Cut/Sore?

[aquila]

While playing with my boys tonight, I noticed Ollie has what appears to be a sore or cut of some sort on the top of his front paw.

There's nothing in his behavior that would signal anything's amiss - no limping, normal amount of activity, doesn't appear to be in pain, etc. It's just something I noticed visually when he was climbing on my arm.

Could Wilbur have scratched him during their play fights? Could he have scratched it climbing around somewhere? Might it be any kind of skin ailment? Fleas or mites? I inspected Wilbur, and Wilbur appears fine. And other than this one area, everything else appears fine - no bald spots, sores, scratches, etc. Fur looks healthy, full, and shiny. Teeth are nice and orange.

Should I continue to observe him for the next few days and see if it resolves itself? If not, home care? Vet? [if so, any suggestions for the west London area? I can always Google a local vet, but if someone knows someone really great, I would prefer to go to him/her with my babies]

Any advice is greatly appreciated; thanks in advance! (I feel like a panicked first time mom freaking out about anything and everything!)

[Karma]

I would just home treat - it doesn't look that bad. Hydrogen peroxide or polysporin twice a day should heal it right up.

If it starts to swell, become very sore or red then a vet visit would be needed.

Try to keep the cage as clean as possible.

[amie]

Wash with warm salt water twice daily and keep an eye out for infection. If it heals on it's own (which it should, it's not that bad) no need for the vets. If the tissue becomes swollen, off colour, smelly or leaky (an infected wound stinks!) then he will need a course of antibiotics.

I wouldn't worry about him! I've seen worse and they've been fine

[Maravilla]

I would just desinfect it once, then observe this wound but don't touch it every day. Take the dust bath out of the cage for a couple of days to prevent infection from this source. If you see any sign of infection (e.g. swollen foot), apathy etc., take him to the vet immediately.

[aquila]

Ok phew, thanks for the reassurance folks!

I've cleaned the whole cage today and removed the dust bath. I'll try to swab Ollie's foot in a bit... that will be a task. I foresee treat incentives for this...

[smithomatic]

he will be fine aquila , I have looked after a few troublesom degus who fought badly, you would be surprised what the little moomins can recover from, they are surprisingly resilient just looks like a nip from a play fight to me. do you have anything sharp in the cage? a chewed corner? plastic shard?

[aquila]

Update:

He's doing fine.

His cut healed over and was bald for a bit, but now his fur has grown back over where his little nick had been.

I never did figure out what happened. Some of the wood toys has been nibbled and had some edges that could be construed as sharp, but other than that, I couldn't discern the cause. Maybe Wilbur nipped him. But it looks like it never happened, and he's happy as a clam.

[Kins]

Fab news!

[deguconvert]

YAY!! Fab news indeed!!