abscess is bleeding

Question
Hi Pat,
My guinea pig, Pogo, got an abscess a few months ago, so we took him to the vet and they put a tube in to drain it(its on his neck under his chin.Eventually got the all clear from the vet. After a while though it started getting bigger (about golf ball sized), so we put bacteria ointment on it which made it shrink dramatically(size of a bean about). I just cleaned it again today and was going to put some more ointment on it when I noticed it was bleeding, and it does hurt him when I touch it. I am wondering if it is just part of the abscess draining or if I should be concerned also, if there's anything I can do at home for him. Thanks for all your help!
Caroline

Answer

Abcess a few days afte  

Healthy tissue after 7   It sounds like what he has is a sub glottal abscess. For some reason they are not unusual in guinea pigs. I have drained and treated many of them. I have a theory that they may start from a scratch under the chin as the pig uses his back legs to scratch himself. Their nails are sharp and the skin is easily broken.

Most of these are caused by staph, which even we humans carry on our skin all the time. When the skin is broken by the back nails (which usually have poo stuck on them) an abscess results. The only way to rid them of it is to open it and drain it. Putting the drain in helps to keep the pus from building up and making it worse.

If the skin closes while there is still bacterial staph inside it will simply keep on building up. In most cases if it's showing blood that's a good indicator that there is no pus. I know that sounds counter productive, but if there was a pus buildup you'd see it. If it's just a little blood that's actually a good sign. Yes, it's tender and painful to touch because it was opened and a drain put in. Again, that's normal.

If you have a syringe of any kind you can just use warm water to gently squirt into the wound to help keep it clean. They can be very persistent and difficult to get rid of but with patience and continual care they will heal.

I've attached a picture of a pig that was brought to me by a Kindergarten teacher and 'Ethyl' was the class pet. This was probably one of the worst I've seen or treated but she did beautifully well and after two weeks was returned to class as good as new. The abscess was the size of a ping pong ball.  

The second picture shows the skin around the opening pink and there is no longer any dead tissue around it as in the first picture. There's a saying in the medical field: The answer to polution is dilution.  That means wash it, wash it, wash it. Cleanliness is the key to success in healing these things.