We noticed a small wound on our little female suggie Smores earlier today. I think it may be a mating wound. It's on the back of her neck and doesn't seem to be an area she can reach. The sore itself is about 1/16" in diameter with about 1/4" diameter of the fur missing. It wasn't open or dripping blood, just with an ooze of blood covering the wound, if that makes sense. We know she needs separated from her male cagemate but don't have a spare cage. Our one and only pet store is closed on Sunday's and it's also very cold here. It feels like -52 no joke, so we weren't going to be getting out today. We improvised and made a temp cage out of a new large storage tub by melting holes, adding mesh and trying to make it as nice as can be. (I'll try to add pics) Anyways we have had her apart since we noticed it. I just took her out a bit ago and it seems the small wound is swelling. It isn't red or infected looking but now instead of it just being a flat sore it is puffy about an 1/8" around now but normal skin color.

I have emailed the vet and hope to get her in tomorrow. This is the first injury we have dealt with and I'm very concerned. What more can we do to help her?

You could get one of these at Walmart Pop up dog crate In size med or lrg. for temp housing. Many use these for vacation/travel cages.

Also get some Vetericyn VF for wound care.


Here is a link for first aid supplies that are good to have. First Aid Supplies Post

When you take her to the vet, if he lances the abscess do not let him stitch it shut. That will only cause more problems.

You will also have to keep her by herself until the wound heals and all the hair grows back or her buddy will think something is amiss and groom it till it opens again.

She will need antibiotics.

Thank you for the tips. Right now I'm concerned about her eating. I know the night is young but she hasn't came out of her pouch yet. It's a new environment and she's alone for the first time since Ive had her. I don't like that this may add stress to her all ready injured self.

Hopefully she did OK last night. Did she eat? Take something from their cage that smells familiar to her. Also make sure tonight to give something to do.

Please keep us posted on her vet visit and progress.

Is your male neutered?

She did ok last night. I did set her "new cage" up with some hammocks, her pouch and some cage toys that were all removed from their big cage so she would have familiar smells at least. She ate last night and everyting still looks the same, no worse so I'm hoping thats good news. Going to call the vet soon. I'll keep you posted.

If you have just a pair, I would remove the glider that caused the damage. Keep the wounded glider in their origional cage. This makes them feel and be more comfortable. Don't need added stress as they are healing up. HTH Art

I have a vet visit for her in about an hour. So far everything looks the same. No redness and no additional swelling.

Her cage mate, Falcore, is neutered. They are a retired breeding pair from The Pet Glider, we've only had them since September, but I still catch them in the action every now and again.

I suppose this could potentially be a nail wound if not from mating. His nails were a bit long, but we've got them trimmed down now. They usually give me a big fuss when I try to cut them, but Falcore and our other girl Buttercup were excellent letting my husband do it yesterday (so he's the new nail trimmer :o) now). We're not going to trim Smore's nails just yet, I don't want to stress her out more. Maybe try in a few days.

1daddyglider1, I had thought of that idea as well. Tonight I will see about letting her stay in their cage and Falcore can go into the temp set up. Do you think it would be Ok if we alternated nights between the cages? This way neither of them are stuck in a small area for a long time.

I'm going to have to try intros with Falcore and Buttercup. They are nice to each other through the bars of their cages and don't fuss if they are out together. The plan was to get the 3 all in one cage. Maybe now is a good time to really push that through if possible, so they can all be in a normal cage environment.

What sort of things should I be on the look out for in her healing process?

Well Smores had her vet check and he said it was probably a bit infected and gave us some amoxicillin (a big ol bottle that we'll only use a tiny amount from). So she gets two 1/2 cc doses a day for 1-2 weeks until it starts to heal up. He said it looks like a little puncture and didn't think it needed lanced which is good, but stressed just keeping it clean and light massage in the neck area. He didn't want to stress her more so I did all the handling to try and keep her calm and overall I think she did good for her first ever visit there. I'm hoping it's all down hill from here and she's well soon.

I know she misses Falcore and he misses her too. They all looked so lonely last night. I placed her temp cage on the floor in between Falcore's and Buttercup's cages and both were placing themselves in corners so they could be as close to Smores as possible I think they sensed something was wrong. We'll have to do playtimes together where they can spend time together while being monitored.

Does anyone know about how long it takes to heal before they can be back together?

Here are some pics...

Her wound after I put topical ointment and the temp cage set up. Also a couple cute and healthy Smores.

Don't know how long that spot will take to heal. It looks like it needs to be opened up but hard to tell in photo(looks closed up). Usually with an open wound(for my babies) it takes about 3-4 weeks to totally close up(but my wounds were a lot bigger area), and about another month or so for fur to grow back, depending on how large wound area was.


You should try to get a different hospital cage--a wire one.
Art