Bite Wound, Hole in Face

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Sat Aug 18, 2018 3:31 pm


Wonderful!

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GrannyJu1
Supporter in '21

Post   » Sun Aug 19, 2018 10:49 am


Wow! She looks great!

GreysGuineaPigs

Post   » Thu Sep 20, 2018 4:26 am


Hey! I've talked about this a bit on their chronicle, but not on here. When I first got some of my girls, they had bad fungal infections and mites. They were treated and they're all healed now. Side note, ringworm is a flipping nightmare; I just finally got over it myself after two months of intense treatment...they had to culture mine, and it turns out I had a resistant strain...which means they did too! Anyway, back on topic, they all had several ketoconazole baths to help them get over the ringworm. The short-haired guineas are fine, but Maggie has been left with what the vet said is just dry skin and fur (like humans with long hair if we wash our hair too much without conditioner or a conditioning shampoo). Since it's not detrimental to her health, he didn't have any treatments to recommend, but I was wondering if anyone had any tips or products that may help? Someone recommended me Manuka & Neem Shampoo, but since required frequent bathing got us into this mess, it seems counterintuitive to bathe her more?

GreysGuineaPigs

Post   » Thu Sep 20, 2018 4:34 am


If this helps, we recently found out Maggie is also likely part Peruvian. I found this out by discussing with a guinea pig rescue about Maggies fur...the other abyssinian's fur never got very long, but Maggie's grows like a weed! It will get so long it'll start being floor length and she has to get regular cuts (I'm horrible at that, but learning), and after looking at Maggie she says she likely is at least half Peruvian! She does have some rosettes/cowlicks, so she may be mixed with an abby (she was a rescue, and her previous owners knew nothing about her as they got her from a pet store). So I don't know how that plays into their skin/hair care, as I'm not familiar at all with the breed.

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Thu Sep 20, 2018 7:39 am


I think one calls it guinea pig hair instead of fur (I read this somewhere). There are individual hair follicles.

Cold pressed coconut oil might be another thing you could use the moisten the skin and hair.

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GrannyJu1
Supporter in '21

Post   » Thu Sep 20, 2018 11:29 am


It's spendy but Gorgeous Guineas (from UK) has a great shampoo & conditioner. I have one of those fuzzy critters :o) whose hair picks up absolutely everything. The GG works great at keeping her hair and skin clean and conditioned.

GreysGuineaPigs

Post   » Thu Sep 20, 2018 11:45 am


Thanks for the correction Lynx! I'm pretty sure I've never heard anyone call it fur before, so I'm sure you're right. I'm so used to having dogs that I still slip up on the terminology! I have some cold-pressed virgin coconut oil that I could try on it. Is there anything specific I need to worry about, such as it being dangerous for them to lick off?

GrannyJu, I've been looking at their shampoos and conditioners, as someone else recommended those as well! Would bathing her in it be alright since it is a conditioning product? In other words, do you think the conditioning effects of the products would outweigh the drying-out effects of another bath? I've never used any GG products, so any advice is appreciated!

I also looked at an aloe vera melt that they have that is marketed for dry skin, has anyone tried that or have any opinions on it?

GreysGuineaPigs

Post   » Tue Sep 25, 2018 10:50 pm


Update: Maggie and I tried coconut oil first the other night since it was laying around. I rubbed it in well and wiped off the excess with a towel. I held her for quite a while afterward to make sure she wouldn't lick any spots I accidentally missed, just in case. Her hair already looks so much better, and her skin seems less dry.

On another note, last night I was holding her, and she started passing gas. We are talking LOUD, seemingly uncomfortable, extremely smelly gas. I felt her belly, and while it wasn't overly tight, it did feel more tight than usual. She had just finished eating, so that could have been part of the slight rigidity. It still seemed off to me, so I spent a while gently massaging her tummy. Since she never likes her belly touched, it was difficult to tell if it hurt or she was simply aggravated. She finally passed some poo, and by some, I mean a lot. They seemed normal in shape/size/consistency. Does anyone know if gassiness like this is normal in guinea pigs, or could it have been the beginning stages of bloat and needs an extra eye on kept on it/preemptive trip to the vet? I've heard of them passing silent but deadly gas, but not the high-pitched whine that accompanied hers last night.

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Tue Sep 25, 2018 11:09 pm


Has she been really gassy previously? I think keeping an eye on her and reading up on bloat (have some simethicone on hand) might be a good idea. Hopefully this will not be a problem. That the poops looked normal is a good thing. Antibiotics can affect the intestinal flora causing an overgrowth of bacteria (which can cause gas). Make sure she eats lots of hay.

GreysGuineaPigs

Post   » Wed Sep 26, 2018 1:50 am


Thanks, Lynx. She's never been gassy before that I've ever noticed, and definitely not like this. I put a little emergency kit together for them a while back, after being caught off-guard by their previous health issues, and I luckily put some simethicone in it just in case. I'm just not 100% sure how to know it's the right time to give it to her. I'm worried I'll either give it to her when she doesn't need it or I'll miss the signs and be too late getting it to her. Knock on wood, I've never had to deal with bloat with the girls before, so anything odd in their GI habits absolutely terrifies me. I've read a few bloat horror stories on different websites where they didn't catch the anorexia soon enough, and that's my biggest fear. She's has been fortunate enough to not to have had any antibiotics recently, so I don't know what has brought this on. I'm hoping it was just a piece of lettuce not agreeing with her or something and it passes on its own here soon. Since last night she's been on a hay and pellets only diet just in case it is the veggies acting up.

Another weird thing...tonight she kept dropping cecal poops and not eating them, I'd estimate about 10 of them. At first, I thought she was having really runny poos until I realized they were greener and extra stinky...then I knew for sure because she made a circle around the cage and came back and ate them off the fleece before I could get them cleaned up (sorry for the gross visual). After that, she went back to eating them as she normally does. It was like she just forgot that she was supposed to eat them for a minute.

I just felt her tummy a minute ago, and it felt very hard at first, but after she relaxed it felt fine, soft and squishy. It was as if she had tensed it up when I first touched it. I don't even know what's up with her tonight lol.

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Wed Sep 26, 2018 10:44 am


Very interesting about the cecal poops. I would guess either eating too much rich food or, much more likely, that it is painful or uncomfortable for her to reach back and get them.

bpatters
And got the T-shirt

Post   » Wed Sep 26, 2018 10:53 am


Don't clean them up -- let her eat them. That's what they're supposed to do.

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