Specialist Inner ear abcess

[Coco&Luna]

Hi, I have a 3.5 year old girl who's been back and forward to the vets the last 4 days in a row. She's currently prescribed 0.8ml of cat Meloxicam 2x daily, 0.5ml septrin x2 daily. Do you think I could or should add an ear drop into this, either by vet, or something I can buy online that would have no contraindications with the current rx. Would this aggravate the ear further?
Even something antibacterial and natural to help clean the ear?
x

 

[Siikibam]

You shouldn’t put anything down a guinea pigs’ ears so that’s a no. Is the abscess healing? How is it looking and what has the vet said about it?

 

[Bill & Ted]

My Ted had an ear cyst earlier this year, it started to leak and the vet then drained it. He has had no problems since. I wouldn’t put anything inside the ear unless its been prescribed by the vet. Hope she gets better soon x

 

[Coco&Luna]

Hey guys,

I have a 4yo sow who has been back and forth to the vet for the last 2 years with a watery eye that she holds closed. It was treated several times with antibiotic eyedrops and lubricant. This helped for a few hours after the drops but came back ALWAYS.
A few weeks ago she was under a chair puffed up, not eating.
Vet diagnosed inner ear abscess because:
Ear twitching left ear
Left eye watering and holding closed
Facial paralysis on left side (face kind of looks pulled back on one side like she's had a botched face lift on the left side)
Mouth on left side open all the time.

Due to surgery to scrape the infection out not being an option as she just wouldn't survive. Given 0.8ml 2x daily cat & gp metacam and 0.5ml septrin x2 daily.

Since yesterday her nose has been making a whistling noise like its congested.

Has anyone seen this before or does it sound familiar to anything you've dealt with?

Were almost finished week 2 of the antibiotics and painkillers, she is eating and drinking and not as in pain but definetily no improvement on her face.

If it will help I can take pictures of her face to post tomorrow.

 

[Coco&Luna]

@Bill & Ted @Siikibam Thanks guys.
I've written a new post to give a better idea of what's going on.

Tbh, I'm lost with this.

 

[BossHogg]

It's better to keep it all in the same topic.

 

[Coco&Luna]

@BossHogg cheers mate. Boss, any ideas of anyone with experience with inner ear abscess or infection?

 

[BossHogg]

I haven't personally, but our health specialists may be able to help. @Wiebke

 

[Wiebke]

I haven't personally, but our health specialists may be able to help. @Wiebke

Sorry, no personal experience with that!

@furryfriends (TEAS) or @Abi_nurse may have come across it.

You will need a strong antibiotic to treat it, like zithromax (azithromycin), I would assume.

Please never pour anything down a piggy's ear on spec. It can very easily make things worse than better. Ear drops won't do anything about an inner ear abscess but they can painfully clog up the ear channel when applied.

 

[Coco&Luna]

@Wiebke hey, yeah I'm not gunna put anything in her ear.

My vet isn't willing to prescribe Zithromax for guineas just now because of licensing. Do you think a 4 week course of the septrin has a chance of working? Sorry I know you said you haven't any experience with it but just throwing it out there. I've never had to deal with any ear issues before. She doesn't have a head tilt though, which is odd.

 

[Wiebke]

@Wiebke hey, yeah I'm not gunna put anything in her ear.

My vet isn't willing to prescribe Zithromax for guineas just now because of licensing. Do you think a 4 week course of the septrin has a chance of working? Sorry I know you said you haven't any experience with it but just throwing it out there. I've never had to deal with any ear issues before. She doesn't have a head tilt though, which is odd.

You can see whether the septrin is going to do the trick, and then try again re. unlicensed drugs of that is isn't the case.
A head tilt depends on whether the abscess pushes on the balance organ or not. In your case, it obviously doesn't.

 

[Abi_nurse]

Hope the antibiotics can help. Unfortunately the best thing is surgery. What’s the reason your vet thinks she won’t survive surgery? These cases are likely to be very painful for piggies so please consider asking your vet for some stronger pin relief in conjunction with metacam. Also the metacam dose you are giving is very low so would also discuss this with the vet. She may not seem in pain but they don’t show signs so well. Drugs such as gabapentin or tramadol would be worthwhile long term, especially if you are not going to pursue the surgical route.

x