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Tooth Abscess

  • Thread starter Thread starter Linden
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Linden

Hi everybody!

Has anybody had any experience with a guinea pig with a tooth abscess. I noticed Truffles (our 3 year old sow) had a large lump (about the size of a small plum) on the side of her face and, while seeming perky enough and interested in her food, she wasn't actually eating anything. Further inspection of the incisors showed that they were meeting diagonally (I've since found out on the net that this is a common sign of problems with teeth causing them to eat on the opposite side of their mouths - I also discovered that these things can get big quite suddenly so didn't feel quite so bad for not spotting it sooner). Took her to the vets the next day, they had a look and diagnosed it as an abscess. I've to take her back tomorrow to have it lanced (under general anesthetic I think) and to have the teeth trimmed. It was the vet nurse I spoke to who seemed to indicate that if it was a tooth abscess then that was serious and the prognosis was not good.

What I've read about abscesses seems to suggest that, while some TLC will be required, that they are not uncommon and can be treated. Can anybody tell me then, why the nurse would be suggesting that this could be the end of the road for my piggie? :'( Is it really that serious if it is related to the teeth? As I say, she seems perky enough so I'm hoping she'll stand up to the GA, and I've started her on pro-biotics.
 
No I don't think it would be the end of the road for your piggie at all. My guinea has been under anesthetic four times to have her very back teeth cut (the ones they can't reach to cut) and she is now 8 years old. I would suggest plenty of soft food and they should provide you with something called Critical Care. This is a liquid food substitute which is to be syrined when your guinea comes home. She might have a sore mouth when she comes home :)
 
These vets that anesatise to do dental work and lance an abscess make me mad.There is no need for sedation to do either.Lancing an abscess only takes seconds,and although it would be uncomfortable for the piggy it is far better than the risk with ga.Once the abscess is lanced you will need to back flush 2 to 3 times a day for at least 4 days.The hole has to be kept open to allow the residue of pus to drain,otherwise it will re infect.The best thing for backflushing is diluted Hibitane.High Potency Manuka Honey can be packed into the hole after back flushing.This is a natural anti biotic.

This is possibly not a dental abscess because abscess in the neck area is quite common.Even if it is a dental abscess,it is not lethal.

An abscess on the face /neck is painful and uncomfortable which is why the gp is reluctant to eat.
 
welcome to the forum from me and the girls from oz :smitten: :smitten: :smitten: from what i have learnt teeth problems and abscess don't need GA to be done. and if a vet suggest this they are not guinea pig savy so i would look into finding another vet. to lance and file down teeth will hurt piggy for 5-30 minutes but with GA there are more dangers and risk. sending you and truffles hugs and healing vibes and hope all goes well at the vets today. but i would definately find another vet. :smitten: :smitten:
 
Thanks all for your suggestions and good wishes. Truffles at the vet as we speak, and it's fingers crossed for a happy outcome - despite the vet's pessimism!

Thanks Maryh for the idea of using manuka honey - I've heard of this being used to treat wounds; is it the same stuff that you get from the health food store?

Also thanks, Choloe for your suggestions re vets. We've been using this practice for a while now, but the old vet who was brilliant with guinea pigs has now retired and the others don't seem quite so interested. I definitely think I'll phone around next time and try and find a vet who will do dental work without anesthetic. Does anyone know if guinea pigs can be give a light sedative for this kind of work, with is less risky than full on GA, but makes it a little less stressful for the gp?
 
HI there :) we're also from OZ like Mary (aka choloe) and it's hard to find a vet / rodentologist (which we don't have grrrr in OZ) that you can trust and rely upon.
Put on here your rough area of where you live and i'm sure somebody will be able to help you with a vet or suggestion of a clinic in your area O0 O0 O0
We'll have our paws crossed for little Truffles :smitten: :smitten: :smitten: :smitten: :smitten: :smitten: :smitten: :smitten:
My piggie has had extensive work done many times for abscesses etc... and he seems to be ok with it all, i'm just lucky i think i wish they didn't have to have anaes all the time as it's not good for them :(
There is some vets in the UK who will lance without a full anaes and things will go fine O0 O0 O0

as far as your little Truffles you'll have to be aware that to be careful that no hay gets stuck in her face so i'd have towels ready to use, and perhaps have a hay area or hay rack O0 keep her warm and comfortable after the op as they're not quite with it for awhile :-\ :-\ Hopefully your vets will suggest an antibiotic if it was an abscess and a probiotic to settle her tummy and some pain relief as well for a short time O0
wishing you all the very very best, good luck TRUFFLES :smitten: :smitten: :smitten: :smitten: :smitten:

btw most vets use only a small amount of GA now.... they try to minimise being for small animals O0
 
Thanks for your good wishes Glynis. I'm in Dumfries, Scotland, and we have a number of vets locally so I'll ask around and make some calls. My piggies have a large run in the garage but I was planning to use our old indoor cage tonight just to make sure she's nice and warm and then put her in a temporary run back in the garage tomorrow, if she's looking perky and eating well. Might put Muffin, who's nice and placid, in with her for company, but she'll be able to see and 'chat' to the others. Thanks to this forum I've discovered vetbed, so have purchased a smallish piece to try out. I've used towels with convalescing piggies in the past, but they get soggy very quickly, so I'm hopping vetbed will be more comfortable for her. Haven't made up her new bed yet - somehow it feels like tempting fate. :)
 
Oh we have a few members up in Scotland O0 O0 :smitten: :smitten: :smitten: :smitten: :smitten:
Now don't you go worry .... keep positive and just try your utmost that's all we can ever do for our little furbabies :smitten: :smitten: :smitten: :smitten:
that would be lovely to have a little friend for her to keep her company, i hope they already like each other ;)
gosh i use towels and have now done so for just over a year now.... we had hay probs and abscess probs grrrr, it's a bit of work but once you get organised with cleaning out a few times a day and changing the paper as well underneath it's just becomes second nature O0
 
Have just phoned vet and Truffles seems to have come through op okay. Still sleeping but they said I could pick her up about 4.30pm. Maybe I'll go and get her bed made now! :)
 
am so happy truffles has made it through surgery. :smitten: :smitten: :smitten: just keep her warm and syringe feed her and plenty of preboiled water. give her a gentle hug from us :smitten: :smitten: :smitten: and girls send healing :-* :-* :-*
 
Truffles doing okay. Was pretty wobbly when I got her home from the vet. Has an open wound, although much smaller than I was expecting - only about 1cm long. Is this typical? Asked vet if there were any specific wound/after care instructions, but he said no - just bring her back on Wednesday. A little disappointed in lack of guidance, but then I have had operations done by them before so maybe they assumed I knew how to nurse a post-op piggie. Definitely thinking of a new vet. :-\

Only just beginning to show signs of eating. Was very interesting in food when I got her home, but unable to eat it. Was not at all impressed with syringe feeding! Have just had her out again and bathed the wound with some warm salt water. Managed to get her to eat some soaked pellets off my finger and take a little water with pro-biotics out of the syringe, but not a great deal of either. Have returned her to her cage and noticed her starting to eat some of the chopped cucumber I'd put in earlier. Hopefully she has now realised that she is able to chew and will start nibbling away. Certainly relieved to see her eating on her own.

Many thanks to all for kind thoughts.
 
It all depends on which vet you get.
There are around five in my vet surgery, plus the head honcho vet.
I took Charcol (R.I.P) to him (Id taken him to every other vet there AND a completley different vet at another surgery and was never satisfied with their advice) and he checked his teeth and said that he needed his back teeth rasping.
He said that putting GP 'under' is avoided whenever possible now and that he would give him some strong pain meds, to make him drowsy and 'not care about' what was going on.
He said that if he didnt cope well with it then he would move onto a general anaestetic, but he reallllllllly wanted to avoid it.
Luckily (I say luckily loosely!) Charcoal dealt well with it and he came home with me that same day.
Unfortunately we lost him around a week later, although this had nothing to do with the actual proceedure.
So find a vet that avoids putting piggies out when there is another option.
I'm glad that Truffles came through it ok.
xx Steph xx
 
How is Truffles today? My guinea had 4 abscesses done already. One only last week. They were not tooth abscesses but the last one was right on his chin, under the jaw line so he had to be sedated. They said he was going wild and they couldn't hold him. He was not sedated for the one prior to this one. And the first two were done as an operation because he was a baby. (he's 7 months now). As far as the cut, the last two that were lanced were very small. I to was surprised! The first two that were surgeries were very big and deep and took a lot of healing. All doctors do it different I guess. The ones that were lanced heal in just a couple of weeks. The others took months because of the surgery. All vets are going to do it different. I love my vet (although she can be a little tough). She treats just exotics and gets tons of guinea pigs in. She has treated all his abscesses different depending on what she thinks is best. So far everything has gone well. Did I read that they said it could be the end of the road for Truffles? That's insane! Also, didn't they give you any anti-biotic, like Baytril? They need to kill the infection so it doens't reoccur. I am always given an anti-biotic and a painkiller (Rimadyl, which also acts as an anti-inflamitory). If they didn't give you an anti-biotic then I agree with you, it's time to find a new vet. I had to find a vet that specializes in guineas because the other vets just seem to be guessing at what they were doing. It's costly and if you don't have the money, they don't see the animal, but I feel Ricky is in safe hands with his vet. I hope Truffles heals quickly. Is he eating? With the first two operations, mine stopped eating, but with the last two being lanced, he never skipped a meal! Good luck to you. I'll check in again and hope to hear that Truffles is jumping happily around his cage! Hugs and cuddles to Truffles! :smitten: :smitten: :smitten: :-* :-* :-* :smitten: :smitten: :smitten:
 
Poor old Truffles - not do so great :(

She seems to be having real trouble getting the food into her mouth and is chewing very slowly - is it possible to file their teeth too far? Didn't seem to have eaten any of the chopped cucumber I left her with overnight. I had her out for a while this morning before going to work and managed to tempt her with some parsley, which was a bit of a break-through, but hardly any fluids. Left husband with instructions to come home for lunch and give more parsley - apparently she eat a couple of stalks. I think she's getting dehydrated (eyes very lack luster especially the eye on the side of the abscess which is decidedly dull). Had her out for a cuddle when I got in from work and again wasn't having any of the syringe. Tried using her normal feeding bottle, giving it a bit of a squeeze as she fed so she didn't have to work too hard, and that was much more successful. Reckon I managed to get about 20ml of probiotic laced drink into her. Gave vet a call and asked if they had any soluble food I could add to the drinking water. Have picked up a couple of sachets of 'Science Recovery - Liquid feed for small herbivores' and added half a packet to her drinking water. Looks like pond scum xx0 Let's hope she thinks it's delicious!

Re antibiotics, she was given some by injection two days before her operation and the vet said they had put some in the wound. However have not been given any home. She returns for a check up tomorrow so may get more then.

Thanks for sharing your experience, Annie. Your poor piggie seems to have had a real time of it. How did you get him eating again after his ops?

My big concern now is dehydration and some kind of intestinal/bowl failure. I'll be relieved when I seem some poo about the place! Anybody got any tips on how to tempt her?
 
At the moment my guinea is eating or drinking much so I use critical care which is a sachet food, probably similar to what your vet gave you. You could always make up a sachet of food in a cup with water and syringe it to her that way. At least then you know she is having some. If you look on my recent post about Ginger I think Mary H suggests how much should be fed for a gp's body weight so that might help you. With regards to dehydration syringe water hourly - I usually syringe her as much as she is willing to take. She might be a bit sore which is why she might not be using the water bottle? Another thing could be to ut up small pieces of favourite food (like you said she likes parsley) and run it under the water so she could get water that way. Hope this helps. I'm sure she'll be feeling more herself soon xx
 
If all else fails they'll normally eat some fresh grass which at least keeps them munching...

Hope your guinea is ok, sounds like you're doing everything you can, fingers crossed

Sophie
x
 
Hi Linden...I wish Truffles was feeling better. I got Ricky to eat by syringe feeding him with critical care food that the vet gave me. I gave it to him 3x a day. There were no poops in his cage either. That was a scary feeling. But in 4-5 days he came around and started to eat. That was when he had the first 2 operations. But the last two, where she lanced and drained the abscesses...he had no problem. Never lost his appetite. The first operation the vet put an antibiotic bead in the wound and stitched it shut. But Ricky kept ripping it open so out came the bead and I had to clean and flush it and give him an anitbiotic. Is that what the doctor did...(but like an anitbiotic bead in?) I hope Truffles is better then Ricky and does not try to rip at it! Ricky just rejected the stitches. If you even suspect that Truffles looks dehydrated, call the vet. I did and they gave him a shot of fluids for the dehydration. I think he could have died if they didn't do that. He was so lythargical (can't spell that!). Ask the vet about that tomorrow. Sometimes the critical care food the vet gives you will have something in it for dehydration. I really hope Truffles teeth are ok. I haven't had a problem with Ricky's teeth, but he's only 7 months. Still kind of young. Well, I'll check back and hope to hear that Truffles is eating and pooping up a storm! Hugs and cuddles Truffles! :-* :-* :-* :-* :-*
 
Just had Truffles out again for another feed. 'Swamp water' (aka liquid feed) totally rejected but taking the water/probiotic mix well. At least that has vitamin C, dextrose and electrolytes in it as well as pro- & pre-biotics, and she loves the taste (by the way, if anyone's interested, it's called Pro-C Probiotic by Vetark and you can get it at Pets at Home - all my piggies love it :smitten:).

Have moved her up to our bedroom where it's a little quieter, but thought she might appreciated a little company. Brought Snowdrop our latest piggie to visit. While on my lap, Truffles seemed to be snuggling-up nicely to Snowdrop and making contented little noises. Thought I'd give them some time together in the indoor cage, but Truffles pretty quickly had Snowdrop chased out the house :D - so there's life in the old girl yet ;D ;D

Still taking some parsley, a sprig at a time, but will try the grass idea too. Thanks to all for support! O0
 
perhaps try her on dandelions as they are a laxative and may get her pooping. would keep persisting in syringe feeding even if it is 2 against truffles as it is important that she eats. glad she likes the probiotics, most here think the best medication is got from the vet not a petshop. sending hugs to you and truffles hopefully like annie suggested she will get a rehydration injection at the vets tomorrow. :smitten: :smitten: :smitten: keeping truffles in our prayers. O0 sending poor snowy prayers and hugs too, it is a hard life being a nurse :smitten: :smitten: :smitten: perhaps give truffles a teddy to snuggle up too. :-* :-* :-*
 
Finally poos :D :D

Looking perkier this morning. Tried her on some grass which went down a treat. Although don't know what the neighbours must have thought of the sight of me in my dressing gown cutting grass with scissors at 7 am - the things we do?!

Had her to the vet this evening and he's happy with her progress. Give another dose of antibiotics and it's back for a check-up again on Friday.

Have moved her into temporary run in the garage with Muffin our oldest piggie. This has given her much more space and she's right next to the rest of the clan. She and Muffin getting on great and now she seems to have cheered up a bit and starting to eat and drink normally (albeit a little slowly). ;D ;D O0

Hopefully this is her well on the road to recovery and she'll be back in the main run soon. Will wait till wound fully healed though since the rest are on shavings.

PS Thanks, Choloe, for the suggestion re a teddy - funnily enough number two son has a soft toy guinea pig (good old Ikea!) and suggested given her it to snuggle with. Mark you the face on it looks a bit weird and I thought it might freak her out :o.
 
am so happy that truffles has pooped, got a good report at the vet and is eating there is no happy icon on here :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: hoping she continues to improve and hugs to her and muffin :smitten: :smitten: :smitten: your son sounds like a bright sweet boy,he must love truffles too :smitten: :smitten: :smitten: girls send truffles :-* :-* :-*
 
Another check-up at the vets tonight. Truffles was seen on Friday and given more Baytril, everything seemed fine then. However, over the weekend swelling seems to have been returning, and tonight vet removed the scab and squeezed out about a 1/2 tsp of pus. Given another does of Baytril and it's back on Wednesday.

At least now I can see exactly where the wound is. After the op there was so much dried blood, gunk and matted hair it was hard to tell where the cut was precisely. Vet has suggested that I remove any scabbing once a day and gently squeeze out any build up of pus, then bathe with cooled boiled water with salt. He didn't seem keen on irrigating the wound because he felt that as gp pus is so thick, there was a risk of pushing the pus deeper into the wound rather than rinsing it out.

Has anyone had any experience with with abscesses filling up again? How long do they usually take to heal?

The good thing is she's now eating again reasonably normally. I think she has got 'used to' her teeth and was eating some lettuce tonight without it having to be shredded for her. :) At least if she is getting her strength back she may be better able to fight the infection. Hopefully if it does need lanced again they'll do it without a g.a. as she won't need to have her teeth done again.
 
so glad truffles is now eating. O0 never had abscesses, but have read that it needs rinsing a couple of times a day to get rid of the pus. usually takes 1-2 weeks to heal. sending hugs and healing vibes :smitten: :smitten: :smitten: girls send :-* :-* :-*
 
I had a rabbit one who had recurrent abcesses from tooth problems. We constantly cleaned and cleaned them but they just came back time and time again. I think you just need patience to clean them regularly. The good thing is that truffles is eating whereas my rabbit wouldn't. Good luck and hope truffles is fighting fit again soon
 
I was just about to ask the same question.
I have an old girl (6 1/2) with a small but sensitive area on her jaw. Our vet is not sure what it is but we suspect it could be an abscess. She's been a bit off and on eating wise for a couple of weeks and I have been syringe feeding as she did get very weak - she can and does eat but not enough. Put her on Baytril for 10 days when she first had a problem and vet suggests I put her back on it again to see if it helps the suspected abscess - I have asked for some Septrin just in case she also has a UTI problem.
Have had her on children's nurofen in case she was in any pain, just worried that it might have depressed her appetite because she does seem to be eating better for herself first thing in the morning just before the next dose is due. Don't know if anyone has any thought on this?
She looks well and is happy enough, just not keeping weight on.
 
Nurafen in any form should not be given to gps,in fact it should not be given to any animal.It causes severe reactions in horses and it can kill dogs.The safest pain killer for gps is Metacam.
 
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