Skin allergy? Dry and oily skin

[sensii]

My degu Robert is 6 years old and is not looking the best. I took him to vets last wk with suspected abscess on his head but was healing.i struggle giving him antibiotics as he doesn't like getting handled that much like my others. I've separated him from the others as keeps fighting. His skin this wk has gone flakey and scabby in places. His fur looks like falling out with the scabs. I took him to vets and they cut his teeth today under anaesthetic and at the same time checked his skin. They found no mites with skin scraping but gave him injection incase and antibiotics for 10 days (again I am really going to struggle with this). I have seen tiny lil bugs in past which I am assuming has come on their bedding. I am going to go buy a new cage cleaner tomorrow and strip it. But are there other types of bedding I could use to help if this is a type of mite allergy?? Please help as I don't want him to be put down if this problem continues and don't get to the bottom of it as he doesn't look the happiest ATM. Thank you

[deguconvert]

He is fighting with the others?

[deguconvert]

I know that we have a thread about different substrates, but can't seem to put my finger on it at the moment. So let me ask what it is that you use in his cage?

[deguconvert]

Oh, and btw, Hello, Sensii, and welcome to the forum!

Going to ask as well, how many other degus do you have? What are their ages? What are the dimensions of your cage? These are things that can factor into the question of why they are fighting.

Since diet plays a huge factor in health and all things, what do you feed your degus?

[moletteuk]

The best thing by far if you suspect any type of bugs is to steam clean everything. They hang out in any crack or crevice and the only way to kill them in those places is to fire steam into the crack.

If the vet applied a spot on anti-mite treatment, this should be reapplied a couple of times at 7 to 10 day intervals. But it depends if you see any improvement after the first one as to whether you still suspect bugs might be a problem. I would have thought if the skin is obviously sore and scabby then the mites ought to show up in a skin scrape if they are present. Did you get the impression the vet was hedging his bets whether there were mites or not?

If it's a mite thing, then the type of bedding won't make a difference. If it's not a mite thing and it's skin sensitivity, then it is worth changing the bedding, here's the bedding thread: deguworld.proboards.com/thread/8754/cage-bedding-reviews With any kind of skin issue I would recommend staying away from wood shavings.

Have you seen any of the bugs lately? If you do, take one to the vet for identification. There are some bugs about that are actually taking advantage of the degu food, rather than living on the degus. I occasionally see tiny bugs, but they seem to be mostly around the forage.

Have you tried lots of things to disguise the taste of the antibiotics? Dried veg, nuts, shredded wheat with or without plain nut butter on, it depends what your degus finds irresistible. If you have to syringe feed it then most of us find the 'burrito' technique the best method. Grab them with a decent sized piece of fabric and attempt to wrap this round the degu and make a small opening at the front big enough for the head to stick out but not the shoulders. If you find it completely impossible to get them into him, you can give them in the water if he is on his own, you will need extra though as there will be wastage when you change the water and there is a chance he will drink less water, so you would need to know how much he normally drinks and get the vet to figure it all out.

It would probably be best to keep him right next door to the other degus for now if possible.