Injury Ahhhh... BOYS... our first real battle wound....

[FuryanGoddess]

So, over the last few days, the once nice harmony of their new 19 sq ft cage has once again been tossed out the window and discord has once again hit.

Darwin is probably around 5-6 mos old now... he was real tiny when we got him so I have no idea how old he is, but he's still not full grown.

Up until a few days ago, he and Mr. Dad were getting along well and it was just Gumball and Mr. D that had the issues...

WELL, last night, my daughter found a huge gash on the back of Gumball's neck.



LIKE OUCH!

So, I noticed, after we removed G and put D and Mr. D together, Mr D is mounting and mounting D and making him scream cause he's not digging it and G is FLIPPING out to stop it... cause he's still trying to be the boss and at this point, I can't tell if it's him or Mr. D. He was chewing on the bars and all that... Mr.D is chasing D around the bottom cage.. so, pick up Mr.D and G and switch cages... Mr.D on top, G and D together once again...

Instant silence.... Mr.D lays down, starts chopin' on some hay and G makes sure D is ok, and they all settle down... *sigh*

Here is today's view... looks like it's gonna heal fast and nice.



Mind you, there is only about a 14 hour difference in the pix and I put some ointment on it and well... there you go...

Worse than KIDS!

 

[Kim37040]

Poor baby. Hopefully it will heal quickly.

 

[pinky]

I'd have that seen by a vet. Guinea pig bites can abscess and I wouldn't want to risk it. The other thing is, that's an area where another guinea pig can ingest the ointment. It probably needs a good cleaning besides just applying an antibiotic ointment.

 

[pandaloki]

Ouch! Can't believe they could do that! It looks too big to be done by guinea pigs. May be they were being too rough on each other and piggy accidentally got caught on something? I don't know. Get well soon piggy!

 

[FuryanGoddess]

Ouch! Can't believe they could do that! It looks too big to be done by guinea pigs. May be they were being too rough on each other and piggy accidentally got caught on something? I don't know. Get well soon piggy!

That was my first thought.. Maybe he got cut on a zip tie or something? It's hard to say, really ... it's a clean slice so I'm not sure if it's teeth, zip, nail or what... there is no punctures anywhere by it and it doesn't appear to hurt him, though I'm not stupid enough to think that it doesn't hurt...

I looked and couldn't find any rouge zip ties.

 

[pinky]

Guinea pigs are prey animals so they're good at hiding pain. Did you clean out the wound at all? What kind of ointment did you apply? That's not a small wound so I'd be really concerned about the risk of infection.

 

[FuryanGoddess]

yes I cleaned it and made sure it's free of any hay or debris. It's clean and never actively bleed. There is no swelling or juiciness of it.. I'm gonna keep an eye on it though the day and if it starts to look worse, I will go and see the vet... He is acting and eating normally.

 

[Zuidy]

Oooh..... hope my piggies don't do that when I get them.

 

[Kim37040]

Check out guinealynx's list of acceptable topical antibiotic creams.
When my boys had particularly bad battle scars my vet gave me a topical steroid cream to assist in the healing and cut down on the itching that occurs during the healing process.

 

[foggycreekcavy]

At this point I wouldn't put anything on it. Just keep an eye on it. If he starts to scratch at it when it heals then you could soften it with coconut oil or vitamin E.

It looks like a bite wound to me. Guinea pigs can do some real damage with those big teeth of theirs!

 

[FuryanGoddess]

Ok... I'm gonna keep an eye on it and them. They're separated now... I think they will be happier that way