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Males - Wounds from fighting?

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PATCH AND CLARA

PATCH AND CLARA

Junior Guinea Pig
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I am a bit concerned today to find that two males in our set of three both have scabby bloody wounds to their sides just before their front legs on both sides and a smaller one each on the top of their heads!
The ones on their sides are about the size of a 5p maybe slightly larger and the one on the tops of their heads are about the size of the end of a biro.
I am concerned that this may be firght wounds or I came across in my piglopaedia a condition called demodicosis.
Please can somebody offer advice? We bathed all three together with a lice/mite shampoo incase it was a skin condition and then I wiped the areas with some hibi. The third boy has no injuries at all on him.
Please help if you can.
 
From your description is sounds like mites to me. You will have to bathe the pigs every week for 3 weeks to ensure they are rid of the mites. The wounds should heal very quickly.

If the boys are happy living together then there's no need to separate them - do keep a very close eye that they are not being bullied as mites can flare up in stressed pigs so the wounds may be self inflicted but they could still not be happy living with each other.

What are their ages and how big is their cage? A trio of males can be a tricky one to keep the peace in.

Suzy
 
Oh right, would you think that it would be odd for them both to have the same three wounds in the same three places then? They are all brothers that are 13 months old. They live in an area about 1 metre by about 80cm. If it is mites, would the third one not show symptoms?
Thanks Della
 
We have used the Johnsons Insecticidal shampoo on all. Just in case it was fighting we have removed the log roll house which they argued a bit over and place three separate piles of safebed in three different corners so they have a bed each. They are now all laying down quietly in a bed each.
 
Mites often flare up when a pig's immune system dips - this can be from stress so if the uneffected pig is bullying the other two he won't be showing signs - I had a group a four brothers, 3 years old that came in suffering from dreadful mite infestations - all except the largest and most aggressive who only had a mild case.Their story is on my rescue blog if you'd like to know more about them - http://guinearescue.blogspot.com/2010/05/just-arrived.html

It may be that his immune system is coping better than their's is and there's no distress in the group, just mites doing their yucky thing.

1 metre by 80 cm isn't very large for three adult males - even ones that adore each other. If it's at all possible I'd recommend a larger space or add another level if you can.

Suzy x
 
It could well be mites. Are there any tufts of hair loose or in their house? My two boys took a little while to settle into their new home and had a couple of nasty scraps resulting in George ending up with a bitten ear, head and bum! The marks were red / bloody sore but also missing clumps of hair which I found in his bed. They've settled now thankfully!
I've got another 3 boys who live together as well, they have a 5ft by 31/2 ft space and need it!
It's probably worth a trip to the vets to be sure. I took George to check and discovered one bite had got infected so he's been on antibiotics.
Gerry didn't have a scratch on him!
 
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