Weird injuries to left side of face

[leni]

Today I noticed that Jimmy had what appeared to be a scrape on the left side of his nose, no bleeding, just raw skin. He also has an area right under his eye, and his left ear also looks a little raggedy. I did try to introduce him to Zim last week, had them him out in the play room and they scuffled for a brief moment, some fur flew and they were separated immediately. I checked them over afterwards and they were fine. That was last week. I pick them up every day and look at them closely and it was only today that I noticed Jimmy's left side looked like that. His appetite and behavior are perfectly fine. I did let him play in the bathroom yesterday and we have a tile floor there and he loves to wall surf and act crazy so I don't know if he hurt himself then, I watch him pretty close when he plays and he didn't seem to slow down last night, and I don't know if he might have hurt himself in his cage. He can see out of his left eye and there is no discharge. I have an appointment to take him to the vet Monday, but I just wanted to know if I should take him in sooner or if it is okay to wait since he's behaving normally. I have just had him a couple of months and of course now I'm freaked out and wondering if this was my fault.

 

[Riven]

Is he sticking his nose through the cage? Is he having any issues with watery eyes? ( watery, not sticky or gooey )

Chances is are it's fur slough from watery eyes, rubbing fur from the cage bars, or fungus.

It doesn't sounds like you need to hurry him in at this time. Good job being observant on your chins! If you can get some photos it might be more helpful. Is the skin underneath red, flakey, smooth, pink?

 

[leni]

Actually yeah I have noticed him sticking his nose through the cage bars the last couple of days. Haven't really seen the watery eyes. The spot under his eye is reddish pink and smooth, the part on his nose is pink and flaky. I would take a picture but he would never stay still long enough for one lol and I am the only one that can hold him, my husband is afraid to. I just want to make sure I'm not missing anything serious.

 

[leni]

And his ear has almost a ragged appearance, like almost like it was chewed on, would that be affected by him rubbing against the cage too? Does this mean he needs a cage with smaller bar spacing or something?

 

[Riven]

No. Has his ear always been like that or could that have happened in the scuffle? Ears are one of the easiest places to grab in a fight.

Usually when there is nose fur missing it can be traced back to sticking a nose through the bars. I would take him in and be ready for fungus, if they don't find any you may want to have them check the jaw.

Is the fur missing on both sides equally? How about the insides of his paws? Anything missing there?

 

[leni]

No I don't remember his ear looking like that but it probably did happen from the fight. As for the mark on his nose and eye it is just on the left side and I have noticed he likes to stick his nose through the cage bars. As for his paws I know he's rubbed his nose a few times where that patch is so I will check him later today when he's a bit more awake. Right now he's giving me the evil eye for waking him up. But thanks for the info, glad I found this forum or I would be completely lost. I will let you know what comes up.

 

[leni]

The fur is just missing on the left side of his nose, none is missing on his paws. He has a bare patch under his left eye and it looks a little watery but no other discharge. I am taking him in to the vet tomorrow. I have checked Zim over and so far he looks fine and because they fought last week I was keeping them separated anyway.

 

[Riven]

How old is he? I'd have him check his jaw and maybe want to do xrays to make sure there aren't root issues going on there.

Good luck, hopefully it's something simple like an eye infection that just needs some drops! Let us know what you find out!

 

[leni]

update on jimmy

Just got back from the vet. He checked Jimmy out, teeth and jaws, took some hair samples from the eye, nose and ear. He thinks it might be ringworm, said tooth look good, gave me some antifungal cream to apply until the culture results come in. I took Zim too just in case but he said he looks fine and I've kept them separate for over a week and this started a couple of days ago so he should be ok. I'm supposed to put the cream on twice a day, hold him for about fifteen minutes and wipe off the excess. Did that already and he handled it well, was tired haha he was sleeping when I had to take him in to see the vet. My question now is, what do I do now? Do I have to disinfect all of his stuff and throw out his wood things? He plays in a separate area from Zim so they won't come in contact there.

Oh and on a side note Jimmy weighs 760g and Zim weighs 738g.

 

[Kansas City Chinchillas]

My question now is, what do I do now? Do I have to disinfect all of his stuff and throw out his wood things? He plays in a separate area from Zim so they won't come in contact there.

Yes you have to disinfect his cage. I would also use tinactin powder in his dust bath for the fungus. You might consider giving the other chin a dust bath with tinactin powder in it too as a preventative. Be sure to use a different container to dust him in.

 

[leni]

Oh ok, thanks. About how much of the tinactin do I add and do I just them dust them like I normally do or do I have to do it more often? And is there anything special I have to use to disinfect the cage? I've just been using soap and water and cage cleaner wipes.

 

[Brittany_Lynn]

Most people on the forum (including me) use distilled vinegar and water, sometimes a little bit of baking soda, for any normal time they clean the cage. I don't know about disinfecting for ringworm, but you will probably get quite a few natural ingredient suggestions (natural like vinegar, vs unnatural like bleach), which is the route I prefer. It's cheaper and safer in the long run .

 

[Essentia]

When it comes to fungus I use bleach as I know it will kill what I'm trying to kill. I take the cage and scrub it doown with a bleach/water mixture, rinse very well, and put the cage outside for a few hours in the sun to dry.

As for shelves I would toss them. You can make shelves very reasonably to replace them. I purchased a large piece of pine, had Lowe's cut it at the lengths I wanted, purchased the hardware and in all it totaled to about $15. This made enough shelves for 2 cages.

For any fleece items I would wash them in warm water with some bleach. I rise twice to make sure all the bleach is gone from the items, but again, I want to know everything I want gone is gone.

 

[leni]

Oh ok thanks guys! I appreciate all the help