• 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

woodstock has an abcess

Status
Not open for further replies.
starla

starla

Adult Guinea Pig
Joined
Nov 22, 2007
Messages
3,258
Reaction score
6
Points
525
under his chin! He is off to the vets as soon as I can make an appointment (hopefully today) but what should i be looking for as treatment from the vet, I know the abcess has to be flushed out, but what with?
and is there anything else the vet should be doing?
 
To be honest I've not had piggies with abscesses only a rabbit years ago. From what I remember I think they usually provide antibiotics after they have lanced it in case of infection? Sometimes they send off what they draw from the abscess to check to see if there are any underlying problems.
 
The vet should lance the abcess with a scalpel blade(not try and draw the puss with a needle) there is no need for sedation.
You will need to keep the hole open for a few days to allow the remaini8ng pus to drain.You will need to backflush 2 or 3 times a day.Use a 1ml syringe(your vet can give you these) and a warm solution of salt water.I sometimes use a dilute solution of Hibiscrub(available from a chemist).Just squirt the solution into the hole,and then squeeze firmly all round to try and get as much muck out as you can.Do not worry if the area looks swollen for a few days.
 
poor woodstock

no not my favourite UK piggy sick 8...8... oh woody sending you hugs and healing vibes and hope the big bad vet fixes you up really soon and you'll be smiling again in no time:)):)):))
does it look like a piggy bite? was wondering if one of the girls bit him?
on another subjest what is darling iris doing in your avatar? looks like she is standing on her hind paws with one front paw resting on something.
keep us posted on the handsome kissable woody x>>x>> good luck at the vets for when you go in. hoping this link helps you and poor woody http://www.cavyrescue.co.uk/guinea-pig-health-care-1.shtml
 
Last edited:
thanks very much mary, i unfortunately can't get to the vet tomorrow, and possibly not tues either but should be able to get there for weds

thanks mary and LJ! woodstock sends you lots of rumbles :))

in my avatar iris has got her front feet on my arm (i think! was taken a while ago) and is sticking her head in the air as she can smell something! (other pigs maybe!)

i don't think the abcess is a bite, but not sure. one of the girls could've nipped him a bit too hard when he was rumbling at them
 
been to the vets, abcess is much much smaller now, but has a small small hole and when I squeeze the area pus does come out - its a mix of watery yellow crap and some thick pus URGH:{

he's on baytril too!
 
Hey Starla, just read your post. How is Woodstock? My guinea Ricky had 5 abscesses removed already. You probably remember my 100's of posts while I was going through all this. 3 of them were under his chin. They were lanced and drained. The others were surgically removed because he was too young to have them lanced. That Baytril works wonders! How is Woodstock healing? I kept Ricky on the Baytil longer than the vet told me to because he kept getting the abscess one after another. Since that stong series of Baytil he hasn't gotten one in months! It stinks because they tend to come back. I hope all is well with Woodstock and he heals quickly! Keep us updated! Hugs and kisses to Woodstock!x>>x>>x>>
 
Hi annie, yes I do remember poor ricky having all those abcesses, now I know what you went through, they're such a worry aren't they!
I think i've completely cleaned woodstocks one out, so hope it doesn't come back and just heals up now, we'll have to see!
I'm very glad to hear ricky hasn't had one in months, lets hope it stays that way!
Woodstock rumbles at you x
 
Glad Woodstock is on the mend x>>x>>

One of my girls, Buffy had one under her chin, it lasted a few weeks then cleared up lovely and she is fine now (touch wood! mallethead (only icon with wood in! lol). Its just a messy and smelly job! urg!
 
Hi, just seen this. How's Woodstock now? I've had to deal with abscesses three times now. They do heal beautifully, but can take a long time!
 
Bumping this up! One of the other pigs now has an abcess! :(

I don't think its from fighting or anything, they seem content...maybe I'm nieve though!

anyway thats not the point, I am going to take her to the vet, either today or tomorrow depending on when they can fit me in/when I can fit it around work, I think they just lance the abcess, they don't need GA?

Lucinda do you have experiences with highertown and abcesses?
 
oh blurry heck (i can't swear it goes wonky on here lol) dam love i'm so so sorry........i hate abscess :(:(

It depends where the abscess is .... some need a GA only if they're really deep seated, if they're one of the ones just on the surface they can lance and then you flush it out...i used a baytril solution but i know Mary and the others say salt water etc...

I do also find that when a piggie has an abscess they have to be careful with hay etc... as it can irritate the wound.....so just beware (i learnt the hard way )
all our very very best, sending HUGE HEALING WHEEEEEEEEEEEKS xx>>>xx>>>xx>>>xx>>>xx>>>xx>>>
 
I'm sorry to hear that one of your other piggies has an abscess but glad that Woodstock is recovering well.
 
took Summer to the vet today, abcess was lanced. I've got to flush it daily with salt water plus she has some anti biotics. Poor wee thing her abcess is much worse than woodstocks :(
 
Awww bless her. Fingers crossed the anitibiotics help to clear things up xx
 
Poor Summer :( I think hibiscrub is better than salt water to be honest, perhaps try and get hold of some of that? Any decent chemist should do it.

I know Maryh uses high potency manuka honey to pack the "hole" with as well, I havent tried that though but I believe some hospitals are using it now in wounds to great effect!

Get well soon Summer x
 
Sorry I haven't been around Ellie. I don't know what Highertown are like becuse all my guys' abscesses were when I was in Bath. Roger only had to anaesthetise Scarby once for it, and that was because it was very vascular and Scarby lost a lot of blood. As for Highertown, they x ray without gas so maybe that is an indication.....let me know what happens.
 
Sorry to hear about Summer.

I am sure that the wound will heal well now it has been flushed and that you have anti-biotics also.

Washing daily with salt water - boiled water then cooled - will help and I think I am right in saying ... gently remove the scab by soaking to prevent the wound from healing over too quickly before the infection has gone, otherwise you run the risk of the abscess appearing again under the healed skin.

Hope all goes well. Keep us posted.
 
thanks for the comments everyone :) I will try and get hold of some hibiscrub , very good idea.

As for manuka honey, I'm assuming I can't just get it in the supermarket? P'haps I'll pm Maryh.

I also forgot to add that the vet thought the abcess was caused by her carrying pasturella?! she has never lived with a rabbit by the way, and apart from the abcess has never shown signs of ill health, but vet said sometimes random abcesses are a sign the guinea is carrying a virus?! and that Summer could possibly pass it on to other guineas? and that one option was to have her pts in order for her not to pass it on....I obv said no immediately! she is behaving absolutely normally.
does anyone else have any further info on this?
 
I have never heard of that Starla so I can't comment. I think MaryH said you can get manuka honey from health shops. I remember her saying it had to be a certain strength so it would probably be best to pm her to double check.
 
thanks both of you. Just flushed the abcess, is there supposed to be much blood?
the good thing is it is not causing her any pain or trouble, as soon as I'd finished she was back to eating again!
 
I've had a piggie, Basil that had an abcess. We took him to the vets and the vets took him into another room and cleaned it out, it must've hurt because we could hear him crying which made me abit upset. He was then bandaged up but then he got an infection in it and had to have it taken away and then he had a big scar down his side. He died a few weeks later, can't remember whether it was from the shock of the operation or just other reasons. :(:0
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Good health food shops should have it, you need to get `high potency manuka honey`.

I would not worry overly about the possibility of pasturella. The only way to find out for sure is to have her poop analysed but she would be presenting other symtoms along with an abcess not just an abcess which is fairly common in guineas. Pasturella, if found to be present, can be successfully treated but does pose a risk to other guineas in the group.

Sunny, one of my boars, had coccidiosis which was found whilst looking for something else, it is an intestinal parasite more commonly found in rabbits but it didnt present with any other symptoms (normally bad diahorrea) so I opted not to have him treated with antibiotics and he has been fine! The antibiotic of choice would have been septrin.
Here is a short article I found about pasturella
http://www.geocities.com/dream-horse/pasturella.html
 
thanks Fi, yes when woodstock had an abcess nothing was mentioned about pasturella, so it seemed odd that the vet mentioned it this time

yes vet said that if all guineas got infected with pasturella they might have to be pts! Not that I would ever do that.

Thank you for that article. I wonder if Woodstock is the pasturella carrier, if there is one in my guinea group! because he has had URI and an abcess. But both things can occur normally in a guineas life, surely!
 
Could be just a coincidence but you could have a fecal analysis done if you wanted to be sure...obviously it wouldnt be cost effective to have all the guineas checked but perhaps Summer or Woodstock? It cost just under £40 when I had Sunnys done but my vet is expensive, it could be worth asking! We were looking for a particular bacteria and to find the presence of systemic fungal as Vedra told me thats what Sunny had but that was negative and he had coccidiosis!

I have some interesting articles which Belinda from Galens Garden sent me a while back on a few different guinea things, coccidioss being one of them. I will happily email them to you if you want to PM me your email addy. I actually emailed them to my vet who found some of them useful ;)
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top