blood under ear

[Thelodar]

I had mentioned in one of my other posts that I was worried my new gerbil who is in a split with Logan might have an ear infection. She would occasionally scratch her ear, lick her foot, and scratch her ear some more. When I tried introducing her and Logan last weekend he seemed overly interested in grooming that ear and it seemed to tick her off. That was a week ago. I haven't noticed the scratching all week and was planning to try introducing her and Logan again tomorrow as I have the day off. Instead I woke up to find that she had a streak of blood running down from her ear. I can't get a really good look (if I try and hold her still she bites). It appears that the blood came from a wound right below the ear, not from inside of the ear which is good but it still means she's scratching way too much. Any ideas what the problem could be? She's 2.5 or so which worries me.

[ninestone]

Our Kate had something very similar in terms of behavior and symptoms except it wasn't bloody; it was more of a clear drainage. It also occurred at about the same age. From your description, it was probably the same thing only your girl has scratched until it's bleeding. It was also hard to examine Kate's ear; it seemed like it was a cyst on part of the tragus but I really don't know.

In Kate's case it cleared up on its own after a couple weeks or so. However, since your girl has scratched open a bleeding wound, I would suggest keeping an extra close eye on it in case it gets infected.

[Thelodar]

I made a vet appointment for tomorrow. I almost cancelled because she really seems fine, but I figure as soon as I do she'll have another problem with it. So I figure I'll just take her to be sure there's nothing wrong. I just wish peace of mind didn't cost so much lol. I fell bad for the vet though, she's not a super cooperative patient and with her big ovarian cysts she's really hard to hold.

[catnut]

good luck tomorrow, I hope she co-operates with the vet.

tammy

[Thelodar]

So just got back from the vet. She couldn't find anything obvious that could be causing the itching, the ear looks fine. She gave me meds for mites just in case but I'm not sure if I'm going to use them unless she starts itching again. She hasn't really messed with it since it bled, I'm thinking maybe there was a little cyst or something. To treat for mites I'd have to dump all their bedding which would put us back as square one with the intro, so I'd rather not do that unless I really think I have to.

Unfortunately she didn't handle the vet trip well. After they weighed her she started breathing really heavily and just sitting in the corner of the tank and the vet became concerned. She's still breathing hard, I really hope she is able to recover. The vet pretty much said she's not in great shape, she's old...the ovarian cysts could be tumors, she seems a little puffed up. So I'm rather worried at the moment.

[betty]

If she is in such a bad way at the moment, perhaps you should put the split on hold for now. You can still leave them in the divided tank, but give them a few luxuries and don't swap them about for a while until she is back on top form.

This also means you could clean then out a little bit and freshen their bedding up after all this hot weather and make her a bit more comfortable for a few days or so...