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Good news, (Bob) bad news (George)

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katiepops

katiepops

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Well the good news is Bob seems to be on the mend.
He has been loosing weight since we adopted him in August, it has been a gradual loss until last week when he suddenly lost 80g in 5 days so I called on friday to make an appointment with the vet for this morning.
I had met up with Karen from Reading Guinea Pig rescue the week before and said I was worrying about him but the vet couldn't find anything wrong. She suggested worming him with Four Seasons Anti Parasitic from Holistic Pet Supplies, thankfully this arrived on Friday. I gave him 0.5ml and over the weekend he's put on 40g and is much more interested in his veggies again. He even started popcorning yesterday, something we haven't seen much of.
So the good news is we didn't need our vet appointment for Bob.

The bad news, a huge lump has suddenly come up on George so we went to the vet with him instead.
She said it's a abscess, it's about the size of a gold ball!! I couldn't believe I hadn't spotted it sooner, I've been full of a cold this week so haven't had any cuddles with him but it definitely wasn't there last weekend.
She said they can come up in 24 hours, I couldn't believe it could get so big so quickly! Poor thing.
She's tried draining it, then tried a local anaesthetic but because of the size of it decided it would be better to bring him back tomorrow and do it under a light general anaesthetic.
I'm really worried about him having a GA as his breathing can be quite noisy sometimes, usually after he's been charging about when I'm trying to catch him. He sounds like me at the moment with my cold. She said she had checked his breathing and was aware of it but will give him the minimal amount of GA possible so she can do a good job of clearing up the abscess.
Thankfully it hasn't appeared to upset him at all, he still has a huge appetite and is lively and very vocal. Not looking forward to giving him Baytril and Fibreplex, he's not a good patient and Baytril really upsets his tummy.

Please send lots of healing vibes to Gorgeous Georgie for tomorrow. I'm dropping him off at 8am ( a nice early start for me, will have to set off at 7am to beat the traffic on the M4) and nip out of work to pick him up at 5.15pm so she can show me what to do for his aftercare.

Get well soon Georgie Porgie, keep munching Bobidy Bob. x
 
Thats good that Bob seems to be on the mend and lots of fingers crossed for dear George. I hope he goes through the GA fine and is soon back to his old self xx
 
I am so sorry to hear about George! Abscesses can swell up to golf ball size out of nowhere within hours, so do not blame yourself too much!

I am wishing you and George all the best. If George doesn't pick up after the op, you may want to discuss zithromax (azithormycin) with your vet. It is a very strong last ditch antibiotic that is of a group which is usually considered unsuitable for guinea pigs and rabbits, but this one works especially well with very bad abscesses and URIs.
Ask your vet to consult guinea pig specialist vet Simon Maddock in Northampton for back up:
http://www.catandrabbit.co.uk/contact_us.htm

Best of luck and good news indeed for Bob!
 
Wiebke said:
I am so sorry to hear about George! Abscesses can swell up to golf ball size out of nowhere within hours, so do not blame yourself too much!

I am wishing you and George all the best. If George doesn't pick up after the op, you may want to discuss zithromax (azithormycin) with your vet. It is a very strong last ditch antibiotic that is of a group which is usually considered unsuitable for guinea pigs and rabbits, but this one works especially well with very bad abscesses and URIs.
Ask your vet to consult guinea pig specialist vet Simon Maddock in Northampton for back up:
http://www.catandrabbit.co.uk/contact_us.htm

Best of luck and good news indeed for Bob!
Click to expand...

Thanks Wiebke, I've not heard of zithromax before, fingers crossed the Baytril works but if not it's good to have a back up plan.
It was such a shock when I picked him up yesterday to feel this huge lump.
Gerry had bitten him last weekend and we think it must of got infected. I had cleaned the wound and it looked like it was healing over fine but obviously there was things going on underneath. It was my fault completely, I put them in a box together while I cleaned them out and caught Gerry with George's foot when I put George in and Gerry went for me and bit George. (I've now got them a bigger box!)
I'm lucky that our vet is very cavy savy (if a 45 minute drive away) she sees all the piggies from the Reading rescue and often from Anna at Wheek and Squeak in Southampton so I have every confidence in her but I'll still be worrying all day. 8...
 
Hello,

Hope George is OK. Please, please ask for Zithromax straight away. I had a very vulnerable pig with various health problems who was severely underweight who ended up with a bad ear infection and a large abscess on his face to add to everything else. Despite his little body being so low, the Zithromax he had cleared up his abscess in about 5 days. It really is great stuff and so much more effective than Baytril. Kinder on their little tummies too. :)
 
Good news George is home and doing well.
He's stuffing his face again so always a good sign.
He's on 0.4ml of Baytril twice a day, 1/4 of Rimadyl tablet a day, 1ml of Fibreplex 3 times a day and I've got to clean the hole with salt water 3 times a day and apply Manuka honey!
Never heard of using honey before but she's had great sucess with it on piggies as it draws all the bad stuff out and gets it healing.
I'm taking him back on Friday lunchtime for a check up.
If the Baytril is not doing the trick or upsetting him I'll ask about Zithromax.
Great timing George, I'm off work next week so could of easily cleaned him up three times a day. It's going to take some careful planning this week! Thankfully I work days and my OH works nights so if he can cope with it it shouldn't be too bad.
Fingers crossed all goes to plan and he's better soon.
 
Good news! Baytril did work for one of my pigs, but he was on it for over a month before things cleared up completely. It may work for George, but I'm glad you're thinking ahead! Zithromax isn't some kind of miracle drug, but it really is effective.

I have never used honey either (good job, can't stand the stuff!). If there is gunk in the abscess, try to squeeze it out from underneath if you see what I mean, so as not to push it back inside.

Pleased to hear George is eating well and stuffing his little face - always a good sign!:)
 
You'd never think George has been through all this he's popcorning away.
I don't know what's got into my boys, Hector's the only one that regularly popcorns but both Bob and George have been bouncing about, it's lovely to see. :))

Well medicine and cleaning went well today. My poor OH had to set the alarm clock for 1.30pm (he works nights) to get up and do the middle clean. It's like getting up in the middle of the night to me.
George was very well behaved the only difficulty was getting him to eat the 1/4 of the tablet, he kept dropping it. I had to keep my finger in his mouth so he could get hold of it so my finger got nibbled as well!
 
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