Nessa - very ill 😞

[EastMidsGPs]

Friday noticed the girls were a bit itchy. Saturday treated them with mite stuff. Nessa had wet patch over one hip nothing more.
Sunday Ness had bitten hole in skin over hip, cleaned it, disinfected it and tried to it clean.
By breakfast Monday morning, huge lump had formed. Emergency appointment with Dr Chris.
Yes, you've guessed it she had a massive abscess, with oodles and oodles of puss that simply poured out, along side some underlying thick stuff that had been there a while. Sort of chronic abscess.
It was gross, but Ness was so good, never flinched or moved a muscle. Intravenous antibiotics and home.
Gaping wound, to be washed out twice a day, Baytril (that Sadie tried to muscle in on this morning 😂) plastic collar and visit to Dr C on Friday.
They slept in our room last night, OMG! and she seems ok this morning, weeing and pooing and eating.
But have been here before with a piggie and after initially doing well, she had to be pts. So really worried about our Ness.

Dr C more hopeful as she said on her first look (before she had a squeeze) she had immediately thought aggressive tumour - but it isn't.
My goodness have we had trouble getting the collar over her double chin!

Positive thoughts to the EastMids please

The little bugga has managed to get her plastic cone off 3 times in the last hour 😠😠

Poor piggie. Would wearing a sock help or would that impede on pus oozing. I presume it needs to drain.

Millie has also been a real toad. We went to Scotland last week leaving Millie in the care of adult DD. During that time she has gnawed her lump badly and its bled a lot. The lump has also grown a lot. Millie is shedding fur which I suspect is down to her ovarian lumps. She is all skin and bone and arse lump now. But still enjoying cuddles and biscuit time and makes happy noises when she is given food. Honestly don’t know how she is still alive.

Poor Nessa ! Poor Millie!

I've got GP7 sitting with her dodgy eye ulcer . What is going on with these sows?

East the pus is better out than in and she's had her antibiotics mainlined .That will start working asap. Was it a bite that went rogue? (I have no clue what started GP7 eye off , doesn't look like hay, and I have no other pigs to blame . I think it was a claw scrape? )
Little bugger though with her cone of shame .

Are you flushing out the wound?

Oh Millie stop eating your lump!
Come on GP7 get well soon.
I am beginning to think it is #National Your Vet Is Poor & Needs Feeding Month 😂😂

Well, another night with the piggies in our room and trust me, it will be the last! They good naturedly bicker and squabble like toddlers all the time.
We've abandoned the collar, deciding what will be will be, as Ness was only getting distressed by us keep putting it back on.
(Engineer DH had spent the day trying to 'design' something that worked. Told him to hurry up, so we could make our fortune and pay the vet bills 😂😂).

Ness doesn't seen to be biting the wound, it looks clean, and is only draining a bit of puss. She is eating, drinking, weeing and pooing so doesn't seem as unwell as she did Monday. Hates Baytril!! Around the wound seems to have gone down, isn't as hard and looks like a blister does when it has burst. Hopefully infection is abaiting .
Sadie is annoyed at all the attention Ness is getting 😃
70 the vet wondered if she has had a small cyst, (she found a hard seed like shaped fleshly thing among the puss) and then either itched, broke the skin and introduced infection or maybe punctured the skin in some way - possibly via Sadie's teeth😉

How are all the elderly/ poorly pigs tonight?

Millie has spent time out in the run but she sneaked off to the summer house so I don’t know how much time she actually had on the grass. Cleaned her hutch out (again) whilst she was outside. Swear she has pooped her own weight over the last 2 days.

Ness is bright in herself , she also went out on the grass for a while today. Think she ate her body weight in grass and dandelion leaves!
Most of the time she is good and leaves her wound gapping hole alone. But when she is back in the cage in the house bit she has a nibble sigh
We've washed more pus (not 🐱 as in my previous posts 😃) out today. And we've had a battle to give her the Baytril. Am hoping the vet has some suggestions of how to heal her when we go on Friday.
DH is still pondering the plastic collar, but tbh trying to put it on and keep it on, is a mare.
Millie's determination to keep going and enjoy life is giving me hope we'll get through this with a positive outcome.

How is Nessa today?
It is such a relief to see them eating - a non-eating piggie is a bad sign.
We are changing GP7 fleeces every day , DD and I are all "What was the bedding like? Pooh nests? Were the pee stains ok?" ( 'tis )

GP7 put on a right face yesterday when the Vet was checking her eye , all bluster on her part , she's not a biter but her look was I could have you y'know. I am a bitey rodent , I have razor teeth and you cannot swear in front of the doting PigSlaves. Imagine the shame of going about telling people you were attacked by a Guinea-Pig Mwha ha

Poor pigs!

Hazel had also been under the weather. Got a grass seed in her eye which became badly ulcerated. Vet was due she'd have to have her eye removed but thankfully it healed enough to stay. Think my lass was less bothered by her eye than by vet visits and twice-daily pick-ups and eye ointment.

In not sure she can see out of it but she says she doesn't need her eye to munch so all is well!

Back to the vet's tonight. Fortified with dandelions on the way there.
Dr C quite pleased with how clean we've managed to keep the wound and there are signs of granulation which apparently is a good thing.
Vet had a squeeze and more pus came out, however this time Ness reacted, cried and tried to jump into my arms. Again this is apparently a good thing, as she never twitched on Monday when they squeezed huge amounts out. Vet said she obviously had feeling there. She also said she could now feel guinea pig under the abscess!
So, not out of the woods, but if they need to operate there is now enough viable skin to close the wound well.
Another week of oral Baytril and twice daily washing the wound out and back to the vet's on Easter Saturday.
Ness seems fine, she did smell 'wrong' on Tuesday and Wednesday but is back to smelling just guinea piggy.
70 we are also changing and washing fleeces daily. I found that our Poundstretcher is selling off their children's Christmas fleeces in packs of 2 for £2.99 so we've bought the last two packs. I did rather like the dinosaur patterned fleece but DH baulked at the price😃

Oh and although not a lot, it did look as if Ness had had a bit of a chew of her wound. Although when out playing and also when supervised she hasn't done it. In fact it doesn't seem to bother her much at all ..... and then as they sat in the pet carrier together waiting for the meds ... Dr C, the nurse and I watched Sadie licking the wound sigh

D'you know when you mention Sadie licking the wound ... whenever one of my pigs got a hay poke injury , the cage mate would wash the eye ( except once Bert got one and he wasn't with the sows , we had to cleanse with salty water)

Poor GP7 hasn't got GP8 to help her , the healing powers of Guinea-Pig Spit was legendary on poorly eyes (I reckon its the probiotic quality of eating pooh

Funny you should mention Nessa smelling ‘wrong’ that is how Millie smells all the time now.

Millie had cuddle time with biscuit and hand picked grass. Clearly felt ignored in the afternoon. She throw her nugget bowl out the hutch standard way for Millie to get attention

😂😂😂 Go Millie
Sadie is getting increasingly comudgingly.
Sat in the carrier at the vets positively glaring at us all "don't you dare think I am here to be examined"!

Sadie is there in the capacity of Chaperone and Advocate of Nessa's wishes .

GP7 accompanied GP8 and GP6 on their final journeys , she was there to do the "Goodbye dear friend" nose under the chin thing that they do.
GP7 did not accept any input at the time (except to be told how pretty she is)

She looks very judgey at the Vet and thinks ............"Arse . I've been here before and it didn't end well for GP8 or GP6 "

Found a juicy clump of dandelion leaves. Brought a large handful in to Millie. Millie was very sleepy and at first was falling asleep whilst eating. But somehow found the strength to eat them all and check my hands for any hidden extras. As she was looking into my soul for more I dutifully went to pick grass.

By the time I returned she had moved from the bedroom to her bowl. I gave her the grass and walked away quick before she could give me the pleading eyes look again.

She is now asleep with her head still in the bowl am I working her too hard?

Friend came to visit the invalid today and brought with her a packet of small pet treats from Asda. An assortment of small orange balls, green little triangles and muddy half moons. We never give anything like this, they have enough with the various designer hays, nibble sticks and parsley bells DH cannot walk (well these days trundle by on his mobility scooter) past without buying.
WELL ... if you thought meds were guinea pig crack, I tell you these are of the finest grade!! I swear, they'd do tricks for more.
We had to hide the packet in the end, the pair are fat enough as it is 😃

What's going on!!! I go AWOL for a few days and all the guinea girls get ailments. Poor ladies. Sounds like they're all suffering stoically. Madampig sends them all her best wishes. She's currently trying to train me to put her food bowl inside her pigloo to save her going 'outside' to eat. If I don't do it, she moves it there herself.

Hope all the girls get well soon

Hi FernieB yes we have a collection of ailments Nessa has an abscess, 70’s piggie has a poorly eye and Millie is just ancient, she is spending more snd more time asleep.

4 hours outside in the sunshine today. Lush grass, heaven.
Oodles of cruddy thick pus coming out of Ness's wound (sorry tmi) but she doesn't seem to mind my ministrations.
Happy in herself, not lost condition, normal appetite, weeing and pooing, fingers crossed we'll get on top of this.

Tbh Nessa sounds a sporners dream 😂

Millie also had a long time in the run yesterday. Sat in a nest of soft 💩 🤮. Now in too much need of a bath to go outside (danger of fly strike)

Madampig has decided to join in with the 'Brave Ailing Sows Illness League' ("BASIL"). She was being spoilt rotten by the DDs whilst I was away for a few days with DH. DD called me to say Madam had a balding patch. Got back yesterday and took her straight off to the vets.

After a thorough examination, it turns out she has quite a deep lump and the beginnings of another one. Vet went through all options including hysterectomy, but given Madams age and nervous disposition I'm not letting her have anything invasive. Vet is a GP enthusiast and we agreed to leave her be as long as she's enjoying life and food. All this has compromised immune system and she has mites so we're just treating that at the minute and will monitor everything else.

Hope the rest of BASIL are faring better

Oh MadamPig that you are joining the BASIL club . YY to the Scientific Neglect Route (as the Chief Vet on Animal Hospital used to call watch and see . )

The mites can take hold on a vunerable piggie so yes to keeping on board with them (which reminds me , I'll need to treat GP7)

GP7 had a Vet Check yesterday , he's happy with the progress and just to monitor her . He said give her some soft short bedding hay (GP7 was Yes , listen to him, he's got letters'n'everything after his name . I am of the No , we're keeping with fleece , hay cookies and you save your eyes . Especially now its warmer and she doesn't need to insulate herself , as she's indoors)

She has the rabbit hutch (there's no legs on it) inside the big rabbit run. She can graze, laze , listen to the NDN in their gardens and have a change of scenery .

GP7 has some ver' ver' tasteful Ikea fleeces in grey , but last night had to sleep on a white gingerbread man fleece , just to confuse her because I hadn't managed to wash/dry her other ones .

BASIL 😂 love it.

Totally agree Fernie do not do surgery for an ovarian lump . I had Rosie operated she was also leaking wee and as we all remember it did not end well.

Millie also has a balding tummy and a visible on her under side ovarian lump to add to the looooooong list of health problems which don’t seem to bother her too much.

Amazon delivered another packet of her special biscuits. There are 60 in a pack . Everytime I think will she survive long enough munch through them.

Glorious weather this Easter, lets hope all the BASIL members have some fun run time.

Also agree FernieB avoid lump surgery at all costs. This was my biggest concern with Ness.
Anyways back at the vet's at 9.am today. She is very pleased with progress (although she squeezed loads more gunk out of the wound). Continue Baytril until Tuesday, continue twice daily wound washing and hopefully all should eventually be well.
The wound is clean, with no dead tissue and vet thinks it will start to heal soon. It looks smaller I think and the skin where all the 'lump' pus was is now baggy as if she has had massive weight loss 😂😂😂
Bill also massive 😞😞