Very Large Abscess Wound

Would anyone happen to have "in progress" healing pictures of a very large abscess wound?

While away on my honeymoon at the end of October/beginning of November one of my babies developed a ruptured abscess on the back of his neck. He was taken to the vet, prescribed oral antibiotics for 10 days, and given silver something er other cream (sorry, I'm downstairs and don't have the tube handy). He was left with his family, who continued to groom the dead skin away.

Well, as of Sunday night I just wasn't comfortable leaving him with his colony anymore. They had removed a gigantic dead skin flap, which was great, but I also felt like they weren't letting his wound heal and had potentially enlarged it. So, I separated him and put him in a hospital cage. Today we started another 10 day round of oral antibiotics as a precaution, and started back up with an aggressive wound protocol that's as follows:

8 AM (when I leave for work) - Vetricyn

11 AM (return from teaching) - Flush with lukewarm bottled water (picking sterile saline up tomorrow from the vet) and apply a thin coating of silver cream. Administer oral antibiotics.

3 PM - Vetricyn

7 PM - Vetricyn

11 PM - Flush again and apply a thin coating of silver cream. Administer oral antibiotics.

The wound is no longer bright red/raw looking. Instead it's a dark pink with white margins, with the exception of a very small area of dead skin in a ridge on the side of his neck. I've been applying cream to that area to soften it for removal.

However, this is my first go round with an abscess wound… much less one of this size. It's the size of a quarter or larger, and extends down the side of his neck as well. I was a bit worried today that it isn't healing very quickly or showing much if any signs of change. However, it's also showing no signs of infection or worsening.

With that being said, have any of you dealt with such a large abscess wound? Do you have pictures of the healing process with approximate time ranges? Is there a better protocol/medications/etc. that I should be trying? Am I being overly paranoid?   

(Note: I've called the vet back twice in the last week regarding this. He's very hard to get ahold of, but finally sent me a message back to proceed as I have been and to just watch it. So, I've already checked into seeing if a return trip to the vet is needed. However, if it comes down to it I'll of course go again!)

I believe time is the answer to this question. It could take a few weeks-month to heal. I am not 100% sure on the amount of medication you are using to me it seems like a lot.

Hoping someone with more experience will be along shortly.

Brenda, I thought so also but I was encourage to use the vet. 3-5 times per day.

I have had many wounds here larger than you describe.
The first step in great wound treatment is a wound assessment.  All wounds are not the same and no one treatment is appropriate for every wound.  Vetericyn is great stuff, but not the best option for every type of wound.  
Having said that, so long as the wound does not develop any complications, it should be completely healed in about 6 weeks.  However, if any complication arises (undermining, tunneling, infection, etc), then it usually extends the healing time to many months.  If this happens, you often have to change treatment protocols every 2-3 weeks until completely healed.  I am fortunate to have a wound care specialist as a good friend, so she has taught me a lot about tissue healing and all.  I recommend photographing the wound every 3 or 4 days and assessing whether or not your treatment protocol is working - and being ready/willing to switch it up if healing slows or stops or if any complication occurs.  
Good luck!

I think we've unfortunately experienced some wound tunneling. Until this past weekend he had a 'pocket' at the base of his wound. The skin that was lifted died and dried up, which his cage mates removed. We also have a small pocket that formed on the margins on the very side of his neck that is in the process of sloughing off with saline flushes twice daily. Is this what you mean by tunneling? If so, is there an alternative treatment that I should be exploring? I've been looking into ordering QuickDerm as I've heard great things about it. I also brought up the idea of changing antibiotics if this round results in no improvement.

Well, it's back to the vet we go tomorrow (two hour drive one way). Ry's neck has a "nasty spot" on the edge that has died and dried up. It's looking infected under it and needs removed.

We're currently using SMZ-TMP for an antibiotic twice daily. Is there another medication that we should look into? I debated Convenia since giving him oral medication is putting him under even more stress right now.

I will also be asking about QuickDerm.

Any other suggestions?

I don't know much, but Lan is on Clindamycin Hydrochloride oral drops and that seems to be a good antibiotic for abscesses. It might be worth looking into. Good luck.

Thanks Brenda! I'll mention that.

We're on the way to the vet now. Two hour drive on icy roads. Ugh!

Well, we're home! Just as I had suspected, the dead skin was trapping an infection beneath it. The vet trimmed away as much of the dead tissue as possible to leave clean margins (roughly 90% of that tissue is now gone), as well as cleaned out the pus pocket that had developed. We're now trying clavamox for ten days, as well as twice daily betadine cleanings. He also encouraged me to allow supervised colony time so that his cage mates can lightly clean his wound. We recheck in two weeks.

I hope it heals fast. Good luck!