What's under my piggy's eye?
Hi all!
I have two female guinea pigs, adolescent - Buffet, a bigger female, and Snack, the smaller one. We had to separate them when they first started living together, but have been together without incident since then.
Today, my girlfriend saw something under Snack's eye - it looks like there's a little bit of fur missing there, and some kind of small hole. I've attached pictures here. I'm not sure what to think, as we're both still beginners at taking care of guinea pigs, but any advice is appreciated!
What does this look like to you guys? Is this a bite mark? Fungal infection, or mites? Snack seems to be doing okay - eating, running around. She doesn't scratch at the site at all, from what I've observed.
Thanks in advance!
https://imgur.com/a/CwjDuW1
I have two female guinea pigs, adolescent - Buffet, a bigger female, and Snack, the smaller one. We had to separate them when they first started living together, but have been together without incident since then.
Today, my girlfriend saw something under Snack's eye - it looks like there's a little bit of fur missing there, and some kind of small hole. I've attached pictures here. I'm not sure what to think, as we're both still beginners at taking care of guinea pigs, but any advice is appreciated!
What does this look like to you guys? Is this a bite mark? Fungal infection, or mites? Snack seems to be doing okay - eating, running around. She doesn't scratch at the site at all, from what I've observed.
Thanks in advance!
https://imgur.com/a/CwjDuW1
- Lynx
- Celebrate!!!
I am unsure from the pictures. A closeup would help. It looks from what little I can see like a bite or perhaps fungus.
If there is a hole, there may have been an infection present. Rinse it with warm clean sterile saline solution. You can also flush with a curved tip syringe if you can find one (dentists often have them):
If there is a hole, there may have been an infection present. Rinse it with warm clean sterile saline solution. You can also flush with a curved tip syringe if you can find one (dentists often have them):
Thanks for the input! I managed to get much better photos.
https://imgur.com/a/kw5tD8O
Still not sure what it looks like.
https://imgur.com/a/kw5tD8O
Still not sure what it looks like.
Not quite a hole, this is what it looks like today:
I'm covering her eye just in case the flash makes her uncomfortable. I can't seem to get any saline around here so I'm using clean warm water to clean it a bit, making sure to wipe and dry off the excess. Definitely blood, as some came off on the qtip that I was gently cleaning with.
Any thoughts? Looks like she may have been scratching it
Thanks for the input so far everyone! Much appreciated.
I'm covering her eye just in case the flash makes her uncomfortable. I can't seem to get any saline around here so I'm using clean warm water to clean it a bit, making sure to wipe and dry off the excess. Definitely blood, as some came off on the qtip that I was gently cleaning with.
Any thoughts? Looks like she may have been scratching it
Thanks for the input so far everyone! Much appreciated.
- Lynx
- Celebrate!!!
That is much clearer. I took a crop of them to add to your topic. Let me know if that is okay. I would continue with what you are doing and watch to see if it swells, gets tender or infected looking - in which case the infection may be deeper. It does look like just above and to the left, the skin is raised.
Update: Snack's healing nicely! Looks like it was a cut of some sort to begin with, and after cleaning it and leaving it alone, it's doing a lot better.
However...maybe we're paranoid but Snack's other side is looking a little funky. We can't remember if it's always been like this but we noticed there's a dark outline around her eye, like eyeliner where there's just no fur. It seems to be more evident compared to the other side, if you compare to the pictures I've uploaded.
Does that look normal? Should there be more fur there?
Thanks in advance!
However...maybe we're paranoid but Snack's other side is looking a little funky. We can't remember if it's always been like this but we noticed there's a dark outline around her eye, like eyeliner where there's just no fur. It seems to be more evident compared to the other side, if you compare to the pictures I've uploaded.
Does that look normal? Should there be more fur there?
Thanks in advance!
Thank you both for the input - I'll keep monitoring and will go to the vet if it looks worse!