Managing Cervical Lymphadenitis (lumps)
I took my two month old guinea pig in today for lumps on her neck and she was diagnosed with CL. They put her under anesthesia and the lumps were lanced, drained, and flushed. The culture confirmed the diagnosis and I am still waiting on blood test results. I just feel so bad for her as I have to syringe her things so often (Bactrim, Critical Care, yogurt, and Meloxicam). She is quite unhappy about all the syringing. I cleaned the wound a little but since she just had the surgery I was careful. Where the big abcess was has a small sore but the smaller one has a bigger wound and it's a little swollen. She seems to be doing well other than that, but I'm a little worried that she's not drinking any water. Would it be too much to syringe her water? She just had the surgery about 6 hours ago and she's stayed in the pigloo whenever I haven't had to give her something so I'm sure she's traumatized but I'm concerned. Also, is the vitamin C in the critical care enough?
I took her to a teaching veterinary hospital at my school and the resident vet was a specialist and was incredible, it was great.
I took her to a teaching veterinary hospital at my school and the resident vet was a specialist and was incredible, it was great.
- Lynx
- Celebrate!!!
Skip the yogurt. See www.guinealynx.info/probiotics.html
You might want to read www.guinealynx.info/surgery.html Sometimes it takes a bit to come around after the anesthesia. If she is alert enough to swallow, you can certainly give her some water by syringe.
Good luck with her recovery. Sounds like you are taking good care of her.
You might want to read www.guinealynx.info/surgery.html Sometimes it takes a bit to come around after the anesthesia. If she is alert enough to swallow, you can certainly give her some water by syringe.
Good luck with her recovery. Sounds like you are taking good care of her.
Thanks, Lynx. I had read about the yogurt and that was something else I was going to ask about. Now I think she's had some water, but there haven't been any poops since yesterday evening. She definitely has a lot of energy though, she was not happy about the Critical Care and antibiotic syringing.
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You can also try offering her unflavored Pedialyte through a syringe and see if she will take it willingly. Many pigs like the taste and will take it quite willingly even though they won't drink their water.
If she does like it, you can then put it in her water bottle, or give her a mixture of water and Pedialyte in her bottle. We've done that to 'jump-start' a few of ours' drinking.
Avogadro, how is your pig doing?
If she does like it, you can then put it in her water bottle, or give her a mixture of water and Pedialyte in her bottle. We've done that to 'jump-start' a few of ours' drinking.
Avogadro, how is your pig doing?
Well, I finally got to the vet and he is now on Baytril. So far so good. I think that his lump is getting smaller, but it could just be my imagination. For anyone that has used Baytril, how long did it take before you noticed shrinkage? My vet said that he may always have an enlarged node. I have to go back in 3-4 weeks to have it aspirated and see if the bacteria is still present. Hopefully it will work!
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Baytril is a powerful, broad-spectrum antibiotic and hopefully it will help him. Please watch for intolerance with this antibiotic; some guinea pigs' systems can't handle it.
If he stops eating, stops drinking, shows little interest in what's going on around him, sits in one place fluffed up, and has excessively soft stool or diarrhea, call the vet for a different antibiotic.
Please be sure to give him a probiotic an hour or two after the AB. It's especially important with Baytril.
https://www.guinealynx.info/probiotics.html
If he stops eating, stops drinking, shows little interest in what's going on around him, sits in one place fluffed up, and has excessively soft stool or diarrhea, call the vet for a different antibiotic.
Please be sure to give him a probiotic an hour or two after the AB. It's especially important with Baytril.
https://www.guinealynx.info/probiotics.html