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Torn Out Hair, Sore Patch And Whether To Bathe!

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AmyAnn

AmyAnn

Junior Guinea Pig
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Hello!
I'm currently fostering a little sow from the animal shelter I volunteer at. She's been diagnosed as (most likely) having a UTI and is now on Baytril and Loxicom.
Now she's on antibiotics I've seen a big improvement just two days in, no smelly wees and poos are returning to normal too.
I was planning to bathe her as she's gotten very dirty around the bottom, however (and here's the question..) overnight she has ripped out a chunk of her own hair around her bottom. I found the clump of hair this morning and she has a bald patch which is approx the size of half a little fingernail. It's looks raw and sore, kind of if you'd ripped your skin off!
She's due her next dose of Loxicom shortly so hopefully she won't be in discomfort, she must have been to rip it out though - so it's making me think she definitely needs a small bum bath as the skin/hair in that area is irritating her, but is that a bad idea with a technically open wound? I would use warm water only, no guinea pig soap.
And whether I bathe or not, is it ok to gently rub in some human antiseptic cream - savlon/bepanthan?

She's such a cutie, still been so sassy throughout all this so hoping it's a quick recovery!
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Just to add, I've given her a thorough check over now and it looks like she's been pulling out other chunks too but they are in the process of healing.
The bum area particularly on one side is looking quite patchy, I would assume this isn't mites or something as she has just come back from an overnight stay at the vet on Friday so I would hope they'd have picked up on this!
She's been wet around the bum for at least a couple of weeks now as we had to bulk her up with syringe feeding before she could go under general and have a proper check over (weren't sure if it was teeth, bladder stones etc) so it may just be a build up of all that now having an effect on her skin.
Nonetheless, I'll look at some of the skin condition threads with photos on here.
Any advice gratefully received!

I managed to get this shot of the current wound on her bottom, blurry legs as on the move..
DSC_0425.webp
 
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Hi! That looks nasty! I would strongly recommend to disinfect it with saline solution or hibiscrub and to have it seen by your vet to make sure that it is not caused by mange mites or fungal. For that reason, I would also recommend to wait with bathing or any other treatment until you have it seen.
 
Wiebke said:
Hi! That looks nasty! I would strongly recommend to disinfect it with saline solution or hibiscrub and to have it seen by your vet to make sure that it is not caused by mange mites or fungal. For that reason, I would also recommend to wait with bathing or any other treatment until you have it seen.
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Ok will give that a go. Will start making some saline solution :D
 
AmyAnn said:
Ok will give that a go. Will start making some saline solution :D
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Please be aware that the more you do to the woun, the more difficult a diagnosis becomes.
 
Looks like urine scald to me- personally id wash her bum very gently with warm water to get rid of the urine and make sure shes bedded on an area that she isnt sitting on her wee. Change sleeping areas regularly to keep them dry. Bathe the scalded areas with saline solution, pat until completely dry them apply sudocream- Sudocream is excellent for urine scalding. seeing the vet to rule out any other issues would be advised still x
 
Adelle said:
Looks like urine scald to me- personally id wash her bum very gently with warm water to get rid of the urine and make sure shes bedded on an area that she isnt sitting on her wee. Change sleeping areas regularly to keep them dry. Bathe the scalded areas with saline solution, pat until completely dry them apply sudocream- Sudocream is excellent for urine scalding. seeing the vet to rule out any other issues would be advised still x
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Thanks Adelle, I think you're right. When applying the saline I got a good look at the area and the bit that looked potentially mangey was just dried poo and dried pee! She has been ever so wet around the bum while we were waiting for the vet to diagnose - they didn't want to give any antibiotics/pain relief until they knew what it was in case of overloading kidneys etc.
Have found an image of urine scald on guinea lynx and looks very similar. Will still get it checked out to be sure :)
 
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