To drain abscess or not to drain abscess?

[Temporary Gwanay]

Hi! I need advice please! I adopted an underweight Guinea Pig 3 months ago with no known history other than has not eaten in several days and was previously owned. We think he’s a couple years old. I noticed right away that he made an odd gesture at the start of eating but them would always eat great. Long story short, he has a small abscess under his chin that is bothering him and we took him to the vet today. The vet highly praised our efforts to get more weight on him but recommended that we do nothing about the abscess. We were advised that if there was an area on the abscess that was oozing we could Warm compress the area and squeeze a little. It was not suggested for surgery to lance and flush as we were told the abscess would just return since likely tooth related. We were also advised not to give antibiotics as it would not really help. We were sent home with pain meds and were told to continue to monitor his quality of life. Our pig seems great otherwise but we are not sure that doing nothing is the right decision. We’ve been doing research and it seems like most people have the abscess lanced and flushed. Please help! We want to help out little guy! THANK YOU!

 

[weepweeps]

Hello. I’m going through this at the moment with my boy Pepper. Here is the thread if you’d like to read it.

Dental? Pepper is off to the vets tomorrow

He had an operation last Friday and is doing real well. His lump had got very large. It was a tooth root abscess. Obviously I’m not a vet and your piggy may have something else going on but if it is an abscess and he’s not eating then it’s only going to get worse. I was told that it MAY come back and not all antibiotics work on piggy abscesses. But so far so good.

Could you go to another vet who is used to dealing with guinea pigs?

Good luck.

 

[Bill & Ted]

Hello and welcome to the forum
Good on you for taking the little piggie on

Firstly you need to support feed him and weigh (ordinary kitchen scales) him daily to find out if he is losing weight/getting enough to eat. Secondly I would look for a guinea pig savvy vet who can drain the abscess otherwise it may grow so large it may burst.
Have a read through the syringe feeding guide below, you can buy 1ml syringes at the chemist/drugstore
Complete Syringe Feeding Guide

Here is a list of vets we recommend in the US
Guinea Lynx :: GL's Vet List

 

[Wiebke]

@furryfriends (TEAS)

 

[Swissgreys]

In my limited experience, if it is indeed an abscess it will continue to grow and will eventually burst.
Doing nothing isn't really an option, as eventually it will need to be treated.
What tests did the vet do to confirm it is an abscess and not another type of lump?