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Guinea Pig Whimpering

L

loubylou

Junior Guinea Pig
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Oct 19, 2017
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Hi my guinea pig had an op for his rear teeth about 3 months ago and to be honest his health hasn't been great since. He is 6 and has never had any health issues until his recent op with his back teeth. Now I feel he's constantly at the vets, since his teeth have been done. He has been back about a stomach upset and an abcess and am wondering if this is a natural decline due to his age. He has had an abcess in the past 2 weeks which was drained, cleaned and i cleaned at home and Baytril given. However, now the abcess is back, it isn't as large as before but its big enough. The earliest I can get him seen by our vet is tomorrow eve, i have called again today to see if there are any cancellations but none as yet. I am a little more worried about him today as he has gone a little quite and i can only describe as whimpering a bit. I haven't heard him make this sound before and can only think he is in pain. He is a little less active today than normal and quiet but still eating and drinking, although maybe not as much. I just wondered with his age is this kind of normal to get issues he is experiencing or do you think there may still be a problem with his teeth to be causing the abcesses.
 
I have managed to talk them into an emergency appointment. So sat waiting for however long. Hopefully we can get to the bottom of it.
 
loubylou said:
I have managed to talk them into an emergency appointment. So sat waiting for however long. Hopefully we can get to the bottom of it.
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That's good news. Please let us know how you get on.
 
Vets said Abscess inside his mouth as well. She has made the suggestion to put him down due to his age and that he hasn’t been himself since his op. I have brought him home and got antibiotics again but she suggested it could be an ongoing problem.
 
loubylou said:
Vets said Abscess inside his mouth as well. She has made the suggestion to put him down due to his age and that he hasn’t been himself since his op. I have brought him home and got antibiotics again but she suggested it could be an ongoing problem.
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Where abouts Are you located?
 
have they gave him any pain relief?
 
yes, I have that too. He has lost a bit of weight since Friday when I last weighed him. I'm so upset as I hoped after reading loads it was just his external abscess, obviously I had no idea it was inside his mouth too. I think it must be from when he had his teeth done as I took him back a week after having his teeth done as he wasn't eating.
Since having his abscess lanced a couple of weeks ago he seemed to pick up and was back to his old funny self. Then late sunday eve I noticed he had not eaten as much as usual. I tried to get him into our vets yesterday but they were fully booked and then I had the battle of getting into the vets today.
However, he has just tried to eat some critical care and had a drink and had his medicine and now I guess it is see if he improves in the next couple of days.
So upset and sad to think I may lose him.
 
So sorry you are going through all this with your piggy. Sadly aging in piggies as in people often brings with it a decline in general health as the body becomes less efficient in all its processes so his stomach upset is most likely unrelated to his teeth.

As guinea pigs teeth constantly grow, if they get dental problems it often takes more than one dental to get things back to normal. Any abscesses on the face of a piggy with a dental history are most likely to be tooth root related. As the roots go very deep it is extremely difficult to cure tooth root abscesses and baytril is not the most effective antibiotic in this circumstance. I would talk to your vet about using an antibiotic called zithromax, they may not be familier with it as it is not widely used but from my experience it would give your piggy the best chance of getting on top of the abscess. Also I would increase syringe feeding critical care while he is not eating so well for himself
 
So sorry your having a bad time. Sadly often at ages past 6 sometimes they can decline fast as they often have issues with declining organ problems (especially kidneys). I hope he is comfortable and you get to spend some quality time together.

Sending hugs.
 
thank you all x Our little boy has been eating away this evening and we have had a couple squeaks. So he must feel a little better than earlier for having the abscess inside his mouth lanced. He is more perky than he was earlier today. I will call the vet and get advice about zithromax as he has already had a week's worth of Baytril and the abscess came back once he had stopped taking it. So thank you for the advice. I will keep you updated. I hope I don't have to make a heartbreaking decision.
 
I'm sorry you are going through this. Abscesses can be aggressive at any age and can be a recurrent problem that is hard to get rid of. Keeping him comfortable and quality of life are the most important thing here, as the problem may be ongoing/recurrent. Are they lancing and draining the dental abscess through his cheek where you can keep irrigating and cleaning the wound? Keeping abscesses open and clean to promote healing from the inside out is the best way to keep a drained abscess from simply filling back up once the surface skin heals and creates a pocket again. This will take time, but it will make him more comfortable, as he won't get that pressure pain if the wound is allowed to remain open.
 
thank you. i have just bathed his external abscess. He is far brighter this morning and very chatty so the medicine is clearly helping him. I can only hope after this course of antibiotics it clears and doesn't come back.
 
looks like I’m back to the vets again tomorrow 😔
On our last visit she managed to get pus from the abscess inside his mouth but nothing much from the external one by his cheek. Anyway over the week since our visit my piggy has been fine in himself eating really well and has gained a really good amount of weight. However, this abscess refuses to cooperate. It has grown again and although it doesn’t appear to be bothering him clearly it’s not right and needs lancing again. Last time it was the tiniest incision so despite my best efforts to draw pus out by bathing it has grown again. He is still on baytril, but as he’s had it now 3 times I wonder if he should have some Zithromax. Or try another vet 🤷‍♀️ As I’m a bit scared she will tell me to put him to sleep again. He’s such a happy little chap but I know once he finishes the baytril like before he will just go down hill again as he still has the infection.
 
loubylou said:
looks like I’m back to the vets again tomorrow 😔
On our last visit she managed to get pus from the abscess inside his mouth but nothing much from the external one by his cheek. Anyway over the week since our visit my piggy has been fine in himself eating really well and has gained a really good amount of weight. However, this abscess refuses to cooperate. It has grown again and although it doesn’t appear to be bothering him clearly it’s not right and needs lancing again. Last time it was the tiniest incision so despite my best efforts to draw pus out by bathing it has grown again. He is still on baytril, but as he’s had it now 3 times I wonder if he should have some Zithromax. Or try another vet 🤷‍♀️ As I’m a bit scared she will tell me to put him to sleep again. He’s such a happy little chap but I know once he finishes the baytril like before he will just go down hill again as he still has the infection.
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Have you looked on the vet locator?
 
Today I saw a different vet in the same practice. The abscess burst itself last night so i cleaned it the best i could and today the vet rinsed the abscess out. However, she showed me the lump considering it has been rinsed out is stil quite large. She talked to me of the possibility that the cause of his abscesses is due to a growth, she was quite concerned the abscess hadn't reduced. So we are going to try a different antibiotic, Sulfratrim and see how he goes. If the abscess heals then we just monitor the growth and see how he is in himself and his quality of life. If the abscess returns then I need to consider his well being and the stress of keep having it drained and the growth. So it doesn't look great at the moment. He is absolutely fine in himself running around like his usual crazy self and eating loads, it is so hard to think if this abscess doesn't heal this time I wil have to put him to sleep. :(:(
 
I’m so sorry that it wasn’t better news. Sometimes we reach the point where we have to balance health and medical issues against quality of life. It sits very heavily on all of us, so fingers crossed he responds to the new antibiotic.
 
Sorry to hear your news and have fingers crossed that the new meds work. I know how you feel, my piggy George has a lump, which we are monitoring. He is eating and happy at the moment, but I too dread the day that changes. Sending you hugs.xx
 
Abscesses can be nasty.
Hope this one does heal.
It’s worth the time put in to daily flushing and cleaning.
I always make sure there is a favourite veg when I’m treating an abscess
 
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