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Windiain
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- Joined
- Dec 31, 1969
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Abscess
Custard has an abscess located on his backside. He's had it for about 2 months now. He's been to the vets - twice, and was taken as soon as a tiny lump was discovered. It grew quite quickly to about 1.5cm diameter, and has been that size since, though I suspect there has been a little bit of growth. The vet gave it a bit of a squeeze and wiped a bit of pus away, and then told me to keep an eye on it and squeeze it myself.
I have basically been told that to remove it, it would have to be done under anaesthetic in surgery, and as such it's not worth doing unless it grows unsightly or bothers him. Seeing as it was neither, and I didn't want to risk putting Custard through unnecessary surgery, I decided to leave it and see if it would sort itself out as the vet implied it would.
Evidently it hasn't. And I'm feeling annoyed. It isn't actually bothering him, and he's plodding on as normal. It probably distresses me more (kind of like having a huge icky spot you just want to go away). I've been squeezing pus out carefully every so often, but it really is getting beyond a joke, because he hates being squeezed.
Now, a friend of mine who also has pigs recently pointed me to the website of Peter Gurney, a huge pig guru type in the UK, where he is of the opinion that the majority of vets make this procedure more complicated than it is, that you don't need all these expensive anaesthetics and antibiotics. He lances them himself, and has done for many years without any problems.
This has made me feel rather annoyed with my vet (and vets in general, given my sister's vet has pissed her around and failed to notice an internal abscess almost as big as a tennis ball, and now the poor pig is likely going to die). He was very apathetic and unhelpful when I went in both times, and gave the impression he couldn't be bothered (yet he went all out for helping our cats. Probably because they weren't small mammals). Unfortunately, I live in the middle of nowhere, and there are no other vets nearby.
So, does anyone have any suggestions? Should I try lancing it myself, and if so how do I go about it? Should I take him back to the vets armed with some printed online info from experts to say he's talking bollocks and I want something done about it (after all, the old vet from there lanced Perkins' blocked wax gland no problem)? If so, does anyone have any links to some good, concise information?
Any help appreciated.
Custard has an abscess located on his backside. He's had it for about 2 months now. He's been to the vets - twice, and was taken as soon as a tiny lump was discovered. It grew quite quickly to about 1.5cm diameter, and has been that size since, though I suspect there has been a little bit of growth. The vet gave it a bit of a squeeze and wiped a bit of pus away, and then told me to keep an eye on it and squeeze it myself.
I have basically been told that to remove it, it would have to be done under anaesthetic in surgery, and as such it's not worth doing unless it grows unsightly or bothers him. Seeing as it was neither, and I didn't want to risk putting Custard through unnecessary surgery, I decided to leave it and see if it would sort itself out as the vet implied it would.
Evidently it hasn't. And I'm feeling annoyed. It isn't actually bothering him, and he's plodding on as normal. It probably distresses me more (kind of like having a huge icky spot you just want to go away). I've been squeezing pus out carefully every so often, but it really is getting beyond a joke, because he hates being squeezed.
Now, a friend of mine who also has pigs recently pointed me to the website of Peter Gurney, a huge pig guru type in the UK, where he is of the opinion that the majority of vets make this procedure more complicated than it is, that you don't need all these expensive anaesthetics and antibiotics. He lances them himself, and has done for many years without any problems.
This has made me feel rather annoyed with my vet (and vets in general, given my sister's vet has pissed her around and failed to notice an internal abscess almost as big as a tennis ball, and now the poor pig is likely going to die). He was very apathetic and unhelpful when I went in both times, and gave the impression he couldn't be bothered (yet he went all out for helping our cats. Probably because they weren't small mammals). Unfortunately, I live in the middle of nowhere, and there are no other vets nearby.
So, does anyone have any suggestions? Should I try lancing it myself, and if so how do I go about it? Should I take him back to the vets armed with some printed online info from experts to say he's talking bollocks and I want something done about it (after all, the old vet from there lanced Perkins' blocked wax gland no problem)? If so, does anyone have any links to some good, concise information?
Any help appreciated.
