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Post by mattandhis3degus on Nov 20, 2016 1:38:40 GMT
About half an hour ago I had Humphrey out of the cage and Sammy in the top half of the cage. Humphrey climbed onto the table that I have next to the cage and started trying to get at Sammy, but as he was on the outside and it's a metal cage, I thought that they would just argue through the cage bars. Instead, Sammy's tail must have gone through the bars, even through Sammy was facing Humphrey, because Humphrey was able to bite it and cause the horrific injury you can see in the photos below. It is absolutely appalling what he has done. If this was a person I would have been straight onto the police. I can only keep them permanently separated now, making sure that Humphrey can't even get close to the cage where Sammy is. But what on earth can I do about the injury? It makes me feel sick to see it and I'm not the one who has been injured.  
I know that the second image is sharper but in the first one you can see the white part of the tail more clearly. |
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Post by deguconvert on Nov 20, 2016 3:02:36 GMT
Sammy will likely remove the remaining tissue and bones, but if he doesn't, you should take him to the vet to have it done surgically. So sorry for the injury!!
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Post by bouncy on Nov 20, 2016 8:07:56 GMT
Oh Matt, I really feel for you! Spidey used to try and savage Squidgygoo. Now he's got friends, Squidgy still feels the need to climb on the outside of the cage and is attacked. He still has a scar to feel through his fur from the attack on his very first day!
Sammy will heal, have no fear. And please don't be hard on yourself or Humphrey. He was only doing what is natural instinct.
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Post by uglibug on Nov 20, 2016 8:14:01 GMT
Don't panic! This is a simple degloving and Sammy will take care of it himself, no serious damage done. It will take a few days but he'll be fine soon, just keep an eye out for infection.
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Post by animalmadchloe on Nov 20, 2016 8:23:10 GMT
Ouch I've had two de glovings to deal with unfortunately they were alot further down the tail so the vets had to tidy it up not a cheap procedure. Keep a very close eye for infection about sand baths and sawdust
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Post by moletteuk on Nov 20, 2016 11:52:55 GMT
It's a natural defence mechanism for if they get caught by the tail, Humphrey might just have got hold of it and then Sammy moved, no real aggression even needed.
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Post by mattandhis3degus on Nov 21, 2016 0:22:53 GMT
Thanks for the responses. It is really upsetting. I thought that with them being either side of cage bars they wouldn't be able to fight, plus with Charlie being in the other half of the cage so he and Sammy couldn't fight, Sammy wouldn't be distracted and end up sideways to the side of the cage. It made sense to me at the time. He's a lot more timid now. animalmadchloe, how did the injuries occur in your case? A couple of photos of the 'de-gloved' part of the tail:   |
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bjames
Burrowing Degu
Posts: 220
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Post by bjames on Nov 21, 2016 1:17:26 GMT
Oh yikes, that's such a lovely bushy tail end too! Keep it clean, he will probably bite the bone bit off. It's probably more of a shock to you than him
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Post by Emziedee on Nov 21, 2016 1:26:43 GMT
This is the thing that really creeps me out about goos 🙈 I'm so sorry this has happened! Please keep us posted on how it heals, it could happen to any of our goos at any time. It's good to be prepared if it does happen to us
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Post by deguconvert on Nov 21, 2016 4:35:42 GMT
If only it could be slipped back on and sewn into place!! You're pictures make me think of forensic evidence, LOL!
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Post by goolover on Nov 21, 2016 16:17:52 GMT
This will heal no problem, have had 2 de-gloves and each one has healed lovely with no infection at all. They bite the end off themselves and one of my goo's tail actually grew a bushy end again so her tail looks perfect but shorter than it was. One de-glove actually happened exactly like you mentioned.......vicious little things they are! Read that in the wild goo's have a very short life span, one reason being that they will eat sugary food if they find it i.e. fruit and i'm sure its because they are so vicious with each other!!
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Post by mattandhis3degus on Nov 22, 2016 23:26:24 GMT
If only it could be slipped back on and sewn into place!! You're pictures make me think of forensic evidence, LOL! I was actually seriously hoping that that might be a possibility but I don't think that was realistic. Yes I was gathering evidence to charge Humphrey with attempted degucide. |
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Post by mattandhis3degus on Nov 22, 2016 23:36:02 GMT
I took Sammy to CJ Hall vets on Monday evening in Sheen in south-west London. It was a very friendly and good service, and the vet seemed knowledgeable about degus, not that I would know one way or the other. It cost about £80 for the consultation, two different medications and some antiseptic 'barrier' cream. The vet removed the excess bone.
I now wait to see over the next week or so whether the end of the tail gets infected. If it does then I will have to go back and have surgery performed on the tail to remove more of it. I'm really hoping that that doesn't happen because as well as the cost of the surgery, it would mean that Sammy would end up with an even shorter tail.
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Post by yasmin on Nov 23, 2016 4:13:57 GMT
The vet seems to know what he/she is doing. Hoping he has a speedy and infection-free recovery.
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