Sick Abscess draining & vet recommended fasting times?

mleigh52786 · Jun 2, 2014

Elmyra had a large abscess pop up suddenly on her neck. I took her to a vet today who took a sample & confirmed my abscess suspicions. I called back this afternoon to set up the abscess draining surgery for tomorrow, as recommended & the vet wants Elmyra's food & water to be taken away @ 10:30p tonight for her 8a appt for this procedure tomorrow.
Everything I know about guinea pigs is telling me that is waaay too long for a guinea pig to be without food & water! I did some research & even called a different vet for a informal 2nd opinion over the phone & they said they never make pigs fast at all before surgery because of how fast they digest their food.
And, through all my research, it seems that just draining this abscess is most likely not a permanent fix. Everything I'm reading says that total removal, including the sac, is the best way to go with the best chance of it going away forever.
The earliest appt I can get with the 2nd opinion vet would be Wed & the earliest surgery date would probably be next week. Also, as much as I hate to let this be an issue, this other vet is way more costly & I'm not even sure it's financially an option for us right now.
Anyone have any suggestions, opinions, or general feedback?

HannibalLecter · Jun 2, 2014

Guinea pigs cannot vomit, so there is no risk for aspiration and the drainage will most likely not be permanent at all, a cyst can refill in just a few hours.
Because of the lacking knowledge in guinea pigs with potentially deadly consequences (as pigs need a constant flow of hay through their system or they run the risk of GI stasis) I would worry about other potential mistakes, and the fact that you may be paying for nothing when/if the cyst comes back.

You need a cavy savvy vet, some are also willing to set up a payment plan.

bpatters · Jun 2, 2014

Yep, you're right about the fasting time. One excellent piggy vet that I know of takes pellets and veggies away 2-3 hours before hand, but lets them have hay right up until the time of surgery. Her reasoning for this is that pigs have folds of tissue in their mouths, and the veggies and pellets are more likely than hay to get stuck in those folds and possibly dislodged during surgery.

I think some front-office people at vet offices give out the surgery instructions, and they don't realize that guinea pigs shouldn't be fasted like animals that can vomit.

I'd also opt for having the abscess removed, although it's hard to know which way you should go with this. If you wait, it may rupture (even internally) and you'd be faced with an emergency. Emergency vets and no better than dog-and-cat vets at treating guinea pigs, and in fact, some of them won't see them at all. But it might not -- there's just no way to know what the right thing is to do. What I'd probably do is ask the second vet if they could block off a time for surgery on Wednesday (or whenever their next surgery day is) and let you bring her in a little early. If she doesn't need the surgery, it could be cancelled. But if she does, the time would be reserved.

HannibalLecter · Jun 2, 2014

A good vet should syringe feed the pig some water before the surgery to lessen the risk of any leftover food being aspirated.

mleigh52786 · Jun 2, 2014

Ok, I am now officially shopping for a new specialty vet. Thanks for all the info.

bpatters · Jun 2, 2014

I don't think syringing water will clean out their mouths.

HannibalLecter · Jun 2, 2014

bpatters said:
I don't think syringing water will clean out their mouths.

There is a leading exotics vet here in my country who said it should always be done, but it may just be a theory.
All I know is that my other sow got asthma-like scarring after her surgery where it wasn't done and something was aspirated.

mleigh52786 · Jun 3, 2014

Update: Elmyra has an appt on Thursday with an exotics vet that has over 20 years of experience with exotics. Thanks for the responses!

mleigh52786 · Jun 7, 2014

Update (broken link removed) : Elmyra is now recovering at home following her surgery. The abscess was much deeper & bigger then originally thought but the vet thinks they got it all & feels her prognosis is good. Now we just gotta figure out how to keep her from scratching at it when it get itchy!

Rywen · Jun 7, 2014

I'm so glad she's home and doing well! Hang in there little Elmyra! Unfortunately I don't have any advice on the itching.

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Sick Abscess draining & vet recommended fasting times?

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