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George has an abscess

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threelittlepigs

threelittlepigs

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I've just come back from the vets where my neutered boar George has had a nasty abscess drained. Poor boy! Poor vet! :)>>>:)>>> He was conscious as the vet did not want to put him under.

The abscess has now been flushed out and he is on antibiotics kick started by an injection. He as also been given pain killers and a gut stimulant. :)

Bless him, he appeared to be eating normally with his herd but it seems that he was merely play acting as his mouth was too sore for him to eat properly. He has lost a LOT of weight very quickly. 10 days ago he was his usual chunky self and now he is only 1kg, down 500g! :x I have some recovery plan and syringes to boost his feeding regime!

He is a young and vigorous pig, so I am hoping it won't be too long before he is his usual chunky self again! :))

For those of you who are interested, the total cost of his treatment including a week's anitbiotics, four injections and the draining of the abscess itself was just over £40. Given the skill needed to drain the abscess and the time taken, I thought that was amazing value for money.
 
I have just put him in the hospital cage with a big bunch of parsley and some dust free hay and orchard grass. I will let him rest for a couple of hours and then feed him some of the recovery food. Bless him: he must be really hungry!
 
threelittlepigs said:
I've just come back from the vets where my neutered boar George has had a nasty abscess drained. Poor boy! Poor vet! :)>>>:)>>> He was conscious as the vet did not want to put him under.

The abscess has now been flushed out and he is on antibiotics kick started by an injection. He as also been given pain killers and a gut stimulant. :)

Bless him, he appeared to be eating normally with his herd but it seems that he was merely play acting as his mouth was too sore for him to eat properly. He has lost a LOT of weight very quickly. 10 days ago he was his usual chunky self and now he is only 1kg, down 500g! :x I have some recovery plan and syringes to boost his feeding regime!

He is a young and vigorous pig, so I am hoping it won't be too long before he is his usual chunky self again! :))

For those of you who are interested, the total cost of his treatment including a week's anitbiotics, four injections and the draining of the abscess itself was just over £40. Given the skill needed to drain the abscess and the time taken, I thought that was amazing value for money.
Click to expand...

my poor ralphie had abscesses after his neutering op and he too lost 500g the antibiotics he was on stopped his gut working in the end and i spent 400 pounds getting him well you also need some meds to get the gut working which needs to given 3 times a day and he was also given the injection every few days..i stopped all antibiotics as he was on 2 diff ones for 5 wks rolleyes
and when he was 5 wks post op i put a lady in with him and he soon picked up..
he will also need metacam for the pain with his gut as my ralphie was fluffing up all the time and then stopped eating..
Vedra told me he needed back flushing his abscess with flangel sorry **** spelt wrong..
 
Flagyl = metronidazole. I've dealt with a few abscesses on my pigs, none responded to oral antibiotics but the topical antibiotic flushing (Flagyl) did the trick.

I hope George recovers from his abscess very quickly and regains his lost weight. :)
 
Thanks for the advice, guys! I will be keeping a very close eye on him and if I don't see an improvement in 24/48 hrs we will be going back to the vets. I will obviously be feeding his recovery plan sooner than that.
 
I hope you've been given probiotics too. Without them (in the same circumstances) Ben became very gravely ill. I would never give antibiotics without them now. Good luck. x x
 
Poor fella, i'm sure he'll be right as rain with you looking after him Pollie :)
 
It is a worry Sophie, but he is so perky in himself I have every confidence in him. It's a good job he's built like your Paddington Bear and could afford to lose a few hundred grams...!
 
Poor George!

He still seems really under the weather and he is also now petrified because having the abscess drained was very invasive for him. I have given him some syringe food this evening and I will offer him some more before I go to bed.

Bless him! It's the first time I've ever had a pig with an abscess.
 
threelittlepigs said:
Poor George!

He still seems really under the weather and he is also now petrified because having the abscess drained was very invasive for him. I have given him some syringe food this evening and I will offer him some more before I go to bed.

Bless him! It's the first time I've ever had a pig with an abscess.
Click to expand...

I hope he gets better soon Pollie! We have our fingers and paws crossed here for a very quick recovery :) xx
 
George went back to the vets this morning to have his abscess checked and drained again. It seemed to me that he had a big lump but the vet said that this was soft tissue swelling from the original abscess site.

He had some more pain relief as well which means may help him eat more today.
 
Just to update that George went back to the vets yesterday.

I am worried as he is still losing weight and doesn't seem to want to eat. He is on antibiotics (Baytril 1.3ml @2.5%) once per day.

He had another vetgesic injection yesterday and the vet tried to exmaine his molars and could find no spurs. I am thinking about ordering the buccal pad separators from Vedra to take to my own vet so that she can examine him properly.

It is so sad. He was such a vigourous boy and is only 2 years and 7 months, so hardly an oldie. I don't want just to stand by and do nothing while he wastes away, but the causes of his current illness seem mysterious now that his abscess has cleared up.

Any ideas, anyone?
 
Sorry to hear this Pollie.

Could be Baytril be contributing his loss of appetite and weight loss (i.e. did he lose his appetite and start losing weight prior to starting the Baytril)? How much are you able to syringe into him each day?

At this stage I would consider oral fungal issues, perhaps try some Daktarin Oral Gel for a few days to see if it makes any difference. It could be that his mouth is sore but teeth fine, hence still not eating.
 
Thanks Laura, I will stop by and get some Daktarin on the way home. It's funny you should say about a fungal infection as I noticed last nigh that George has a circular bald patch near his abscess that has recently appeared. It did look fungal to me.

I will have a search for threads on fungal infections as I know there are many...

He lost his appetite and lost weight before the baytril, so I don't think that that alone is causing to the problem.
 
If I'm not mistaken, fungal infection can lead to abscess, so it may all be tied in together somehow. Don't ask me how, but I am quite sure I've heard that. Certainly something to mull over anyway.

Daktarin Oral Gel would ideally be given for 3 weeks:

Week One - 0.5ml 3x daily
Week Two - 0.5ml 2x daily
Week Three - 0.5ml 1x daily

I noticed a huge improvement in my own oral fungal pig a month or two back, after just a couple of doses. I stopped the Daktarin after one week as he was doing so well. Two weeks later, the oral fungal returned with a vengeance, it wasn't until the end of week two that the Daktarin had a real effect this time!
 
If you feed the burgess pellets by syringe feeding you should be able to get some weight back on him. Soften in warm water then mush up, they suck up easy so you can get more down them.
You should be able to get 30 ml [maybe more] down at each feed if he is hungry, I feed Elvis three times a day and he has maintained his weight at 1lb.15oz now for a few weeks.Good luck
 
Thanks for your replies.

I have given him some daktarin tonight and will give him more tomorrow. He has another bald patch on his other side. It wasn't there yesterday when I took him to the vets. THey are both quite big. I have put some normal daktartin on them.

I have a very busy day at work tomorrow, but will try to take him to the vets tomorrow evening. I am wondering whether it is a systemic fungal infection and whether he needs a fungicidal dip?
 
How much syringe-food is he taking and how often?

If he's taking big feeds routinely and is not gaining or maintaining any weight, then systemic fungal is a real possibility. Treatment would ideally be with Itrafungol from the vet if this is the case; a dip will deal with the external symptoms but not impact as effectively on the internal ones. The Itrafungol will tackle the internal issues as well as external, although bathing would still be important to remove the infected hairs.
 
this is the exact same what happened to ralphie you really do need the gut stimulant meds and injections..i would stop the baytril now as its **** doing more harm than good..

even when on the gut stimulants its still very hard to get them to eat so you still need to keep on with the recovery and put bits of hay into his mouth and bits of veg this is what i did with in a week ralphie started to eat a bit by himself but i took a further 4 wks for the puffing of hair to stop so i gave him metacam when he puffed up he is now a happy health boy...
 
how many wks post op is he??

as he can be introduced to a sow at 4wks post op ive never had a problem with introduction at 4 wks post op ie pregs...

also with all the trauma via the abscess its very doubt full there will be any little swimmers left xx

also my guinea when very thin more on his back end xx
 
Thanks for your replies.

George is 2 years post op, so that is not a factor. I just put it in the info in case anyone thinks I have a massive herd of breeding piggies which is NOT the case!

Very interesting to hear your response, Clairelove. Thanks for your help.

He has not had the baytril since yesterday morning and I will not be giving him any more. I am off to the vets again at 5.30pm to see whether we can get some treatment started for the fungal.

I am doing my best to syringe feed, but he is really not interested. I have tried poking coriander into his mouth and he will not chew it.

The bald patches have appeared overnight and are bald (not just thinning of hair that you get with mites). The vets say they will do a culture which could take up to 14 days, but he really needs something before then if he is to pull through.

I'll keep you all posted.
 
Very bad news for George at the vets tonight. Sadly he is now drinking in the last chance saloon.

I have given him juice tonight and some mashed banana. I am concentrating on liquids because as I suspected, George is not actually eating the food I am giving him the vet said that there was a lot of it in his mouth.

I have put him back with the herd, even though he has a fungal infection. To be honest, I figured that it might boost his morale enough to help him pull through or provide much needed comfort on his journey to the other side.

I have also syringed 0.5ml Daktarin into his mouth. I now realise that I haven't been giving a big enough dose until now, but hopefully this will give the little chap the best possible chance.

Bless him. Three weeks ago he was a fine strapping chap and now he is wasting away. I so hope that he can pull round.

Fingers crossed overnight xx
 
Very bad news for George at the vets tonight. Sadly he is now drinking in the last chance saloon.

I have given him juice tonight and some mashed banana. I am concentrating on liquids because as I suspected, George is not actually eating the food I am giving him the vet said that there was a lot of it in his mouth.

I have put him back with the herd, even though he has a fungal infection. To be honest, I figured that it might boost his morale enough to help him pull through or provide much needed comfort on his journey to the other side.

I have also syringed 0.5ml Daktarin into his mouth. I now realise that I haven't been giving a big enough dose until now, but hopefully this will give the little chap the best possible chance.

Bless him. Three weeks ago he was a fine strapping chap and now he is wasting away. I so hope that he can pull round.

Fingers crossed overnight xx
 
i so hope he keeps on fighting i thought about having my ralphie put to sleep has he too was very ill for a while it really was so hard to see him looking so sad and depressed but I'm glad i didnt give up on him but has vedra and her friend said if a guinea pig wants to go there isnt much we can do as they can shut there own gut down:( keep fighting little fella x
 
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