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Can Someone Please Advice Me What My Options Are With An Abcess?

TheLottiediarys

TheLottiediarys

Teenage Guinea Pig
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I'm getting concerned with Anya

So she's been to the vets three times in a couple of months with this Abscess now,
First they just.. burst it? Cleaned it out with the curved ended syringe and gave us Painkillers and Baytril to sort it,
That didn't work so I took her back and it has already burst so they just cleaned the area, no syringe cleaning this time, and gave us differerent antibiotics and Painkillers, and suggested surgery but didnt tell me what exacly they wanted to do with this surgery,
So I took her to have it and they said her teeth were showing signs of vit C deficiency so they didn't want to do the surgery and gave us more Painkillers and antibiotics and said come back if it doesn't clear up,

Well it's come back again,
And I'm hoping someone can advise me what the best option at this point is,

I don't want her to have this surgery because,
A, when I brought her home after they decided not to do it in the first place she was in a terrible state,
She has a really wet bottom from sitting in her own urine for hours,
She wouldn't interact with me or her sister,
She was quiet which isn't like her,
She wouldn't move at all even when I gently pushed her,
And it took hours of her holding her close to my chest to get her to even eat or perk up.

I have no idea what they did to her the 4 hours she was in there care but I was disgusted and when I phoned up to ask what happened they said the vet would phone me back and they never did.

Okay,
B,
They didn't explain exacly what the surgery was going to do,
Was it to remove the abscess area
Was it to stitch it open to be flushed out everyday,
They didn't explain it and when I asked they just gave me a sheet explaining the breakdown of pricing.

So my question really is,
What are my options
Is there some thing I can say 'I think this should be our next step at this point'

Because from what I've read the surgery doesn't sound like what should happen next?
They made it sound like they were going to remove the abscess and some healthy tissue surrounding it,
Does that sound like what should be Done?

I don't want her to go through a surgery like that if it's not nessaccery?
And if they want to do the surgery anyway and it's not what should be done can I say no to them?
 
if there is still an abcess you need antibiotics,zithromax is the best for abcess,how guinea pig savvy is your vet?maybe a second opinion maybe possible ?i really hope you get competent help.x
 
As I understand it, abssess can be difficult to treat because they are walled off from the blood supply and anti biotics have difficulty reaching the affected aria,

I remember one different case were my vet took a blood sample from around the abscess prior to treatment and talked about sending it to there laboratory to identify the bacteria, making targeting it with a specific antibiotic rather than using a broad spectrum one! But it was not nessasy as it responded to conventional anti bs!
Another vet talked about antibacterial bead in planning (very successful on homans), but again it was never tried on a pig of mine!
Surgery was always the best and most successful option!
 
TheLottiediarys said:
I'm getting concerned with Anya

So she's been to the vets three times in a couple of months with this Abscess now,
First they just.. burst it? Cleaned it out with the curved ended syringe and gave us Painkillers and Baytril to sort it,
That didn't work so I took her back and it has already burst so they just cleaned the area, no syringe cleaning this time, and gave us differerent antibiotics and Painkillers, and suggested surgery but didnt tell me what exacly they wanted to do with this surgery,
So I took her to have it and they said her teeth were showing signs of vit C deficiency so they didn't want to do the surgery and gave us more Painkillers and antibiotics and said come back if it doesn't clear up,

Well it's come back again,
And I'm hoping someone can advise me what the best option at this point is,

I don't want her to have this surgery because,
A, when I brought her home after they decided not to do it in the first place she was in a terrible state,
She has a really wet bottom from sitting in her own urine for hours,
She wouldn't interact with me or her sister,
She was quiet which isn't like her,
She wouldn't move at all even when I gently pushed her,
And it took hours of her holding her close to my chest to get her to even eat or perk up.

I have no idea what they did to her the 4 hours she was in there care but I was disgusted and when I phoned up to ask what happened they said the vet would phone me back and they never did.

Okay,
B,
They didn't explain exacly what the surgery was going to do,
Was it to remove the abscess area
Was it to stitch it open to be flushed out everyday,
They didn't explain it and when I asked they just gave me a sheet explaining the breakdown of pricing.

So my question really is,
What are my options
Is there some thing I can say 'I think this should be our next step at this point'

Because from what I've read the surgery doesn't sound like what should happen next?
They made it sound like they were going to remove the abscess and some healthy tissue surrounding it,
Does that sound like what should be Done?

I don't want her to go through a surgery like that if it's not nessaccery?
And if they want to do the surgery anyway and it's not what should be done can I say no to them?
Click to expand...

Can you get your piggy seen by Simon Maddock at the Cat&Rabbit Care Clinic in Northampton? He sees guinea pigs from all over the country (including as far as Scotland) and deals with dental problems and abscesses on a daily basis, which is far more than other vets. He is also a whizz at delicate surgeries and has saved many a piggy's lives. He does about 15 guinea pig dentals in a week.
PS: He IS a vet, not a rodentologist! But one who has specialised and is most likely the most experienced guinea pig vet in this area in the whole country.
The Cat and Rabbit Care Clinic

PS: Both Hywel and Nesta have had problems with abscesses incisors, but he has also performed bladder stone removals and medically requird spays in often frail and older sows of mine. Unlike with other vets, they have usually made a much quicker and better recovery.
 
@TheLottiediarys You're in the East Midlands so somewhere near me. I use Simon as my vet and I highly recommend him.

It sounds like it's an abscess that is going to need more relevant antibiotics like Zithromax and as it keeps coming back you will probably need to flush it out yourself. It sounds like your vet didn't tell you to do that. (Some abscesses are really nice and go away themselves with antibiotics but most need us to interfere).

I suggest going to Simon. He'll operate and open up the abscess and give you the correct medicine and tools to make it go away. He's really good with pigs so Anya has a great chance of bouncing back from surgery.

He's operated a few times on my pig and he was okay each time, and he was 5+.
 
Okay I'm going to have a word with my mum about when she's free to travel up there
It just seems a waste of money to keep going back to these vets and nothings working when that money could be better used to actually fix things,

At this point I just want her to get better
She's really hating it all and it's a long time to be sick for :/
 
How'd it go? I've just arranged to take my Ginger to Simon for abscess surgery
 
Where is the abscess located? A couple of options exist. The first is to open up the abscess, clean it out well, and then leave it open for you to continue to clean it out and flush it, coupled with a powerful antibiotic. The second option is to remove the abscess capsule entirely and simply close the wound. What approach is better depends on where the abscess is, size, how much skin is left to close a wound, etc. I've had good results with both methods (though removing the entire capsule is a much easier process/recovery... but it's not possible all the time.) Try to see a vet that has experience with guinea pigs, write down your questions ahead of time and be sure you ask and have a good understanding of what they are telling you. Jot down notes if you have to. Hope this helps a little bit.
 
She has two now both under her chin on her neck area. The first one had got as big as her head it was huge like a golf ball but it's gone back down to the size of a grape. It's not the first time it's shrunk though and it has got bigger again. The second I just discovered yesterday and it's about grape size too but a little lower down. I imagine her skin stretched quite a bit when it grew so massive. One vet I went to said he wouldn't try removing the whole abscesses because they're on her neck but I don't have much confidence in him. I'll wait and see what Simon says as he's a lot more experienced.

We didn't want to put her through an operation but as it keeps growing big and now there's a second one I think either there's a foreign body in there working it's way down or the infection has spread. I first found the first one 5/6 weeks ago so I'm not sure it's going to disappear itself.
 
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