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How Quick Can An Abscess Form?

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Pig007

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Just come back from holiday and one of my pigs has what appears to be a large abscess on the side of her cheek. I had friends/family looking after my pig and they are certain it wasnt there a day or two ago. Looking at it (it is quite large) I cannot believe they didnt notice it. How quick can they grow? I have some baytril so i have put her on it. I have also booked an appointment with the vet tomorrow. But am really concerned, what is worse is she was already having treatment for blood in pee (which appears to have returned). So this on top is not god. :-( Are abscesses easy to treat? She was meant to go under on Thursday to see if she had stones but am relunctant for her to go under when she has an abscess.
 
Urgh...just found quite a large lump under her leg. Am starting to think this is all connected...not looking good. What an awful think to return to. What coukd the lump under a keg be? Moves and feels quite large.
 
Abscesses can form very quickly either from a small nip from another piggy to a jag from some hay, normally a abscess on the cheek area would coincide with a tooth problem but not always I have found. A abscess not connected to other ailments, is easily treated in the best case if you have a calm piggy. It can be lanced at the vets and cleaned 3-4 times daily with Iodine/water solution for a few days and baytril and metacam but encapsulated (thick cottage cheese) abscess can take more work,your piggy will have to be anethistized for this procedure.
 
I had a piggie that a rather large on her back hip. She had it since I rescued her so I didnt think it was much of a big deal. Until it got bigger and she started nipping at it and pulling it open. Things got rather messy from there on. I'm almost positive it was an abscess. I took her to a vet and the vet drained it and gave her some antibiotics and told me to try and drain it if need be. I ended up getting it surgically removed. There were no complications and she lived for another 2 years of so. Just thought I would share that with you.
 
Abscesses can puff up very quickly (I've had two pigs that developed abscesses on the jawline, both puffed up very abruptly, although at least one of them had obvious issues with her teeth before the abscess puffed up, with difficulty chewing, weight loss, a couple of dental trims, etc.) Abscesses generally need to be lanced and drained, they will not clear up in guinea pigs just with antibiotics as the pus is so thick and hard to clear. The vet can assess the other lump under her leg as well. Abscesses can be serious in guinea pig, but can be treated effectively with a knowledgeable vet and good care. Sometime it's possible to remove the entire abscess capsule so there is no aftercare required, but most times (and both times when I had a pig with a facial abscess) the abscess was drained and left open to continue to draining so I could irrigate the wound and express any pus that came to the surface and allow it to heal on the inside out with time and antibiotics. One of my pigs unfortunately passed away after getting sepsis from a tooth root abscess, but I realized after the fact that the vet was not up-to-date with his meds and I think he also clipped her teeth improperly at the same time and left her unable to eat. He also gave her barely any antibiotics and did not give me good instructions for how to syringe-feed and clean the wound and, being a new owner, I had no idea what to do. My other pig made a full recovery with some antibiotics and aftercare- she had her abscess lanced at about 2.5 years of age and is now turning 6 this month without it being a problem again. Hope this helps a bit- definitely see the vet!
 
Took her to the vets who tried to drain the lump on face but nothing came out. She didn't know what the lump under the leg was. We postponed her x-ray until next Friday and has been put on a course of baytril. But she is getting worse not better :( I have just found more lumps, this time under her chin. What is going on? How can these appear so quickly - can they all be abscesses? My fear is they are tumours and that he body is riddled with them. I am going to try if I can get an appointment with the vet tomorrow but am not sure what she can do.:(

All this is on top of her peeing blood again.
 
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Sadly she passed away tonight. Heart breaking she was a lovely pig. We tried so hard to save her but turns out she had a massive tumour in her abdomen on top of those on her face, chin, sides. They were just everywhere so scary how fast they appeared and spread - you are talking a couple of days. 5 yrs old and up until a few weeks ago a picture of health. Thought she'd be with us for a few more years.
 
I am very sorry for your loss :( your piggy 'could' have had lymphoma although it is impossible to say without having the lumps tested for cancer cells.

I sadly lost a piggy to lymphoma at the end of last year. Erika developed two lumps under her armpits which quickly spread to under her chin and other lymph nodes. We had one of the lumps biopsied which sadly confirmed lymphoma :( we had to sadly help her over the bridge two weeks after diagnosis.

(((Hugs))) xx
 
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