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Dental Care after abscess drained

Tinker15

Tinker15

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Hello. Love the site. I have 9 rescue piggies at home but this is my first post as I can't find the specific answers I wanted advice on please

Dealing with my first piggy abscess. Baldricks has been to the vet today and they removed unbelievable amount of pups so he now has the big hole under his chin bless him. He was so brave 💖 So proud piggy mum

I have antibiotics and instructions to clean with salt water twice a day but what I forgot to ask was:
1. Is he ok staying with his cage mate while he recovers. His friend Percy is very much the dominant one and can get stroppy and they're the only teeth chattering ones out of the 9 I have)
They don't fight (I don't think) but would he be better off on his own to heal even though it's going to take a long time or should I leave them together? If you've had s pig with an abscess have you just left everything normal?
2. Is he ok to go outside in his run - provided its dry of course? They go on the grass. Would it aggravate the open wound?

He doesn't seem bothered by it at all but it's a massive gaping hole in a very awkward spot on his neck. I have no idea how best to hold him or have him standing while I try and lance it. Did anyone else just pop their pigs in the sink or bath rather than try and hold them to lance it?
Thanks so much
 
My Jemimah had a persistent abscess on her rump, so a much easier place to deal with than Baldrick's.
I was given Hibiscrub to flush it out with.
Mine never go outside so I can't answer that question.
I did find that plenty of bribes were necessary - usually cucumber chunks or dill
I never separated her from the others and didn't have any problems with that
I know others have had much more experience with abscesses than I have so hopefully you will get more answers soon.
@furryfriends (TEAS)
 
Tinker15 said:
Hello. Love the site. I have 9 rescue piggies at home but this is my first post as I can't find the specific answers I wanted advice on please

Dealing with my first piggy abscess. Baldricks has been to the vet today and they removed unbelievable amount of pups so he now has the big hole under his chin bless him. He was so brave 💖 So proud piggy mum

I have antibiotics and instructions to clean with salt water twice a day but what I forgot to ask was:
1. Is he ok staying with his cage mate while he recovers. His friend Percy is very much the dominant one and can get stroppy and they're the only teeth chattering ones out of the 9 I have)
They don't fight (I don't think) but would he be better off on his own to heal even though it's going to take a long time or should I leave them together? If you've had s pig with an abscess have you just left everything normal?
2. Is he ok to go outside in his run - provided its dry of course? They go on the grass. Would it aggravate the open wound?

He doesn't seem bothered by it at all but it's a massive gaping hole in a very awkward spot on his neck. I have no idea how best to hold him or have him standing while I try and lance it. Did anyone else just pop their pigs in the sink or bath rather than try and hold them to lance it?
Thanks so much
Click to expand...

Hi!

Your boy is fine staying with his friend. He can go out on the lawn, but you may want to check for fly strike afterwards.
Fly Strike

You do not lance/pierce the opening, but try to keep it open for as long as possible so you can flush the cavity twice daily with a mild disinfectant like saline solution, F10 or hibiscrub ideally for up to 10 days but a minimum of five days. If waxy scabs form over the opening from the pus, you need to work them off in order to drain and flush the abscess.

How you hold your boy is based on what works best for you. An abscess under the chin is the most awkward place to get to.
@furryfriends (TEAS), our 'Abscess Queen' can advise you best on that as she is the one with the most experience.

Abscesses need to heal from the inside out; hence why regular draining and flushing is so important. Every speck of infection that is left behind can cause it to come back again and worse than ever.

What antibiotic is your boy on?
Has your vet checked whether it is a dental root abscess or not?
Which country are you in?
 
Wiebke said:
Hi!

Your boy is fine staying with his friend. He can go out on the lawn, but you may want to check for fly strike afterwards.
Fly Strike

You do not lance/pierce the opening, but try to keep it open for as long as possible so you can flush the cavity twice daily with a mild disinfectant like saline solution, F10 or hibiscrub ideally for up to 10 days but a minimum of five days. If waxy scabs form over the opening from the pus, you need to work them off in order to drain and flush the abscess.

How you hold your boy is based on what works best for you. An abscess under the chin is the most awkward place to get to.
@furryfriends (TEAS), our 'Abscess Queen' can advise you best on that as she is the one with the most experience.

Abscesses need to heal from the inside out; hence why regular draining and flushing is so important. Every speck of infection that is left behind can cause it to come back again and worse than ever.

What antibiotic is your boy on?
Has your vet checked whether it is a dental root abscess or not?
Which country are you in?
Click to expand...

Thank you for your reply
I was given Baytril 2.5% antibiotics (that's what the bottle says)
I'm in the Uk. Only about 10 mins from TEAS actually. Hopefully she'll have some handy hints on how best to position him to be able to get at the hole. I'll give it a go in a moment with salt water. I'm just glad that despite this big hole that's been left where it was cleaned by the vets he seems happy enough and it's certainly not put him off his veggies tonight 💖
Learning New Guinea pig skills all the time with my bunch of furry babies. Keep my fingers crossed 🤞🏼
 
My buzz has been having abscess treatment on his neck abscess for around a month now. I'm no expert but I can say that I have left him with his cage mate throughout (though buzz has loads of vet trips and I don't always take woody, depends on how screamy woody is being about buzz being taken out that day and how hot it is, I won't take him on an unnecessary car trip if its a very hot day etc). And he's been a totally normal pig throughout. I gave him metacam and the probiotic on top of the antibiotics, and he does all his normal things happily 😁 though in the beginning I too didn't have a clue what to do with him x
 
Well I washed it out with the syringe and saline last night and and the hole had shrunk no end.
I have no clue how many syringe fills I'm supposed to use. It looked clean and no puss. Just was getting crusty/scabby around the edges.
This morning though it had completely closed up so I have no idea how I'm supposed to clean it inside if I can't get to it. I tried cotton pads soaked and gently rubbed over to see if I could loosen the scan and gently squeezed around. Feels lumpy underneath but no puss coming out again. Really am worried I'm not doing the best for Baldricks as I'm just totally clueless to what I'm supposed to do. I don't want it getting worse or for him to suffer because I'm incompetent but it's such a hard area to try and reach to get a proper look and treat it. My poor baby. Still seems happy though and doesn't cause a fuss when I am trying to deal with it so I suppose I'm very fortunate not to have a wriggler or screamer
 

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When we were dealing with Eddi's jaw abscess I used to wrap him firmly in a tea towel so I could position him where I needed. It's a tough spot to manage.

If the abscess has already closed then I would probably give the vet a call and ask if you can pop him in for one of the nurses to have a quick look, as it really needs to be open for cleaning for as long as possible.
You have to be pretty rough sometimes to make sure this happens, and a nurse might be able to show you better than we can explain it.
 
I felt exactly like you did. I'm not the most knowledgable but I have experience with buzz, but I did between 10-20ml per flush. It will still feel like a lump as the capsule is still there and will always be unless it's removed by surgery. Buzz also heals up super fast, the vet had to make it a slightly larger opening after a few days to make it harder to heal so fast! I was given hibiscrub and I just soaked cotton wool in it and gently rubbed away the scab.
 
Baldrick is my little star ⭐️ pig and he's doing great thank you. He went back in to see the nurse following my last post and between us, as it took my 2 hands to hold him up, the nurse managed to remove the scab and clean it. Was unable to get any more puss out and she could feel the hard lump under the surface. Vet popped in and said to wait a few days to give the antibiotics time to work but he may need surgery to remove it fully.

It stayed open this time for the next 3 cleans so I had been able to flush it well. Still no more puss but the lump has practically gone now so I am hoping the antibiotics are doing the trick and it will mend on its own without putting him through horrible surgery.
We have a vet check up Monday afternoon to check progress so still have fingers crossed 🤞🏼
 
Bless him! I'm pretty much in the same boat as you about 5 weeks on! It's a long old slog but fingers crossed for our boys. We'll done Baldrick!
 
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