Guinea pig with potential abscess?

[PippaXY123]

Hi looking for some advice on my guinea pig. She is 1.5 years old. Over the past 4-5 months she has started dribbling a lot, it goes all over her chin, she also drinks lots of water, WAY more than my other guinea pig. I think to flush something out? She hasn’t lost any weight though and doesn’t stop her eating and is otherwise normal. I had taken her to the vet in October and vet thought possibly malocclusion so she had a dental but when I went to collect her they told me her teeth weren’t actually that bad they still filed it back a little bit. But didn’t appear to be causing problems. It also didn’t stop the dribbling. Maybe helped a little bit but within a week she was dribbling again. last Week I noticed she had one or two scabs on her chin she would let me feel around but every so often let out a loud squeal. So took her back to vet yesterday who now says it is potentially an abscess brewing as her teeth look absolutely fine. I have been given anti inflammatory s to give her once a day to see if it helps.

However I am now curious about abscesses and wondered if anyone can give advice, any one have a guinea pig who has had one? How long did it take to develop? As I say this has been ongoing for 4-5 months so does it take that long for a abscess to appear? And if so how is it usually removed/ treated?
At the moment there is nothing visible (no obvious bumps) except from the scabs.
The vet says she would need an x ray to see if it is an abscess but means she has to go under anaesthetic again (always a risk!) so I’m not sure what to do next just wait and see or go for the x ray (even though there’s no obvious bump?)

 

[weepweeps]

Hello. My piggy Pepper had an abscess this year. He didn’t dribble at all. There was no lump for about a month. But once the lump came up it got big very quickly. His front teeth were slanted. That was the first sign and very quick weight loss. He also didn’t have scabs.

Here is Peppers thread if you’d like to read about abscesses.

Dental? Pepper is off to the vets tomorrow

Good luck I hope you can find out what the problem is.