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When should I expect to see improvement?

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piglet_and_rogers_mama

piglet_and_rogers_mama

Adult Guinea Pig
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George's foot does not look any better. He had one dose of baytril wednesday night, two doses yesterday, and i just gave him another about a half hour ago. The toe is still really swollen. When should I start to see improvement in the wound? He is fine otherwise; I did manage to get my hands on some probiotic for him. Eating fine, walking fine, pooping fine etc. Maybe I'm just being overly worried, I don't know. Dad said it should at least take 3 days for it to start improving. What do you think?
 
Can the wound be washed with hibiscrub? I would dilute it a lot. If my piggies had a wound I would use this. I use it on my piggies mouth and on fungus problems and when I cleaned post op wounds that were healing.
 
what is hibiscrub? I have been washing it with Chlorhexidine, which i got from the vet when piglet got attacked. we told the new vet this and she said to keep it up.
 
so now his nail is i think in the process of falling off! at the base of the nail on the top it is visibly loose. and it's still very swollen, half way through a course of baytril. how do i know if there is pus under his skin? i was looking on guinealynx and it said that guinea pig pus is a lot thicker than other animals. i called the vets this afternoon and they said if i don't see improvement by tuesday i should bring him back in, and he might need an extra week on the baytril. i just feel so bad for him. he seems fine in himself, and he's not limping, and i even saw him scratch himself with the bad nail. if it does fall off, will it grow back normal, or will it grow back all weird and cause more problems? argh i wish it was my nail and not his :(
 
OK so he's supposed to run out of antibiotics tomorrow night, and it's like I haven't given him any based on the appearance :( He is fine in himself otherwise, but the pictures look terrible. The vet is supposed to call me later after she's out of surgery to discuss what we should do. any advice? does it look abcessed? sorry the pics aren't perfect, i'm just running out of ideas at this point.




 
Surgery tomorrow

My poor George is having surgery tomorrow to deal with an abcess in his toe. They are going to sedate him, flush out the abcess, pull out his nail, and HOPEFULLY this will finally start to heal. He has been on baytril for a week with no improvment, so this is the next step. Cross your fingers for us. I'm really worried; never had to deal with this kind of thing before.

Here's a picture of his ickle foot:



And some pig lips for good measure:

 
Keeping all fingers and paws crossed for your little boy tomorrow. Thanks for those gorgeous piggie lips x)

Please let us know how he gets on
 
For info:

I have replied to P & R by PM.

From the pics, there is cause for concern but I don;t think it is appropriate to discuss this on a public forum in case other people misinterpret or get the wrong idea. Suffice to say to anyone reading this thread, if your piggy's toe looks like this then you need to seek further vet attention.
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Mods - can you please merge this with the other thread please so it is all kept in one place please? Many thanks
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You;re not breaking any rules...just didn;t think putting a lot of quite detailed info up publicly that people with less experience could misinterpret and subsequently mistakenly pass to others in the wrong circumstances was a good idea!
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S'OK no problem- just difficult for the H & I bods to keep track and comment appropriately if there are multiple threads to track down
Good luck with the surgery
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He had his surgery this morning, and the vet said everything went really well! the infection wasn't as bad as they were expecting. They extracted his toenail, not sure if it'll grow back, but at least he gets to keep his toe! Thanks to everyone for their advice and well wishes!
 
This is my first experience with nursing a guinea pig after a surgery. Is it normal for them to be lethargic and uninterested in food afterwards? He took some apples and carrots from me earlier, but after I gave him his antibiotics (he's on Bactrim; the vet wanted to try this since the Baytril wasn't working before the surgery to reduce the infection) he didn't want to have anything to do with his food. I have been syringe feeding him with critical care since (granted it's only been a few hours), but i guess i was just wondering if this is something normal to expect, and if so how long do you think he'll be out of it. They didn't send me home with any pain killers, but they did give him an injection of something after his surgery for pain; so i'm not sure how he's feeling in that regard. This is all new to me; any tips or experiences would be very welcome.
 
I'm glad he's doing well! I did find that after anesthesia it took a day or so to get back to normal eating habits. I think that them giving him a shot of something makes a difference too. When Sundae had her abscess lanced and drained a couple of weeks ago, the vet gave her a shot of a narcotic following surgery because he really had to dig into the jaw muscle and thought it might be painful for her post-op. They actually ended up keeping her most of the day because she was awake but apparently pretty much stoned, and even when I brought her home in the evening she was awake but seemed pretty drugged. She was a lot more active the next morning, I think the shot wore off by then. If he's still not eating well after 24 hours, I would definitely call back. At least with you giving him the Critical Care you know his gut will keep working and he's not going to get deconditioned due to not eating well. I hope he is more chipper in the morning!
 
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