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Tallulah has an abscess :(

Waiting until 6pm is hard, but I made a list of questions for vet so we dont forget anything:
1) what time was the surgery done and what time did she wake up?
2) were there any complications from the surgery or anaesthetic, especially did the abscess come out intact without bursting?
3) has she eaten since waking up, what, how much, when, should we syringe feed straight away?
4) wound care- do we need to flush or bathe with saline or hibiscrub or anything else or leave the wound alone?
5) medication- presumably pain relief and antibiotics. What dose and how often? Do we start tonight or tomorrow? If they say baytril, is that the best choice seeing as she developed an abscess after a week of baytril?
6) follow up appointments- get on one within 48 hours, if its not mentioned ask and make one anyway
Hope that covers it, almost time to set off now...
 
Little bat hippo is home! Alive but a bit zonked. Seems it took a hell of a lot to put her to sleep (about twice usual piggy dose of Ketamidor and Sedator drugs) then a hell of a lot to wake her up (enough Atipam to startle a horse). Is this a skinny pig metabolism thing? Surgery took over an hour, then took 2 hours to wake her up. Abscess removed completely intact but took a while to seperate it from near her spine without risking injury. No antibiotics, as the abscess came out intact and all the surrounding area is flushed and sewn shut very neatly. She's had Vetergesic injections today and starts loxicom tomorrow. She ate 7mls of recovery food at 5pm for the vet nurse but wont take any from us yet, going to let her settle a bit in a clean soft tea towel I warmed on the radiator in her favorite little wooden bat-hippo house, with food right by the door, then try another syringe feed and check if she's eaten any proper food about 9pm.
Here she is, with a very neat clean surgery wound! Its that little longways crease on the left side of her neck, almost invisible.20190311_190701.webp
 
Aah brilliant :) glad all went well, wow what a lot of drugs for such a tiny baby! Scar looks brilliant, great they got it all out in one :)
Hope you all have a nice relaxing evening of recovery now xx
 
It's so good to get them back home again! Glad all went ok for her and just hoping she recovers from it quickly.
 
So glad she’s home and all went well.
Jemimah was on Loxicom and Vetegesic too. That combination really worked well.
I also put a small ramekin dish with critical care in by her bed to encourage her to eat for herself as well as the syringe feeding.
Wishing Tallulah a speedy recovery
 
Less worried now, a small handful of timothy hay and half a dish of pellets have disappeared from outside the bat-hippo cave already!
No veg yet but she had loads of veg yesterday and this morning (baby kale, spinach and beetroot salad for lunch yesterday, red pepper and coriander for dinner, cucumber and carrot for breakfast today with porridge oats, coriander at the vets just before surgery, lots of extra hay and pellets with every meal) so maybe I'll grate her a bit of sweet potato tonight and add more hay and pellets and leave her in peace...
Inquisitive Lady Piggle who is a little towards trending on the Asperger's spectrum is chilling on the cuddle couch just by Tallulah's cage nosying in like she's watching TV, like "did you see this? Its like casualty and the franken-hippo film and reality TV live on stage! Can I get some snacks with that?"
So far so good!
 
Aw, so glad she home now. Poor little mite, she been through the mill! Wishing her a very speedy recovery now x
 
I remember how happy and relieved I felt when Jemimah pooped all over me about 4 days after her op.
It is worrying when our darlings are not well
 
Glad to hear Tallulah is home and on the road to recovery. Sending healing vibes from me and the gang. xx
 
Still not seen poops but we cleaned all the poops out of her cage before she came home so any new ones overnight will be celebrated! We're back at the vets wednesday lunchtime but the vet wasnt worried (at least wasnt worried once they got her to go to sleep for the op and wake up again, seems that was unexpectefly tricky!) so hopefully ok. But the vet is open from 8.30am and just round the corner if we've any problems :)
 
Decided not to syringe feed tonight, this was her fresh food and hay I put in at 9pm:
20190311_210826.webp
This is her food and hay now at 9.50pm:
20190311_214827.webp
So some sweet potato, pellets and hay have disappeared... after some pellets, hay and pepper went from the food I put in at 7pm and just replaced!
I moved her water bottle over too so its just behind the hay. We'll check on her in the morning and maybe syringe feed then and/or offer water in a syringe if she's eating hay and pellets in bed but doesnt want to come out. Think I'd rather she stayed snuggly warm and relaxed tonight rather than forcing syringe feeds she doesnt need!
 
Hope Tallulah and you had a good night and she’s beginning to eat and poop with enthusiasm for you
 
You must be so relieved to have your little baby back home.
Glad all went well, wishing a speedy recovery and sending big hugs.
Well done Tallulah.xx
 
This must be such a worry. Really hoping she had a good night and carried on eating by herself, she’s such a cutie :wub:
 
Tallulah update: she ate most of her dinner overnight and had been in the hay tray, we got up super early to try a breakfast syringe feed, she had 2mls of recovery food and 2mls of water plus her loxicom at 6.30am. She ate some of her proper breakfast sometime during the morning (a slice of carrot and cucumber and a few pellets and a bit of hay). Since then she's been very sleepy, piggy daddy tried a syringe feed at 1.30pm but she wasnt having it (cross about being woken up, pushing the syringe away with her paws) and we woke her to check her wound and weigh her and check for poops when I got home at 4pm.
Weight is fine (571g, she was 580g at the same time on sunday, vet weighed her as 590g just after breakfast yesterday before surgery) and poops are fine (a couple are small but most are fine, and she's pooped in her wooden house, in her hay tray, and in her fleecy tunnel, and soaked a tea towel with pee) and wound looks fine, but she's still very sleepy, but usually she sleeps through the day then livens up at dinner time and late evening, so we'll check again then.
Vets tomorrow at lunchtime anyway, here's little sleepy bat hippo with a neat surgery wound and some very impressive ears!
20190312_164102.webp
20190312_164116.webp
 
PigglePuggle said:
Little bat hippo is home! Alive but a bit zonked. Seems it took a hell of a lot to put her to sleep (about twice usual piggy dose of Ketamidor and Sedator drugs) then a hell of a lot to wake her up (enough Atipam to startle a horse). Is this a skinny pig metabolism thing? Surgery took over an hour, then took 2 hours to wake her up. Abscess removed completely intact but took a while to seperate it from near her spine without risking injury. No antibiotics, as the abscess came out intact and all the surrounding area is flushed and sewn shut very neatly. She's had Vetergesic injections today and starts loxicom tomorrow. She ate 7mls of recovery food at 5pm for the vet nurse but wont take any from us yet, going to let her settle a bit in a clean soft tea towel I warmed on the radiator in her favorite little wooden bat-hippo house, with food right by the door, then try another syringe feed and check if she's eaten any proper food about 9pm.
Here she is, with a very neat clean surgery wound! Its that little longways crease on the left side of her neck, almost invisible.View attachment 108635
Click to expand...

Glad that all has gone well and that the abscess has come out before it could have caused problems with the spine!

All the best for a good recovery! The higher metabolic rate in skinnies can be a problem.
 
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