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Abscess on a wriggly piggy!

Mishka

Mishka

Junior Guinea Pig
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Innellan, Argyll, UK
Good morning all, a sleepless night has got me looking for some advice.

I've got a wee piggy about three months old who has an abscess under her chin and it has ruptured tonight. I have antibiotics and F10 with saline and a teensy cannula to flush, I unfortunately have done this more times than I care to think of so have had lots of practice in the flushing etc itself, the problem is that she is SO WRIGGLY I cannot get in there to drain it properly with a good squeeze.

I have tried to burrito roll, I have tried hubby holding while I work, I've tried just about everything I can think of but she freaks the moment I touch it and is a slippery little Houdini who after an hour and a half of trying tonight bested me. So I cleaned up the best I could what I had expressed and I sprayed it with antiseptic wound spray etc, but I know of course the rest has to come out pretty immediately. I would normally take her to the emergency vet but this is the second emergency in a week and I've officially run out of money so if I can wait I will take her first thing Monday am on the normal appt price. I would never normally wait but I don't even know how I'm going to afford food for the next few weeks, I've been at the vets at least once a week for the last two months and had five emergency visits in that period.

So anyway, to get to the point, is there any advice anyone can give me on safe restraint techniques I haven't already tried or do I need to sell a kidney and get to the emergency vet today to have them express it?

Ps she was booked for surgery for removal the coming week but clearly she decided to take matters into her own hands!
 
Morning. I have gone through the same thing with Pepper. Here is his thread. There’s lots of great advice from everyone on it.

Dental? Pepper is off to the vets tomorrow

Page 10 shows you how I was able to hold him. But I agree with you. Sometimes it’s just impossible. It’s great your husband is helping you.

I also found that putting him on the sofa with his bottom in a corner so he couldn’t reverse and gently pushing his body against the back of the sofa worked sometimes too. Is he on pain meds? If not I’d definitely get him some while you have to poke around the area as I’m sure it’s sore.

One more thing Zithromax is a great antibiotic for abscesses. Good luck I hope it heals quickly.
 
weepweeps said:
Morning. I have gone through the same thing with Pepper. Here is his thread. There’s lots of great advice from everyone on it.

Dental? Pepper is off to the vets tomorrow

Page 10 shows you how I was able to hold him. But I agree with you. Sometimes it’s just impossible. It’s great your husband is helping you.

I also found that putting him on the sofa with his bottom in a corner so he couldn’t reverse and gently pushing his body against the back of the sofa worked sometimes too. Is he on pain meds? If not I’d definitely get him some while you have to poke around the area as I’m sure it’s sore.

One more thing Zithromax is a great antibiotic for abscesses. Good luck I hope it heals quickly.
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Thank you so much, I read your thread and my goodness you have been through the wringer! Poor old you and Pepper ❤️

We managed to express a bit more this morning and are closing in on a better technique for restraining her, hubby holds her sideways against his body and then I can get under her chin for longer. It's not gotten any bigger overnight and isn't red or hot so at the moment I am chancing leaving her until tomorrow to be seen. We've got her on metacam for the pain, she's on septrin at the moment because she's so little, but we'll see how it goes, I know it may well not have enough kick, I'm just hoping once it's had the initial proper empty we can clear it with flushing etc and it will do the trick. Worst thing is I have another piggy I'm treating for an abscess at the moment as well so my house has just turned into a demented surgical suite it feels like. Other piggy is healing extremely well at least so that gives me hope.

Good thing is Scribbles, the subject of this thread, seems to be fine in herself. Playful, doing popcorns and zoomies, wheeking and eating like a horse. There's also no smell to her pus at all, so hoping it's a sterile abscess. It is definitely an abscess, not a cyst, but it seems like the bacterial load at least is low.
 
Yes it did seem an uphill battle with Pepper but we got there in the end. It took 10 months for him to put the weight back on too.

I’m pleasedScribbles is ok in herself. As you read in Peppers thread he stopped eating completely for 6 weeks too 🤦🏻‍♀️

I’m so sorry you have another piggy with an abscess. That’s bad luck. Such a stressful time for you. I hope they both recover quickly 🤞🏻
 
Let us know how you get on with the vet. Abscesses are stubborn things. I've had to flush an abscess before on a reluctant piggies luckily it was on her side so I could pin her next to the side of the sink. She still bears to abscess scar and I don't think it'll ever go but it is covered with fur now so at her weekly check I can only feel it. I check it too to make sure it's still OK and hasn't gone all nasty.
 
Thanks all, she's in at 2.30 this afternoon so fingers crossed we'll be flushing like pros this evening. She participated quite happily in a huge popcorn party/zoomie session this morning so she's still bright enough luckily!
 
Just have to share because I am so excited; we have found our position! Burritos back end, length of body cupped in hubby's thankfully very large hands, backside pressed against his belly and then I can manoeuvre her chin up with one hand while pressing her front paws down with the other 🤣 back ache for us both but the system works lol
 
All back from the vets! Emptied out with far more success than we have managed, keeping her on sulfatrim for now due to her age and plenty of flushing, hoping that will do the trick as long as we are mega diligent with keeping it clean and open. She scared the bejeezus out of hubby because she was grinding her teeth after the squeeze, but she had an inflacam injection and it's stopped, she's eating and trundling about happily. Trying to reassure him it would smart if someone squeezed a spot the size of a marble on his chin too! Hopefully she'll be feeling a lot better now the pressure is gone and we can start the healing process/aftercare.
 
Welp, Scribbles is back at the vets today at 12. Nothing major, just the wound opening is far too small to effectively flush it so she's going to have to go in and get a little nick to give better access. I'm going to be so popular with her 😓 Hoping a little poke with a scalpel will at least give me what I need and that'll be that
 
rhymer said:
Poor Scribbles. Fingers crossed it is as quick and painless as possible.x
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Thank you ❤️ I hope so, she's such a little wriggler and fighter I'm terrified of doing more harm than good, but I know it has to be opened more or it's just going to recur. I'm so tired, all the flushing between the two is taking about four hours a day, not to mention daily cage changes etc. I cannot wait for them to get better and just catch my breath.
 
What a beautiful little girl, so brave too :luv: It’s definitely best to get the wound opened again and easier to flush out the gunk or it will just come back, these abscesses can be a bit of a nightmare with recurring if not properly cleaned out etc. Hopefully she’ll be all healed in no time and you’ll get a bit of a rest too! Good luck at the vets :) x
 
All back, now able to get a 22 gauge catheter in comfortably and the vet gave her a good flush and confirmed she's emptying completely clear. She's a bit shaken up and a bit skitty but she's eaten some dried pepper treats and is currently getting lots of kisses from her bestie so hopefully she'll be feeling better in an hour or two.
 
Mishka said:
All back, now able to get a 22 gauge catheter in comfortably and the vet gave her a good flush and confirmed she's emptying completely clear. She's a bit shaken up and a bit skitty but she's eaten some dried pepper treats and is currently getting lots of kisses from her bestie so hopefully she'll be feeling better in an hour or two.
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Not surprised she's shaken up. What with all this fuss over her neck and the Nasty Vet Man prodding and poking her. She doesn't understand it's for her own good. Hopefully she'll calm down soon a bit of food and she's soon forgive you.
 
Glad you are back home now and the dead is done, she will forgive you once she is better you just need to keep that wound open fir it to heal from the inside out
 
Glad she is home and feeling a little better. Abscesses are such a pain to get to heal. Always feel so sorry for any animal who has one, because you can't explain what you are doing is for their benefit.
Sending hugs.xx
 
rhymer said:
Glad she is home and feeling a little better. Abscesses are such a pain to get to heal. Always feel so sorry for any animal who has one, because you can't explain what you are doing is for their benefit.
Sending hugs.xx
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Thank you ❤️ Aye, having had more than one myself I can't imagine what it's like dealing with such pain when you're such a teeny thing as a piggy. I hope once this is over they never get another!
 
Flushing went a lot better tonight, took a while to get the scab off but once I got into it she took it very well. Amazing what a bit of bribery will achieve lol. Her bestie's now been flushed for 10 days and is so small that I can't actually flush it anymore, it is just a little knot of scar tissue, so we're going to monitor how she gets on over the next few days but looks like we're one patient down at least. Thank goodness it's a long weekend!
 
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