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We're Having The Worst Lucky With Guinea Pigs At The Moment.

TheLottiediarys

TheLottiediarys

Teenage Guinea Pig
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Hi guys,

It seems We're having the worst lucky with health at the moment.

I'll admit I've been feeling quite poorly these past two weeks so I haven't been as hands on with the piggies as normal, if I feel this bad I don't want to give it to the piggies!

But alas, last night while I was giving the new girls, Anya and Aurura some carrot I noticed Anya's jaw/cheek looked a little odd, but her face sort of triangles out at the bottom anyway because of her fur so I hadn't noticed before, but she looked like she had ruffled her fur on one side of her face, thinking back I realised I had noticed this on Monday but just thought she had ruffled it up somehow and hadn't thought much of it, she always looks a little unkempt,
But when I got hold of her and felt it, I was suprised to find its a large lump, it feels quite hard but she doesn't cry when I touch it so I'm not sure what it is,

I was going to get her to the vets today but they're not open today so it will be tomorrow after work,

It just got me thinking how much bad luck we have had just lately with our pets.

First Taini passed away then Baby got poorly with her foot, then we lost Georgia and now Anya seems poorly :/ :/

And the other pets arnt so great, our hamster died this year which was sad, but she was very old so i was prepared for it to happen, then thumper our rabbit got a bit poorly early this year and lost lots of weight, and the cats have some skin problems...
All these animals are making me so stressed with their health!

Anyway I just hope it's nothing serious for Anya, but it seemed quite hard? She's not even a year old yet so she's young to be getting sick :/ :/

Hoping for good vibes tomorrow..
 
Hope she's ok, she'll be sorted out in no time, meanwhile look after yourself! Things always seem brighter with rest and good nutrition plus you'll have a more positive outlook.
 
Things always seem to happen at the same time, don't they? I've been there too!

My guess with a solid-feeling mass along the jawline would be an abscess... I've had two pigs with dental abscesses in that area presenting the same way. Has she been eating and chewing normally? The other symptoms I always saw with abscesses were weight loss and chewing difficulties (pulling the lips back while eating, pawing at the mouth, etc.) If she is having difficulty eating and not maintaining weight, you may have to syringe her food in the meantime to support her (there is a guide to syringe-feeding in the stickies above.)
Generally, treatment for this kind of abscess involved making an incision to drain the abscess, a strong antibiotic, and some aftercare on your part to keep the wound open and drain any remaining pus while it heals form the inside out. The vet should also get a good look at her back teeth, because often with abscesses teeth with overgrow because of pain while chewing causing the piggie to favor the opposite side and the teeth then wearing unevenly.

Hope this helps a bit and hope it all gets sorted out quickly!
 
She eats fine and doesn't seem to paw at her mouth or have difficultly eating at all,
She doesnt seem to be losing weight either if anything she's putting on weight but that might be her age, she's coming up to her thickening out years :)

I hope it's nothing too serious :/
 
UPDATE!

We went to the vet today
It was an absess and it had burst, we think she might have scratched it,
The poor girl has some Painkillers and anti inflammatory liquid to help it clear up :)

I'm glad it's nothing to serious like a tumour or cancer or anything that needs surgery,
If it doesn't heal well she might need something but fingers crossed :)
 
Phew! Glad it wasn't anything too serious! You are having a bad run of luck aren't you? It never rains but it pours! Hope your piggy gets better soon! Sending healing vibes your way x
 
Ideally you would have some antibiotics too to clear the infection, zithromax tends to be the best for abscesses, Baytril is no good as it isn't strong enough to cut through it. Watch the site as it could fill up again (this happened with Isobel) and also keep an eye on her front teeth, if they start to slant it could indicate that the abscess has allowed the back teeth to start overgrowing (again this is quite common). Fingers crossed this is sorted quickly for you.

I should add not to worry about it being a result of not handling too often as abscesses have a tendency to go from nothing to huge lump. When Isobel got hers I had held her one night, the OH fed the pigs the next night as I was out and did think her face looked "odd" but couldn't put his finger on why, the following morning I could see a huge lump so in less than 48 hours it appeared.
 
Hello guys. we sorry to hear about your recent poor news. Live at times through no fault of your own seems like you pushing water uphill. Also seeing one pets who depend on love and you . . . die, become ill really plays on the heart strings. Dig deep and postive vibes from us. x
 
Thanks for all the kind words guys :)

Anya had some Painkillers and her other medicines last night and she on metacam 2.5 daily and baytril 0.36ml daily.

She seemed to like the Metacam! She happily had it into her mouth so that makes it easier!

As for Baytril not being very good, I'm not sure how I should feel about that because the vet prescribed it, shouldn't I trust the vets opinion?
 
Yep Baytril tastes disgusting! When my gps have had it I syringed up the correct dose then added a small amount of fresh orange juice to make it more palatable. You could try this. She may prefer it.
 
TheLottiediarys said:
As for Baytril not being very good, I'm not sure how I should feel about that because the vet prescribed it, shouldn't I trust the vets opinion?
Click to expand...

A lot of vets don't know that Zithromax is ok for guinea pigs, as it hasn't been licensed for them. Mine certainly didn't until a GP savvy vet recommended it to them. My vets in fact don't even use it much for other animals; last time my Zebedee needed some for a URI, they didn't have any in, so he had to start on Baytril. He lost quite a bit of weight then, until we were able to get him onto Zithromax.

I would second Lady Kelly's suggestion of asking for Zithromax, it is much more powerful, which is what is needed for an abcess.
Best of luck in getting your piggie better!
 
Baytril is the only antibiotic licenced for guinea pig use so there are a lot of vets that aren't very knowledgeable that will only ever prescribe this. My own normal vets, although being fairly savvy still have vets that are more inclined to try Baytril first and I have to ask them for something else. You will have to sign to accept an unlicensed product but Baytril doesn't tend to be strong or effective enough for many conditions. I think I have only ever had it work for a UTI previously, and even then my current vets prefer sulfatrim.

I was told about zithromax more recently. Its not commonly used at all but is definitely a much better option for treating the abscess. I would at least suggest your vet speaks to Simon at the cat and rabbit clinic in Northampton about its use and dosage if they are unsure about prescribing. I think with Baytril you are a lot more likely to find the abscess comes back
 
@TheLottiediarys I'm sure you already are, but make sure you keep a close eye on it to see if it's filling back up or getting worse. I also smell the area as you can't mistake the smell of an abscess. It's gross..

Hopefully it goes away but if you have any doubts please don't hesitate to go back to the vet. It's always good to catch things early but with dental issues it's always makes it easier if problems are dealt with quickly.

Also, make sure to weigh her daily, at the same time. A decline in weight will indicate if her mouth is causing her issues with eating. You might need to step in with handfeeding if that is the case.
 
Hi guys,
I thought I would just mention that the abcess isn't actually on her mouth or in her mouth or anything like that,
It's actually located lower down on her neck, about half way down her neck,

I only found out where it was located properly when the vet looked, it's quite obviously not on her face or jaw at all,

She is quite young still and little for her age anyway,
She weighed around 990g at the vets yesterday, so I'm able to really keep an eye on her weight moving forward as I know what it was on the vets scales :)

All your advice is very much appreciated as I've never had an abscess to deal with before, so I'm very interested in every thing I can research about it :)
 
Hi guys,

A small update on Anya,

She's on her third day of full treatment for her Abcess,
It smelt really bad on Friday, even my partner who can't smell very well was able to smell it alot!

But it hardly smelled yesterday, I had to put my face quite close to smell it,
And this morning when I did the same I couldn't smell anything.

So I think this is a good sign,
The area still looks a little white and crusty but it doesn't feel lumpy anymore.

Fingers crossed it's getting better :)
 
More bad luck...

Aurora, Anya cage mate seems to be having some discomfort with her back,
I noticed a few weeks ago she had a small wound on her back and that when scared Anya would climb onto Auroras back, so I thought this could be the cause of the wound, I kept an eye on it for a while and it cleared up nicely.

But this morning when giving Anya her medicine I saw it had flared up again and I think it could be mites,

So she's going to be taken down to the vets this afternoon when I finish work, I've booked her an appointment for 5pm tonight.

This is all getting a bit hard,
We're very low on money at the moment, I had to have some dental work done last Friday which basically whipped me out of savings. And Anya vet visit last week, Baby not long before.

I know my vets guinea pig appointment fee is £25 but I'm not sure how much the mites treatment might cost? Can anyone give me an estimate?

I'm going to have to dip into holiday savings, which is fine but it's all a little crazy at the moment, I can't even ask mum for help with money because she's gone on holiday abroad for two weeks! She won't be back for a week and a half!

I'm hoping everything will be sorted out and no more bad luck for the guineas for a long long time,
Not only am I stressed out about money but I'm stressed about my little babies health!

Anyway, good vibes please guys,
I think I just needed somewhere to vent all my worries about health and money and nd what not :/ :/ :/
 
you vent away. at times seems everything happens at once. luck is all bad. dates clash etc. Try and be postive. Keep strong I'm sure things must turn soon. x
 
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