Guinea pig open wound

[aoifeo30]

Hi everyone,
I rescued this lovely Guinea pig who was dumped in a lady’s porch two weeks ago. He looks to be approx 5 months old and appears healthy, but a little under weight. I noticed a few small scabs on his neck area when I looked through his fur. They seemed to be healing fine. After a few days I noticed the scabs had been picked and there is now an open wound. I am a final year student nurse so I had wound cleaning and dressing supplies at home, and used normal saline to wash the area. The wound scabbed again but he seems to be picking the scab off every time it starts to heal. Now it is looking worse and there is exposed tissue. He will not leave any bandages covering it. Does anyone have any tips? I will include pictures of the wound on different days and how it has progressed aswell. (The open, pink coloured wound is the latest picture).
Thank you!

 

[Siikibam]

Your best course of action is to get your boy seen by the vet. You can do a general check at the same time.

Please also add your location to your profile. County/state or country will do.

 

[David Piggie Lover]

Oh poor piggie. . Well done taking the little love in. Think a vet check be best piggie might need course treatment in case infection. .
Lots threads on here to help. .
Welcome

 

[Wiebke]

Hi everyone,
I rescued this lovely Guinea pig who was dumped in a lady’s porch two weeks ago. He looks to be approx 5 months old and appears healthy, but a little under weight. I noticed a few small scabs on his neck area when I looked through his fur. They seemed to be healing fine. After a few days I noticed the scabs had been picked and there is now an open wound. I am a final year student nurse so I had wound cleaning and dressing supplies at home, and used normal saline to wash the area. The wound scabbed again but he seems to be picking the scab off every time it starts to heal. Now it is looking worse and there is exposed tissue. He will not leave any bandages covering it. Does anyone have any tips? I will include pictures of the wound on different days and how it has progressed aswell. (The open, pink coloured wound is the latest picture).
Thank you!

Hi!

Great that you are looking after a piggy in need.

Please have your piggy vet checked and discuss with the vet whether the wound could be caused by mange mites etc. which can be the reason why it is persistently being gnawed open again - this is usually a sign of pain or major discomfort in the skin or just underneath. As long as you only address the symptom and not any underlying cause, you will not get anywhere significant.

Please do not treat on spec and especially do not treat with low dosed broad spectrum pet shop products which are not designed to cut through a serious acute infestion/reservoir in the skin. If it is mange mites, then this requires a vet grade product and ideally injections rather than a spot on.

A general vet check is always recommended, especially in neglected new arrivals. This guide here gives you information of the most common issues that can come with new arrivals: New guinea pigs: Sexing, vet checks&customer rights, URI, ringworm and parasites

PS: I had to wait nearly 5 months and weather two adoption cancellations when my reserved Pili Pala repeatedly kept gnawing open an area in the skin like yours due to a mange mite egg reservoir in her skin after being rescued as a baby from a true hellhole with a number of piggies in bad state; many pregnant. Eventually it became more of a nervous habit than actually a mites issue. She did get over it in time but retained a life-long bald spot on her side where she had destroyed the hair roots.

 

[Betsy]

Well done for taking in the little boy. He looks a lovely little chap. What's his name? A vet visit is required to check that there is no infection.

 

[VickiA]

I also agree that the best course of action is to take him to a vet to find the cause of the problem & then to get the right treatment.
He looks a real cutie. What’s his name?

 

[Merab]

Good for you giving that boy a loving home.
A vet check is the wisest step.
He is gorgeous.
Hopefully when he’s better and more settled we will see more pictures of him.