Fairly bad cut around the eye

[smux]

They say bad things happen in threes, and this started with Loki being scratched on the urethral cone by Damien, so I split those up...Then Gizmo was humping the boy in his cage and by the time I broke it up and found out the boy he was humping was actually one of the girls it was too late and the plug was already there (I go more into this one in the baby section).

NOW Damien and Gizmo get into a fight and they were TRYING to gouge each other's eyes out, it was that bad...Damien got the worst of it as you can see from the picture, and Gizmo got a fairly minor few scratches under his eye that I didn't even bother to clean up they were so minor. Damien's damage isn't just superficial blood, looks like the fur's been ripped clean off around the area and it's bloody skin below (notice how degus have that cute lighter hair around their eyes? Damien doesn't have it on both sides now) and it's too painful to clean, so I have given him some metacam so hopefully he'll sleep and it doesn't hurt him, but I am still worried about if it needs any treatment either (as well as Loki's urethral cone).

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[deguconvert]

OUCH! My goodness, your boys are determined to give you a weekend of trauma and trial!! I would keep an eye on the cut under Damien's eye . . . if you see any puffiness or oozing, get him to the vet. It isn't something you can see in the picture or probably even by looking at him, but I expect there is the potential that a claw may have torn some of the inner tissues as well as the visible outer ones. I think you are right to use the metacam.

[amie]

OMG... your boys really are making things difficult for you at the moment. I obviously can't offer you any advice on top of what DG has said, which I agree with, but my thoughts are certainly with you all!

[nickymills30]

bloody hell smux, thought i was having problems with my boys!!!

Hope he is a little better today xx

[smux]

Had a fleeting look at Damien this morning, he slept outside his house and made a pile of tissue to sleep under instead, and I will bother him later to look at his cut. Loki's injury is looking better though, it's closed up on its own

[smux]

Update to Damien's eye...I got him out for a proper look and a cuddle and his eye had been stuck shut from sleeping overnight so I got some warm water (no salt) and just gently wiped across the eye with a cotton bud a few times to remove the gunky stuff that had seeped inbetween his eyes. It is unlikely that if this happens it will also stick to the eye because of the stuff covering the eye, but I am sure it is possible, so this should be done slowly and carefully. Damien didn't like it, but eventually it was weak enough that Damien managed to open his eye on his own inbetween attempts, and I am going to clean the rest of the cut (with much arguing from Damien) later on today as I have to be out somewhere fairly soon and I'd rather do it when I have all the time I need :-)

And so people know, I am posting as much detail as I can in case someone else has a similar problem so they know how to deal with it on their own in an emergency

Edit: Oh, and I will take him to the vet to have it seen to tomorrow and keep it clean and keep him metacammed up until then. My local vet (RSPCA) isn't open until tomorrow so I don't have much option.

[nuttz]

if any consolation smux, back in august two of my dogs had a massive fight, it was terrible, i thought our alsatian was going to kill poor merlin...
anyway, during the fight the alsatian latched onto merlins face, top teeth around the eye area and bottom teeth around his jaw and he wasnt letting go...... when we did eventually beat them apart (yes, beat them with the broom...lol) merlins eye was cut real bad.. a bit like your goo´s...
we rushed him to the vets who said he was very lucky not to lost his eye, he was just millimetres from doing so.. the vet just cleaned him up (couldnt stitch it because it was too dangerous) gave him anti-biotics and us some saline drops to clean him twice a day.. we did this for two weeks and you wouldnt even know he had hurt it now... hardly even a scar!
here is a pic of poor merlin!


ps................both him and bruto still hate eachother........we cant have them together anymore, all they want is a repeat performance..........not an easy job!!!

[Kins]

Ouchy ouchy! They both look pretty sore.

When my 2 big goos were fighting (when I was trying to introduce the little goos) Jim ended up with a cut down the side of his face, quite near his eye. Not as bad as both of these though...ouch!

[hellsbells]

Oh dear - sounds like you've had an awful week. Hope his eye improves soon. We had a similar problem with Billy after him and Joe had a fight earlier in the year. Billy had a cut to the eye and the gunk meant he couldn't open his eye - we did the same with a cotton bud - it didn't improve after a couple of days so we took him to the vet who gave him some drops - was a nightmare to get the drops in his eye! His fur got most of the drops! But his eye was wide open after a couple of days of using the drops.

Hopefully his eye will be fine after his trip to the vets!

[nuttz]

ah yes, we also had drops for merlins eye... they were anti-biotic eye drops... im guessing it would be much easier to treat a dog tho, more to hold onto.. i would suggest wrapping the goo in a t-towel leaving only his head free and then put the drops in watching your fingers dont get chomped...lol

[nickymills30]

omg nuttz, poor little merlin xx

[nuttz]

he´s ok now...lol my bigest problem is that neither of them will except eachother anymore making it sooooooo difficult for us...im dreading the day that either me or the kids accidentally leave the door open and they find eachother......im so scared..!!!

[smux]

Damien's eye looks pretty much like that but smaller, although it's now dried up and looks fairly clean and free of any pus...the gunky stuff was just blood, I would say...degu blood has a very good clotting factor, it seems.

I have baytril antibiotics but not in eye-drop form, I will probably find out what to give him when I go tomorrow...I might take both Damien and Loki to get them both seen to. The biggest problem I have at the moment is that they all need to be alone in a cage and so does this one baby who might be a girl. Damien and Loki were together for the moment so there's no other degus in with Dante and he can mourn properly and get time out of the cage, and it's a strained friendship like before but it's slowly getting there through perseverance, but in the end I had to split the cage into 3 so they all have their own section...and I DON'T have enough bottles to cover them all letalone space in cages :-)

[nickymills30]

bloody hell, can't you pop to P@h's? i know we hate them but it is an emergency xx

[smux]

If it was as simple as "popping" there, I would, it's a bus and a train away and takes about an hour each way. I bought a "bob martin" water bottle from Asda a while back and I seriously don't recommend them as the metal nozzle has a rubber/plastic attachment holding it to the bottle and I know if Damien went at it the thing would come away...if it comes away inside the cage not only is the water everywhere but the ball bearing inside is probably free from the nozzle and within swallowing reach of a degu...and I tried to cinch it onto the bottle with one of those tightening tags (plastic that goes around things and you pull it tight) and it didn't make any difference as I think the plastic/rubber bit is too thick.

I BARELY have enough bottles, but lost the metal holder to the one I was going to use, and the one I HAVE a metal holder for has a Theresa-sized tooth mark at the bottom meaning it can't hold water...and I can't switch because they're different sizes. Guess I have to find the metal holder!

[arumanii]

Sorry didn't see this until now.

Am I the only thinking that doesnt look too bad?

If its not caught the eye or badly torn the black bit underneath it should heal up just dandy - just watch 4 infection etc. Hope the vet gets a good look at him and can reassure you/ give antibiotics just in case to save you another trip!

If it has damaged the eye or infection gets it later its a fairly routine op (so I'm told) to remove the eye, any damaged bits around it and stitch the rest in a nice neat line... (El Popeye aka Manic looks gr8 with one eye!)

Sounds like they're all deciding to give you grief at once! I recommend wine, chocolate and crying ur eyes out for a few hours before shouting at them all and feeling better - helps me

[smux]

The eye itself is fine and there's no sign of infection, the area has dried up nicely and I haven't bothered taking him to the vets as I am confident he is fine...infection would show up with some sort of discharge and I check his eye area every morning and night. I am seriously considering giving him a small dose of Baytril as I have some from when Elsevier went to the vet's, just to be on the safe side, and I do give him irregular doses of Metacam if he seems to be acting up because he's in some sort of discomfort (distractedly moving around the cage and not settling).

He is also in the cage with Loki, the guy he did some damage to earlier, and both of them have been very well behaved so I think the furore with them is over anyway :-)
They are also going through (and near the end of) puberty at the moment, so it's understandable that they'd be a bit nutty.

[arumanii]

Oh good! Bless them - all goos r sent to drive us mad with distraction I'm convinced!

My place is also like a war zone with various newbies constantly swapping makeshift cages (some donated from the generally despised P@H can u believe??!!) to try and keep the fighting down.

They're lucky to have you!