Flicker's Medical Thread

[MrWhistles]

Is it possible the pup could be yeasty?
Yellow skin automatically made me think of yeast.

 

[Kelly9]

Is it possible the pup could be yeasty?
Yellow skin automatically made me think of yeast.

The vet checked her vulva well and it was fine. Her yellowing is going away since I have had her (only 3 days, haha) so we believe it is from being on unclean bedding. Thank you for giving some help!

 

[MrWhistles]

The vet checked her vulva well and it was fine. Her yellowing is going away since I have had her (only 3 days, haha) so we believe it is from being on unclean bedding. Thank you for giving some help!

Good to know she is clearing up. I wonder if there is a way to get animal welfare to check the rescue out. If their just handling guinea pigs in poor conditions, then it is likely they are caring for them in poor conditions as well.

 

[cavyluvr]

no problem =) I even like the smell of a sweaty horse lol I guess I'm just weird like that. I have to admit I don't appreciate the smell of poop though but other than that I'm just nuts about horsey smell.

 

[Kelly9]

Help Flickers decide the best course of abscess treatment.

My poor little Flickers has two abscesses, both on her chin and neck area. The vet says it is from another pig bite. I have only had her 5 days and in the vet twice. My vet lanced and drained them both. One is much smaller and the other is about the same size. Vet said the insides are the consistency of cheese.


Course of treatment #1: have surgery with my vet who is cavy savy to open and scrape out the abscess.

Course of treatment #2: The rescue that I got her from said why not go with their vet's idea and get chlorohexiden by syringe every day for 2 weeks.The meds would dissolve the hard stuff supposedly. They would keep Flickers for two weeks and then give her back.

My reservations are:
1. flickers blew through quarantine when she snuck through the bars of the C&C to be with Cupcake. They are now in a cage together full time. Won't two weeks mess all that up?

2. Flickers would be upset at going from roadside-rescue foster home-my house-vet-my house. Seems like undue stress.

2.5 Flickers would get a shot EVERY day! Isn't THAT traumatic?

3. My vet does use chlorohexiden after she has emptied the pockets. She is not confident that injections would truly dissolve the hard junk. I agree with this.

4. What happens if we let them take her for two weeks and then it doesn't work? Now we have go through a surgery. Tons of stress on a little body would make anethesia even more precarious.

5. For surgery, the anesthesia is dangerous. The rescue doesn't support the surgery when there are safer alternatives. (does their alternative even work?)

6. There are a lot of blood vessels and delicate parts in the throat area so my vet says syringing in there isn't always safe, either.
What do I do?

 

[xanima]

Re: Help Flickers decide the best course of abscess treatment.

I don´t really understand why there are only those two options?
And the second option means injection in the abscess?
Most of the abscesses I had here I rinsed myself daily with H2O2 (after opened by the vet) and the vet only controlled after a couple of days.

Having her two weeks in another place seems like a lot of stress to me, I probably would prefer the surgery. Fot the anesthesia- iis the risk really that bad? Had so many piggies narcotized over the years and all did absolutly fine. Sure there is always a risk, but I wouldn´t worry about it that much (it depends on the medication used obviously however).
But should you decide for the other thing- couldn´t your other pig go, too? Would definitly do that, wouldn´t be that stressful for Flickers that way.
But I think they would get along even after seperated two weeks when they do now.

 

[foggycreekcavy]

I am confused about option 2. Does the rescue mean to flush out the abcsesses with the syringe? That is a good option. I assume that you would do this, and not the rescue, right? Flushing two or three times a day along with antibiotics should get rid of the abcsesses.

 

[Kelly9]

I am confused about option 2. Does the rescue mean to flush out the abcsesses with the syringe? That is a good option. I assume that you would do this, and not the rescue, right? Flushing two or three times a day along with antibiotics should get rid of the abcsesses.

oH foggycreek, I am confused also. the way they made it sound it would be a shot, not a flushing. But then again, I was reading the rescue worker's note, not a vet's note.

 

[Kelly9]

Thank you to the admins who combined my threads into one Medical Thread. I didn't know how to combine like that.

 

[Kelly9]

Re: Help Flickers decide the best course of abscess treatment.

I don´t really understand why there are only those two options?
And the second option means injection in the abscess?
Most of the abscesses I had here I rinsed myself daily with H2O2 (after opened by the vet) and the vet only controlled after a couple of days.

Having her two weeks in another place seems like a lot of stress to me, I probably would prefer the surgery. Fot the anesthesia- iis the risk really that bad? Had so many piggies narcotized over the years and all did absolutly fine. Sure there is always a risk, but I wouldn´t worry about it that much (it depends on the medication used obviously however).
But should you decide for the other thing- couldn´t your other pig go, too? Would definitly do that, wouldn´t be that stressful for Flickers that way.
But I think they would get along even after seperated two weeks when they do now.

She is definitely a cavy-experienced vet and has done many cavy surgeries. They all survived. After more thought, I don't think I want any pig to leave the house for that long of a time.

I asked about just flushing but the vet said the stuff is so hard that it would be hard to get out without scraping. She has had these abscesses for at least 1 1/2 months.

 

[Kelly9]

Re: Help Flickers decide the best course of abscess treatment.

I'm so sorry that you and poor Flickers ended up with such a dilemna. I do have to agree that sending Flickers back to the rescue for treatment wouldn't be a good idea. You're right if she ends up needing surgery after two weeks of flushing out the abscess I would think the surgical risk might be more of an issue due to stress. I know I've read posts from the more experienced members that a lot of abscesses do need surgical correction. I know you love your piggies and remember whatever decision you make will be the right one. Just make sure if you choose surgery that your vet is very experienced with administering anesthesia to guinea pigs.
Lots of positive thoughts for Flicker are being sent your way.

My vet is certainly experienced with cavies so I have trust in that area. She didn't think only flushing would work. Thank you for the kind words, it helps to know that others are supporting us, even if it is online.

 

[Kelly9]

Re: Is this a baby or really a 4 month old? And what breed?

UPDATE: FLICKERS GOT HER SURGERY

Flickers had her surgery yesterday and is doing well. It was a good choice because her lymph node is swelled up and the skin around the area is thickened. Part of her looks swelled up still due to that, but the vet said it will go down in a few weeks to few months.

She has pain meds to take for a few days and a wash for the incision area (Novalsan) and we are continuing antibiotics for a few days as well. She recommended we put the fleece bedding down now to ensure a clean incision area, so we put our first fleece down last night when Flickers came home.

Flickers is running around and even used the ramp that was just added today! Yay! Cupcake still won't touch the ramp, btw. All is well.

 

[schavarry]

I'm glad to hear the surgery went well and so is recovery!!

 

[Kelly9]

Re: Is this a baby or really a 4 month old? And what breed?

One more Update: Flickers is still doing very well. I need to take a warm wash cloth and get the scabs off so I can put the rinse in her site.

I thought she had bloat! But it turned out to be her gaining weight! lol She gained quickly because the abscess was gone and she could chew and eat without pain. Now Cupcake feels the need to match her bite for bite and she is gaining too.