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Multiple bite wounds

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lovelygirl

lovelygirl

Adult Guinea Pig
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Hi

i am fostering a piggy with multiple bite wounds and he has seen the vet and has been prescribed 2ml baytril twice a day and the wounds to be cleaned with hibitrane and then flamazine cream put into each of the wounds as most of them have abscesses in them. He is a very nervous timid piggy and dealt with the treatment very well so far. I am wondering if there is anything else i need to be doing for him to give him the best chance at recovery. Does he need probiotic powder as he is on oral antibiotic?

All and any help will be gratefully recieved, Eleanor
 
Yes, please give him probiotic!

Otherwise just tlc, lots of it... Poor guy!

The vet seems to have covered his wounds OK. Make sure that the wounds are clear and the abscesses completely drained, before they heal over, or they might come back. but better wait for somebody with better experience with abscesses coming along.

0.4 ml twice daily is the correct dose for baytril (adult piggy).
 
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2mls of Baytril twice a day is far too high a dose,it will harm your piggy.Are you sure the vet did not say 0.2ml twice a day?.


Maryh
 
Delia said:
2mls of Baytril twice a day is far too high a dose,it will harm your piggy.Are you sure the vet did not say 0.2ml twice a day?.


Maryh
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it says 2ml on the bottle and the amount was questioned whilst we were there, will phone up the vet in the morning and requestion. unfortunately he has already had the first dose
 
The vet or p@h - and don't give him another dose of baytril; it's 5 times over the limit! Your poor piggy will probably feel very sorry for himself by tomorrow!
 
Vickyt said:
The vet or p@h - and don't give him another dose of baytril; it's 5 times over the limit! Your poor piggy will probably feel very sorry for himself by tomorrow!
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I think he already is feeling very sorry for himself? when will i know if i need to syringe feed him? As far as i am aware he has not eaten since 5 pm?
 
Only if he's really not eating! You can try, if you want to, and make sure give him water as well.

His poo will probably go very soft with this amount of baytril.

I have pmed CCC4; hopefully she's still up or will have a look at your thread tomorrow morning.
 
I'm sorry to hear the little chap is in such a pickle! I guess he's had a rough time with some piggie pals at some point, let's hope he's on the mend soon.

Good to hear a topical antibiotic treatment is being used on the abscesses, although I've not come across it actually being used before. Had to look the product names up; Hibitane is chlorhexidine gluconate, a useful substance for flushing abscesses. Flamazine contains silver sulfadiazine, which is the antibiotic ointment.

2ml is definitely far too high a dose of Baytril - a total of 0.8ml daily (0.4ml twice daily) is usually the maximum. Baytril can be a relatively harsh drug; make sure he continues to eat and drink as normal, keep an eye on his weight and poops over the next day or two. Probiotic and lots of fibre will hopefully keep him feeling well until the dosage is checked!

Zithromax (azithromycin) is said to be excellent when treating abscesses, you can PM Debbie (furryfriends) for more info on it.
 
ok well i think it is bedtime and hopefully being in the quiet will tempt him out to eat will let you know how he is in the morning. Will get him probiotic powder and give it 24 hours till his next dose of baytril. It is amazing how much damage piggies can do to each other with their teeth!
 
CCC4 said:
I'm sorry to hear the little chap is in such a pickle! I guess he's had a rough time with some piggie pals at some point, let's hope he's on the mend soon.

Good to hear a topical antibiotic treatment is being used on the abscesses, although I've not come across it actually being used before. Had to look the product names up; Hibitane is chlorhexidine gluconate, a useful substance for flushing abscesses. Flamazine contains silver sulfadiazine, which is the antibiotic ointment.

2ml is definitely far too high a dose of Baytril - a total of 0.8ml daily (0.4ml twice daily) is usually the maximum. Baytril can be a relatively harsh drug; make sure he continues to eat and drink as normal, keep an eye on his weight and poops over the next day or two. Probiotic and lots of fibre will hopefully keep him feeling well until the dosage is checked!

Zithromax (azithromycin) is said to be excellent when treating abscesses, you can PM Debbie (furryfriends) for more info on it.
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yes we have counted 14 bite wounds on his little body, i will weigh him in the morning when i do the dastardly deed of cleaning him up again, though i know how much he weighed two weeks ago which will have to be my benchmark, fingers crossed this will be a short journey to full good health
 
Poor chap, that's a lot of bites! Hopefully things will clear up relatively easily, it sounds like you are on the right track in any case. Hope he does well through the night.
 
Either flush with sterile saline or Flagyl, which is only available on prescription.
Flagyl is a good antibiotic for flushing out deep abscess cavities. I have used it on pigs with head/neck abscesses, which have not responded to other anti-biotics, with good results.
(Flagyl is a trade name for the drug Metronidazole which is effective against micro-organisms that grow without oxygen in deep injuries.)
 
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Well he has eaten all the veggies i put in last night and some nuggets, not sure on the amount of hay and ran away from me this morning when i looked in his house this morning, so far his poops are normal. With regard to the probiotic do i give it before or after the antibiotic? i assume after but do i need to dose it a period of time after? Thanks for all your advice
 
Just thought i would let everyone know that he seems a bit perkier this evening even chatting to my girls. he is eating veggies but does not seem to be eating much in the way of pellets or hay. He is getting better at the washing and creaming of his wounds he is not keen on the baytril (0.4 ml), but takes the probiotics better (still not 100% sure how much i should give him and when).
 
Well nice to hear he's doing well and antibiotic dose sorted.

Let us know how he carries on.
 
Thanks for updating Eleanor, glad he's doing well. The dose sounds great, at least you only have to get a small amount into a reluctant pig each time!

Which probiotic have you got to use? The advice is usually to give probiotics around 1-2 hours after antibiotics.
 
Well he has managed to pee on me everytime i have to do his medications! So far we have only had normal poops and now seems to be eating better aswell. The smaller bite wounds have all healed up and look normal, so i now only have 6 left that need treating amazing how quickly they heal up. We are getting better at the syringing, i am getting better at giving it to him and he is getting better at wriggling away(he still loses though ha ha :) ).
 
:( i am not a happy bunny and tango is not a happy piggy :0 last night when checking his wound sites on the major one, the scab had turned yellow (was fine in the morning normal red colour) and when i pressed on it pus leaked out the side so i soaked it in the hibitane solution and slowly removed it with a pair of nail scissors and tweezers and then removed the first layer of pus! he has a second chamber underneath and managed to empty that out with quite a bit of pressure (feeling very nausous myself and sorry for tango) carried on with the others and all seemed fine.

This morning as expected the one that was scabby last night was full of pus again same hoo har as last night except i am on my own doing it! but he was very good considering and only bit the towel. But two of the wounds that have healed over now feel hot :0 and I think there is a tiny pus ball underneath, have rubbed the antibiotic cream on the top.

He has a vets appointment friday but does he need to see them more urgently?, he is eating fine and chatting to my girls and is much friendlier even considering his manhandling to fuss his wounds:{
 
wound and pus - you may want to look away

caution you may want to look away

tango bite wound - not the worst one!8...8...

the other is the solid lump of pus from the second chamber there was lots of liquid pus this morning - was very nearly sick luckily had no brekkie first!:)>>>:)>>>
 

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Bless him, that does look sore. You're doing the right thing by getting the gunk out - are you flushing it, not just bathing it i.e syringing the stuff right into the wound to flush any nasties out? He must be feeling very sorry for himself indeed.

It may be that it's time to get a stronger antibiotic - like Furryfriends suggested. It's also possible the vet could give you some pain relief for him (metacam or similar) so you can dose him up prior to treating him - it must be very sore.

I would see if the vet can fit you in ASAP if it's not improving. Sending gentle hugs to the poor piggy

Sophie
x
 
the hole is far too small to get a syringe into it to flush it out not sure how i would introduce the wash? any ideas? I was thinking the smaller ones need to be lanced under local anesthetic to get the pus out? In himself he is fine and eating very well and not losing weight.
 
the hole is far too small to get a syringe into it to flush it out not sure how i would introduce the wash? any ideas?
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You could ask your vet for an silicone I.V. Catheter they use for cats and dogs, you remove the needle and then stick the catheter on top of the syringe, you will be able to get into very small openings with this and flush them.

CatheterTip.jpg
 
No advice but wanted to say ouch! Poor poor guinea.

Good luck with everything.
 
As I said on the phone, there is a small, but real, risk of pushing abscess debris further into the body when using a syringe or catheter to flush out an abscess. The smaller the diameter of the needle/cather the greater the pressure of the fluid being introduced into the cavity.
 
Sounds like you've had all the advice you need so far, I have nothing else to add, and you are doing great as you are, I hope one of the ideas suggested does the trick. Fingers crossed for him here. x
 
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