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Post by littlepaws1999 on Jun 18, 2015 14:34:57 GMT
So Willow and Clover have decided that they want to bite Pixels tail. They did this 3 times before but it was not really major so I was able to stop the bleeding with cornstarch and put on a homemade salt water solution.
But when I woke up this morning I saw that they had bitten his tail again as to where the top is still raw and a little blood still comes out. His tail even had dried blood around the area with hay stick to it.
I managed to use my salt water solution to take off the debris from the tail but he wouldn't let me put more corn starch on it as he wanted to lick it off.
What can I put on the tail as to help heal it faster? And why are they doing this to his tail? I know they aren't fighting as multiple times I have stopped them from just literally picking up his tail in their paws and sticking it in their mouth. I asked my mom to stop at the vets to see if they have a special cream to put on it, as I know regular human cream is not good for them. But I'm not sure if they have anything like that
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Post by moletteuk on Jun 18, 2015 17:04:13 GMT
Have you seen them do it? The only regular tail biting thing I am aware of is when a degu grabs another by the tail to throw them over. It seems a bit odd if they are just doing it for fun, did the tail seem perfectly fine beforehand? They haven't been chewing at an abcess or scab or something?
I think you've done the right think using a saline wash (made with cooled boiled water), I wouldn't put any cream on, just keep an eye on it for infection and remove the sand, and try and keep the cage clean. If he is getting lots of stuff stuck to it, you might need to think about removing substrate.
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Post by littlepaws1999 on Jun 18, 2015 17:51:48 GMT
I havent seen them actually bite it to the point of blood being shed as I do stop them when I do. But they do try to bite it in front of me. Its the very tip of the tail that they do it too. They can be siting near each other and either Willow or Clover will straight up try and put his tail in their mouth.
No there isn't an absence, there could have been a scab from the past moment they bit him thought. I'm at a loss to why they would do something like this.
I use fleece as bedding so no substrate to remove. It was only a small piece of hay stuck to dried blood near the wound, my guess from sleeping and it was bleeding.
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Post by littlepaws1999 on Jun 18, 2015 17:58:49 GMT
I got 2 pictures on his tail.....
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Post by deguconvert on Jun 18, 2015 19:16:19 GMT
Definitely has evidence of injury. There seem to be some degus that go after their tails, either their own or a companions, at least the history of reports made here on the forum would seem to indicate this. It isn't common, there have been less than a handful that I can recall where a degu is gradually chewing away the tail. In one, the tail was down to a nub, and I think it finally stopped. It might be an idea to take Pixel to your vet and have a swab or tissue sample examined to see if there is an underlying issue that would compel this. Or you can keep any eye on them and see if you can isolate who is doing the damage, and what the circumstances are that lead to it.
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Post by moletteuk on Jun 18, 2015 19:28:07 GMT
For some reason I was imagining the chewing was happening at the base of the tail As DC says, they do this occasionally, it's difficult to stop. Is Pixel telling them off for it or bothered by it? Have you tried telling them off & blowing on them?
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Post by littlepaws1999 on Jun 18, 2015 20:46:24 GMT
deguconvert I hope that they don't continue to bite it that far down . I think I might do that, my mom stopped by the vets but she wasn't there at that time, but the office said she would give us a call and might need to see him. moletteukPixel doesn't seem bothered, which makes me confused because if someone was hurting me I would say something, but Pixel just sits there and does nothing about it. I would imagine it hurts but he doesn't even give out a squeak. I do tell them "no" and gently tap their nose when I do see it happening. But I don't think they get it, being only 11 weeks, as they just look at me with cute eyes.
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Post by deguconvert on Jun 19, 2015 0:01:58 GMT
I wonder if there is something wrong with his tail that they can sense. Could the tail bone be broken? I wonder if an X-ray would tell you anything, or it manipulating it would?
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Post by littlepaws1999 on Jun 19, 2015 2:42:01 GMT
I wonder if there is something wrong with his tail that they can sense. Could the tail bone be broken? I wonder if an X-ray would tell you anything, or it manipulating it would? Im not sure really. I would think if something is wrong they wouldn't want to make it worse. Hopefully as time goes by and they get older thought that they will stop. The vet called us and said we can also use peroxide on the tail. I'm not sure if that is even safe but she also said the saline solution is just as good. There was also a mention that if they don't stop that we might need to separate them. I really wouldn't want to do that after all the efforts that were made to neuter him (with the complication we had), find baby goos, travel 8 hours there and back to get them, and introduce them, for all that to be wasted and have Pixel living alone again.
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Post by deguconvert on Jun 19, 2015 2:52:35 GMT
The only reason I wonder if something is wrong is that if a tail is degloved, where the skin is pulled off and the tail bone is left exposed, a degu and/or his companions will chew off the exposed bony area. So, taking that fact and asking, if there were something wrong with the tail that is not visible, can the degu and/or his companions sense it and then try to remove the affected area? No idea.
Or could it be that the girls are just inexperienced as you say and will grow out of it. Time will tell in any case, I expect.
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Post by littlepaws1999 on Jun 19, 2015 3:11:49 GMT
Okay thanks for the help for now. I will give it a few days and see how it heals up and look out for any sign of infection.
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Post by uglibug on Jun 19, 2015 7:23:21 GMT
I am also wondering if there is a problem of some sort with the tail. Our Sleepy's tail looked like this for a while when the end inch got degloved in a fight and Dopey chewed the exposed end off for her.
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Post by moletteuk on Jun 19, 2015 17:04:14 GMT
Well, the good thing is that they can cope well with damage at the end of the tail, they are designed to deglove and it never seems to bother them much when this happens, I wonder if a little nibbling at the end of the tail doesn't cause much pain to them.
I also wonder if the youngsters don't have proper manners and Pixel is too smitten to tell them off? Maybe you could upgrade your own telling them off, say 'no' really sharp and loud and blow in their face, it should startle them into stopping at least for a short while.
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Post by littlepaws1999 on Jun 19, 2015 18:20:29 GMT
I am also wondering if there is a problem of some sort with the tail. Our Sleepy's tail looked like this for a while when the end inch got degloved in a fight and Dopey chewed the exposed end off for her. Did it look like that's after it was chewed off by Dopey or after it got degloved? And good idea moletteuk I'll give that's a try next time I witness it.
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Post by uglibug on Jun 19, 2015 19:11:17 GMT
After they had chewed it off: it looked dreadfull degloved, but within a few hours it looked like the pic, then it took a couple of days to heal up. She now just has a shorter tail and no fluff at the end.
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Post by littlepaws1999 on Jun 19, 2015 19:55:36 GMT
After they had chewed it off: it looked dreadfull degloved, but within a few hours it looked like the pic, then it took a couple of days to heal up. She now just has a shorter tail and no fluff at the end. Oh okay. Only difference with Pixel is that his was never degloved. It also looks better today, so hopefully it heals up good
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Post by littlepaws1999 on Jun 22, 2015 0:17:08 GMT
Ahhhh!!!!! They did it again! I'm not sure what to do with them, it was healing wonderfully and now it's a fresh wound again. Like before, I used cornstarch and the saline to clean it up. It happened so fast, one second they are fine and then the second his tail was bleeding. We were even in the dining room (which is where we have them) and didn't even hear anything, so it must not hurt him. With the critter nation I separated them with Pixel on the top part and Willow and Clover on the bottom part. So for now until I go to bed they will stay like that.
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Post by moletteuk on Jun 22, 2015 10:21:34 GMT
Oh no!
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Post by deguconvert on Jun 22, 2015 15:13:13 GMT
It sounds like it is more distressing for you than it is for Pixel. I wonder why he doesn't seem to feel it? Does he ever waggle or thump his tail? So that you would know that he has full movement/use of it?
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Post by littlepaws1999 on Jun 22, 2015 15:24:19 GMT
It sounds like it is more distressing for you than it is for Pixel. I wonder why he doesn't seem to feel it? Does he ever waggle or thump his tail? So that you would know that he has full movement/use of it? Yeah he seems to have movement of it. He does wiggle it when angry at the girls for trying to take his food . And he pulls it away from me sometimes when he doesn't want me to touch it.
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