Abscess help

[BedheadRed]

My little girls facial abscess has filled back up. Doc has called in new antibiotic and I am going to have to lance it. Any advice?
Why did vet not put a drain? I'm so mad I didn't know to ask her to put one. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[CritterMom]

I will get a procedure to do this written up for you tomorrow.

Let us know what the meds are when you get them.

Where is the abscess? You will not be able to do anything inside the mouth - that has to be done by a vet.

You are going to need help - one person to hold and one to do the lancing and cleanup. It is not a one person job...

[BedheadRed]

Oh yeah I knew it would be a 2 person job. So the culture came back staph and another starting with an e (can't remember) but vet is overnighting either Sulfatrim or Baytril, she said the antibiotic will kill both. What I need to find out is: do I HAVE to lance or not?

[BedheadRed]

So. They shaved under her jaw on the abscess side.

[CritterMom]

I am sending you a PM with some info on lancing this. Would still like to know what med they give you. Baytril wouldn't be the best bet - it isn't great on abscesses.

Have you been able to determine whether the area has visible pus yet - not necessarily leaking, but visible under the skin?

[Mel1959]

I’m going to respond to this thread because I am currently going through a similar situation. I currently have my squirrel May back at the vets office. She had two molars pulled about 5-6 weeks ago and an abscess lanced. I noticed about 5 days ago that her jaw was swelling again in the same location. Dr. Emerson has determined that she has three more teeth that need to be removed….one upper and two lowers. Since she is a released squirrel I’m not sure what’s going on that she continues to injure her teeth.
I mention this because if this abscess doesn’t get better after being lanced again you might need to get another exam of her teeth.

The antibiotic Dr. Emerson gave me last time was Clavamox.

[Mel1959]

I just got the check out paperwork and Dr. E has prescribed Clavamox, bupenorphine, and gave an injection of Loxicom, Baytril and Convenia which is an antibiotic that stays in her system for 14 days.

[BedheadRed]

Enrofloxacin is what she prescribed.

[BedheadRed]

I'm going to try to do the abscess drain tomorrow. I am sad because she has never shook when I touched her. She shakes now. I hate to have to grab her and hold her still to shove these syringes in her face. Idk if she'll ever trust me again

I HATE it. Now I'm going to go cry.

[Mel1959]

I was concerned about the whole trust issue but it wasn’t an issue. After I released May last time I thought she’d never jump on my shoulder again to take a nut….but she did. I think they realize you’re trying to help them.

Just do what you gotta do for the greater good in the end. 😇

[SamtheSquirrel2018]

I'm going to try to do the abscess drain tomorrow. I am sad because she has never shook when I touched her. She shakes now. I hate to have to grab her and hold her still to shove these syringes in her face. Idk if she'll ever trust me again

I HATE it. Now I'm going to go cry.

Hello BedheadRed:
I just had an opportunity to get on TSB and noticed your thread. Why is the Vet not "draining" this abscess? Please consider some important issues before you undertake this yourself. 1) an abscess is a pus pocket, 2) putting a needle into an abscess usually will not be adequate for draining the abscess and it will not provide any access for irrigating (washing out) the pus pocket after drainage and will not permit insertion of a drain if necessary, 3) usually abscesses are drained with a surgical procedure called an Incision & Drainage (I & D) where an incision is carefully and with total control to keep from straying beyond or into or below the floor of the abscess is essential. Then the pus is gently expressed (pushed out) from the pocket through the incision. The pocket is usually washed out with clean (sterile) water and the often packed with sterile gauze which is changed once or more often daily and then removed in usually 2-3 days. Most abscesses either need to be opened or to open by themselves to permit release of the pus that is contained within the abscess. Antibiotic do NOT penetrate into an abscess well and they cannot usually be used as a primary means for resolving an abscess.

Here is MY MAJOR CONCERN; there are significant risks associated with draining any abscess. They may be less if the abscess might be on a fleshy part of a thigh for instance but on the face there is little room for error! The face is a concentrated and critical area for nerves, blood vessels, and many small muscles among other critical structures. If the pus pocket lies under any of these structures, damage is almost a certainty! Even if not, the face is relatively small and again, filled with critical structures. Even a slight sudden movement by the animal or your inadvertent and even slightly errant aim can send your surgical instrument into an eye or astray elsewhere! A vet will usually use anesthesia or at least sedate the Squirrel with some inhaled anesthetic agent to permit a safe I&D that will be done with full knowledge of the underlying and surrounding anatomy and with the experience of having performed similar procedures many times before.

I would like to urge you to have an experienced Vet perform this procedure if necessary but regardless, I feel that a Vet should reevaluate your Squirrel and make further recommendations as appropriate.

Regards,
SamtheSquirrel

[CritterMom]

I think the directions I gave will prevent hitting blood vessels, etc., since you are going directly into the yellow infection but the pus that forms in the face is often not really very liquid and you may be able to only relieve some of the pressure from the pus - which will make her feel better. BUT... I know they are some distance from you but I would call and get her back in to the vet - like call this AM and get her on the schedule.

Unfortunately, after a lifetime of obsessive tooth care my own have decided to start going south on me, and over the last two years I have gone through 1-7/8 extractions/bone implant/dental implant (The second should be done before the end of the year). It gave me a chance to learn quite a bit on this subject.

If the vet had extracted EVERYTHING giving her issues at the first surgery this wouldn't be happening. When the tooth goes, the infection pretty much goes with it. It is my guess that either something was left behind - a bone or root fragment - or she has other teeth that looked ok visually but are not and they are going bad now. Xray before and after the surgery should answer that question.

If there is something foreign or a decaying tooth still in there, it doesn't matter if you perform a letter perfect drainage, it is going to be something you have to do again and again. I am so sorry.

Don't let them send her home without POST op x-rays. They should be done before she is even awake yet so they can go back and fix anything they find...

[BedheadRed]

We don't have the money for another visit and the vet is 4h away. I'm not going to attempt draining unless I see a yellow head. If I do attempt, crittermom's instructions will lessen the possibility of poking her somewhere else besides the head of the abscess.

[Lighten-Up]

I don't have much experience with what you are dealing with, but I will pray for your sweet squirrel.

The only thing I will offer is a thought of natural help means, do what you want with it. I know this is a squirrel and so I don't know if the method will translate from human to animal.

I"m only mentioning this because you don't plan on going back to the doctor. If you should need a plan B, I'm just offering things to think about.

1. Clove buds are amazing to help remove tooth pain and the associated infections. I have chewed on clove buds and swallowed them many times. I know you can't get a squirrel to do this, and I"m not expecting you to experiment on your squirrel. The only thing I can think to do via the clove is to make a strong tea and then rub it on the gums to penetrate into their system.

Clove straight up can give a bit of both a numbing and a burning sensation. Try a little on yourself before giving it to the squirrel to know better what they might be feeling. Water will wash away the discomfort pretty well. Maybe you could try a little clove liquid in a nut paste, just thoughts to help get the clove to work. That is of course, only if you would think it would help. I'm not telling you to do this.

2. Raw Garlic. I read about a human child who had a huge abscess in their mouth under a tooth and was ill from it on a weekend when doctor visits would have been very expensive. They fed raw garlic to the child several times a day coated in foods to help mask the taste. By the time Monday came that they would see the doctor, the abscess was completely gone and no doctor visit was necessary. The child was fully well and no longer sick.

Per the garlic, some squirrels will eat it on their own. I had a severely sick squirrel once that had a bronchial issue. I left a raw clove of garlic for it to determine what to do. It chewed some of it on it's own. It did recover, but I give much of that also to prayer. The squirrel never wanted garlic again, but at that time, it ate several bites on it's own.

I just wanted to give some alternate thoughts in case you would need them. Of course, do all you are doing per the doctors instructions and with the drugs you have. I just believe that nature can offer powerful therapies as well.

It is always wise to do a little research to make sure herbal drugs do not interfere or have any complications with pharmaceutical drugs. Since the herbs I mention are foods, I'm hoping that they would not have major issues when taken with drugs, but I do not know this for sure. I have not studied the drugs enough to know .

[TubeDriver]

Whatever you have to do, don't worry that your squirrel will hate you afterwords. Squirrels are wild and ALWAYS hate being held tightly and treated. But I have never seen or heard of a squirrel that hated it's human after treatment. She might sulk and pout for a day or two but she WILL get over it and forgive you.

There are good points being raised here on both sides (to drain without vet or not). I won't rehash the pros and cons but in general, all things being equal, I would try to get that abscess open so it can drain and the antibiotics can work more effectively. A hobby X-Acto knife that has been sterilized is more effective at creating an opening that will allow draining compared to a syringe. A small 1-2mm incision will allow even thicker pus to drain. But you have to be VERY careful when using syringes/blades around the face and eyes. A knife like this is what I an talking about:

https://www.walmart.com/ip/X-Acto-1-...stem/105316949



Good luck with this, I hope you can help your little one to heal.

We don't have the money for another visit and the vet is 4h away. I'm not going to attempt draining unless I see a yellow head. If I do attempt, crittermom's instructions will lessen the possibility of poking her somewhere else besides the head of the abscess.

[CritterMom]

Whatever you have to do, don't worry that your squirrel will hate you afterwords. Squirrels are wild and ALWAYS hate being held tightly and treated. But I have never seen or heard of a squirrel that hated it's human after treatment. She might sulk and pout for a day or two but she WILL get over it and forgive you.

There are good points being raised here on both sides (to drain without vet or not). I won't rehash the pros and cons but in general, all things being equal, I would try to get that abscess open so it can drain and the antibiotics can work more effectively. A hobby X-Acto knife that has been sterilized is more effective at creating an opening that will allow draining compared to a syringe. A small 1-2mm incision will allow even thicker pus to drain. But you have to be VERY careful when using syringes/blades around the face and eyes. A knife like this is what I an talking about:

https://www.walmart.com/ip/X-Acto-1-...stem/105316949



Good luck with this, I hope you can help your little one to heal.

Yes, this is what was going to be used. Unfortunately the track of infection is INSIDE the mouth, not on the cheek outside. I don't trust an xacto for that. Outside you can hold the blade between thumb and forefinger tip and choke up on it so you only that the very tip exposed to cut. Not enough room to do that inside the mouth. Draining it would help considerably though.

[BedheadRed]

So to start with I'm going to search all over the area with alcohol for the yellow pus. Please pray that I see some so I can cut it. They shaved her under the jaw midline under the chin up to the corner of her mouth, so hopefully I will see it there.

[CritterMom]

It may take a day or so to get to the point where that happens. What are you seeing INSIDE the mouth? Is it clearly us you are seeing under the skin in there?

[BedheadRed]

I can't see clearly in her mouth. But it is inside.
If I give the new antibiotic, won't that stop it from getting bigger? I just looked with the alcohol and I cannot see the head of it. This is day 9 post removal and day 1 of the new antibiotic.

[CritterMom]

It is a big ask for an antibiotic to do that. Getting all of the infected material out first provides a big boost.

Let me get this straight...have you SEEN the sign of pus under the skin in the mouth or are you just wondering if it is there since you haven't seen it on the outside? If that is the case, it may just not be quite ready to drain yet.