• PLEASE NOTE - the TEAS facebook page has been hacked, take extreme care when visiting the page, for further information visit here
  • Discussions taking place within this forum are intended for the purpose of assisting you in discussing options with your vet. Any other use of advice given here is done so at your risk, is solely your responsibility and not that of this forum or its owner. Before posting it is your responsibility you abide by this Statement

Help with abscess flushing

Swissgreys

Moderator
Senior Guinea Pig
Joined
Mar 15, 2016
Messages
11,393
Reaction score
27,277
Points
2,165
Location
Zürich, Switzerland
So it seems Harry has decided to liven my life up by developing a rather large jaw abscess in the past 24 hours.
Harry waited until 5 minutes before our vet was due to close to let me see the side of his face with this delightful new lump that wasn't there yesterday.

Thankfully my lovely vet (who knows me well) did return my slightly frantic phone call, and offered to come back to the practice so she could see him tonight, rather than waiting until tomorrow.

So poor Harry (who is extremly nervous and wriggly at the best of times) has had his chin shaved, a couple of x-rays and a dental check, and his abcess burst and marsupialised.
He is on antibiotics and pain killers, and munching hay like a champion.
He has not lost any weight.

But I am going to struggle a bit to flush this abscess on my own, becasue Harry doesn't like being handled and is also a screamer, so my regular teenage helper tends to panic and be a bit useless.
Can anyone link to a good video on syringing a jaw abscess?
I don't really want to google it, becasue after assisting the vet today (all the other staff had already left) I am still feeling a bit 'fragile' about all things abscess, so would prefer not to watch multiple videos on them right now.
 
Unfortunately chin abscesses are my personal nemesis, especially with Hywel being such a quick healing piggy...

You need a syringe with a needle, hold in the opening and press it quite strongly to push the flushing fluid as far up the abscess as possible. Best cover yourself and do it in wipeable surroundings. it is not pleasant.

But you may want to use some piggy whispering tips to help with Harry's behaviour! They also work in a medicating context when you alternate 'love' and gentle authority. Always start and finish with love.
Understanding Prey Animal Instincts, Guinea Pig Whispering And Cuddling Tips
Who is the boss - your guinea pig or you?

@furryfriends (TEAS) is our abscess queen and best poised to help you.
 
Unfortunately chin abscesses are my personal nemesis, especially with Hywel being such a quick healing piggy...

You need a syringe with a needle, hold in the opening and press it quite strongly to push the flushing fluid as far up the abscess as possible. Best cover yourself and do it in wipeable surroundings. it is not pleasant.

But you may want to use some piggy whispering tips to help with Harry's behaviour! They also work in a medicating context when you alternate 'love' and gentle authority. Always start and finish with love.
Understanding Prey Animal Instincts, Guinea Pig Whispering And Cuddling Tips
Who is the boss - your guinea pig or you?

@furryfriends (TEAS) is our abscess queen and best poised to help you.

And you need to work off the developing scab every time in order to keep the hole open for as long as possible to allow every spec of infection to come out as the abscess heals from the inside out. That is the really unpleasant part. The scab will form in the coming days, not at first; you will also see the pus thickening over time.

The smell is also a real give away that there is still infection around.
 
And you need to work off the developing scab every time in order to keep the hole open for as long as possible to allow every spec of infection to come out as the abscess heals from the inside out. That is the really unpleasant part. The scab will form in the coming days, not at first; you will also see the pus thickening over time.

The smell is also a real give away that there is still infection around.
Thanks for the advice @Wiebke
It isn't my first abscess, but it's been a while, and Harry is such a tricky pig to handle.
Actually I had forgotten about the piggy whispering, so I am using that and I think it is helping a little.
His surgery was yesterday and already today a small scab seemed to be forming - is that normal?
I got it off and it has been syringed and is all looking pretty good (well as good as a stinky abscess can look) but the scab scared me a bit - I thought it would take longer.
Thankfully the vet was 'generous' with the hole she left to give us a good chance of keeping it open, so fingers crossed I can keep up with it.
 
Thanks for the advice @Wiebke
It isn't my first abscess, but it's been a while, and Harry is such a tricky pig to handle.
Actually I had forgotten about the piggy whispering, so I am using that and I think it is helping a little.
His surgery was yesterday and already today a small scab seemed to be forming - is that normal?
I got it off and it has been syringed and is all looking pretty good (well as good as a stinky abscess can look) but the scab scared me a bit - I thought it would take longer.
Thankfully the vet was 'generous' with the hole she left to give us a good chance of keeping it open, so fingers crossed I can keep up with it.

The scab depends on how fluid/thick the content of the abscess is when it is lanced. Mine had just very stinky watery fluid at first and no thick scab although I checked for it right from the start. You have to take these things as they come...

All the best! Make sure that you give thim plenty of praise throughout and a big fuss and treat afterwards.
 
Poor Harry - sorry to hear about his abscess.
Wiebke has said everything about flushing - all I will add is make sure there’s plenty of bribes.
Hope it heals up well
 
Healing wheeks for Harry! Can't add much about abscess flushing as although we had to flush Tallulah's abscess hole it was after the capsule had been removed intact and she just had a weird reaction to her stitches so it was a clean hole... and helpfully on the back of her neck which made it easy! But I can really recommend the prescription manuka honey to help the hole shrink down and heal cleanly once the infection is gone x
 
Here are a few pics of how I flush an abscess with no one to help.
Firstly I get ready a 10ml syringe, with needle attached. A few, very deep abscesses, are best flushed without the needle, and in those situations the syringe is inserted into the hole. When using syringe, with needle, do not insert needle, but hold a little way away, directing the flow of the fluid towards the hole.

90AC1F25-F748-4568-8331-6DFCB0949336.jpeg
 
Back
Top