Hermes - boar bite

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Brimstone
For Rocky

Post   » Wed Sep 21, 2005 11:51 pm


Just noticed my boar Hermes has a wound in a particularly sensitive spot - his testicles. I don't think it happened tonight, not sure when it happened. There was a tiny spot of blood in the cozy cuddle yesterday and a larger spot of blood in the cage the other day. Hermes & Rocky both have cut noses, and Hermes had a bite mark on his back/rump, so I attributed the blood to that. I also thought it might be Rocky peeing blood again, but after watching him pee decided it wasn't that. Apparently I didn't look close enough for wounds.

The wound is healing and doesn't look inflamed or overly irritated. I washed the area with warm water. If it seems to be healing on its own should he still see a vet?

Lately Hermes has been a real pain in the . . . well, anyway. He's been humping his cagemate Rocky and rumblestrutting. Rocky used to be able to do the nose up thing and Hermes would back down. So I guess somewhere in the humping Rocky turned and bit Hermes. Not that this injury has slowed Hermes down or made him more calm. I didn't want to separate them because Hermes is miserable on his own, he can't live with his brother Apollo, and Graham is such a little scared thing I think he'd be miserable living with Hermes. When he's not fighting or trying to hump Rocky, they can lie next to each other all cuddly looking. They've been a good match until lately.

Hermes & Apollo are about 10 months old. When does puberty end? Please tell me it will be soon.

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Thu Sep 22, 2005 9:07 am


I would check it at least daily. Consider a dilute antiseptic wash to keep it cleaner.

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Brimstone
For Rocky

Post   » Thu Sep 22, 2005 12:30 pm


Thanks Lynx. I was thinking about that last night after I put him to bed. By the way, I have pictures if anyone wants to see.

And I'm thinking it may be time to separate Hermes & Rocky. At least for a couple weeks until his wounds heal. I would love it if Hermes and his brother Apollo could suddenly get along again. Then I could put Graham with Rocky which may work out well.

pinta

Post   » Thu Sep 22, 2005 4:50 pm


If you separate for a couple of weeks you'll only screw up the hierarchy they are working out. Chances are after there's a battle that results in an "ouch", hierarchy will be established for a while until some pig wants to move up the ladder and has forgotten that pain factor of the "ouch".

It doesn't sound like there is any dislike going on, just boars being boars.

You could try giving them a bath at the same time. Sometimes that will bond them in mutual hatred of you.

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Brimstone
For Rocky

Post   » Thu Sep 22, 2005 11:44 pm


But the "ouch" never stopped the humping and the fighting. It doesn't seem that they've established a hierarchy yet and they've been going at it for 2-3 weeks. And everyday brings a new wound for one or the other or both. I know I need to let them work things out which is why I resisted separating them before. But they're both dominant and maybe I need to try to match them with my more submissive boars. Or maybe I need to toss all 4 in the tub and see what happens.

They're separated for now. And Graham and Apollo are separated tonight too since Graham is recovering from a tooth trim. Rocky is quite content by himself. Graham is still a little out of it from the anesthesia or pain meds. The two brothers are annoyed.

Hermes' wound looks ok. I mentioned it to the Dr. when Graham was there for his teeth and he gave me ABs as a precaution. Dr. also said that if the wound becomes infected to get Hermes in to see them since he might need to be castrated (that word sounds so much worse than "neutered").

pinta

Post   » Fri Sep 23, 2005 12:30 am


Small wounds won't stop them. It's the big "Whoa that one hurt" that makes them admit defeat.

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Brimstone
For Rocky

Post   » Sun Dec 25, 2005 7:30 pm


Same pig, new injury, new living situation. (sorry this is a bit long and rambly.)

Hermes (1 yr old intact male) got bit last night on his right front foot pad and ankle. There's a small wound on the outside of his ankle/wrist, and then another (slightly larger) wound in the middle of his foot pad. Looks like some piggy got top teeth into his ankle and bottom teeth into his foot pad.

I've been cleaning it with diluted poividine iodine solution. We tried bandaging it, but couldn't configure anything to stay on his foot for longer than 5 minutes. And of course no stores were open last night or today so we could go get something that would work better. I read in the Care Guide and some other threads that liquid bandages have been used for pigs with pododermatitis. Would that be ok to use for a bite wound on the foot? Or is there a clear picture of how to bandage a foot somewhere? Of course silly me didn't even remember until just now that I still have silverdine cream (antibiotic) leftover from Hermes' last skirmish (in Oct.) I'll put that on tonight and hope some stays on enough to help. And I'll go shopping tomorrow morning for better supplies. He's on towels already and we're now changing them twice a day.

I'm not certain how this happened, but I have a hunch. He's been living with Graham for almost a week in half of a 2x7 C&C cage. The cage has a cube divider wall with Rocky & Apollo in the other side. My hunch is that Hermes' roommate Graham didn't bite him, but that Rocky or Apollo bit Hermes' foot when he had it up on the divider wall. I didn't see the incident, just found him shortly after it happened (there had been a commotion and I walked in to see Hermes chasing Graham around the cage). Graham is the sweetest, most laid-back, timid piggy ever. But Rocky & Apollo have been arguing with Hermes through the grids for a while now.

I seperated him from Rocky back in Sept., then did a buddy bath and tried to re-intro him to his brother Apollo. That was disasterous and ended with bad bite wounds for both boys. So Hermes was by himself for a couple of months. I finally introduced him to Graham last week and aside from lots and lots and lots of humping (Hermes to Graham), and a couple very minor nips, they're doing ok. Graham has been a bit shellshocked by the experience (I don't think Graham is accustomed to other pigs). But slowly Hermes is calming down and harrassing Graham less. So Graham and Hermes are still together in half of the cage. My husband added another layer of divider wall so there's now a No Pig's Land of a couple of inches between the two sides.

Don't you just hate to find blood splattered throughout your piggy's cage? Hermes was running around the cage after this happened so there was literally blood everywhere.

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Sun Dec 25, 2005 9:59 pm


Your poor guy!

Bite wounds can be pretty serious. One of Pinta's pigs with a heart condition got a bite that got quite infected and required an amputation. This pig had poor blood circulation. Think of the recent threads in the General chat forum on cat bites and the antibiotics humans require. I think it possible that the blood circulation in the foot is not as good, perhaps requiring a vet visit and close care.

Pinta's guinea pig needed two different antibiotics for the infection. By the time the culture got back, there wasn't enough time to knock it out.

You're early in the game and can watch what's going on. If it is a deep puncture, it might need flushing and treatment like it was an abscess (a vet could tell you how best to treat it -- I might be wrong). I do think antibiotics would help prevent an infection from developing.

Good luck with your guy.

The supplies page has a short discussion of bandaging. I would soak in an antiseptic solution a couple times a day, put gauze on and wrap lightly with Vetwrap.

www.guinealynx.info/supplies.html

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charandmin

Post   » Mon Dec 26, 2005 7:42 am


Ughh - not again. Hopefully after this one heals it will be the last.

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Brimstone
For Rocky

Post   » Mon Dec 26, 2005 11:12 am


After soaking and cleaning his foot last night, I tried to get a better look at the injury using a mirror (easier than turning the pig upside down). The wound doesn't seem too deep. It's looking ok, not red or swollen or anything (knocks wood). It's right in the spot where there's a natural divot or groove in the foot pad. (I'm not sure I'm this explaining well.) I think it seemed deeper at first because of the way the foot is.

The worst part is we're leaving town tomorrow for a few days. The pigs are going with us (we were planning for that already), so I've copied vet recommendations for the general area where we're going in case we need them. Our normal vet clinic is closed until after the New Year anyway, but the emergency hospital is open, I think. I have a big bottle of sterile saline left from the last round of infected bite wounds, so I could try flushing it.

At least he's a good patient and usually sits still for treatment. Otherwise he's a complete brat and an instigator.

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Mon Dec 26, 2005 11:29 am


I would soak the foot daily with an antiseptic solution and try to flush some. Better than a sterile saline solution.

https://www.guinealynx.info/antiseptic_solutions.html

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Brimstone
For Rocky

Post   » Mon Dec 26, 2005 11:41 am


We do have povidone iodine and that's what I've been using so far. A tech at the vet's had mentioned before that they didn't want me to use the iodine solution more than once a day because it's too drying. That's why they gave us the sterile saline for flushing. But on the supplies page you mention it being less drying (than the chlorhex, I'm assuming). And it sounds like others here have used it long-term without problems?

Thanks for the supplies link, Lynx. I read over those pages Sat. night. We don't have vet wrap, but we did have a product meant for humans that I thought was similar - sticks to itself not the skin. But that didn't work well for wrapping Hermes' foot. Maybe it was too stretchy or not sticky enough. After 3 attempts and 3 different wrapping methods we gave up.

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