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Wound care

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AbiS

AbiS

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Hi All,

I used to have guinea pigs as a child however I now have my first pair in 20 years. I have 2 4month old boars (Toby and Barney) who came from the same litter.

On Friday I noticed that Barney has a little chunk out of his nose half way between the end of his nose and his eye. It looks really red although is not bleeding and appears healthy and not infected. Although I don't know who this happened I suspect that he might have irritated Toby. They do not fight other than little dominance spatz that I'm not worried about, they get on really well otherwise.

Barney is absolutely fine in himself: eating everything, running, playing, popcorning. If this was a wound on a human I would stick some antiseptic cream on and just keep an eye. I don't feel it requires a vet appointment.

I hope I don't make people roll their eyes - I just want to do whats best for my little man and so wanted to take advice on if there was anything else I should be doing other than keeping an eye to make sure it doesn't get infected. Should I use antiseptic? if so what do I use? Do I need to clean it?

Thank you for any advice

Abi
x
 
It could be a scratch wound, but it also sounds like it could be the beginning of ringworm, a fungal infection that can transmit to other other pets and even humans. Please make sure that you wash your hands well after touching him.

You can clean any wound with saline solution, which you make from 1 tsp of salt dissolved in 1 pint of boiled, cooled water.

Here is more information on ringworm:
http://www.guinealynx.info/fungus.html

If you find that the area is spreading, please contact us again and we will give you tips on hiw to deal with ringworm. Until you are sure that it is or is not, be careful to use only very god hygiene.

Ps: this
 
Hi, welcome to the forum.

Some good advice by Wiebke above. Keep an eye on it, hopefully it is just a scratch from as you say From a spat between them. But if it starts to get bigger or look more angry, I would get a quick check up with a vet to rule out Fungal, as fungal infections especially ringworm can be very tricky to get rid of and spread between piggies and humans, so the earlier you catch it the better.

Hope it is nothing and looking forward to hearing more about your two boys. Keep us updated on him.
 
Thank you both. I will keep an eye for a couple of days and if there is no improvement I will take him to the vets. On closer inspection, with ringworm in the back of my mind (not literally), I am starting to think that it may not be a bite/scratch as it would be quite difficult to leave such a uniform, round wound that way.

Must go and get changed now as Barney has just peed all over me!
 
If it's just a wound from fighting, you could just apply a little Savlon or Germoline daily. The same happened to Minnie when we got her, she started a fight with Mousey & ended up with a double vee shaped scratch on her nose which started to scab over but then fell out with some fur & looked very red. I'd originally applied Germoline on the scratch before the fur & scab fell off a week later. I then applied Savlon for about a week & it healed up perfectly. I just used a cotton bud for application. If it's not a wound then best to get him to a vet.
 
Great advice above about ring worm! But I'd also say if it IS a wound, keep a very close eye that your piggies aren't fighting when you're not around. Check their fur for more as my boars lived together perfectly for the first 4/5 months, from the same litter, and suddenly began to fight. After one fight i had whitnessed and a cut on one of their ears i thought they had stopped and didn't realise the severity until I found 3 or 4 wounds on my piggies that I'd not noticed at the time! I didn't notice any blood and one of my piggies is white so it's important to check their fur for fight wounds if you think this is a possibility. Hope it's not though as I've now had to permanently separate my piggies and its not a nice thing to have to do! X
 
so far so good!

Looks like it is not ringworm as the raw area has been healing nicely. I'm keeping a very close eye on him just in case it deteriorates or he develops more scabby areas. Am hoping the fur will grow back as well.

I also have not seen any signs of fighting and neither of the boys have any other wound. Fingers crossed it was a one off.
 
I clearly spoke far too soon. Came home from night shift this morning and the sore looked like the top had come off and I cant decide if the area is looking bigger. On the basis that it is therefore ringworm or some other skin condition or it is a wound that isn't healing and so is at risk of developing an infection I have just made an appointment for the vets tomorrow.

Will let you know what happens

x
 
Definately the best idea to get it checked over by a vet, let us know how you get on.
 
So Barney has been to the vets. Cant believe the consultation fee - £19 for 10mins. Not that I begrudge paying that for my little man but I think I must be in the wrong career!

Anyway -the most important thing is that Barney is absolutely fine. It is a wound rather than fungal infection. Still not sure how he got it but this morning I worked out why it wasn't healing. I went outside to give them their morning carrot and Barney is so impatient that as soon as he sees me he starts chewing the bars. I realised that the bar next to the one he was chewing was rubbing right where the wound is. I'm not entirely sure what to do about this. I think if it is preventing it healing I will have to put their run into the garage and keep them in that until is as healed. The run has mesh rather than bars so he cant chew it.

In the meantime I have been given some Cutimed Gel to apply to the wound 3 times a day to help with healing.
 
Good news! Hope it heals quickly. Thanks for the update!
 
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