abscess?

helloo,

Molly had a nasty abscess about a month ago under his ear which was removed by surgery. As it was deep into his ear canal some of his ear was also removed. Everything was going great until monday when i noticed a small lump under his ear. I have taken him to the vets today but the vets were unsure whether this lump was part of his ear or an abscess. As his some of his ear had been removed they think it may be just part of the ear although they are not sure...

They have given me batril 'just in case' its an abscess and it hasn't grown since iv noticed it on monday (although i do worry about every little lump i feel now). It also moves when we move his ear up and down, not sure if abscesses move like that.

I'm just a bit concerned that the vets didn't seem to know if it was an abscess or not and just told me 'ill have to wait and see'. Just wanted opinions?!?

Thanks you!

Not sure on this one. Could it be a cyst? My guinea pigs were prone to them and they were mobile!

Hopefully it is just scar tissue - I guess your vets don't want to put her through another anaesthetic just to see, if it's not an abscess.

I spent £500 last year having my golden lop, Maa, treated for an abscess in her head - It seemed to clear up for months then came back with a vengeance. The trouble with anything in the head area is it's very difficult for the vets to clean all the pus out thoroughly without damaging the blood vessels etc packed in there, and if there's a tiny bit of puss left, the bacteria slowly grow again.

Baytril is pretty useless for deep abscesses - ones that are filled with anaerobic bacteria that multiply in airless cavities. Human MRSA is one such type of bacteria, and baytril is too weak to touch it.

If the lump grows, your best course of action I think would be to ask the vet to draw off some puss, if there is any, and send it to a lab for analysis. It cost me £30 to have this done with Maa, but it was money well spent as not only did it save on months of useless baytril, it also saved her life by killing the bacteria, as the lab told us exactly which antibiotic to use.

We used metronidazole, and she only needed half a tablet a day, for 8 days. I ground the tablets up and mixed them with mushed up pellets when she was really hungry - she wolfed it down.

thanks for your replies,

Kept an eye on mollys lump.. its not grown any bigger or anything and i noticed it over a week ago. I am taking him to the vets again next week to see what they think. To be honest, I wish i'd have known about the culture tests you can have if baytril is known not to work. But I wasn't given the option when molly went in for surgery. The lump is squishy and when i pull away the skin you can hardly feel it so iv no idea what it is. Poor molly, im forever going over messing with his head poor thing.

Is there any other way they vets would know if its an abscess, because they were very reluctant to open it up again to see?

I am praying its just his ear, or a bone (as he had bits removed etc because of the abscess).

Any thoughts much appreciated. xx