Injury Body covered in Scabs and Wounds

[hkwalker1]

I have 3 piggies, all 3 males, 2 of which are approximately 10 months old while the other is about 4 months old. One of the 10 month olds, Caramel, has wounds all over his lower body. I had no idea until I noticed a small wound in one of his callicks, and only upon shaving the area did I notice more. There has been no noticable changes in appetite, drinking, sleeping, etc. He does occasionaly fight with the older pig, which is a recent development that I attribute to (hopefully) teenage years. My question is whether these look self inflicted or not. They are only in areas he could reach, and some look fully scarred over, even though they only started fighting in the last month. I will include an image. I have have cream and pain medicine from a guinea pig injury that happened months ago. The white-appearing stuff is the cream i applied from the last vet visit. Any advice would be helpful

 

[bpatters]

I'd be worried about those wounds abscessing, and take him to a vet. Is he scratching himself at all?

FYI, three males together almost NEVER works, and a four-month-old just coming into full puberty is going to keep things upset for quite a while. My recommendation is to get another and split them into two cages.

 

[Soecara]

Guinea pigs do heal quite fast so it is possible for all of the injuries to have occurred within a month. They don't look like typical self inflicted wounds to me, but you should be able to deduce if they are or not by seeing if more occur when he is separated from the other males, and I would suggest you do keep him in a separate cage to the other males.

These kinds of issues are pretty common when housing three boars together which is one of the big reasons why we strongly recommend not to try and house three boars together, as it almost never works out except in exceptionally rare circumstances.

The wounds should heal fine just make sure to rub that cream in very well, as in to the point where you can't see it anymore, as you don't want him to be able to ingest any while grooming himself. Just watch for any signs of infection as I personally have had a boar develop an abscess two months after a similar injury on his shoulder.

 

[hkwalker1]

Is it simply because there’s three rather than more? I often see many many male guinea pigs kept in large areas together for breeding. Is there any chance I can keep them together if I make the cage larger? I’m looking into a 2x5 c&c cage w/ a wide loft on top. At the moment I have a 2x4 c&c cage.

 

[hkwalker1]

Also, in reply to the scratching, he is not scratching himself. He also doesn’t seem to be in any pain since he hardly reacts when I apply the cream.

 

[bpatters]

A 2x4 isn't large enough for two males, much less three. A 2x5 isn't really large enough for three.

Sometime people can manage large herds of males in large enclosures, but three almost never works. And I wouldn't take breeders who keep animals in large pens as any sort of good example. Those pigs may or may not be existing peacefully with each other, and I doubt seriously that the breeders are doing much checking of the individual animals to see what kind of wounds they may have. Responsible breeders don't keep their animals in that fashion.

 

[hkwalker1]

What would be the best option for them, then?

 

[bpatters]

I answered that in post #2 -- get another one and split them into two LARGE cages.