Guinea Pig - Abscess

[LaFlotte]

Hello - we got our two little female guinea pigs 3 weeks ago. One developed an abscess under her chin and it was lanced just over a week ago and we had antibiotics for her. Today she went for a check up and they have to lance it again and then apparently we will have to squeeze it over the next few days.

I am worried that this abscess isn't going to clear up and we are fighting a battle we are not going to win. DD is distraught again and it's costing a fortune (although I'm happy to try our best to get over this).

Has anyone any experience of this?

Thanks for reading.

[70isaLimitNotaTarget]

No personal experience of abscesses (bites, scrapes etc but not deep tissue)

Some of my childhood GPs had fatty lumps under their skin (especially chin) but they were solid, round fibrous whereas as abscess would be more pliable and have a 'point' or 'head'.

I've had a quick check on Peter Gurney.
He advices that the abscess be lanced and drained for at least 3 days.

Is your abscess the result of a bite? Did the vet check GP teeth?
Peter G doesn't personally find antibiotics treat the problem, but GP has already got them. Has she got Probiotics? You need these to restore their gut flora.

(I'm a HCP and I deal with human wounds so what I'd do for them is different ).
Salty warm water, to 'draw' the pus. I'd do it before (to clean) and after (to draw) the pus. You need to be careful not to push infection deeper, but usually an abscess is containined in a fibrous capsual ,where the body 'walls off' the infection.
Peter G recommends Hydrogen Peroxide to cleanse (not the stuff to bleach your hair, you can buy 20:20 in the pharmacy, people sometimes use it to clean gums and teeth. I used to use it at work, it fizzes on contact with pus/blood, but you have to make sure you dry it after (it leaves water behind Hydrogen Peroxide is H2O2 - water with extra oxygen really).But check with your vet first .

Did your vet clip the hair away?
Did they give you anything to apply after?
If you've got an ointment it will help keep the opening open a bit to let you drain it, keeps that bit of skin soft.

Good luck. And good luck getting GP to sit still. You might catch them once, but they get wiley don't they?

[LaFlotte]

Hello and thanks so much for taking the time to reply.

When Squeak first had it lanced, we were told to keep the wound open if possible but the vet nurse said herself it would be hard to do that and she even had to open it a little bit and that was only a couple of hours after the operation.

We didn't get anything to put on the wound, she had an antibiotic injection and then we have been giving her antibiotics. We do have some probiotics too but we had those already.

We went back a few days later for a check and the nurse had to squeeze it again and we tried to keep it open again using warm salt water and it was looking better so today it's a bit of a shock.

I will ask the vet about the Hydrogen Peroxide when we go back later too.

I wonder if I should ask if we can go back each day for the nurse to keep it open and squeeze it as we are new pet owners and the guineas are babies, only just used to being handled to it's very hard to keep them still and we are tentative as we are not used to handling them yet and are afraid to hurt them. It sounds like it should be emptied and cleaned over several days to get everything out.

The vet did mention her teeth but said that they checked them and they looked fine, although she said obviously they can't see if there's anything wrong below the gum. I don't know if it was a bite. There wasn't a bite mark but I don't know what else could have caused it.

She's so sweet, I hate the thought of her being in pain and just want to get this cleared up.

Thank you for your help...do you think I should ask if we can pop in on a daily basis for the nurse to keep it open? I feel like we'll not do it properly even though we try.

[LaFlotte]

Sorry meant to say, yes the hair has been clipped around it so it's easier to see but kind of under her chin so not the easiest to get at.

Ointment of some sort sounds a good idea.

[70isaLimitNotaTarget]

Aaaaw sweet baby pigs.

If you get an ointment from the vet then it will be animal friendly (especially if they groom, you might find GPs mate tries to helpfully groom her friend ).
And WRT to Hydrogen Peroxide, you'd need to make sure it gets into the wound directly, (careful with her eyes). I'm just thinking how you would need to hold a GP to get to her neck- the vets make it look so easy. I need to half Nelson my boars to cut their nails.(Very judgey look from GP2 as he grabs his paw back)
Did they advice you to wrap them in a towel (then one person can hold them with their head tipped back and they feel secure, like swaddling a baby)

I can't see any harm with asking to take her back in for them to check/squeeze it.
You want it healed as quick as possible for your GPs health and your worry.
I've (fortunately) never had to have a GP put on antibiotics but I know the side effects they have on humans. So I'd want them to be a only use when absolutley essential treatment.

(I'm an NHS Podiatrist BTW, I'd be in at my boars with a sterile scalpel. But that information is best not shared with them )

[muddleup]

Our GP had an abcess on her back, the vey lanced it and she was given antibiotics.
It reappeared a couple more times and they did the same again but it just wasn't going.
Eventually they decided to cut it out, she had it done under a GA and so far a year down the line we have had no more problems and she is much happier.

[Exempt]

Our GP had an abcess on her tummy. It was lanced, drained, had antibiotics but it came back 10 days later. It was lanced and drained again but this time on advice from the vets we gently squeezed the abcess morning and night to get the pus out then lightly cleaned the area with warm salty water. This really helped the abcess subside along with antibiotics.

[damppatchnot]

My boys live separately but one got out if his run and but Charlie on back. The two holes are cleaned every day and after pus gently squeezed I clean out and they are gradually closing. Thing is they heal within so must not scab over until closed inside and then the scab will be a tiny one

Charlie is in a vit supplement and he's doing great