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Help please - guinea pig biting and scratching herself

holliep_

holliep_

New Born Pup
Joined
Jan 6, 2022
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Location
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Hello, reaching out to see if anyone has dealt with a similar problem or can offer any advice.

My piggie Rachel is 7 months old and has recently had two surgeries for an abscess on her neck. This has now healed well, but she is now scratching and biting her back as she had to wear a bandage around her body for around 2 months (the bandage was changed frequently, every day or so as she would always find a way to get it off!)

It seems the bandage has irritated her skin, she is always scratching and trying to gnaw at herself when it’s on. If we take it off she does the same and hurts herself and causes sores that bleed. Feeling stuck as not sure how to fix this for her, the bandage needs to come off but she hurts herself when it’s not being worn. I have bought ointment from the vets for mites but this doesn’t make much of a difference. She shares a cage with her sister who isn’t biting or scratching so I do not think it’s mites or lice. Aloe vera gel hasn’t worked either, I thought that may soothe her skin.

She’s definitely unhappy and fed up, after going through such a bumpy journey with her abcess removal it’s such a shame to have this issue with her skin. If this can be fixed for her she’ll be back to normal!

Any suggestions or advice would be greatly appreciated. thanks :)
 
Welcome to the forum

I am sorry to hear about this.

Was she given any painkillers?
Any other medications post surgery?

Is it definitely just irritation from the bandage?
Wounds arent normally covered after surgeries so do you know why the vet said she had to wear a bandage for two months?
 
Thank you,

She was having 0.6 baytril twice daily while suffering from her infection and also 0.2 Loxicom once a day for the pain after her surgery, this stopped around 3/4 weeks ago as the surgery wound has fully healed / no sign of any infection in her neck anymore
 
holliep_ said:
Hello, reaching out to see if anyone has dealt with a similar problem or can offer any advice.

My piggie Rachel is 7 months old and has recently had two surgeries for an abscess on her neck. This has now healed well, but she is now scratching and biting her back as she had to wear a bandage around her body for around 2 months (the bandage was changed frequently, every day or so as she would always find a way to get it off!)

It seems the bandage has irritated her skin, she is always scratching and trying to gnaw at herself when it’s on. If we take it off she does the same and hurts herself and causes sores that bleed. Feeling stuck as not sure how to fix this for her, the bandage needs to come off but she hurts herself when it’s not being worn. I have bought ointment from the vets for mites but this doesn’t make much of a difference. She shares a cage with her sister who isn’t biting or scratching so I do not think it’s mites or lice. Aloe vera gel hasn’t worked either, I thought that may soothe her skin.

She’s definitely unhappy and fed up, after going through such a bumpy journey with her abcess removal it’s such a shame to have this issue with her skin. If this can be fixed for her she’ll be back to normal!

Any suggestions or advice would be greatly appreciated. thanks :)
Click to expand...

Hi

I would recommend to see your vet in case there is an issue with the wound healing; which can be the cause of persistent discomfort.

PS: What mites product have you got from your vet and how piggy savvy are they?
 
What did the vet check for other than mites?
 
Sorry didn’t see the last part of your message, I’m thinking it’s irritation from the bandage as the ointment for mice/lice hasn’t made a difference.

They initially placed a bandage around her to hold a pad with manuka honey on her neck (she had a big wound which took a while to heal). The infection came back so she needed another surgery / started the whole process again. She needed dressings with manuka & re bandaging daily after this and was scratching at her sides so we had to keep it covered, she has some hair loss in the area where the bandage has been for an extended amount of time and this is where she scratches/bites.

When the 2nd operation wound healed fully we took the bandage off thinking she’d go back to her normal self but she was still scratching at her sides a lot, causing sores so the bandage has been kept on for a prolonged time to stop her from hurting herself again.

The vets said it needs to come off asap as she could get pressure sores and suggested getting a jumper made? I did this but she gets her legs out of it and her feet get stuck in the knitting, so that’s no good. Really want to get to the bottom of this and I don’t think a jumper is going to solve the underlying issue
 
They only checked for mites and haven’t suggested anything else. They aren’t specialists in exotics but are very experienced and used to dealing with piggies. The ointment is Surolan ear drops and cutaneous suspension

Think i will take her back to the vets
 
Unfortunately it’s not a good idea to dress guinea pigs. They have sensitive spines.

Did the wound reach the area she is scratching now? I would get her back to the vet as the scratching is still ongoing. Perhaps one from the list if there are any near you.

Mites are treated over a period of time. If I remember correctly, it’s 3 doses every 2 weeks.

Recommended Guinea Pig Vets
New piggy problems: URI - ringworm - skin parasites
 
No the wound was on the opposite side of her body and isn’t connected to where she’s scratching. One of the vets is fairly local so I will give them a try!

Thank you very much, this is very useful information. I’m going to try the ivermectin product from the vet which will hopefully clear up the irritation
 
holliep_ said:
No the wound was on the opposite side of her body and isn’t connected to where she’s scratching. One of the vets is fairly local so I will give them a try!

Thank you very much, this is very useful information. I’m going to try the ivermectin product from the vet which will hopefully clear up the irritation
Click to expand...

Could you take a picture and upload it by using the 'attach file' button under your new post so we get a bit better idea of what is going on? We can only go by your words with your own interpretation and don't have any other measure of giving us independent clues of what is going on. This the big drawback when running a forum.
 
Does she still need her bandage? Normally wounds are left open to allow air in for better healing.
 
I tried this 2 days ago however she started biting/scratching at the area and caused a bleeding wound within 10 minutes. I’ve been dressing this with manuka honey and it’s healing well. She cries when she scratches it which is heartbreaking. Keeping it covered protects it for the time being so she can’t harm herself but I want to get the bandage off as soon as possible
 
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