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Cookie Misdiagnosed infection.

AidaB said:
I have been thinking of Cookie, how is he?

Did you manage to talk to the vet about pain relief?
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That's so thoughtful of you the vet doesn't seem to think he needs any! But how do you know when they are so good at hiding pain? 🤔
Thank you for thinking of him 💙
 
In my personal experience (which I have far too much of), abscesses only cause pain when they are pushing on something and/or swelling. If the pressure is relieved, so is the pain. I don't know if this is the same or not with guinea pigs. Relieving the pressure involves lancing/draining the abscess. Antibiotics are a definite must in treating an abscess. I wouldn't say that diagnosing "infection" is wrong for an abscess; I would think of an abscess as a type of infection. It's a collection of pus and gunk, so basically, it's a walled off pocket of infection. I don't understand the choice to remove antibiotics. Even if they are running an analysis to see what the microbes would be sensitive to, I would have thought they'd leave the piggy on something in hopes that it might be at least somewhat effective, unless it was causing some sort of reaction or side effects.
Have they gotten the microbiology culture report back, yet? I know it can take a few days to a week to find out what grows ... Here's to hoping that they'll be able to get him back on antibiotics and healing soon!
 
I've had one on my back, which was lanced and left in a state to drain; it got a bit complicated from there, but once it was lanced, it relieved the pain. The other abscess I had was more internal, so draining it was a bit more involved, but again once it was drained, it no longer caused me discomfort. In both cases, I was on some serious antibiotics to treat the infection, and they started them pretty much instantly.
 
Princess Dustmop said:
In my personal experience (which I have far too much of), abscesses only cause pain when they are pushing on something and/or swelling. If the pressure is relieved, so is the pain. I don't know if this is the same or not with guinea pigs. Relieving the pressure involves lancing/draining the abscess. Antibiotics are a definite must in treating an abscess. I wouldn't say that diagnosing "infection" is wrong for an abscess; I would think of an abscess as a type of infection. It's a collection of pus and gunk, so basically, it's a walled off pocket of infection. I don't understand the choice to remove antibiotics. Even if they are running an analysis to see what the microbes would be sensitive to, I would have thought they'd leave the piggy on something in hopes that it might be at least somewhat effective, unless it was causing some sort of reaction or side effects.
Have they gotten the microbiology culture report back, yet? I know it can take a few days to a week to find out what grows ... Here's to hoping that they'll be able to get him back on antibiotics and healing soon!
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Thank you for that no report back yet no, I still have some of the other antibiotics do you think I should carry on with them to keep some of the infection at bay until the results are back. I feel more reassured now about the pain aspect so thank you again 💙
 
Princess Dustmop said:
I've had one on my back, which was lanced and left in a state to drain; it got a bit complicated from there, but once it was lanced, it relieved the pain. The other abscess I had was more internal, so draining it was a bit more involved, but again once it was drained, it no longer caused me discomfort. In both cases, I was on some serious antibiotics to treat the infection, and they started them pretty much instantly.
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You don't think I should apply any pressure do you to help it drain? 🤔
 
Generally warm compresses are applied lightly with the goal of drawing up goo that is residing deeper under the skin. Is there an outlet for goo to drain? The abscess that I had on my back was lanced and left open (with a wick to help guide deeper goo out). If the goo is close to the surface already, pressure may not help or may push it deeper; also, it's hard to judge pressure on an animal who cannot tell you how it feels, so I wouldn't do that unless the vet gives you instructions on how.
I cannot advise you to give antibiotics against vet's instructions. If they told you to discontinue the antibiotics, I would ask them why. Find out if they're concerned about resistance, appetite, side affects, etc.

Hopefully you'll have the culture results back in the next couple days.
 
To clarify, before my abscess was lanced, it was an extremely tender lump (hence why I went to get it looked at ... I let it be for far too long before that thinking it was a muscle knot, but that's a different issue). Once it was lanced, they did recommend trying to maneuver any fluid towards the opening, and that felt a bit odd but not painful, just odd because there was goo moving where it didn't belong.
The pressure that I was referring to as being painful was the swelling from the abscess, which is a pocket of goo that doesn't belong and gets swollen from inflammatory response to the infection.
Boils, which are a type of skin abscess, will frequently be treated with a compress to encourage draining and healing ...
 
I hope you get the results back soon & the vets know which medicine will help Cookie the most. Sending you a virtual hug :hug:
 
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