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Midnight Abscess

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lexi468

lexi468

Junior Guinea Pig
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Hi everybody!
So Midnight ripped out his sutures and today when I brought him back to the vet, the took out the rest. His vet said the sutures were attached to dead skin that was going to fall off and also, the bacteria that causes abscesses in guinea pigs was building up again so they needed to remove it. So now he has a hole in his neck. They bandaged it and I have to clean it twice a day, keep the bandage in, and he goes back in on Friday. Is the vet doing the right thing? Should I get a second opinion? Has anybody experienced this?
 
Did they lance and drain the abscess the first time, or did they remove the entire thing? (Picture an abscess like a water balloon- lancing and draining is like poking a hole in the balloon to remove the water but leaving the rubber balloon behind, whereas removing an encapsulated abscess is like taking the whole balloon out.) It's pretty normal if an abscess is lanced and drained to leave it open to let it continue draining. Generally when you remove the entire abscess, this isn't necessary. One of mine had a whole abscess removed and stitched and certainly lost a lot of dead skin around the area (it basically dried up and flaked off, kind of like when you have a hangnail.) I am wondering if they are seeing pus underneath the stitching, hence the decision to leave it open. Did they manage to get any pus out of the wound? If you sniff it, does it smell infected (it's not a smell that would go unnoticed- abscesses stink!)
 
Freela said:
Did they lance and drain the abscess the first time, or did they remove the entire thing? (Picture an abscess like a water balloon- lancing and draining is like poking a hole in the balloon to remove the water but leaving the rubber balloon behind, whereas removing an encapsulated abscess is like taking the whole balloon out.) It's pretty normal if an abscess is lanced and drained to leave it open to let it continue draining. Generally when you remove the entire abscess, this isn't necessary. One of mine had a whole abscess removed and stitched and certainly lost a lot of dead skin around the area (it basically dried up and flaked off, kind of like when you have a hangnail.) I am wondering if they are seeing pus underneath the stitching, hence the decision to leave it open. Did they manage to get any pus out of the wound? If you sniff it, does it smell infected (it's not a smell that would go unnoticed- abscesses stink!)
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It was encapsulated, however it did burst. So originally they removed the whole thing and stitched it totally up. But then he ripped open some of his stitches and the first vet that looked at it recommended re stitching it, however I did not want to put him under again. So today, the surgeon who originally performed the surgery looked at it, and said it looked fine, it wasn't infected, however, under the remaining sutures there was more puss (although apparently it's very hard puss that's inside abscesses, so it looked like very white flesh). So he recommended removing the skin that was falling off with the remaining sutures along with the puss that was forming. So that just happened today. They put a bunch of antibiotic ointment on it and wrapped it. So it just smells like the antibiotic ointment. The vet didn't think he would have a problem healing it at all because its just skin. He said it should be totally healed in two weeks. I'm just afraid they shouldn't have removed the remaining sutures? I mean, there's a hole there now!
 
lexi468 said:
It was encapsulated, however it did burst. So originally they removed the whole thing and stitched it totally up. But then he ripped open some of his stitches and the first vet that looked at it recommended re stitching it, however I did not want to put him under again. So today, the surgeon who originally performed the surgery looked at it, and said it looked fine, it wasn't infected, however, under the remaining sutures there was more puss (although apparently it's very hard puss that's inside abscesses, so it looked like very white flesh). So he recommended removing the skin that was falling off with the remaining sutures along with the puss that was forming. So that just happened today. They put a bunch of antibiotic ointment on it and wrapped it. So it just smells like the antibiotic ointment. The vet didn't think he would have a problem healing it at all because its just skin. He said it should be totally healed in two weeks. I'm just afraid they shouldn't have removed the remaining sutures? I mean, there's a hole there now!
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If there is pus inside, as nasty as it looks, the best thing to do is leave it open. Otherwise the skin will just form over top and you will end up with a whole new abscess there. Guinea pigs tend to form very thick pus- they lack an enzyme that makes pus more watery in other mammals. So it can be hard to flush out, as it ends up being this gross semi-congealed glop kind of like rubber cement or dried glue. Did the vet give you any instructions on flushing the wound out? If there is still pus forming, you may need to irrigate the wound and express any pus left inside so that it stays clean while it heals from the inside out.
 
I agree that if there is pus it is important the wound is kept open so the pus can drain and the wound needs to be flushed. I am tagging @furryfriends (TEAS) who has lots of experience with abscesses. Is he on any oral antibiotics?
 
Thanks guys! He is on antibiotics, I also give him vit.c and an oxbow immune booster. They didn't tell me to flush it, just to clean it twice a day.
 
Freela said:
If there is pus inside, as nasty as it looks, the best thing to do is leave it open. Otherwise the skin will just form over top and you will end up with a whole new abscess there. Guinea pigs tend to form very thick pus- they lack an enzyme that makes pus more watery in other mammals. So it can be hard to flush out, as it ends up being this gross semi-congealed glop kind of like rubber cement or dried glue. Did the vet give you any instructions on flushing the wound out? If there is still pus forming, you may need to irrigate the wound and express any pus left inside so that it stays clean while it heals from the inside out.
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I am officially flushing it twice a day!
 
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