• PLEASE NOTE - the TEAS facebook page has been hacked, take extreme care when visiting the page, for further information visit here
  • Discussions taking place within this forum are intended for the purpose of assisting you in discussing options with your vet. Any other use of advice given here is done so at your risk, is solely your responsibility and not that of this forum or its owner. Before posting it is your responsibility you abide by this Statement

My Piggy Has A Lump Under Her Chin....any Ideas What It May Be?

Status
Not open for further replies.

lewpylew

Junior Guinea Pig
Joined
Oct 13, 2011
Messages
109
Reaction score
39
Points
210
Location
Southampton
ive just got back from Orlando this morning, picked my piggies up from the boarders and the lady told me Peppa has a lump under her chin. It's in her fat jowl and feels soft and sure it wasn't there a few weeks back. It feels like it is not attached to anything so maybe it's a fatty lump but has anyone any other ideas? Peppa seems not too bad in herself and is still eating & drinking. I can't get to vets until Monday so is she likely to be ok? Feeling scared : (
 
I am very sorry; it is not the kind of discovery you want to come back home to!

Hopefully, it will be OK; it could start to fill up very quickly if it is an abscess, but otherwise it is likely to grow more slowly. How big is the lump? Unfortunately, only a vet who can see and feel it, and if necessary have it tested can give you a proper diagnosis, but it is generally a good sign that it is in the skin and not in the body.
 
Although the lady who looked after my piggies is not a vet, she said it felt as if it wasn't attached to anything so hoping its nothing sinister albeit trying not to get upset in my tired jetlagged state : ( it is around the size of a 10p x
 
All the best! Unless it is much larger by tomorrow I would not panic. ;)
 
Phew, I took Peppa to the vet last night and she had an abcess which was lanced and apart from a red chin from where it popped she seems happy and back to normal :) :) :) I've just got to keep an eye on it x
 
Phew, I took Peppa to the vet last night and she had an abcess which was lanced and apart from a red chin from where it popped she seems happy and back to normal :) :) :) I've just got to keep an eye on it x

Abscesses need to heal from the inside out and need to be able to drain until that has happened, or they will come back. Please scrub the scab off at least once a day (you need to be fairly firm, and it isn't pleasant for your piggy) and keep the wound from healing shut in order to allow the drainage and prevent a reinfection.

What antibiotic is Peppa on?

@furryfriends Excellent Adventure Sanctuary
 
Hi, I was not given an antibiotic as the vet said it should be ok. She did say I could try to squeeze it - which I will try to do later when home as wanted to give her a day stress free after the vets. There is still a lump there but guessing I will need to regularly clean and squeeze it to allow reinfection. Thanks for your advice x
 
Hi there - Best of luck to Peppa! A few of us have had similar "lumps" under the neck recently, @AbiS was going through the same thing with her Barney recently.
Did the vet lance it without a general anaesthetic?
Cassandra
 
Hi Cassandra, thanks for your reply. Yes she just went out the back to test it and guess it popped as she came back covered in blood(the vet that is!). Now i feel bad that I should be doing something to help Peppa :( I'll try to clean it tonight but not sure how I can remove the scab as scared of hurting her :(
 
I do not think you should worry or feel guilty because you are doing what the vet told you to.

I will link you to my thread about Toffee's abscess under her chin (which was long and lots of people provided excellent help and advice on abscesses) but please be aware that Toffee died under anaesthetic having it removed and therefore the vet thinks that she had a "more sinister" cause of death than just the abscess, they think she had a type of cancer of the lymph nodes. I would not want you to worry that your piggy was going to die, I don't think my experience was typical.
 
Make sure to keep it open and rinse it out and express any new pus that may form to keep the abscess from reforming. Abscesses are best left open to heal from the inside out. When Sundae had a nasty facial abscess, I irrigated the wound once a day with sterile saline in a syringe and then expressed any pus (which she hated, but it was necessary!) It took time, but did heal up. Hope she feels much better soon!
 
I've just tried to do it but it's hurting her and now I feel bad. Called my usual vets and they said to take her in : ( don't have a lot of money and now stressing but piggy more important : ( : ( : (
 
if you can get a syringe perhaps 10ml. this way you can express the water quickly into the abscess. It should help keep the abscess open and flush out the gunk.

When my Fred had his abscess I didn't realise that I should have been shooting the water into the wound rather than gently administering it. Fred healed well in the end but it did take some time as the abscess came back after the first time.

2nd time round the vet gave me an antibiotic called Zithromax which cleared it up nicely. Two years on it's never returned.

Hope the vet visit goes well.
 
Ahhh poor Peppa! Keeping fingers crossed that it heals well. Barney still has his sebaceous cyst - just got to keep an eye on it to see if it grows and if it does he will need an operation to remove it :no:
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top