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Cleaning smelly wound? Urgent

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LydiaMinx

LydiaMinx

Teenage Guinea Pig
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I posted on Sunday how Boris and Badger had fought and I later discovered a cut on Badgers side that I hadn't noticed before. I washed it with warm salty water the first night but left it since then as it had already scabbed fine.

I've picked Badger up today and his cut smelt nasty, I've washed with salt water again - is there anything else I can use to stop it smelling/kill the infection?
 
please get him to the vet. if it smells bad it could indicate an infection getting bad. if it is infected he will need antibiotics. is there a bump/abscess looking spot on it? he might even need it lanced and drained; again the vet *** makea decision. i wouldn't wait any longer than you have to at this point.
 
Definitely needs to be seen by a vet. Once a wound starts to smell (both human/animals) it is a sure sign that an infection has set it, and he will require antibiotics- if pigs mouths are anything like humans they will be full of germs which is why bites often get infected.
Please get him seen ASAP.
 
I will specify now before I get responses saying you should have taken him to the vet before - there was no need to after the initial fight, had I known that it would start to turn I obviously would have, but there was no sign that it was anything more then a small cut on both. I need an overnight cleaning solution as I cannot afford out of hours vets unfortunately :( But I am taking him in the morning, no need to panic :)

It is lumpy in the middle of the scab but it is so hard to reach as Badger is a fidget, I've soaked the area with saline again but I can't even look at it very well, his skin and fur is black which makes it very difficult to gauge what's going on 8...
 
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I hope my post didn't come across harsh, it wasn't meant to be. Sorry I can't advise anything that I know is suitable in the meantime, for the time being a salt water rinse as you're doing may just stop anything else sticking to it. How is he in himself?
 
Nobody is judging you honey. I'm sure we have all had experience of a wound that you thought was ok and then you realised it was actually turning nasty. I know I have following surgery I had last year - that was evil - couldn't get away from the smell because I was attached to it!

I cant really advise on the wound care for piggies as I have not had that experience - hopefully someone else with more experience will come along soon.

Is Badger otherwise well? Eating, drinking, pooping etc?
 
No it wasn't harsh at all! I did just forget to specify that I will be taking him in the morning as I was so panicked when I wrote the reply that I think I came across as harsh, but I wasn't intending to be mean to anyone, I really am grateful for anyone's opinion on it :)

He's acting like himself, however when I was cleaning it just now he was acting like it was itchy, apart from that he's how he normally is, a fidget and a nuisance!

AbiS, thank you, I am just panicking so much right now, I feel like a terrible owner! He's still eating, drinking and pooing fine as far as I can see

Thanks for the reassurance so far, my parents are really not interested in anything to do with the pigs so my only outlet is here, which is why I sound so snappy and panicky! (sorry!)
 
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Poor piggie! It might be itchy because salt dries the skin, as well as cleaning the wound. May I ask what kind of solution you used? When cleaning my fresh piercings (I know, rather different xD) I use one teaspoon of no-iodine salt to one mug of boiled water and apply with a pad.
I'm not sure if this is good advice, but my 2 cents, you could try to put some vetramil (honey based antibacterial creme for pets) on the wound to stop the itching and help prevent spreading, just for the night. Hope he gets better soon!
 
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If you have cleaned the wound tonight there's one other thing you could do which could help until you take him to the vets. If you've got some honey in the house apply some to the wound. Manuka is best but any type will do. Before penicillin was discovered this was used on wounds. Up to the 1st world war they were still using it on wounded soldiers. I have used it on Minky with great success so if you have some please give it a try. You can also ask your vet about it's use.

Just noticed after I'd typed this in that previous poster mentioned something similar.
 
It could be an abscess forming from infection to the bite wound- they stink! It's worth a vet check, they often need to be lanced and drained and antibiotics given before they heal.
 
Well we're back from the vets and it was an abscess! Been given Hibiscrub to flush the wound out for twice a day for a week, and Baytril twice a day too.

I feel like I might have caused some offense with my post last night, it was not intended at all, I was just so flustered that I didn't think about how I was wording things. If I offended anyone I am so sorry! I love this community so much and appreciate all the help I've received on here since I joined :)

Bonus picture of the wound! Bigger then I thought and more gruesome, also kind of kills any hope I had of them being friends again!
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Thanks again for the help and sorry if I seemed snappy mallethead
 
Did the vet give you any probiotics as I have read on the forum that baytril can be harsh on the gut and you need to give them probiotics to counter the effect. You can buy it at petsathome or the vets
 
Yes the cage that Badger is in is on top of my desk, which is level with the loft of the C&C :) They were chattering when I first separated them on Sunday but now Boris is going into the loft to have a peek rolleyes
 
Ahhhh, fingers crossed for a speedy recovery. And you didn't sound harsh - just sounded like a worried mummy x
 
Thank you :) Does anyone have any tips with keeping abscesses open? I'm flushing it with the hibiscrub but the bottom part seems to have healed a bit already!
 
Debbie (Furryfriends) is queen of abscess de-gunking (that sounds a bit strange but she would probably know what I meant) but she helped me when Gregory had abscesses.

With her guidance, I used cooled previously boiled water and cotton wool pads and then softened the area around the wound. Then stroke towards the wound opening. I sometimes found that a cotton bud was good if the opening was very small. You have to be quite determined and keep going. Once the wound has softened and re- opened a bit, you can flush out better. Good luck with it all.
 
I had the same thing with Minky earlier in the year. I wasn't told to flush it but was told to keep it open. I also used honey in the hole to prevent infection. You need a cotton bud smeared in honey (I used Manuka). Gently insert into the hole while twisting then remove. If you don't want to use honey then try water that has boiled then left to go lukewarm. If you're flushing with Hibiscrub I would flush first then apply the honey. With the honey method you should only use this with piggies that are solo otherwise the other piggies may lick it. The best type of syringe for flushing is one with a curved end.
 
My 'keeping it open' advice is to sit down with the piggy and soften any scab with saline or hydrogen peroxide (I find hydrogen peroxide foams up and gets through the scab faster, but I worry about the pig drinking it so usually use saline.) Once the scab is softened up, you can lift it off and have the wound open again. Then you can squeeze it out and flush it once or so a day. One of my pigs, Sundae, has a nasty abscess on her cheek, so I've had lots of practice with this over the past month or so (it is slowly but surely improving- got almost no pus out today at all!) HTH a bit!
 
This isn't an abscess story but after Eliza caught an infection after she had her eye removed, I had to leave her eye socket open and flush daily.

My vet gave me hibiscrub that I diluted with water and this was used to remove any scabs that formed over the eye socket. Removing the scab reopens the wound. My vet also gave me a bag of saline which I used in a syringe and flushed the wound out with that. All in all it took 8 weeks for the pus to go and her wound to start to close x
 
He's doing great at the moment :) He isn't bothered by it at all, there's been no puss whatsoever :)) I did end up softening the scab by soaking it for a while, thanks for the advice on that guys :)
 
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