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Lump on piggys head cyst like

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We're not doing very well today! Thought we were on track (the abcess had burst and scabbed over) and woke up this morning to more goo and a sore head. I have cleaned with warm salt water as advised by the vet and she is already on pain relief and antibiotics.

She has a few holes now where goo has previously come out and I'm hoping that it will heal! It looks much cleaner.

We've taken her out of the main cage with the other 4. She is eating with no issues.
 

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So sorry for your little lady x

Please leave her with the others if they are not causing problems for her, she really needs their support. Has the vet shown you how to flush out the abscess?
 
It’s good that the wound is open. Try and keep it open for as long as possible. Clean it out 3 times a day. You can use a large syringe to flush out the wound. The force of squirting the water in is good. If it scabs over pick the scab off so the puss can be released. You don't want it trapped inside. Zithromax is a very good antibiotic for abscesses. Good luck.
 
The abscess will need to heal from the inside out and drain all the while ... the holes are the outlets for the ick to drain and are necessary. In a human, it would likely be packed to prevent it from closing prematurely, though that doesn't really work so well on animals that would pull out the packing/wick. Just keep flushing it to remove any purulent discharge; a normal saline flush will help it to stay clean and heal faster without damaging healthy, healing tissues. What antibiotic is best depends on what bacteria is colonizing the wound; a culture can be taken to determine what will be effective. Baytril, or enrofloxacin, is a fluoroquinolone, so it has a pretty broad spectrum of activity, but if the discharge doesn't improve, the vet may want to switch to a different antibiotic; likewise, if they took a culture, it may dictate which antibiotic would be most effective.

Hoping Rusty's head heals quickly and feels better!
 
Abscesses generally need to heal from the inside out and will keep filling and draining if the vet isn't able to remove the entire capsule (the little 'bag' that the pus was in.) On top of the head there likely isn't room to do a full removal and stitch the skin. It's important to keep it cleaned and flushed while it heals (you can use sterile saline in a medicine syringe a couple of time a day while it heals.) Your vet might also want to evaluate her progress and prescribe a stronger antibiotic, as Baytril may not be enough to deal with a nasty abscess. Hope it continues to heal and it feels better soon!
 
Head update....we're doing much better! Have bwwn cleaning with salty water and keeping the scabs off and it is healing up nicely. Photo with arrow is showing a piece of skin between two wounds where the abcess burst. Looks like it has goo in it but it doesn't. Seems to be keeping clean and goo free which is good!
 

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I can't believe we've had head saga for a while month! Heal please rusty haha 😄 and stop costing me money at the vets lol
 
So glad she’s doing well and the abscess is looking much better :) Hope she’s all healed in no time x
 
We thought the head saga was over....its not. She's been healing fairly well, her head is nice and flat now and her scab was almost gone and then in the past few days she's been getting a little weepy again and I've just cleaned her head a bit of ours came out ...kill me now 😞 😓.

It's not bad and doesn't warrant the vets again as we have antibiotics that we've been giving her bit this has been going on for over a month now!
 
Jfawbs said:
We thought the head saga was over....its not. She's been healing fairly well, her head is nice and flat now and her scab was almost gone and then in the past few days she's been getting a little weepy again and I've just cleaned her head a bit of ours came out ...kill me now 😞 😓.

It's not bad and doesn't warrant the vets again as we have antibiotics that we've been giving her bit this has been going on for over a month now!
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Ugh, I'm sorry, abscesses can take forever to actually clear and heal. ((HUGS.))
 
It took quite a while for Peppers abscess to heal. He was on Zithromax for about 3 weeks in total. It needed quite a long course. I hope it clears up soon. 🤞
 
Any suggestions appreciated. Just went to touch rustys head and goo just came out again 🙃 we had stopped cleaning as much because we thought she was on the mend. She's finished her antibiotics that she's been on for over a month.

There is quite a hard lumpy scab on her head at the moment so wonder if that's causing some of the goo.

It's not a big huge lump like before just small amounts of infection that keep coming out.

Should I be doing something else as this has been ongoing since the first week in October 😞
 
Hiya. When Pepper had his abscess Simon told me to keep picking off any scabs. As you’ve seen more goo I’d try and pick some of the scab off to let it out and keep cleaning it again. I’d also call the vets in case more antibiotics are needed. Was she on Zithromax?
 
Poor you and poor Rusty, I don’t have any experience either but I know they heal from the inside outwards so the scrabbling needs to be removed. It’s a long job but I’m sure you’ll get there
 
furryfriends (TEAS) said:
Which antibiotic was your piggy on? Just keep peeling the scab off and squeezing out any pus. They can take a long time to heal but you can get there. I had one that took 11 weeks of antibiotics and squeezing and flushing, but we won in the end xx
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This makes me feel a lot better haha 11 weeks! She's been on baytril. It's loads better just keeps getting a bit gooey then healing and so on.
 
Baytril isn’t the best antibiotic for dealing with abscesses. We’ve had the best results with Zithromax (azithromycin) or a combination of Metronidazole and Marbocyl.

Just keep pulling those scabs off! The flat cotton wool pads are ideal for cleaning abscesses.
 
Just a quick one. Rustys head abcess has been gone for several weeks now thank the lord but she has a very persistent scab on her head. How long do scabs take to heal its quite a hard lumpy scab. It's fallen off a couple of times but just seems to come back.
 
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