Help Needed - Finding Wounds

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happybunny

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Hi,

We adopted 4 females from gumtree at the beginning of April to bond with our group of 3.

All went well with the bonding but now we have found 2 with wonds around their necks and upper front legs. We do not know has caused these wounds.

When watching them we see the normal "telling" off behaviour but nothing violent.

They are in a 8 foot by 5 foot area with 2 large dog beds full of hay, various other hidey holes and 3 food bowls and water bowls.

If necessary we will split the area into 2 but have no idea who to put where!

Of course we would prefer to keep them as a group of 7 and would welcome any ideas on how to reduce conflict or how to identify the culprit.

When we give veg all 7 come out and eat without any problems (apart from the occasional "I want what you have in your mouth" minor disagrrements).

Thank you inadvance. x
 
The best thing you could do is monitor their behaviour, if it's still inconclusive you could put in a divider in and just separate the 2 with wounds to see if that solves the issue. Not really sure what else to suggest :(
 
Yes, I'd agree with rosie and bramble about separating the 2 with neck wounds & then keep monitoring.

Have the wounds been treated or cleaned. It is essential to keep them free from infection because this sort of thing can lead to an abscess.
 
Please have your girls checked by a vet re. ringworm or other forms of fungal. They can often look like a wound at first, as the piggies will scratch/bite the painfully itchy spots and create a bloody scab. We seem to be dealing with a spate of fungal infections due to the warm, muggy weather. it is much more likely than a bloody fight!
https://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/threads/ringworm-hygiene-and-pictures.115402/

PS: With members from all over the world, we would be very grateful if you added your county or at least country to your details; that makes it much easier for us to give you tailored advice and recommendations. Just click on your username on the top bar, then go to personal details/location. Thanks!
 
Thank you for your responses.

We are actually treating them all for ringworm at the moment as one our original piggies is a frequent sufferer. She started showing signs of ringworm at the same time as the wounds appeared on the others. Her signs are a large flaky bald area with small scabs. The ones with wounds are a large scaby with not really flaking skin. Could this still be ringworm? We have only had the one piggie tested.

PS. I have added my country. x
 
Have a look at the pictures in the ringworm link I have given you in my last post! One of my sows stated out with a bloody scab that was looking like an injury and not like fungal at first; the picture if from the day after when a balding area started to become visible.

Yes, it could be ringworm as well, especially as you are already dealing with a case!

To be honest, bloody fights with bites amongst sows are very rare after a scuffle during the initial introduction. You would also see them typically on only one piggy, not two!

If you are faced with recurring ringworm, I would strongly recommend to ask your vet for itrafungol, a systemic oral fungal medication, which we have found to be very effective since it has been started to be increasingly used by piggy savvy vets for guinea pigs, too.You will also have to disinfect everything most thoroughly with an antifungal disinfectant like F10, every little nook and cranny - ideally at the beginning of the outbreak and then again at the end to make sure that no spores escape. Spores can stay live up to 18 months.
 
Thank you so much. I am really hoping its ringworm and then we can deal with it. Its been about 2 years since we had an outbreak (we had 3 in a short period) but it always seemed to be Pepsi that was the main concern. I think it started this time due to the newly bonded group and little scuffles that happen.

I will keep an eye on the 2 with wounds and hope its starts to clear up inline with pepsis ringworm. They have been on treatment (Nizoral orally and shampoo) for just over a week. Everything is been repeated disinfected to try and keep on top of things.

This is what the wounds look like.

http://guineapigmall.com/?sores-and-wounds,68
 
Ok thanks, that's the same ingredient as Nizoral, not seen it in tablet form before.
 
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