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Recurrent jaw abscess

Threeguineas1

Threeguineas1

New Born Pup
Joined
Feb 25, 2025
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Hi there, our little girl Bibi (3.5yrs) has had a recurrent abscess for some time now.

It started off on the left side of her jaw, we had it drained 3 times and the wound was left open for us to flush 2x a day for about 10 days. She was on antibiotics at this time too. It seemed to go away after this. Then about a month later the abscess came back and was growing fast, it reached the size of a golf ball in about 3 days.

We had it surgically removed by our local small animal expert, she was then on baytril and metronidazole but the abscess came back within a week of surgery. It had moved from the left side of her jaw to covering the whole of her chin/jaw area.

We had it drained and flushed again after the surgery but now the abscess has a hard lump inside that can’t be drained. All of the four smelling fluid was drained but the hard lump about the size of a large grape remains.

Our surgeon advised us that the hard lump will have to be removed under sedation but again there is no guarantee it won’t come back. It has been about 3 weeks since the hard lump appeared and it’s now the size of a golf ball directly under her chin. She is still on metronidazole but it doesn’t seem to be helping.

She is still eating normally and appears happy but we can’t afford another surgery for her and also we don’t want to put her through another surgery if there’s no guarantee it will work. We have spent over 1k on her treatment at this time. After the first surgery she was very unwell, hardly moving or eating for days and lost a lot of weight. We were syringe feeding critical care and probiotics and finally she recovered.

I’m looking for some advice, my partner and I think this might be the end of the road for her. Another surgery is likely to be too hard on her but as she still seems happy we feel wrong putting her to sleep. We are thinking we might stay on the course of metronidazole and keep feeding her her favourite foods and when she starts showing signs of pain of unhappiness it might be her time.

Sorry if this is too long/not the right place to post this I just feel we are running out of ideas

Thank you
 

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Oh I am sorry that the abscess keeps coming back and for the dilemma you’re in 😞 Would your vet be willing to prescribe you Zithromax? That is the best antibiotic for abscesses and may well work

@furryfriends (TEAS) is our abscess expert and may be able to advise further x
 
I can’t add any advice but I do hold you in my heart. ♥️
You’re clearly a very loving and caring owner in a difficult situation.
Whatever decision you make for Bibi will be the right one as it’s made out of love
 
I’m so sorry to hear that Bibi is still unwell. I’ve had a piggy with a large tooth root abscess. It was drained and stitched open. He was then on 6 weeks of Zithromax antibiotic. It cleared it up but it did stop his appetite for the whole time he was on it. I totally understand how stressful it is to care for a sick piggy. Good luck. ❤️
 
Hi all, thanks for your well wishes and advice.

I can ask my vets tomorrow if they would prescribe Zithromax. We had a blood test done at the time of her surgery and to see which antibiotic the infection would respond to best and it said metronidazole so I don’t know if the Zithromax would also work? It’s so confusing to know what’s best
 
Threeguineas1 said:
Hi all, thanks for your well wishes and advice.

I can ask my vets tomorrow if they would prescribe Zithromax. We had a blood test done at the time of her surgery and to see which antibiotic the infection would respond to best and it said metronidazole so I don’t know if the Zithromax would also work? It’s so confusing to know what’s best
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I would definitely ask your vet to consider Zithromax, you have nothing to lose

Good luck x
 
Hi all,

We managed to get a prescription for Zithromax and she has been in it for 5 days now, so far there’s been no changes in the size of her lump, it hasn’t gotten any bigger but it also hasn’t shrunk as we hoped with this antibiotic. She’s still eating well and pooping as normal so it doesn’t seem to have affected her gut luckily. I think this antibiotic was probably the last option for her unfortunately.

Thanks for all the support x
 
Thank you - another update, her abscess has burst slightly tonight, I can smell it has burst and she appears to have a small bit of leakage from the abscess but it hasn’t exploded completely.

She’s going to have to be isolated from her sisters tonight which she hates and we only have 1-2 doses of antibiotic left..

I’m not sure what to do
 
I think it’s a good thing it’s burst. Hopefully it will keep draining. Try keeping the hole open as long as you can. I’d call your vets to get another course of antibiotics.

You don’t need to remove her from her pals. She will feel better staying with them. Good luck.
 
Thanks for the advice, we managed to get most of the puss out and the wound is still open and draining a little everyday.

We separate her from her sisters when the wound is draining as they would try to clean it. They can still see and smell each other through the c&c grid as they are right next to each other.

We got another prescription for Zithromax/azithromycin 200mg/5ml. The vet said to take 1.3ml twice a day but is this too much? Thank you
 
I had a 1.2kg piggy and he was prescribed 0.6ml of Zithromax TWICE a day for 6 weeks. But I can’t remember what strength it was. I’m not sure if there are different strengths of Zithromax sorry.
 
I think it’s a good thing that the abscess has burst as it’ll now be able to drain. Make sure you keep the hole open and remove any scabs that form. It isn’t nice but is necessary.

Please give the Zithromax time to work as it can take several weeks but it’s good it hasn’t affected her appetite

Sorry, I can’t help with the Zithromax dosage but you can double check with your vet if you’re still unsure x
 
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