# Wound below the ear, why? how?



## Mymouse (Jul 2, 2010)

I found one of my doe has a wound below her right ear.
She is living in a roomy cage with her 10 babies and a nanny and there are never any fights or squeeking, they get along sooo well. But look at this...should I try to use some cream?
Or just see what happens, this doesn´t seem infected or anything like that, she seems fine, never seen her scratch it or anything. 
I used to get some type of eye cream from the vet to use on wounds on rodents...should I try to get that or do you think this will be ok?


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## Elven (Apr 18, 2010)

It looks it might have been done by another mouse. Keep a close watch, if it starts to heal on it's own, or gets worse. Cleanliness is very important now, clean the cage often, and maybe some disinfectant for the wound. You might want to call your local vet, to see what he recommends. 
If it starts speading to other parts of the ear, it might be lice.


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## WNTMousery (Jun 2, 2010)

It definitely looks like an itching or hot spot issue to me. Self-inflicted from scratching most likely. I've had it before back when I kept pet type mice who had protein allergies.

Does she get nuts and seeds in her diet? You should try to eliminate those, also possibly wheat.

I have to tell you, though, that once a mouse has started a behavior like this, even after you remedy the cause, they will likely still scratch out of habit and on impulse.

I would not put any cream on it, as that will just make her scratch it more to get the cream off.

Good luck!


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## moustress (Sep 25, 2009)

Pretty little thing; I think she has an itchy ear and has been scratching and that caused the icky open sore. It may be infected and it may not be infected...either way she needs to be treated with something to stop the itching. I use liquid diphenhydramine (generic name for Benadryl) the red stuff that's made for children) about a teaspoon in 8 oz. water in the water bottle. I try to stat with a big undiluted dose by wither smearing it on the nose or dunking a small piece of bread or something like that in the syrup. This kind of ear problem often is a chronic problem that never really goes away completely. I achieve a complete cure in only about half the meeces that get it, and of that 50% about half need to have the liquid Benadryl in the water the rest of their life. Antibiotics don't really seem seem to help, but they probably don't hurt either.

As to the cause, it cold be a food allergy, or too must dust in the bedding, or an allergy to the bedding. It may help to change the kind of bedding. Also, the other adult doe in the cage may be trying to help by grooming the sore, which will prevent it from healing. You may need to separate the other doe to stop this.


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## DomLangowski (Oct 2, 2008)

We have had some similar problems in the past, we used to use sudocrem, its very affective with this type of problem, give it a try and update up in a few days.


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## WoodWitch (Oct 18, 2009)

I have found that a mild Tea Tree cream (I use Johnson's) for pets is quite effective on these kinds of itch related skin problems too....


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## Mymouse (Jul 2, 2010)

Thank you so much everyone for your advice, I will write down those names and check the farmacy to see what is sold here. 
She just had babies 3 weeks ago, I wanted her girls to live with her and the nanny.....is it ok to seperate her from everyone.....or perhaps seperate her from the nanny and daughters but keep 1-2 of her daughters with her?


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