Injury How to address a substantial wound

[ThisFluffyFox]

I'm going to apologize in advance for the messiness of this thread; it's seven AM and I haven't been to sleep yet.

We're at the three week mark, so I finally went about introducing Char and Edelweiss, after talking to the vet again. It wasn't an easy introduction, and they still aren't really getting along, but they've stopped being ...jerks to each other- I stayed up with them just to monitor, since Edelweiss was a meany to Char at first.

The only time I left them was to grab their veg out of the fridge, and even then I was within hearing distance. But as I was dishing out the lettuce, I noticed Edele's fur was pink. Immediately I knew she was injured so I took a look and... I found out that I'm rather squeamish about blood. It wasn't BLEEDING a lot, but it look like a rather deep wound (forgive me, but it looks like someone made an inch long incision and pulled the skin back. Bleh)
It doesn't look like any bite wound to me, but I have no idea what else it would be. I don't even know WHEN it happened, since she made no sound. It doesn't seem to bother her at all, either, so for all I know, it could have been open and just not bleeding much the entire night.

I've rinsed the area with warm water, but I have no idea what to do next. How else would I go about cleaning it?

 

[bpatters]

Where is the wound? And how big is it?

 

[ThisFluffyFox]

It's directly below her ear. I'm going to trim the fur around the wound, since it keeps poking into the hole whenever it settles.
It's... maybe an inch? I'm really not good with eye balling measurements.

Wound Picture

 

[Inle_Rabbit]

Poor baby!

You should see a vet, that looks too deep and too large to treat at home.

 

[ThisFluffyFox]

I was almost counting on a vet trip for this.
Just waiting on the vet's office to open.

It has been a long and stressful night- for everyone.

 

[bpatters]

Ditto on the vet visit. It's too late to stitch it, but you may need to keep it flushed so it will heal from the outside in.

 

[ThisFluffyFox]

We just got back from our vet visit, and Edelweiss is absolutely pooped. She got two surgical staples across the wound because it was a LOT deeper than I had first thought. It was definitely a wide and gaping wound, though it really didn't bleed as much as I thought it would.

She was given a seven day regimen of sulfamethoxazole trimethoprim (Pretty sure I spelled that right).



She got some well deserved veggies and a small treat of fruit for being such a trooper today.

 

[labeadel]

Poor thing!

 

[daisy1cow]

Oh my, poor baby, they obviously do not like each other, or the other her. She looks so scared in the last pic. Give her extra kisses and a piece of lettuce for me!!

 

[Rywen]

Poor piggie, I hope she gets better fast!

 

[10nani39]

Warm wishes your baby heals fast.

 

[CavyEngineer]

That looks very scary! Did the vet prescribe pain meds?

 

[KaLeigh]

Poor piggy. Hope she heals well. Did the vet say what it was from?

 

[Christin Barnes]

Oh my goodness! I saw this thread the other day before you had taken her to the vet and I just now saw what happened! The cut is way worse than it looked in the first picture. Poor baby : (

 

[pigger123]

Poor little girl! I hope she feels better soon. How could that have happened?

 

[foggycreekcavy]

She was given a seven day regimen of sulfamethoxazole trimethoprim

That's Bactrim. It's pretty mild on a pig's stomach. Keep an eye for swelling, pus, or a bad smell, which would mean it's infected and a stronger antibiotic may be needed (or an additional one to the Bactrim).

Looks like a bite wound.

 

[ThisFluffyFox]

I've fallen a bit off the map here, my apologies. Life got real busy, real fast!

I've got to say, I was nervous about having to give her oral meds twice a day. But she was such a good girl. I didn't even have to hold her towards the end of the week; she willingly took everything without a single fight.

She had her staples taken out on Monday, and the vet students were absolutely enthralled by her. She got a full check up by the vet, and she insisted on greeting every student as they came to get their first glance at piggy teeth. She was all wheeks and sniffs throughout the entire thing. Her wound has healed up very nicely, and she was given the all clear! The vet complimented me on taking good care of her and commented on the poor condition of other pigs that were being brought in. I mentioned this website and she was happy to hear about such a well informed place! She wrote down the address and said that she'd be making sure that all piggy parents knew about it.

I asked again what could have caused it, just because I was confused. She said that her first instinct was to say it was a bite, but after looking at some of the pictures, she believes that it was Char's claws, due to the multiple parallel (but superficial) wounds that ran beside the main one. I mentioned Char's claws were still pretty long and that we were working on them, but they were incredibly tough and thick.

We discussed introducing them more slowly, but we are more than prepared to expand the cage and just have them live side by side if it comes to that. They already seem so much happier just having someone to talk to. Char is finally talking, and Edelweiss has gotten louder. She greets everyone with boisterous wheeks as soon as they get home.

So all in all, Edelweiss is all better. Only the tell tale sign of shortened fur is a reminder of what had happened!

 

[pigglelife]

So glad to hear of the positive outcome from a sad situation, poor piggle!

I've worked at a vet, and we learnt a good way to introduce entire adult male guinea pigs to another and prevent fighting is to actually bathe them with either baby shampoo or dog shampoo and then place them together in a completely cleaned out cage with fresh bedding.

This has worked for me with some of my own male guinea pigs who used to fight constantly.

It works to neutralise the whole zone as guinea pigs like most animals use smell as a territorial aid. Being freshly washed and in a clean cage can confuse them and in turn diffuses the situation!

It doesn't always work, but it could be worth a try for your girls! But obviously be careful not to place any shampoo on your piggies wound, and sit tight when doing introductions, start slowly and gradually leave them together for longer.

Good luck

 

[bpatters]

sit tight when doing introductions, start slowly and gradually leave them together for longer.

Actually, don't do this. When pigs meet, they immediately try to establish dominance. Every time you separate them and put them back together, they do the dominance bit all over again, and it's stressful for the pigs. Introduce them when you have plenty of time, and only do it once. Read https://guinea-pigs.livejournal.com/3002707.html -- it's got good information.