Do babies ever nibble on mom enough to break the skin?

[Annews]

Hi, I adopted a female guinea pig from a couple who could no longer take care of her. She was about 4 months old. I discovered three weeks later she was pregnant. Long story short, everything went very well and she delivered four very healthy babies last weekend. I weigh them daily, weigh Mom daily post-parturm, and I understand the sole male baby will need to be separated at three weeks.

just tonight I noticed what appears to be a bite mark on mom's lower back. It was not there yesterday, I hold her daily just briefly to make sure she is doing OK. Do babies ever chew on Mom, or start nursing in the wrong place? This is so odd. There are no other adults in the cage, and she has never had any skin or hair problems--she has been checked by vet twice during her pregnancy.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Rywen]

That sore looks too big for baby teeth? I suggest checking guinealynx.com to see if it looks like any of the skin conditions (abscess, fungal, mites, etc.).

 

[pigger123]

Baby teeth are pretty sharp and they bite pretty hard, but I don't think they would do that. It looks like it's from something else, I also suggest looking at guinealynx.

By the way, I also adopted an unexpectedly pregnant girl, who also gave birth to 3 girls and a boy!

 

[Annews]

Thanks for your replies, I appreciate it! I didn't want to wait until Monday to get her seen, so I took to her to the emergency animal hospital because they had a vet on duty who is experienced with exotics (I called ahead to verify, and I have seen her before). She did not think it was mange/mites or a fungal infection but instead thought it was biting from the babies. She did not want to use an oral antibiotic because mom is still nursing, and evidently topical things like neosporin can impact GI flora (which I did not know). Instead, she gave me a topical, antimicrobial cream formulated for animals called Soother Plus (which I had not heard of before). Apparently very good and safe.

I will be taking her to my vet on Monday to follow up, I will let you know what regular vet says too and how this progresses.

 

[Soecara]

I find it unlikely the babies did it. The wound looks to big and would the babies even have the jaw power to break the skin of another guinea pig?

It is much more likely that the wound was self inflicted by the mother herself which is why Rywen said to look at the guinea lynx archives to try to determine why she would bite herself.

All forms of typical antibiotic/antimicrobial cream can be an issue to GI flora if ingested, so you need to use sparingly and rub it in really well so their is nothing for them to lick off and ingest. Neosporin is safe to use on guinea pigs so long as you use it as I said before.

I would still treat the cream the vet gave as any other antimicrobial cream and follow the same application rules, but reading up on it leads me to believe it does sound much safer to give to someone who didn't know how to use creams on guinea pigs whether or not it is as effective I am unsure of. However you don't really need any creams unless you have reason to suspect an infection, if you wanted to prevent abscess then it is too late as the wound has already scabbed over.

 

[Annews]

I *think* I have three girls and a boy, now that it is a week after their birth. Every night I look at each of them, comparing them to the pictures on https://www.cavyspirit.com/sexing.htm. It would be a comical picture of me doing that except I know how important it is to get that right. Of course I will confirm with my regular vet this coming Friday. @pigger123, how old were yours when you knew for certain you had three girls and a boy?

 

[pigger123]

I was able to sex them accurately when they were first born, but I wasn't absolutely positive until they were about 2 weeks old.

 

[Annews]

Hi,

Saw regular vet today who thinks red area was not from babies nibbling or from mom chewing/biting but instead from bacterial pyoderma. Because two new areas have surfaced--one on shoulder and a very small one on ear, she wants to treat systematically with SMZ--of course the problem with that is mom is occasionally still nursing. Babies are nine days old and on the one hand are eating up a storm with oxbow pellets for young GPs, hay, and fresh vegetables but on the other hand still have not completely weaned.

I couldn't find anything on the forum about antibiotics and nursing mothers and how much of a risk that is, even though that has to be balanced against clearing up this skin infection as we now see two new areas.

 

[Soecara]

From what I understand SMZ also known as bactrim is safer for younger pigs than any other antibiotic, so if they where to get some in her milk it shouldn't cause many issues. You could put them all on a pro-biotic just to play it safe (mum should be on one anyway if you are giving an antibiotic https://www.guinealynx.info/probiotics.html).

Did you talk to the vet about your concerns with the nursing pups?

 

[Annews]

@Soecara, I really apologize for the delay in replying to your last post, I had to deal with bloat in a couple of other pigs (which I will start a different thread for) and Savannah's condition was improving. The vet and I did talk about the nursing pups but on balance the vet felt it was important to get the skin condition under control, and as you mentioned it is safer for younger pigs than others. I did give Savannah on a probiotic (benebac) and kept her on it even after the antibiotic was finished. Just to cover all bases, the vet put her on the ivermectin protocol of three shots spaced apart. Her skin has completely cleared up, she is doing great, and her babies are fat and happy (well, not too fat

 

[Soecara]

That is great news, glad to hear everything worked out well. What genders did the babies end up being?

 

[Annews]

It ended up being three girls and one boy...I separated the male at three weeks, he is now with a spayed female and two other young males, they are a good group and all get along...he will be neutered when he is old enough.