X
 
It is really criminal that vets can do neuter ops on piggies when they are not up to it. If getting a vet that is good then there will be no complications. Our rescue and anot her 25 miles away have had over 150 neutered and not one had to go in for further treatment. I have seen instances of piggies having their intestines stitched and seeing several vets without anything being found until autopsy was done. I do hope you get your boy fixed and suggest that you take legal advise especial after this should have been noticed by the vet nurse. You definitely shouldn't have to pay for further treatment for a botched up job x
 
Stewybus we put a review on their facebook and other pages. I think that's all what we can do after a year from his castration.
I just finished cleaning his wound (he was screaming so bad..) it was 4th time and I still can't see any improvements. Anyway I know that it can take time..hopefully he will get better antibiotics and everything will be fine.
Thank you for kind words :(

Bialas 2.webp

Bialas 2.webp

bialas.webp
 
Unfortunately after one week on barytil, liodine & manuka honey there was no improvement and we noticed another abcess so vet decided to give him barytil and septrin together and continue flushing his wound with liodine and manuka honey.

After 2 weeks there is sighlty improvement that's why we are going to start with other antibiotic ZITHOMAX but our vet said that this kind of antibiotic is really powerful with a lot of sides effect so our little fella my die after it. Is it true?... I am so worried.
 
Thank goodness your vet is prescribing Zithromax. It is the very best antibiotic for abscesses and we use it frequently at TEAS. It seems to be better tolerated than Baytril although very rarely it can affect the appetite. We must have used it on hundreds of piggies over the years and I haven't lost a piggy to Zithromax.
 
F&G said:
You are stars guys !

He never got other antibiotics such as Zithromax.
I am going to suggest those medications on Tuesday - I just hope he will agree.

Later I will try to clean his wound with ear buds with lodine before flushing :( to make sure it doesn't start to heal.
Btw. we are using puppy pads as a bedding to keep him clean.
Any experience with manuka honey?
Click to expand...
I don't have any experience with manuka honey but supervet has many times, it's amazing stuff. Good luck.
 
I'm so sorry things are going wrong for you & your lad I hope things improve for you both. It looks like a really nasty wound. I would be inclined to get back all the monies you have paid them back, especially since it was there mismanagement that caused it. If they dispute it they must have a governing body that you could complain to. I really would make them pay for what they've done to your poor little piggy.
I so hope your lad bounces back & you can enjoy each other again.
 
I've used manuka honey before. I was pig sitting a friends pigs and her boy had just been neutered and had an abscess. I was asked to put the honey in the wound. He managed to remove the stitches himself so I had to clean it and use the honey to help it heal (after having a panic attack and blaming myself). He healed great (thankfully!)

I'd never used honey before but my friend is also a nurse and she'd used honey a few times, on pigs and humans with great results. So, I gave it the benefit of the doubt and followed her instructions.
 
I am so sorry that your boy is going through this :(

The nurse should have referred to the vet if she wasn't sure and not just ignored it :(

I have used manuka honey with great success. You have to rub it right inside the wound.

I hope that your boy makes a full recovery xx
 
She ordered Zithromax for tomorrow and also she will call the Royal school of veterinary to check dosage for him. We had option to choose kind of penicillin by injection or zithromax (she mentioned million of times that both antibiotics are very dangerous and we can lost him). Anyway I truly believe we chose the right think. We'll see how it goes...
 
He will only die with Zithromax if she gives him the wrong dose. As far as I know pencillin is the one that's dangerous.
 
Thank you. His weight is 1050kg (he lost 200g in 2 weeks) so it's gonna be around 1ml
 
I'm sorry that you and your piggy are having to go through this. I went through similar things last March with 2 of my pigs and it was such a traumatic time. We unfortunately ended up loosing one of our beautiful pigs, Hugo, after a surgery to remove his abscess. Our other boy has had several courses of antibiotics and procedures to deal with his abscess but hopefully things are finally sorted. He does have a lump in the area but we have been told to monitor it as the vet was not convinced it is an abscess. There's been a few times since then that I have panicked and thought the lump has grown but it appears to be staying put (fingers crossed). I wish your boy a speedy recovery!
 
It's me again guys!

I just collected Zithomax. She said I should give him 1.3ml every 24hours (His weight is 1050g). Is it correct dosage ?
 
Right, I'm gonna try to give him 1.05ml so fingers crossed.
Poppy'sMum - no idea. We have next appointment on Tuesday so I will ask her.
Thank you so much everybody :hug:
 
When do you think can I put my guineas together? He keeps trying to escape from his 'cage' I think he really miss her. He is 3 weeks after his surgery.
 
I have heard you should wait 6 weeks post neuter before putting a boar in with sows
 
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Hope he's feeling better! Is he healing up well? :)

Are the cages next to each other?
 
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Have you tried giving them floor time together? They'd both probably appreciate it and it means if something happens with his wound you'll be directly on hand to notice.

Also I just want to echo everyone else, having this go on a year later is unacceptable. Your poor lad :(
 
oh bless you what a shock. Please bear in mind that this is not to do with the franchise but the staff at your particular branch. We have numerous vets4pets in Leicestershire and mine is good with small animals (i.e. experienced and know enough to know when its best to refer to a specialist) and another newish branch which has a specialist. I was with one of the Best Friends Group vets before and they went from good to excellent to absolutely appalling just from losing certain members of staff. It can be very hit and miss and its a shame that some people in the profession aren't trained enough or perhaps don't care enough about smaller animals to spot and treat some very basic problems.
 
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