Slashed urethral cone

[smux]

I know what you're thinking...first thought from all the guys is "owweeeeee!!!!"...second thought is "d**n, that's a blurred photo!"...well, iphone cam is not that great at all, I cropped it down to the bit needed.

Anyway, I have worked out that Damien and Loki are fighting over Gizmo for some reason, and it has been getting fairly vicious recently so I have Gizmo on top of Theresa's cage with the little boy so the upstairs is free for when I have to separate them. USUALLY it isn't furballs rolling, but this time it was and when I took Loki out to check he was alright and move him upstairs I noticed that his urethral cone outer skin had been slashed on the upper side (up being where his head is) from about the middle right through to the end. With help from the flatmate, I cleaned it up a little as there was some blood but he was very wriggly so I didn't spend too much time down there trying to clean it (esp. with saline solution on such a sensitive area) and he's now upstairs in his part of the cage, although tonight he'll probably go back in as they tend to share a house at night without fighting.

Anyway, any suggestions about this? Clean it regularly with warm water only? Does it need to be seen to or dealt with by a professional? Anything that can be added to it to let it heal properly, as I don't see it healing like this on its own as it stretches out a bit too much?

He doesn't SEEM in much pain, but I have both metacam and baytril from when I came home with Elsevier so that is an option if people think I need to give him any of either.

Attachments:

[nickymills30]

i;m not a medical person, but if the bleeding has stopped, i think i might be ok with just keeping it clean, Would you be able to give your vets a call, just to check? At least that way, if they say, he'll be ok, at least you haven't had to pay a consultation fee x

[smux]

The bleeding does seem to have stopped (I took a look in the cage and saw no blood), and I have yet to see a cut that has bled in any worrying way...they all have had a little bit of blood and cleaning them off has sorted that out. My usual vet is the RSPCA and they won't be open until tomorrow or the next day (there's places I can go 24/7 in emergencies if something major happens, but they're not nearby). CJ Hall was a one-off with Elsevier because that was a really serious problem that I felt needed to be dealt with by a professional.

My main worry is that it might hurt him when he urinates, or if he gets aroused, although if the cut portion heals up on its own then perhaps it'll just be a wound he lives with. I am wondering if the whole of the inside needs to be covered up by the skin for some reason (cleanliness, perhaps) and if this will cause problems if it doesn't heal up properly back to how it used to be.

[nickymills30]

i;m sorry hun, i have no idea! apart from the fact i;ve only kept goo;s for the last 12 months, its a mans part lol, and i try not to think about how they work.

i;d just keep bathing it, and see how it goes, and obviously keep a close eye on him xx

[deguconvert]

It won't heal back together without a stitch or two in there. The edges of the cut will heal over, but it will remain in an opened condition if no stitch is put in. Does he need the stitch? Well . . . I'm inclined to wonder if it will become difficult to keep the dirt out of that area with a much wider opening due to the cut. I doubt it will hinder function or anything, but the question of keeping it dirt free and healthy is a significant consideration I think. If you can reach a vet . . . I think it would be a good idea to at least ask their opinion.

[amie]

I think a vet will generally say to bring them in regardless of whether they need to be seen or not. The price of the consultation fee for people who are willing to pay is all too tempting. However, having said that, I'm not a medical professional, so who am I to talk?! He may well need to be seen. I know that in humans, after a cut has been open for so long (longer than a day) you can't put stitches in it due to the risk of bacteria that has already had time to enter the wound, having no way of being pushed out.

The only reason I know this is because I slashed my finger open last month (REALLY badly), rushed to the local A&E and because they were too busy for ****superficial wounds****, they just gave me a plaster and sent me on my merry. I knew it was wrong and went to my local doctor the next day and they said I SHOULD have had stitches, but it was too late for them now because of the reasons I mentioned above. I had to deal with butterfly stitches bursting open for the next month because of that. Anyway, sorry to be graphic and sorry for the rant.... Just not sure if the same applies to animals.

I personally would keep it clean and keep and eye on him.

Sorry this hasn't been much use.... and EWWEEE. I felt the pain looking at that picture even though I'm not a man! Poor little thing

[smux]

Considering the area, it will be very difficult to put stitches in, although I am sure some vets will be able to handle it. I was thinking some sort of gauze or similar that held the skin together to let it heal, although I dunno if Loki would bite it off or something :-)

[nickymills30]

the only trouble with covering it up, is if there is any dirt/bacteria in the split, then the banage will help it spread, which will then prob turn into an infection,

I;d hate to be in your shoes, its a tricky one x

[amie]

Well, I know with butterfly stitches (steri strips they use on us humans), they're just thin strips that hold the wound together. Only little bits of the wound are concealed and the rest is open so maybe bacteria could be pushed out that way?

[nickymills30]

true, but can you imagine how small the strips would have to be lol x

[amie]

Yes, unless Loki is blessed lol.

[smux]

Loki is indeed blessed, he has survived a fall from about 20+ feet onto concrete slabs and over an hour outside afterwards, and I found him and got him to the vet to be checked out and all he'd damaged was his tail bone and his leg...his leg's fine now though. As it turns out, it looks like his urethral cone skin has started to heal together like you would hope it would, rather than an open wound the two sides are together and it's just a red line.

[nickymills30]

thats brill news xx

[deguconvert]

That is indeed brill news!! So glad to hear it, Smux!

[smux]

And Loki now has a minor gash on his nose, I *think* from trying to harass the baby in the upstairs of the cage (through the mesh floor, don't ask, it IS covered but Theresa/Babies/Gizmo all like to nibble the wood covering it so there's huge holes) although it might have been the fighting before with Damien and I didn't notice, although I don't think so ;-)

[nickymills30]

my god smux, i thought i had it bad last week, well, you know what they say, it can only get better xx

[smux]

It will do eventually...in a way it has got better considering the start of all this bad luck...It could be that I have 10 degus in the one room (6 babies, Theresa, Loki, Gizmo and Damien) so that Dante can be on his own for a bit and the girlies (when I say girlies i always mean the no-named trio, although I do plan to name them when I can tell the difference properly) are out in the hallway. It's normally quite a few in here anyway as the girls' cage is in here and that's got Theresa, 2 girls and the 3 babies in...possibly will have the third girl in if it's a girl, I still haven't decided.

[smux]

Loki now has a slashed neck too, although the damage isn't as bad as it sounds (or at least I don't think so). It's nowhere near as bad as Damien's eye, it was just a succession of small slits no more than a mm or two in length but had a bit of blood which has been saline'd off and at the moment Loki is in the room with Dante but I am going to try him with Damien soon as the light's off in my room and Damien's trying to sleep...hopefully Loki and Damien will sleep together for the night, but if not I've got the middle of the cage prepared so he can stay up there and Dante gets a room to himself how I want it. I won't post results until tomorrow unless something really bad happens so if you see no reply it went okay or great :-)

It's kinda Loki's fault that he got hurt though, Loki wanted to "dominate" Damien complete with full use of his man bits, but didn't want Damien getting a turn in return so would fight whenever Damien tried...Damien has been nothing but good throughout, so if he is the one doing the damage it's not his fault as he's just defending himself and his dominance.

Oh, and sometimes when a male degu has his head between his legs, he's just putting the mighty sword back into its sheath, he isn't always doing what some of us might think he's doing...I worked this out with Loki's actions today :-)