• Discussions taking place within this forum are intended for the purpose of assisting you in discussing options with your vet. Any other use of advice given here is done so at your risk, is solely your responsibility and not that of this forum or its owner. Before posting it is your responsibility you abide by this Statement

Advice on how to stop Gert scratching her wounds

Status
Not open for further replies.
helen105281

helen105281

Senior Guinea Pig
Joined
Jan 27, 2010
Messages
18,877
Reaction score
10,563
Points
2,155
Location
Herts
Hi, as some of you may have seen on my other thread Gert is currently being treated for mites but has lots of open wounds so is on antibiotics too.

However she keeps sratching so hard still that she opens her wounds back up as they start to heal. She only had the ivomec on Wednesday and am assuming it is not instant but I would appreciate any advice on stopping her scratching so much. We have been putting sudocrem on and bathing them in a saline soultion but she just reverses any good we are doing by scratching them.

Thanks for your help :)
 
Sadly you can't stop her scratching & whilst it is extremely disheartening, once the ivomec kicks in (usually after the 2nd dose) she will stop & the hair will re-grow. Each time she knocks the scab off the scab will be getting smaller but I wouldn't use any cream on her as this may encourage her to lick the area.
 
Same thing happened with Dindypig, We put a large (knee) sized piece of stockinette with a couple of arm holes cut into it to make a vest. (see picture) We made several so that she could have them changed regularly.
You can just see the raw patch behind her shoulder, this went quite a way back down her flank. Thie vest didn't stop her scratching imediatly but did stop her shredding her skin long enough to let it heal and reduce the inflamation and irritation.
A large sock or similar would do. If Gert manages to keep pulling it off then you could try putting small socks on her back feet.

DSC00147-1.jpg
 
Thanks Niki, that means we have to wait a week until her next dose (appointment is the 17th) will stop the sudocrem and just keep up with the saline, though she wouldn't let us near it just now. Though she is licking the salt of my partner's arm at the mo.
 
Thanks Dindypig too, will look into that over the weekend, may nick one of Ross' socks as mine are too small (Gert is quite round).
 
Peter Gurney recommends the tubi grip to stop piggie scratching and to allow time for an infection to heal. i used one when on of my piggies had a skin condtion. ONly for a couple of days but it deffo helped..
 
Thanks Devonbelle. Will definitely try to make something.
 
Farquhar said:
Peter Gurney recommends the tubi grip to stop piggie scratching and to allow time for an infection to heal. i used one when on of my piggies had a skin condtion. ONly for a couple of days but it deffo helped..
Click to expand...

Sorry I missed your post, may go to chemists tomorrow then for a largish tubi grip. Got 2 Peter Gurney books on the way from ebay. Should be my weekend reading.
 
The reason i didn't post about tubigrip is because altho it can help the exisiting wound/s it *can* also create more.

I have seen a pig covered similarly but where the tubigrip ended on the body it'd flattened the hair. The pig, still in a bad attack of mites, consequently scratched those areas raw too meaning it now had more open wounds than when it started. However, once ivomec was established all sores healed & the hair did grow back.
 
My Boris scratched at himself like that to when he was ill, i applied 99.9% aloe vera gel to the wound 3-4 times a day, it didnt totally fix it but it helped to stop some of the itching, goodluck
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top