Fighting Guinea Pig has an injured lip. First aid treatment?

[Parafrosyni]

Hello Everyone!

I'm new to this forum and to Guinea Pigs. I have 3 boys named Teemo, Gnar, and Bjorne. They have all been separate since I got them because I did not have a big enough cage to house all 3 of them. I recently purchased a cc cage that is big enough for 3 piggies to live comfortably. I tried introducing them yesterday but it didn't go so well. I followed all the instructions from this website: https://jackiesguineapiggies.com/Companionship.html
But it still didn't work. Teemo and Gnar had a fight and Gnar injured his lip last night and that's when I decided to put up a cage divider to separate Teemo. Gnar and Bjorne are living together now, but Gnar hasn't eaten anything since last night. I already called our vet and unfortunately, there's no available spot until tomorrow afternoon :sad: Gnar is having difficulties eating hay, veggies and his pellets. Does anyone know what I can do in the meantime to help Gnar?

 

[SardonicSmile]

Do you have a picture of the wound?


one of mine ended up with a split lip after a fight and that healed without any treatment, but she could eat without trouble while healing.

 

[Parafrosyni]

Sorry, I couldn't take a better shot :x

 

[SardonicSmile]

It looks a lot like what my piggie had, only mine had the bottom lip.

The advice I got was keep an eye and a nose out for infection (look and smell for something funky), but wounds like these tend to heal well without help.

Other people will probably chime in with more advice.

are you sure he hasn't eaten anything?

 

[Parafrosyni]

Yes, I'm sure that he hasn't eaten anything yet. I stayed up all night so I can monitor him and Bjorne together. At first I could see him trying to eat some of his pellets but after a couple of minutes he left. I gave him some lettuce (his favourite treat) and he took one bite and left again. I tried giving him some more this morning but he wouldn't touch it. He's just lying down on his bed.

 

[miniver]

It's very important for guinea pigs to keep eating. Can you feed him a pellet mash, or cut up some soft veggies into little pieces?

 

[bpatters]

If he's not eating, he needs to see a vet. He could be developing an infection that affects his appetite.

You'll also need to hand-feed him. See https://www.guinealynx.info/handfeeding.html for instructions on how to do that.