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Lump Open Wound, Lump around

RodentCuddles

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It is 1.5cm by 2 cm and I'd say around .5cm deep or in the deepest part nearly 1cm deep. It is on his rump.

It wasn't there 3 days ago.
It's weighing night and I picked him up and then my finger went into a 'hole', so I looked to see and found this...
pizap.com10.67295444943010811370674167273.jpgpizap.com10.51656539505347611370674229915.jpgpizap.com10.238213498145341871370674272376.jpgpizap.com10.34931430360302331370674309948.jpgpizap.com10.256773348432034251370674343124.jpg

Any Idea on what it is?

I was thinking things around ring worm, abscess, lump (as there is a lump around it) or something else.

We have a guinea pig getting surrendered tomorrow morning but after that we're gonna drive him to the vets as we want them to at least see it.


Him and His buddy Token (His name is Toby) have been with us for three weeks and just came out of quarantine three days ago.

(I have washed my hands and luckily he was the last pig needing to be weighed today)

He is eating and drinking fine. His weights for the past three weeks have been - 1053 grams, 1061 grams, 1057 grams tonight.
 

RodentCuddles

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I should mention that yesterday one of the younger 'feral' cats *he knows his name and a trick* was playing with Barney who is one of our 14 year old cats and it could be all possible that Snowy bite Toby but we never saw him go in the cage...the cats played on the bed, under the bed behind the door...but we never saw him in the cage. But it is a possibility that I just thought of, so could it be that?

I'm going to wash it with warm salty water. As I think for as far as I know it's rather safe to use?
 

RodentCuddles

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Just gently squeezed the lumps and white stuff you can see came out. It doesn't look like normal puss. It doesn't look as if it was a cat bite because it's too smooth if you get what I mean. It's so deep on the left..we can't see if it stops.

We're so very worried that we might have to put him down. But we're taking him to our vets tomorrow. Then to the emergency vets if they say we need to. We will not give up on him if possible.
 

lissie

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RodentCuddles

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@lissie


It's 8pm at night here..the nearest vets is the emergency one 45 mins away...the people tomorrow are coming at 9:30 - 10am so we should be at our vets at around just after 10.

So does it look like a bite? Not worms or anything strange?

We flushed it with salty water..would that be okay for now?

There has been no fighting at all from the boys, it's highly un-likely that he bite him...we were positive the cats didn't go in their cage...we're just so confused if it is a bite as to who did it.

I'm getting a bit stressed out, about it as it's night and we can't just take him to our vets.
 

lissie

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Was it there yesterday or the day before? It doesn't look like worm. It looks like old wound. If it has puss, it older than a day.

It looks very big, compared to your fingers. Did you check his whole body to see if there are more?

Salt water should be okay for now.
Do you have any betadine on hands?
 

RodentCuddles

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Was it there yesterday or the day before? It doesn't look like worm. It looks like old wound. If it has puss, it older than a day.

It looks very big, compared to your fingers. Did you check his whole body to see if there are more?

I didn't handle him yesterday but I did the day before and It wasn't there. All the pigs get poop sweeps daily and I didn't notice anything while poop sweeping this morning..He has long hair so maybe it was hidden behind that and because I wasn't looking for any lumps I didn't notice.

I don't think it is puss. The white stuff, my mum and I agree is NOT normal puss. We've had a few cats bitten with abscess which we've had to squeeze puss out and it looks nothing like it at all. It's like foamy not yellow. And it's really white.

It is VERY big...We did look over him and saw none. Though on the grease gland is there meant to be this little thing or is it meant to be smooth-ish skin? I'll get a pic...
 

lissie

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RodentCuddles

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@lissie

Just remembered!!

On his surrender form under Health problems Jen had written:

Had an abcess on his rear which lacerated. My vet nurse friend helped drain it and keep it clean, seems to be almost completely healed now. Never seemed to cause him any pain or discomfort.

AH HA.
But I don't get how the puss isn't normal puss??
 

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@lissie

Just remembered!!

On his surrender form under Health problems Jen had written:

Had an abcess on his rear which lacerated. My vet nurse friend helped drain it and keep it clean, seems to be almost completely healed now. Never seemed to cause him any pain or discomfort.

AH HA.
But I don't get how the puss isn't normal puss??
Compared to other animals, guinea pig pus does seem like it "isn't normal". Kwee and Curly had abscesses last year, and the pus was more of a pasty consistency than the liquidy type we're used to. The vet mentioned that's just how it is after she performed surgery on Kwee's abscess (Curly's ruptured and drained on its own).
 

RodentCuddles

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Thank you very very much for that [MENTION=21775]Mastershroom[/MENTION] It's rather different so we weren't sure. Thank you so much!
 

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Poor Toby! You must've had a small heart attack when you found it! I would have D: I hope he doesn't need surgery, and that the vet recommends something easy and cheap... ha, we can hope right? Good luck for tomorrow, let us know how it goes :)
 

pinky

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Looks like the abscess hadn't healed from the inside out and and abscessed again and then ruptured. I'd get him to a vet to really clean it out. Once it's cleaned out, you'd need to keep the wound open and flush and clean it out daily so it heals from the inside out. If you let the wound close, it'll just fill up with pus again and build up the abscess area again.
 

RodentCuddles

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Thank you everyone!

I just had such a fright when I felt my finger go into a 'hole' in Toby while I was holding him..Then another fight when I saw what I had my finger in and how big it was!

Him and Token will be going to a vet visit tomorrow, Token seems very healthy but they don't charge if we bring the buddy in the cage as well.

Fingers crossed that with treatment it'll heal up fast so the boys can be put up for adoption and find a loving home!

Thank you all once again for your help. I can't wait till the vets..it's half past ten at night here and I just can't sleep thinking about poor Toby.
 

lunarminx

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@RodentCuddles

Last year I was in the hospital for MRSA. Upon release I had to flush(sterile water) the wound twice daily and loosely pack it with packing tape/stripes. I slowly did less gauze as the wound closed. Your vet friend should be able to get you some packing strips. Flush the wound and wet the packing strip that you cut with the sterile water. It really is the best way to keep an abscess from closing up again. It shouldn't hurt the piggy that much I hope as it only stung a little on me. It was the size of a huge strawberry underneath and it was closed in about a month, if I remember correctly if not less.
 

RodentCuddles

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Sad news for Toby.

But first off I want to say. Our vets are AMAZING. And even though they're not reading this I have to say thank you to them so very very much for all the help they have given us and all the help to come.

Toby is having surgery done today. We took him and token in this morning, they were busy so we just left them there. They phoned us up and asked us about his history and if last time they'd treated it with antibiotics.
So we phoned his old owner up and talked to her, last time it was just the tiny size of a pea and you couldn't really notice it so they just cleaned it and used saline.
They asked us if we would rather try meds on him for two weeks or do the surgery today...we chose to do the surgery today..as KV *our vet* is fully booked for the next couple of weeks and we'd rather get the operation done now.

Our vets think it's very possible It's cancerous.

He's also getting de-sexed while hes under.

We are so very stressed right now *I ate so much lunch..I just stuffed it in thinking about all the pigs* as we do know there is a chance he might not wake up, there is the chance it is cancerous and it might keep coming back so he'll have to be on meds and all for the rest of his life.

Some news I got this morning 5 minutes to 10am (while we were leaving for the vets) Louie one of the pigs we had adopted out 2 weeks ago died this morning.

It's just not a very happy day right now. I felt so sad having to tell Louie's old owner about it as she brought her and Bug up from Wellington *a 12 hour drive here and a 12 hour drive back*...

Toby being the awesome cool dude he is...
972172_601448306541146_1034191860_n.jpg
 

lissie

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I'm so sorry for all the bad news.

I hope Toby makes it through the surgery, and hope it's not cancer.

Did they say what happened to Louie?

Toby is so handsome. He reminds me of Rocky.
 

RodentCuddles

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Thank you [MENTION=11509]lissie[/MENTION] :)
Every time when things like this happen it makes it every bit harder for me, as I'm taking meds for my depression and am trying to create an overall better look on life and I'm so happy to of not self harmed in over 2 months now..when things like this happen it makes it harder but I'm not giving up for both me, my mum and the pigs.

Louie is getting taken to the vets today to try and figure out what caused her sudden death. She was only 1 year old, but her old owner rescued her from an animal testing facility.

This is what her adoptie owner sent to me:

I have some terribly sad news.. This morning Louie passed away . I noticed last night quite late, about 10.30pm that some of the stools looked a bit loose, then about half hour later louie had diarrhea, I immediately separated the 2 and cleaned the cage as well as gave them a bath to get the muk off their feet. I put bug back into the clean cage and louie in a box inside the cage with hay and water but she simply wouldn't have any of it. At about 2.30 i went to sleep and every 2 hours I woke to try give her some water and food, at about 7am I had her on my lap when i noticed some spasms and immediately called the vet and they said i could bring her in immediately. By they time I had her in a carry box she was gone.

My father had said last night she would be ok if she keeps hydrated but since she didnt drink anything he said to force feed her water this morning which she wouldnt have either. I cannot believe it all happened so quick.. Im devastated. What can I do for Bug now?

----------------------------------
Her father is an vet, not an exotic vet but a vet and so I honestly believe that she did everything possible for Louie.
 

Piggy_

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Aww no! :( *hugs*

That is just... what an absolutely gutting day. Just don't forget that you're doing an amazing job, and that the guineas you care/d for have an immeasurably better life because of you. But some things are completely out of your control (like cancer, and like what happens to the piggies after they leave the rescue). Because you put 200% effort into every aspect of your piggies care (something that is under your control), try not to get too despondent when things happen that are out of your control. In both sets of bad news, there's really nothing more you could have done! So try not to get too upset, otherwise you'll just end up burning out (easier said than done, I know >.<). Hope the next vet call has some good news for you.

Edit: I posted before your most recent post~ The dedication Louie's owner showed you made an excellent choice for their new adoptive home. Having a long quiet cuddle with my guineas always makes me feel better when I'm down :) Also I just wanted to say how much I admire you for doing all this while handling depression. x
 
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lissie

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Sounds like Louie had a stroke. There's nothing they could have done to save her.
I'm so sorry.

You are doing an amazing job with these animals.
 
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