HELP WITH HOLE IN HEAD!

[acahane]

Hi All! I wanted to get your advice on what to do with Charlie, our newest member of the herd. We recently adopted Charlie at the local shelter. it seems that he came an abusive situation with a lot of signs of neglect.

While petting him about one day after getting him, I noticed that he had this hole in his head near his right ear. I became extremely concerned, so I quickly when to the vet to get it checked. They believe it was an infected abscess. They ended up prescribing him Zithromax and gave Nolvasan scrub to clean it out daily. They told me once cleaned, I should apply Silver Sulfadiazine cream to the hole and let dry.

It has been about 1 and half weeks since this appointment and hasn't really gotten progressively better. The vets recommendation is to do a "explore surgery" in a week to see if there is an pus or anything else in there as it is not healing horizontally or closing. I am very hesitate to put him through surgery. Before I go to this extreme measure, I have some questions.

Does anyone have different/better recommendation to have the hole fill in and heal/close faster?

What do you think it could be from?

Would you have the surgery for this?

He has been behaving otherwise fine and it doesn't hurt him unless touched excessively (obviously.)

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[bpatters]

We can't see pictures on your computer. You'll have to host them somewhere and post the links from there.

How are you using the Nolvasan to clean it out? Are you flushing it, or just wiping the outside?

[acahane]

ok, thank you how do I do this?
The vet told me to use special swabs (they gave me) to clean it out. I am just concerned as it is not closing much. Should I just leave it for a few days now?

[Lynx]

If they are clear, crisp pictures illustrating the problem, you are welcome to email them to me to upload here.



Is the hole near the ear? Did your vet consider an xray to see how extensive the infection was? Is appetite good? Are you weighing daily right now? Before you started treating it, was it inflammed? Hot to the touch? These would be an indication it was infected.

[acahane]

thank you so much!! I will email you. yes, it was infected as it had yellow pus oozing from the site. it was not hot to the touch. i am weighing daily and he is on point and taking wonderfully. eats like a horse LOL thank Gd!

[Lynx]

It looks to me like it will take a while to heal. Silvadene helps a great deal in allowing the natural healing process to happen. Watch for inappetence (not eating) while on the antibiotics.
www.guinealynx.info/antibiotic_advice.html

[acahane]

Do you recommend cleaning out the silver cream daily and reapplying or should I let it rest a bit?

[Lynx]

When I used it on a chicken with a very large open wound, I think I started out trying to clean it off and reapply it but later mainly tried to make sure it covered completely. It does kind of change and become cakey.

Not messing with it means the delicate skin that so slowly forms over the open wound (assuming it was cleaned out well and the infection is gone) can heal without it being disrupted so it never heals. The wound on my chicken was larger than your guinea pig's wound. It took more than a month and a half to heal.

I don't think the guinea pig will bother it in that location. You can ask your vet what he/she would like done. I would mainly just tried to keep my chicken's injury covered with the silvadene, applying a little each day to make sure it is covered, as it may pull away from the edges.

Read this page about how it is used in humans. What I used was a clean Popsicle stick to apply a thin amount.
https://www.mayoclinic.org/drugs-supplements/silver-sulfadia ... drg-20068819

Use on the skin only.

To use:

• Before applying this medicine, clean the affected areas. Remove dead or burned skin and other debris.
• Wear sterile gloves to apply this medicine. Apply a thin layer (about 1/16 inch) of silver sulfadiazine to the affected areas. Keep the affected areas covered with the medicine at all times.
• If this medicine is rubbed off the affected areas by moving around or if it is washed off during bathing, showering, or the use of a whirlpool bath, reapply the medicine.
• After this medicine has been applied, the treated areas may be covered with a dressing or left uncovered as desired

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