Cleaning Out a Sebaceous Cyst

[LilyandLunaPiggies]

Hi all,

My 6 year old guinea pig Luna has had a lump under her chin for around 2 years. It was completely stable and never grew however over a week it double in size and became scabby on the top. I took her to the vet who prescribed antibiotics and anti-inflammatories and told me to keep it clean with a saline solution over the weekend.

Last Sunday, I guess having been softened through the warm saline washes, the scabs lifted off and a HUGE amount of thick puss came out. It was a solid plug however left some behind as the puss deeper inside her was more like a toothpaste consistency (sorry for the image). I took her to the vets on the Monday who flushed it out and cleaned the rest of the puss and was pleased it has ruptured on it’s own. The vet has suggested surgery prior to the rupture, however I am really against this due Luna’s age and that she has been a ‘sickly’ guinea pig throughout her life.

The rupture left a hole the size of a 5p which I have been flushing out with diluted hibiscrub once a day. Luna went to the vets twice last week, again today, and will be going back on Thurs. She has been having it thoroughly cleaned by the vets and the hole reopened as it looked to be healing over too quickly.

On today’s vet visit, we weighed her and she had lost 50g since Thursday (1.2kg to 1.15kg), the vet was not concerned and told me to just up her feed which I am happy to do. Her appetite has been completely normal throughout this whole process.

I have also attached a picture below of the hole yesterday - I have not taken a picture today as she did bleed quite a bit so I am leaving her to be quiet for the rest of the day. She did have a lot of puss removed today by the vet.

My question is (as I know this forum has a wealth of experience with all aspects of piggie care), do you think I should be doing anything more? Does the wound look typical of what you have all seen of a ruptured sebaceous cyst? Additionally, what would you recommend to ensure she does not lose any more weight, or do you think at this point I should be supplementing her through syringe feeding?

 

[Piggies&buns]

I’ll leave the dealing with the cyst to somebody who has done it but in terms of her feeding, ensure you weigh daily and do step in with support feeding if she loses more weight. 50g is right on the limit of what would be considered normal. Any more than 50g and you need to step in

 

[Merab]

Cleaning out an abscess can be a long job.
I had to do this with Jemimah who had a persistent abscess on her back.
The vet would clean it, I flushed and cleaned until it cleared up.
I can only speak from personal experience but diluted Hibiscrub did work.
I flushed out the hole twice a day.

I agree with @Piggies&buns about the weight loss and syringe feeding.
You might also try some grated carrot or sweet potato mixed with dry oats.
My lot love Oxbow Critical Care, aniseed flavour, which I sometimes mix with a bit of mashed banana.

Hope Luna’s cyst heals quickly

 

[eileen]

I have a piggie with a similar size cyst,I use warm compresses to squeeze contents.irriagate with F10 antiseptic solution.loxicom given for anti -inflammatory. I'm cleaning daily,remove the scabs gently then irrigate.ive permission from my vet to do this proceedure.