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A Small, Very Sore Cut

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tokyoblues

tokyoblues

Junior Guinea Pig
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Yoshi has a small, bloody cut inside of her ear. I gently touched it with my nail to see if it was tender and she absolutely freaked out. So it looks as though it is very sore! The outside of the ear is also a bit red and quite hot.

I think she may have got it in a fight, since there was an issue with my other guinea pig Rio asserting her dominance and picking on Yoshi and the littlest one, Rookie. But I haven't seen them fighting for weeks so I think they've settled down. I really hope I don't have to get rid of one of them or separate them...

This is the cut and the outside of Yoshi's ear:
image_zpsff3c5bc6.jpg

E1130F6D-CD4D-461B-880A-BEBF07C86B01_zpsyhxowxuy.jpg


I don't know if this is a silly question, but should I take her to the vet? I obviously don't want her to get an infection or something similarly horrible but I don't want to waste the vet's time if it's just something that I could take care of myself.

sorry if this is just me being silly, but I'm worried about her :/

Thanks
 
I think as she is so sensitive it would be good to get her checked out. Also ask the vet to rule out anything like ear mites or fungal which would make her scratch, though it does sound like it was caused by the fight. The vet should be able to clean it up and give her pain relief too.
 
one of mine has a scab on her ear i presume from a fight but she is in a group of six and they all seem to be fine with each other so just keeping an eye on things
 
Please have her seen by a vet. I agree with helen that the possibility of fungal or mites needs to be checked.
 
Alright then, thank you. I'll take her to the vets on Thursday. Until then, should I clean the blood from around the outside of the cut, or would it be best to just leave it?
 
You could bathe the ear in cooled boiled water but if she is in pain I would leave it.
 
The vet gave Yoshi painkillers and a five day course of antibiotics, and she said that the torn ear should heal up fine if she finishes her medication. She also said that the reason Rio smacked her in the first place was probably because they were fighting over the water bottle! I didn't know that they needed more than one water container, so I feel a little guilty about it :/ but I bought another water bowl and I'm at least relieved that she's going to be okay now!
 
All the best! Some piggies can be more dominant than others, but if you have a dominance food/hidey hogger, it is best to have two of each other and to have the same item spaced at least a body length away from the other one.
 
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