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Post by fb1928 on Jul 6, 2017 21:08:17 GMT
I wanted to share my story of the last few days of hell I have had and to urge people if your Degu or any other animal bites you get it checked immediately even if it looks fine, just incase!
It all started when Chewy and Chuckie began squabbling, we didn't think much of it as they do sometimes have little disagreements now and again but they both started to show aggressive behaviour so thought it was best to separate them so they could calm down.
My OH removed Chewy from the cage and left Chuckie in there, after about 5minutes they both seemed to have chilled, so I thought I would take the opportunity to clean the cafe shelves without the help of two goo's (As they both love sitting in the dustpan). Well I was just sweeping when Chuckie came over from the other side of the cage and bit me straight on the wrist... Shocking as he has never bit before (but believe he was still angry from the squabble with Chewy and maybe he thought I was Chewy I'm not sure).
Anyway it started bleeding loads but just washed it under cold water and put on some antiseptic cream and covered with plaster.
Didn't think much of it really as the bite wound was only the size of his tooth and was just a bit red around the bite (this happened about 6.30pm) and when I have been bit before on my finger when breaking up a fight it just healed very quickly with no issues, well by 7.45pm my hand had swollen to double normal size and was tingling and throbbing like mad! Very painful, So time to go to the A&E.
After a ridiculous 7 hour wait at A&E finally got seen by a doctor at 3am!! By this point my hand was killing, swollen 4 times normal size and felt numb and tingly up my arm.
Turns out where Chuckie has bit me (He bit me either side on the bumpy part of bone that sticks out of your wrist joint *sorry don't know the technical name*) he had bite so deep he reached the bone and I had serious infection! They told me that if I had waited until tomorrow to get it checked out and could of been a whole different matter.
So a night in A&E is how I spent my Tuesday evening and Wednesday attached to an Antibiotic IV as they needed to treat the infection immediately and couldn't wait for a course of tablets to take 24-36hrs to actually take an action and feeling like utter rubbish.
Got home yesterday evening still feeling very sore and in pain but billions better then it was and the swelling has now gone down loads.
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Post by bouncy on Jul 6, 2017 21:38:17 GMT
Wow! I've had one bite that's needed a course of antibiotics. Those on my fingers cause swelling that stops me from moving my fingers, but I've NEVER heard of anything like this!!  Very glad you're feeling better! P.s that boney bit is the head of your ulna, one of the two bones in your forearm  |
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Post by deguconvert on Jul 6, 2017 21:42:41 GMT
OUCH!! I'm so, so sorry for your pain! That is awful! Are you on oral antibiotics now? Are you taking any form of pain relief? Do you have to be careful with movement or use?
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Post by fb1928 on Jul 6, 2017 22:07:50 GMT
bouncy yeh when I have been bit on finger it just swelled a bit but this made my whole hand swell and cant move my hand. I now move my fingers a bit more but very painful. Thank you 😊 . Haha, ill try and remeber that, I'm rubbish at remembering the technical terms of everything
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Post by fb1928 on Jul 6, 2017 22:11:03 GMT
Thank you deguconvert . Yes I have antibiotics to take for 7 days. Also have prescribed pain medication too luckily. At the moment it is still swollen so difficult to move it anyway but I have been told to try to not move my wrist too much as when I do it reopens the bite as it is right on the joining bone until it seals properly, otherwise it has to be treated as a opened wound again and no way do I need another infection. Also I'm not able to grip properly and cant lift really anything, only very light objects. |
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Post by fb1928 on Jul 6, 2017 22:46:30 GMT
To give you an idea of how hard the bite was... Chuckie actually split his bottom lip apart trying to dig his bottom teeth in so far!
So my poor OH had to deal with me bleeding and crying (I'm such a cry baby, my pain threshold is like nil) and then had Chuckie's lip bleeding like mad - degu lips seem to be the same as humans, even if you cut it slightly it bleeds loads.
When we saw Chuckie had blood all down his neck we thought Chewy had literally ripped a chunk out of his neck but finally once we cleared the bloody we could see it was his lip... Phew!
But don't get me wrong... I'm not going to let this effect my relationship with Chuckie, I'm a bit wary at the moment putting my hands in the cage but after I'm all healed I'm definitely going to rebuild my trust with him. I do think it was just he was very angry and didn't want me in his territory.
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Post by goolover on Jul 7, 2017 9:02:38 GMT
Ouch!! I had a similar experience where Joey sank his teeth into my knuckle (he was angry with his son and I was splitting them up) and it went so deep my hand swelled up like a balloon. Didn't go to A&E even though my hand was hot and swollen. Took a trip to A&E after about 4 days as the swelling had gone but I couldn't move my hand and even if something lightly brushed the skin it was agony. They referred me to 'plastics' department and they just said to wait abit longer for movement to return but if it didn't I would have to go back. Had to bandage my hand up for weeks after to stop anything touching my skin, it was that painful. So yes, I would go straight to A&E next time as I really should have had medical treatment.
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Post by moletteuk on Jul 7, 2017 16:13:11 GMT
Get well soon fb1928, hope you make a swift and full recovery!
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Post by fb1928 on Jul 7, 2017 17:52:28 GMT
goolover Ouch! That sound very similar to what mine did as the bite was so deep. Yes, that is what mine is still like, even my fingers and whole hand are very sore and kill of even slightly brushed. I completely understand how you felts and sympathise with you. My hand is all bandaged up too for the same reason. Defiantly a good idea to get bites checked out straight away.
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Post by fb1928 on Jul 7, 2017 17:54:35 GMT
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Post by goolover on Jul 7, 2017 20:58:13 GMT
goolover Ouch! That sound very similar to what mine did as the bite was so deep. Yes, that is what mine is still like, even my fingers and whole hand are very sore and kill of even slightly brushed. I completely understand how you felts and sympathise with you. My hand is all bandaged up too for the same reason. Defiantly a good idea to get bites checked out straight away. Yes definitely recommend a visit to the docs or hospital straight away. Glad you have the antibiotics witch will hopefully speed up ur recovery and ease the pain. They have the sharpest teeth ever lol! |
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Post by uglibug on Jul 8, 2017 20:13:38 GMT
Sounds similar to the bite I got from one of the girls when we moved. She chompped so hard her teeth met in the middle. Needed antibiotics and a couple of stitches. My thumb swelled to almost the size of my wrist.
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Post by moletteuk on Jul 9, 2017 11:06:16 GMT
I wonder if immediate washing out of the wound with disinfectant would help prevent infections developing?
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Post by fb1928 on Jul 9, 2017 13:36:18 GMT
Sounds painful uglibug. Luckily I didn't have to have any stiches. My hand swelled like that, seriously looked like it was about to pop! There's no denying goo's have a bloody good bite on them. |
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Post by fb1928 on Jul 9, 2017 13:40:12 GMT
Thank you goolover. They sure do have razor sharp teeth, least I know his teeth are nice and strong haha 😆. |
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Post by fb1928 on Jul 9, 2017 13:54:14 GMT
It may do moletteuk. I'm sure it will stop some minor infections from occurring or at least help and begin treating infections but I think when the bite is deep the infection cant be stopped without antibiotics. Also think it might depend how much it is bleeding, as if its bleeding loads it would be hard to actually get the disinfect into the wound, I know it was hard trying to wash mine out with water due to the amount of blood. Its definitely worth doing if you have some wound disinfect but unfortunately I didn't have any, the best I have was antiseptic cream. |
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Post by deguconvert on Jul 10, 2017 16:56:03 GMT
How are you doing today? I keep wanting to recommend soaking it in warm water with Epsom Salts in it, but . . . LOL . . . that is just my particular favorite that always made a world of difference for my bites. I rush to clarify that yes, I had a boat load of bites, but the vast majority were from one intensely fearful and defensive degu that I won over and who completely stopped biting once he realized his humans were trustworthy. Considering the number of degus I've had through the years we had degus, he was an anomaly amongst them.
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Post by fb1928 on Jul 11, 2017 23:41:31 GMT
Better then I was a week ago, thanks for asking. Its still incredibly sore mainly on my hand, the swelling has gone down quite a bit. Still unable to move it, and cannot hold anything. Only 1 more week left of antibiotics so hopefully will see a big improvement over the next week. I have been washing the wound out with a salt water solution and have cream that needs to be applied to it each day too. Really, it can be a tricky task gaining Degus trust but very rewarding when you get it. That's really good to hear you eventually gained his trust |
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Post by claire on Jul 31, 2017 7:17:29 GMT
Funnily enough ive just had a bite too on my finger. Not his fault he was chocking and panicking. Geeze does it hurt! Vet told me to go A&E for antibiotics. Cant bend my finger now as its swollen lol
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Post by deguconvert on Jul 31, 2017 17:57:31 GMT
I hope you went? You can also use Epsom salts, or regular salt, and do a warm salt water soak. That will help to draw out anything that needs to come out.
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