Dory - infection after abcess operation

[sarahp]

Throughout the week I've been posting photos of Dory, my friend Alyson's guinea pig who is staying with me while she's away and who had an operation to remove an abcess (see http://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=55572)

The operation was just over a week ago and he's been getting on really well.

Earlier today I noticed a little section of his wound looks a bit infected. At first I thought it was part of the scab forming, but later on after he had a run around the floor I noticed a bit of white pus coming out.

He has his follow-up appointment on Tuesday but I called the emergency vet to ask their advice. I couldn't speak to our usual vet, obviously, but the vet there said to start him back on antibiotics (Septrin - which he'd been on for the first 5 days) and bring him in as usual for his appointment on Tuesday.

Here's a photo taken today showing the whole wound, although you can't really see the infected bit:

Here's a few close-ups. You can see the infected section inbetween two of the stitches

Thankfully he's still absolutely fine in himself, eating, squeaking and running around as normal.

The vet didn't say anything about bathing it or keeping it clean and, to be honest, I completely forgot to ask. Does anyone have an opinion? He's not scratching or licking it at all, as far as I can see.

Finally, here's another photo of him posing for you, Alyson

(Sorry photos are a bit big this time but am on a different computer and won't let me resize them)

 

[Pebble]

First "defence" is to bathe the wound 3x daily in salt water - even better if you can use hibiscrub at 2% (2ml concentrate in 100ml - Lloyds and some other pharmacies stock hibiscrub). Also GENTLY try and express the pus using cotton wool or kitchen towel either side .....The septrin will help....in view of the size of his wound and number of stitches it is not surprising that he has developed infection - I am still amazed at how little problems you have had with the wound to date.

I suspect he may have had the odd scratch with his dirty toenails - a (small?) tubigrip bandage with holes cut for legs can protect the area while healing

Ginger's wound was low on his abdomen and about the same size (but laterally) as Dory's vertical wound

In Dory's case if the vet thinks it necessary I would extend the bandage over the whole abdomen - ie holes for both front and back legs

This is a minor hiccough in view of the quite extensive surgery Dory has had- he should recover fine providing you bathe the wound regularly and give septrin untill the next vet visit on tuesday

HTH
x

 

[Romily]

I had an infection after a piercing and hibiscrub worked wonders at clearing it up!

 

[PiggiePal]

Thanks for posting these mrs. That infection looks almost green @) Thanks Pebble for your advice, we have hibiscrub and will bathe it and express it tomorrow when I get back. Good idea about the bandage - love the photo heehe! Didn't he make the bandage a bit stinky it being over his poo/wee holes?
What dose of septrin would you recommend?
Cross fingers he'll be ok apart from this little hiccup rolleyesxx

 

[Pebble]

Thanks for posting these mrs. That infection looks almost green @) Thanks Pebble for your advice, we have hibiscrub and will bathe it and express it tomorrow when I get back. Good idea about the bandage - love the photo heehe! Didn't he make the bandage a bit stinky it being over his poo/wee holes?

No - they cut very wide hind leg holes so the nappy remained "wee and pooh-free" for 2-3 days

What dose of septrin would you recommend?
Oh lordy....it's late at night to be doing this! - OK - paediatric septrin (the banana one) contains two active ingredients at 40mg and 200mg in 5ml respectively so the combined total concentration of active drug is 240/5 = 48mg/ml.

Piggies normal recommended dose is 30mg/kg twice daily so the amount in ml per dose = (your piggie weight in kg x 30)/48 ml -

So say piggie is 1.2kg - he needs 1.2x30mg = 36mg per dose. There is 48mg in 1 ml of septrin so he needs 36/48 = 0.75ml twice daily

Cross fingers he'll be ok apart from this little hiccup rolleyesxx

NOTE: the equation above assumes you are giving him the paediatric banana septrin - If you are giving him something else (eg tablets) then PM me with the drug concentration and I will work it out for you.

I'm sure he will be right as rain soon.

P.S. Don;t forget the probiotic!

 

[Pebble]

NB - infected stitches are not the same as an abcess - hence why if you try to express any pus it must be with [*]minimal[/*] pressure or you could cause damage to the underlying tissue that is trying to heal. On reflection it might be better to just bathe and try and "gently stroke out" any pus with a the wet piece of cotton wool and give septrin until you see the vet....

x

 

[sarahp]

Thanks, pebble, that's all really helpful. And I love your photo, he looks like he has a little nappy on

I decided to just stick with bathing until he sees the vet on Tuesday. I used salt water on it earlier today while staying at my mum and dad and now I'm home I'll get the hibiscrub out.

 

[sarahp]

Dory didn't seem to mind me bathing his wound with salt water earlier today, but wasn't keen on the hibiscrub tonight. He flinched while I was doing it so I think it's a bit sore.

I've taken loads of photos of it and it seems to look totally different on each one. After bathing it tonight it looks like another section might be a bit infected, just over the other side of the halfway point I'm glad we haven't got long to wait until his trip to the vet on Tuesday.

Here's two photos, the first taken before I bathed it tonight and the second afterwards

 

[PiggiePal]

hmmm, maybe the tubigrip idea is worth a go... thanks for hibiscrubbing him, i guess if it hurts it's getting to the infection? xx

 

[Pebble]

The hibiscrub needs to be diluted down to 0.5-2% solution before application to wounds. (2% is the maximum) i.e. put 0.5-2.0ml of the concentrated solution in 100ml of boiled cooled water.

Gingers wound also had Pliva Polyfax ointment (a polymyxin and bacitracin antibiotic cream) applied twice daily to prevent infection until it had healed up....might be worth mentioning this to your vet on tuesday.

(I think I should say that Ginger ripped out his stitches twice and really didn;t take to the nappy at all :red...in fact putting a fresh one caused more trauma to his stitches than it prevented owing to him wriggling ...so rather than put him under and sew him up a third time, the vet took out all the stitches and Ginger spent four weeks at the vets letting the wound heal by "secondary intention" - i.e. without stitches but with careful daily care with antibiotic cream and collagen gel to keep the area moist. It took six weeks in total ....but it;s healed perfectly and he is wriggly as ever....and now has celebrity status amongst the vet nurses!).

xx

 

[Pebble]

Also - I wouldn;t put the tubigrip on at the moment becasue of the infection. If the area of pus is getting larger/wound getting red or hot and it looks like the infection is spreading I would seriously consider getting him to the vet tomorrow rather than wait for tuesday...or at least give them a ring to discuss.

Hopefullly the hibiscrub and septrin combined will limit or slow the spread but if it doesn;t you need to take action sooner rather than later.

x

 

[MintyAndGarry (TEAS)]

I would ask the vet about prescribing Zithromax for Dory. When Garry had his inner ear infection and then an abscess on his face, it cleared it up a treat. Not normally prescribed for pigs, but my vet swears by it!

 

[Freela]

I agree with the rinsing... that sounds like it can only help. Did the vet prescribe an antibiotic post-op? When Linney had a similar sized abscess removed she was on antibiotics prior to the surgery (part of a failed attempt to clear the abscess by lancing it and hitting it with antibiotics) and then she remained on the antibiotic for ten days post-op to keep anything from taking hold in the incision. If he is on an antibiotic already they may want to look at changing it, as not all meds are effective on all bacteria. Hope he feels better soon!

 

[sarahp]

Also - I wouldn;t put the tubigrip on at the moment becasue of the infection. If the area of pus is getting larger/wound getting red or hot and it looks like the infection is spreading I would seriously consider getting him to the vet tomorrow rather than wait for tuesday...or at least give them a ring to discuss.

Hopefullly the hibiscrub and septrin combined will limit or slow the spread but if it doesn;t you need to take action sooner rather than later.

x

I did dilute the hibiscrub but perhaps not quite enough having read your post, pebble, so I'll take note of the 2% maximum.

Looking at it this morning, it doesn't seem to have spread any more since yesterday and so far it's not red or hot, so fingers crossed he can wait until his appointment tomorrow (also because the vet we trust isn't back until then)

Thanks for all the suggestions

 

[PiggiePal]

(I think I should say that Ginger ripped out his stitches twice and really didn;t take to the nappy at all :red...in fact putting a fresh one caused more trauma to his stitches than it prevented owing to him wriggling ...so rather than put him under and sew him up a third time, the vet took out all the stitches and Ginger spent four weeks at the vets letting the wound heal by "secondary intention" - i.e. without stitches but with careful daily care with antibiotic cream and collagen gel to keep the area moist. It took six weeks in total ....but it;s healed perfectly and he is wriggly as ever....and now has celebrity status amongst the vet nurses!).

xx

haha! I did wonder about the nappy ;-) Bless him the little wriggler

Dory's on Septrin at the moment. I will talk to the vet tonight about Zithromax. We couldn't take him to the vet yesterday as the guinea savvy vet wasn't there yesterday and to be honest i'd prefer to get her opinion than any of the others that work there:x Aren't we all vet snobs eh?rolleyes

How much Zithromax did the vet prescribe MintyandGarry? xx

He's coming home tonight too yay! I've missed the cheeky boy x)x)

 

[PiggiePal]

Update on Dory's vet visit

WEll I thought i'd give you an update this morning (though i can't post pics cos i've lost my lead and there's new babies in the house aargh!)

Dory visited the vets yesterday. REemember his stiches had become a bit infected. Well the hibiscrub seemed to be healing it up quite nicely. The vet decided to pick off the scabs as there was infection beneath, luckily it was just on the surface.
Poor Dory though was v traumatised and he now has a big hole in his side. I've been given some gel to keep the hole wet to promote it healing. She said it looked good although there's some other scabs at the top but i think she'll deal with those on Friday when he has his next appointment.

Anyway he's still fine in himself, i'm trying the fleece but it's still got hay all over it - any ideas for DIY hay racks? Will post pics later xx