Lanced Abscess Treatment

[pixiefeathers]

Hi everyone,

I went to the vet to treat my (1.2kg male) guinea pig’s abscess and they shaved down the fur, squeezed as much of the pus out as possible and prescribed him quite a lot of antibiotics and treatment for it. This vet isn’t one I normally go on and I just wanted to check that the dosages and everything is ok.

Oral for each day:
- 1.2ml Septrin (0.6ml twice daily)
- 0.32ml Meloxicam (0.16ml twice daily)
- 0.9ml Baytril (0.45ml twice daily)
All this for 14 days.

Flushing abscess:
- Squeeze pus out and rinse with Chlorhex (2%) twice daily
- Put Flamazine cream on top

I have some questions:
1. Can someone tell me if this treatment is ok?
2. Should he be on probiotics as well? Vet didn’t tell me anything about that
3. What’s the best way to prevent him biting the abscess wound? He’s done that before and made it bleed

Thank you so so much for any replies, I really want to make sure my sweet boy will be ok. If you have any other tips for flushing abscess, I’d be really happy if you could leave a comment, thanks.

 

[pixiefeathers]

Meloxicam is 1.5mg/MI 100%
Baytril is 25mg/MI

 

[Betsy]

I can't comment if your piggy is on the correct dose or not. Thea had a small abscess that was lanced and I had to flush it out twice day and squeeze out the pus. I put her in the kitchen sink with and old towel in it to stop her from slipping. I found this was the easiest way for her and me. I give prebiotics an hour after the antibiotics as it can help to settle piggies tummies.

 

[pixiefeathers]

*images of the open abscess below*

Alfie was biting that area on the trip home from the vet so there’s a lot of blood in the abscess opening. Although I’ve squeezed all that I can out, there’s still no cavity, because there’s some sort of skin tissue(?) filling it up. I rinsed it with Chlorhex but I couldn’t really flush anything out except bloody water. I put the Flamazine cream on top anyway. He was very calm throughout the whole rinsing and cream process. I’ve attached images of how it looks, it looks almost unbearable to me who is squeamish so just wondering if this is normal or not?!

 

[pixiefeathers]

*open abscess image below*

This is without the cream

 

[Betsy]

That does look sore. Thea's was tiny compared to that. RB Piggy Christian has his abscess surgically removed and it was huge and full of stinky pus.

 

[Gem789]

*images of the open abscess below*

Alfie was biting that area on the trip home from the vet so there’s a lot of blood in the abscess opening. Although I’ve squeezed all that I can out, there’s still no cavity, because there’s some sort of skin tissue(?) filling it up. I rinsed it with Chlorhex but I couldn’t really flush anything out except bloody water. I put the Flamazine cream on top anyway. He was very calm throughout the whole rinsing and cream process. I’ve attached images of how it looks, it looks almost unbearable to me who is squeamish so just wondering if this is normal or not?!

Poor boy,that does look sore! I'm going to tag our abscess queen @furryfriends (TEAS)

 

[weepweeps]

Ouch poor Alfie.

I’ve had a piggy with a tooth root abscess. But it was nowhere near that big.

Are they going to operate and remove the lump? Or are you hoping antibiotics will clear it up?

I agree that you should give probiotics whilst he is on antibiotics.

Also Zithromax is a great antibiotic for abscesses.

Good luck. I hope Alfie is soon on the mend.

Also I would say the pain meds are on the low side so you could ask your vet about increasing them. If he’s in pain he will nibble at it more.

 

[Freela]

Hmmm... is that the abscess capsule poking through the skin? One of my pigs had an abscess like that surgically removed, the entire capsule. Before we did the surgery, it looked somewhat like that. I'm wondering if the abscess is still there, intact under the capsule. In my experience flushing abscesses, there should be an opening into the capsule that is pretty easy to irrigate and express pus from and I'm not seeing that from that picture. But definitely not a vet and going off one picture it's really hard to say.

 

[Claire W]

Poor Alfie. That’s quite a sizeable abscess and it does look sore

I’m afraid I have no experience with abscesses, just an infected eye socket after an eye removal op which was left open and we had to flush it several times a day so I can’t really comment much but from what little I do know, it will be best if the abscess is surgically removed. I do hope Alfie feels better soon x

 

[pixiefeathers]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts everyone. Yeah the whole thing is an abscess capsule and it feels quite firm when I squeeze it, not pudgy like it did before the lancing. The vet told me to try the antibiotics + flushing method for 2 weeks, but I just don’t know if it’s working because I can barely get any pus out and the opening is still blocked with that skin tissue stuff (?). I don’t know if I should try and get the skin tissue stuff out? Is it the infection causing that to happen?

I’m considering surgery but don’t want him to go under the risky anaesthesia if it’s not necessary. And the vet quoted me almost $3000 that I really can’t afford at the moment, so really hoping that treatment at home can get Alfie all good again

 

[Freela]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts everyone. Yeah the whole thing is an abscess capsule and it feels quite firm when I squeeze it, not pudgy like it did before the lancing. The vet told me to try the antibiotics + flushing method for 2 weeks, but I just don’t know if it’s working because I can barely get any pus out and the opening is still blocked with that skin tissue stuff (?). I don’t know if I should try and get the skin tissue stuff out? Is it the infection causing that to happen?

I’m considering surgery but don’t want him to go under the risky anaesthesia if it’s not necessary. And the vet quoted me almost $3000 that I really can’t afford at the moment, so really hoping that treatment at home can get Alfie all good again

What I'm trying to figure out is whether you are actually able to get to the pus inside the abscess. Probably saying stuff you already know, but abscesses form when the body tries to wall off infection. Basically you end up with a balloon of skin and pus inside. You have to pop the balloon to get the pus out. To me it looks like the vet has opened the skin above the abscess, but not 'popped' the balloon.

This is one of my past pigs, Sundae, after having an abscess lanced. You can see the stab incision right into her face. It was really, REALLY easy to squeeze pus out, it would even leak out under pressure. You could stick a syringe right in and irrigate the inside of the capsule. I can't see that stab opening on your piggie, I'm wondering if it healed up and hence you can't squeeze out what's inside any longer.


I did have another pig who developed an abcess on her lower back... the vet did a stab incision and drainage and squeeze the gunk out. However, after that the skin over the incision died and the abscess filled up again and what we were left with was an area with no skin/fur over top and an abscess capsule poking through the hole. I don't seem to have taken a picture and I'm kicking myself now. This isn't my pig but it was kind of like this pic. No skin and something poking out from underneath.


Basically what we ended up doing was removing the entire capsule surgically and then stitching the skin closed over it. Honestly, if there is room to close to wound and the vet is comfortable with it, this was the easiest abscess I've ever dealt with. It basically just solved the problem there was nothing left to refill and no real aftercare.

Here's a picture of my pig post surgery. She had a big old scar but it healed up fine.


Hope this helps a bit! I would check with the vet to see if the capsule is open at this stage or not.

 

[pixiefeathers]

I never thought of it like that but it makes a lot of sense, thanks for sharing that The situation with your female piggy seems similar to what Alfie is going through as the tiny bit of pus that I do manage to squeeze out is inside that extra lump that is behind the original abscess hole opening. If this is the case, does that mean the current treatment that Alfie is on with the antibiotics, squeezing and cream isn't going to be effective? The vet didn't mention anything to be about the actual abscess capsule still being enclosed, she was very focused on the 'infection' and the need to squeeze the gunk out. Glad I got your thoughts!

 

[Freela]

I never thought of it like that but it makes a lot of sense, thanks for sharing that The situation with your female piggy seems similar to what Alfie is going through as the tiny bit of pus that I do manage to squeeze out is inside that extra lump that is behind the original abscess hole opening. If this is the case, does that mean the current treatment that Alfie is on with the antibiotics, squeezing and cream isn't going to be effective? The vet didn't mention anything to be about the actual abscess capsule still being enclosed, she was very focused on the 'infection' and the need to squeeze the gunk out. Glad I got your thoughts!

I wonder if what you're doing isn't basically like squeezing a zit that hasn't popped... the pus your REALLY need to get out is still walled off inside the abscess capsule. I'm wondering if whatever hole the vet poked in there has already healed up (it can happen fast, particularly if it was a needle poke or something and not a stab incision- some vets even suture them open to keep it from healing too quickly!) I wouldn't think you'll have much progress until that capsule wall is opened up again. I would definitely see the vet again, I think you may need a bigger hole in that abscess capsule so that you an irrigate it properly. Good luck, please let us know how it all works out!

 

[pixiefeathers]

This is an update on what the abscess area looks like now. The skin on the top left corner above the hole was growing darker and I guess dying off and today it just fell off, so now the abscess pus is finally exposed. Alfie wouldn’t let me touch that part to squeeze the pus out though, it must be very sore, he was very jumpy even after I fed him the pain medication. The skin around the hole everywhere else is growing back, so the initial hole is overall getting smaller. I don’t know if this is a good or bad sign. I have attached the pictures from yesterday and today.

 

[Edam]

This is an update on what the abscess area looks like now. The skin on the top left corner above the hole was growing darker and I guess dying off and today it just fell off, so now the abscess pus is finally exposed. Alfie wouldn’t let me touch that part to squeeze the pus out though, it must be very sore, he was very jumpy even after I fed him the pain medication. The skin around the hole everywhere else is growing back, so the initial hole is overall getting smaller. I don’t know if this is a good or bad sign. I have attached the pictures from yesterday and today.

Heya, how did you get on with this? and what happened further? I am dealing with an abscess on my piggy at the moment and any tips would be useful thanks xx