Tattered ears

[jjodie2303]

Hello I have noticed that one of my degus has tattered ears that are quite cold to touch I haven't noticed any dried up blood around them but you can't be too carefully. Does anybody know what the problem is and is it normal. My mother seems to think the other degu is nibbling on his ears but I have not noticed as such. What do you think?? Xx

[jenowuk]

The skin of a degu's ears is very thin and easily damaged. The most common form of injury is through dominance fighting. How old are you boys? Could they be scrapping?

You mentioned his ears are cold to the touch (which is normal, they use them as a heat exchange to regulate body temperature), but when you've touched them, has he pulled away? Is there any indication that it hurts him?

Degus defintitely groom each other vigorously, and can can cause bald spots doing that! But haven't heard of them doing it enough to damage the ears...

[jjodie2303]

Ok thanks and they are about 6 months old and no it doesn't hurt him when you touch his ears xxx

[jenowuk]

At that age, it probably is just normal dominance fighting that's getting a little enthusiastic. They're basically adolescents, and play fighting is normal behaviour! Just jeep an eye for any other cuts or blood.

[jjodie2303]

Ok thank you I will xx

[yasmin]

Two of mine, Rei and Gi, have tattered ears. It also happened when they were less than a year old. My vet thought that it was either over grooming by another goo or a vasculitis where the tips of their ears are robbed of blood supply and therefore slough off. He prepared me for the chance that their toes and fingers could start falling off as well.

Don't know what it was actually caused by but when I separated them from their mom, Peridot, and their sisters, Meiyo and Jin, their ears healed and stopped becoming more tattered. (Separated them several times and put them back but each time I put them back with the others, their ears would become even more tattered and bloody.) They are now over 2 years old; their ears are permanently scarred but they are doing well and have shown no further issues.

[jjodie2303]

Oh ok thank you we said we would take them to the vets if it got worse but that is quite useful to know thanks. At the minute we don't separate them because they seem to panic and chattering there teeth so we keep them together, apart from when they go in there exercise balls and then only one panics and has to be handheld whilst the other plays. But we are trying to get them used to being apart xx

[ntg]

Can I ask why you are getting them used to being apart?

Separation is very distressing for degus as they are so social, so it's something we really don't recommend unless they would still have other degus for company, and even then only in circumstances where it's detrimental to their health to be separated. The only times mine are apart is during vets visits (keeping an eye on three degus who don't travel well and one who is far too curious for his own good wouldn't end well), and during one-on-one training where they can still see and interact with each other through the cage, and only lasts a few minutes at a time.

The ears can get a little battered at times, one of my younger boys has a small tear through the centre of his ear from dominance mounting, as they sometimes get too good a hold with their front paws. Sometimes these things can be exacerbated by stress, so it's important to check all aspects of their environment and diet to see if anything could be setting the behaviour off.

[jjodie2303]

Im not getting them used to being apart but it's when they go Into exercise balls they are apart and when you take one out to stroke I do try and avoid them being apart xxx

[jjodie2303]

I was only meaning them being apart for times where one has to go to the vet or anything xx