Violet's medical thread

Post Reply
User avatar
Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Sat Jan 09, 2016 8:28 am


I'm thinking some swelling would be normal. I imagine your vet will be looking closely to monitor for any signs of infection. Sometimes a wound is left open to be flushed daily with a warm saline solution to allow an infection to heal from the inside out. If the pocket of infection is removed surgically in its entirety, it may be sutured.

Let us know how things go!

User avatar
Zaphy

Post   » Sat Jan 09, 2016 3:56 pm


Just got back from the appointment. The swelling was an abnormal amount, so they whisked her off for another surgery to put in a drain. Man I hope everything goes okay.

User avatar
Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Sat Jan 09, 2016 5:43 pm


Frequently drains are put in that one is supposed to use to flush an open wound. It helps keep things clear and allows healing from the inside out. I expect because there is a drain, it is now not totally a sterile situation and hope your vet is having you flush the wound. It is generally done with a curved tip syringe and warm sterile saline solution (like what you would use on contact lenses - you can get it from a drug store).

Image

User avatar
Zaphy

Post   » Sun Jan 10, 2016 2:37 am


Violet is back from the vet! She... is in a lot of pain. The vet gave me permission to up her painkiller dose a little, but unfortunately that doesn't seem to be doing the trick. So I'm just making sure to push Critical Care and water, I've been wetting down her lettuce and pepper, which she is still as enthusiastic about eating as she can be, to try to give her a bit more hydration. Her weight has gone down today, from around 990g yesterday to sticking pretty consistently around 950g today. She's still making an effort to eat her hay, but I can tell she's not able to eat quite as much.

Image

The vet told me to massage the drain area with a clean warm compress 5 times daily to keep stuff moving out. Will that accomplish the same thing as flushing it with a syringe? It wasn't till the vet had moved on to his next appointment that I remembered to ask about flushing, and the tech that was there just kind of shrugged her shoulders about it. I'm worried that it won't be as effective.

If I should be flushing the wound, is this the proper technique for doing so in this video?

Also... thank you all so, so much for all the help and advice you've been giving me. I don't remember if I've said so, but these pigs are my first pets, and this is the first time I've had to care for a pet post-op. I am so, so, so terrified that I'm going to accidentally kill her by doing the wrong thing or neglecting to do the right thing. I feel a lot better about making a decision after I've had a chance to hear your opinions about the situation. Thank you so much for being willing to listen to me and share your experience with me.

User avatar
Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Sun Jan 10, 2016 8:51 am


No, massage I do not think will help as much as flushing. I cannot see your video (still on dialup with crappy internet).

You are doing the best you can. Not rereading but is she on antibiotics right now? If it is painful, besides the putting in of the drain, there may be an infection starting. The compresses alone will not do it. I will try to view your image later today when I go to the library (better internet) and add it to the board.

User avatar
Zaphy

Post   » Sun Jan 10, 2016 1:28 pm


She is on chloramphenicol, yes. In the video they syringe antiseptic into the drain just above the tube and kind of work it through to the other side.

User avatar
lisam

Post   » Sun Jan 10, 2016 2:52 pm


I can't see the video either but what I would do is use saline, insert the syringe next to the drain on one end and gently flush. I'd do it a few times a day.

What pain med? Dosage?

User avatar
mmeadow
Supporter 2004-2022

Post   » Sun Jan 10, 2016 3:12 pm


What is her weight, pain medication, and dose? I ask because the recommendation for meloxicam (Metacam) has recently increased 10x.

User avatar
Zaphy

Post   » Sun Jan 10, 2016 4:24 pm


She's around 950g right now, on Rimadyl (carprofen), 5mg/ml solution in sugar syrup. So not metacam, though that is a crazy shift in recommendation! Her 'official' dosage is .35ml twice a day, the vet told me that if she doesn't respond to that I can give her half again as much. I did that last night, which didn't seem to help, and a normal dose this morning. Right now she actually seems quite a bit better, she's been more active when she's up and she's actually laid down with her feet out and everything a few times instead of just sitting hunched and poofed up. Also she stood up on her hind legs when I went to give her her lettuce just now!

User avatar
Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Sun Jan 10, 2016 8:47 pm


That's encouraging! Sounds like the pain is letting up.

Talishan
You can quote me

Post   » Sun Jan 10, 2016 9:46 pm


Rimadyl is an older med. We've used it many times with good results. The dosage range on it is flexible; if the higher dosage helps her, keep her on it.

Ditto the advice you have received about flushing. You need to get sterile saline IN-BETWEEN her skin and the pasta-looking thing. A curved-tip syringe works best for this, but you can use a 1, 3, 6 or even 10 cc syringe if you don't have one.

Dentists often have them; they're given to extraction patients to clean the socket. See if a local dentist will sell you one (tell them what it's for), or just give you one.

She will NOT like being flushed, AT ALL. It hurts. It's necessary, though, to ensure the area granulates from the inside out and heals without sealing residual infection in. This needs to be done at least twice a day.

Warm the solution first by putting the bottle, or a cup of it, into a bigger bowl filled with hot water (a hot-water bath). Do NOT repeat DO NOT MICROWAVE it. Warming the flushing solution will make it a little less uncomfortable for her.

Keep using probiotics for as long as she's on an oral antibiotic.

Keep going. And keep us posted. This is a long, sometimes frustrating process, for both of you. Just keep going. One step at the time.

User avatar
Zaphy

Post   » Mon Jan 11, 2016 3:23 am


Thank you for the advice, that is helpful! To be clear, should I expect the saline to come out the other end of the drain if I'm doing it properly?

Also does anyone have any tips on restraining her? She is a master at guinea pig kung fu and has successfully beaten every hold I've tried so far and every towel I've tried to wrap her in with her tiny fists of fury. And then she headbutts me for good measure as she attempts to scurry off into the sunset. I'll definitely see if I can get hold of a curved tip syringe per your suggestion as I think I can use all the help I can get with this. I have discovered that she is made of jello.

The good thing though is that she's feeling good enough to struggle a LOT when I'm feeding and flushing her.

Her pooping has possibly slowed down quite a bit, or she may be eating most/all of her poops. She didn't leave any in the cage at all today until late this evening (I made sure to push Critical Care and water via syringe, and I massaged her belly a few times to try to keep things moving), though I did see her ducking under to grab some a couple times throughout the day. The few poops that she has left in the cage look pretty normal. She is still eating hay on her own, and she appears to still be urinating at a fairly normal rate, possibly slightly decreased but if so not by much.

Post Reply