• 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

Open Cyst/abcess

Status
Not open for further replies.
W

Whittysmum

Junior Guinea Pig
Joined
Feb 24, 2014
Messages
25
Reaction score
38
Points
200
Location
South Wales UK
Hi, one of our piggies has had a lump on her rear end for ages, our vet said as it wasn't bothering her to leave it alone. When I took her out of the cage last week the lump had burst and a thick horrible grey discharge was coming out. We took her to the vets who took her out and squeezed as much of the gunk out as possible. They sent us home with antibiotics and instructions to wash out the wound twice a day with salt water.
The wound doesn't seem to have been getting better, in fact, the hole seems to have grown larger. My husband took her back to the vets today, and they have said it looks like a tumour, but they can't remove it because there won't be enough skin to repair the wound as it is too close to her leg. They said we can either have her PTS or bring her home but she will probably only have a couple of months left. But how can we keep her in the cage with a big open wound?
I have rung another vet tonight, recommended for small animals and we are taking her tomorrow, so hopefully will have more information then. Just wondered if anyone else had anything similar to this?
She is eating fine, but does seem a little subdued.
 
It sounds very much like a sebaceous cyst , they can grow very big and discharge a cheesy smelly substance. The only way to get rid of them is to have the capsule excised. This is a simple operation and your piggy should make a full recovery. They are never cancerous. An experienced guinea pig vet should be able to remove the capsule and if there is not enough skin to close the wound it should heal from the base. I did have a piggy who wasn't fit enough for surgery and we just kept cleaning the gunk out. Antibiotics don't help unless they are secondarily infected, they are not usually painful except when they are being squeezed! Humans and other animals get these cysts as well, they are very common! I would consider a second opinion from an experienced piggy vet. Good luck x
 
Hiya I would definitely get her checked out by another cavy savvy vet. Have a look on the recommended vet locator see if there's one near you.

I would ask the vet to confirm if its a sebaceous cyst too.
Like the piginthe city says they're usually harmless enough. Sometimes if they've been squeezed in the wrong way they can get infected or get the gunk pushed through the capsule under the skin which could be a problem.

If its grey gunk coming from her hole I'm guessing she's a darker coloured guinea?
If it was a white/yellower gunk that would suggest she was a lighter coloured guinea if it turns out to be a sebaceous cyst.
It usually has a cottage cheesey type consistency.

My ellie had hers for at least 3yrs &the vet tried to drain the cyst to check if was an abcess. The needle came out with a greasy smearing to.it but no gunk as it was too thick to go in the needle.

If it was an abcess it would be more.watery, smelly &painful for the guinea.

Ask the vet if you can clean it with warm salty water &try flushing it with a syringe in the hole. To help it heal from the inside. But if possible the whole capsule would be best removed by the vet if safely possible.

I definitely wouldn't have her put to sleep if she only has a cyst or abcess.
A confirmed tumour would need more investigation or consideration with the next course of action for her.

Good luck at the different vets &fingers crossed its just a harmless cyst.

Keep us informed. Xx
 
Not got anything to add really, except that I agree that a second opinion is a good idea. If it is a sebaceous cyst a vet should be able to deal with it easily.
 
Last edited:
Poor guy! It sounds like a cyst or abscess has burst (does it smell really foul? Abscesses smell terrible, cysts much less so.) Generally the treatment is to excise the capsule (the walls of the cyst) completely. One of my pigs had a cyst removed on her lower back. Luckily there was sufficient give to the skin to close the wound. You may need to see a vet with some experience fixing this kind of defect. Try to keep the wound cleaning, rinsing it out regularly with sterile saline or an antiseptic wash that you can get from the vet. A lot of abscesses are left open to drain after lancing and if kept clean, don't cause any problems in and of themselves (one of my pigs had a draining abscess on her face for ages... it was very deep and took a long time to heal. She was fine with the open wound.) At any rate, I would definitely seek a second opinion from a vet experienced with guinea pigs (or with this kind of wound closure in other animals as well.)
 
Thanks for all your replies, hope the 2nd vet has better advice this afternoon, she is such a sweet piggy, really shy compared to her sister. She came to me no problem for some parsley this morning, so I really hope they can do something for her.
 
Cysts dont normally produce a smell, abcesses do though. My elderly sow had a cyst that popped, i managed to get the capsule out myself so your vet may be able to do this without an amaesthetic. Fudge is in heart failure so anaesthetics and sedation arent an option for her so luckily she didnt have any further issues. It healed very fast and hasnt even left a mark.

Fudges Cyst Popped..
 
You have had some fantastic advice and I have nothing further to add - just wanted to wish you and your piggie luck today.
Please don't forget to let us know how you get on.
 
Hi, I do hope the vet you are seeing this afternoon can give you more help.

Your thread caught my eye, as we have literally just had one of our piggies operated on for a burst cyst. It was a few months ago that we noticed she had a lump on her back end, giving her a funny lop-sided look. The vet (one of the recommended ones on the vet locator above) described it as a "hair follicle gone mad". Anyway, she said just to leave it, and see whether it burst or not. It did eventually, but we didn't notice any discharge - just that there was a very ugly looking area at least the size of a 10p piece, maybe bigger. Instructions were to wash it twice a day, as it might heal up on its own, and that it could take up to 5 or 6 weeks. However, it didn't heal up, and the vet said it was obvious that this one wasn't going to, and if left would eventually become infected, so it had to be removed. This was done yesterday, and our piggy is doing really well. The sutured area is quite long, maybe about 3 inches.

Do let us know how you get on today.
 
Thank you, the hole was only small to start with, but has grown larger each day, it looks horrible, like dried blood.
 
furryfriends (TEAS) said:
View attachment 53947 We recently had a piggy stay at TEAS to enable him to get treatment from our vet, Simon Maddock. He had a huge cyst on his rear end which was removed and the wound closed very neatly. Here is a picture of it.
Click to expand...

Does it look at all like the pic I posted?
 
Whittysmum said:
It's about the same size as the first one but not as clean, it still looks full of something.
Click to expand...
The pic was taken after it had been cleaned. We didn't immediately go for surgery. We did two weeks of Zithromax and Metacam which shrunk it slightly and then went for surgical removal.
 
Not good news, the second vet almost agreed with our vet, she thinks it's a tumour, and the socket is also infected, she said she could operate, which will cost £180, but couldn't guarantee it would be a success because of the closeness to her leg, there is not enough skin to close the wound. Plus she can't guarantee that it won't return.
She said she was being honest and if it was her pet she wouldn't put her through it
I just don't know what to do, she said she will probably only last a few weeks without the op, or we can PTS, which I don't want to do as she is still fine apart from this.
 
When Del Boy was first seen the worry was there wouldn't be enough skin to close the wound which is why he was put on the antibiotic Zithromax for a fortnight first, and it did reduce in size a little. Where about are you based?
 
furryfriends (TEAS) said:
When Del Boy was first seen the worry was there wouldn't be enough skin to close the wound which is why he was put on the antibiotic Zithromax for a fortnight first, and it did reduce in size a little. Where about are you based?
Click to expand...
Newport South Wales
 
Last edited:
I am sorry to hear that. Its difficult to know the best thing to do in these circumstances. At least she is not in a lot of discomfort at the moment from the sound of what you are saying. X
 
I think it may be worth enquiring about trying another antibiotic such as zithromax as well cleaning the wound with something more than salt water such as hibiscrub diluted in water.

Personally, if you are facing a risky op or PTS yet she is still eating and still fighting, i would give her that chance and go for the op. If they discover its worse than first thought when they are operating, you then have the option to let her go pain free whilst shes already under.

Ofcourse this is just my personal opinion if this was one of my piggies, but only you know your little girl and what is best for her.

Praying for a positive outcome x
 
That looks very similar to Del Boy's. He came to stay here at TEAS while he had surgery to remove the cyst/tumour and has recently returned home. Simon Maddock is an excellent soft tissue surgeon but also a fantastic guinea pig vet. People travel the length and breadth of the country to get their piggies seen by him. If there is any way you could get your piggy here, she is very welcome to stay, so she can have her operation done by Simon and then remain here until she has had her post op check. I feel sure he would be able to help her. Let me know what you think. I make no charge for boarding and just ask that you pay the vet bills directly to the practice. Any donation to our charity is always welcome, but not a requirement xx
 
We had this with Humbug...he had a large lump that burst with the same discharge. The vet said he would squeeze it out and we could then have him on antibiotics (that worked fine when he had an abscess after being neutered, and I squeezed out the puss myself then but this was huge)...he squeezed the pink/grey discharge out but said that he could feel another lump/tumor underneath and that it would be best to put him down. If it wasn't for that lump underneath though, he may have been ok. I don't have a photo of the gunge but here he is...

882070_10152433676181004_1736088487314213232_o.webp
 
furryfriends (TEAS) said:
That looks very similar to Del Boy's. He came to stay here at TEAS while he had surgery to remove the cyst/tumour and has recently returned home. Simon Maddock is an excellent soft tissue surgeon but also a fantastic guinea pig vet. People travel the length and breadth of the country to get their piggies seen by him. If there is any way you could get your piggy here, she is very welcome to stay, so she can have her operation done by Simon and then remain here until she has had her post op check. I feel sure he would be able to help her. Let me know what you think. I make no charge for boarding and just ask that you pay the vet bills directly to the practice. Any donation to our charity is always welcome, but not a requirement xx
Click to expand...
Thank you very much, but think it will be too far to travel. We are considering letting our vet do the op, unfortunately the cost is causing friction between me and hubby at the moment, he doesn't love them as much as me
 
JenniferG said:
We had this with Humbug...he had a large lump that burst with the same discharge. The vet said he would squeeze it out and we could then have him on antibiotics (that worked fine when he had an abscess after being neutered, and I squeezed out the puss myself then but this was huge)...he squeezed the pink/grey discharge out but said that he could feel another lump/tumor underneath and that it would be best to put him down. If it wasn't for that lump underneath though, he may have been ok. I don't have a photo of the gunge but here he is...

QUOTE]

That's what they think with Lettie, plus they are concerned with the lack of healthy skin,
Click to expand...
 
Whittysmum said:
Thank you very much, but think it will be too far to travel. We are considering letting our vet do the op, unfortunately the cost is causing friction between me and hubby at the moment, he doesn't love them as much as me
Click to expand...
Just give me a shout if you would like to take up the offer. Obviously there are no guarantees, but we did have a good outcome, despite it being very large. I do appreciate I am a very long way away from you though.
 
I am another who had a Guinea with a very large cyst. It burst one summers day when it was very hot and looked horrific. She had the capsule removed and it healed fine. Animals have an amazing ability to heal. I hope you are able to sort it, it's sounds like whilst she is happy it's worth it. X
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top