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Infection/inflammation after neutering

squeaksandcarrots

squeaksandcarrots

Adult Guinea Pig
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My guinea pig got neutered 2 weeks ago. Last week he got an infection and he felt better after getting medication. However, yesterday one of the areas where he got the surgery was swollen. I took him to the vet asap and the vet said he got another infection with inflammation. He's on more medication now but today he's just not been himself. I was wondering if anyone else got their guinea pig neutered and had a similar situation to mine? I'm going to take Nickel to the vet tomorrow again to see if it's something more than an infection/inflammation.
I just feel awful because I was the one who decided to get him neutered and now all these things are happening. Any advice on what I can do to help him any more would be helpful :)
 
emlen23 said:
My guinea pig got neutered 2 weeks ago. Last week he got an infection and he felt better after getting medication. However, yesterday one of the areas where he got the surgery was swollen. I took him to the vet asap and the vet said he got another infection with inflammation. He's on more medication now but today he's just not been himself. I was wondering if anyone else got their guinea pig neutered and had a similar situation to mine? I'm going to take Nickel to the vet tomorrow again to see if it's something more than an infection/inflammation.
I just feel awful because I was the one who decided to get him neutered and now all these things are happening. Any advice on what I can do to help him any more would be helpful :)
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Hi! How savvy is your vet? has he checked for an abscess, which is the most common post-op neutering complication?
What medication is your boy on? What weight and what dosages has he got?

Please take the time to read up on these two guides here:
Tips For Post-operative Care
Neutered / De-sexed Boars And Neutering Operations: Myths And Facts (the third part contains information on neutering operations including a list of common complications).

@furryfriends (TEAS)
 
I am in the exact situation! I got Sven neutered on the 18th and he has an abscess, he’s been on antibiotics since Wednesday and he has lost some weight. He is just hiding and not being himself as well. I just started pain meds again so I’m hoping he will improve with that and the antibiotics! He just looks so sad!43EC40A7-749B-419B-8961-F8F1703C4B74.webp
 
Please follow @Wiebkes advice. Sometimes they do t eat so you need to step in with feeding vis syringe.
 
Update! I took him to the vet an about 2 hours ago since I was so worried. After being there for an hour, the vet narrowed it down to abscess and she drained the fluid out of the swollen area. He will still be on meds and the vet said to give him more veggies, which is no problem for Nickel ;D
 
HeatherRose said:
I am in the exact situation! I got Sven neutered on the 18th and he has an abscess, he’s been on antibiotics since Wednesday and he has lost some weight. He is just hiding and not being himself as well. I just started pain meds again so I’m hoping he will improve with that and the antibiotics! He just looks so sad!View attachment 90019
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Awww I hope he is okay! I would go to the vet just to be sure it isn't anything serious.
 
emlen23 said:
Awww I hope he is okay! I would go to the vet just to be sure it isn't anything serious.
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I took him last weekend and he said if it didn’t go down, he would call in an antibiotic. So I called Wednesday when it wasn’t getting better. I think it has improved a little and it is less red today.
 
Don't forget @emlen23 that the majority of Nickel's food should still be hay. Did the vet say to clean out the abcsess site?
 
emlen23 said:
Update! I took him to the vet an about 2 hours ago since I was so worried. After being there for an hour, the vet narrowed it down to abscess and she drained the fluid out of the swollen area. He will still be on meds and the vet said to give him more veggies, which is no problem for Nickel ;D
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Please monitor the weight by weighing daily and support feed with dry fibre! Guinea pig guts are laid out for hay, not for a veg only diet; the gut will start fermenting with too much fresh food and your piggy will get weak and lethargic with to little food overall!
Your syringe feeding support care at this stage is absolutely vital!

Has your vet told you that you need to flush the abscess with a mild disinfectant like saline for as long as possible to make sure that it can heal from the inside out and with not the least speck of infection remaining, or it will come back worse than ever? You can make saline solution yourself by stirring 2 teaspoons of salt into 1/2 pint / 500 ml of boiled cooled water or by getting sterile saline from a pharmacy.

What antibiotic is your boy on? Not all are strong enough to really cut through an abscess.
 
Sending lots of healing vibes. Please keep a close eye on the abscess as a lot of times they aren't straight forward to care for. Some antibiotics struggle to penetrate the capsule wall of an abscess which means it could needs opening up to drain or removing surgically.
 
Wiebke said:
Please monitor the weight by weighing daily and support feed with dry fibre! Guinea pig guts are laid out for hay, not for a veg only diet; the gut will start fermenting with too much fresh food and your piggy will get weak and lethargic with to little food overall!
Your syringe feeding support care at this stage is absolutely vital!

Has your vet told you that you need to flush the abscess with a mild disinfectant like saline for as long as possible to make sure that it can heal from the inside out and with not the least speck of infection remaining, or it will come back worse than ever? You can make saline solution yourself by stirring 2 teaspoons of salt into 1/2 pint / 500 ml of boiled cooled water or by getting sterile saline from a pharmacy.

What antibiotic is your boy on? Not all are strong enough to really cut through an abscess.
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I’m looking at the medicine and he’s taking Enroflox every 12 hours and Loxiccom once a day. My vet didn’t mention syringe feeding or the saline solution you mentioned. I’ve been keeping an eye on him this morning and he already seems like he’s not himself...again.
 
@emlen23 Abscesses can fill up again pretty quickly and as they're not always close to the surface of the skin you can't tell they've refilled. If you haven't been shown or asked to flush it then you'll need to go back to the vet at any change in behaviour ao they can flush it again. Often a course of antibiotics on their own won't kill off the infection.

If he's not eating completely for himself please ask the vet about syringe feeding and how to do it. Pigs have the best chance of survival if they have fuel for recovery.
 
Abscesses are horrible. This is the one that was removed from Christian 4 weeks ago (it had almost tripled in size in 2 weeks!)
Christian Abscess 1.webpChristian Abscess 2.webp
 
No I'm sure Sven's abscess won't be THAT big. Sven will be fine. He's such a cute little chap. At least you have caught it early and you know what it is.

The vet said something had happened to make Christian's abscess get larger as it had only been very small for around 4 months and it had been under observation. When I first took Christian to the vet about it back in January it was so small they didn't want to do anything about it as they didn't think it was an abscess. Only when it started growing did I take him back. Then they did a needle aspiration and found out it was an abscess so he was booked in straight away to have it removed. In the 7 days between taking him to find out what it was and the op the abscess doubled in size. Even the OH (who allegedly doesn't like my piggies) says I did the right thing by having it removed.
 
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