My poor little Ollie's saga continues. (Apologies in advance - this is on the long side)

For those unfamiliar Ollie has been dealing with a wound around his mouth since January. He had a fibrous growth there, which seemed to have popped or ruptured back in January. The wound healed and Ollie went back to living harmoniously with his two buddies, Kirby and DeeDee for about a month in a half.

About 3 weeks ago I noticed Ollie acting strange one night, and when I took him to the vets in the AM she noticed a bit of infection in the corner of his mouth. We assumed it was a bit from the previous wound that possibly never fully healed because of its location. She took off the bit of infected scab and sent me home with antibiotics. I kept Ollie in the cage with the other two, as everyone seemed OK - and with his previous wound, no one messed with it at all, so I thought he'd be fine. After a week of no incidents, I caught Kirby grooming Ollie's mouth one morning in the pouch and he totally opened up a big area around his jaw.

I immediately separated Ollie and put him in the travel cage, where he's been in quarantine for the last couple of weeks with another round of antibiotics and a topical solution. I have been allowing supervised play time, and I let Ollie hang out in the big cage until it's time for me to go to sleep. There have been no squabbles and everyone is getting along - and they noticeably miss each other. Kirby and Ollie seem quite bonded.

Kirby is definitely the hyper groomer of the three. I see him grooming both Dee and Ollie a lot. With Ollie he always goes for his ears, then his tail.

On Friday, the scab on Ollie's face finally fell off completely, and it looked as though his face had finally healed. On Sunday I decided to allow Ollie to move back in. I let the three sleep together in a pouch that I kept on me all day, and everyone was fine. Then at night, I let them all wake up in the cage. Everyone was fine, Ollie noticeably happy, playing with toys he normally he does not ever care about.

This morning when I woke up Ollie was still OK. I thought it was over and we could finally get back to normal! When I got home from work this evening, I noticed Ollie's face was opened back up.

He's back on antibiotics, I cleaned out the wound, and he's back in the travel cage.

This wound is in the same spot where the scab was, on his lower jaw area (the corner of his mouth has since healed). It looks like a surface scrape - nothing too deep. The wound wasn't bleeding heavily, but it was "wet" when I got to him, and blood was coming off on q-tips when I was cleaning it.

I am heartbroken and frustrated. Ollie got visibly sad when I put him back in the travel cage, and I feel just awful for it. I feel like I made poor decisions for him and that's why we're back here again.

I know it's Kirby who's grooming him like this. Dee doesn't groom Ollie and leaves him alone. On a couple of occasions when Dee and Kirby were sleeping in separate pouches in the morning, I let Ollie sleep with Dee so he could have some snuggle time and everything was fine.

Did I not wait for Ollie's wound to heal for long enough and that's why Kirby was still trying to groom it? I thought the entire thing was healed, but maybe I was wrong?

What I'm really worried about is that this will never stop and I'm going to have to keep Ollie separated permanently. Dee is over a year old, whereas Kirby is only about 6 months. Is he being overzealous because he's still young? Or is it just his personality?

I've also thought about separating out Kirby for a night and letting Ollie spend the night with Dee (after he heals up a bit again), but I can't decide if that will be a bad idea or not. I just feel so sad for Ollie that he's back to being alone.

Any thoughts, words or advice? I feel so sad for Ollie. He's had a rough few months.

I would wait until the hair grows back over the wound area to put him with the little boy. I would continue the play time with them.

You could try something like bitter apple on his face once he is healed to see if that keeps the little stinker off of his face.

Well, I don't think the fur will ever re-grow on that side of his mouth. He has not had fur there for at least two years because of the growth. And after the growth ruptured, it left a divot on that side of his chin. I think the fur is long gone.

Regarding the bitter apple, will that affect, Ollie at all? Where the wound is now, it's more on his jaw/chin area, but I wonder of it will go in his mouth a little? Because of this divot, he often has food collect on that side of his mouth. While he usually shakes most of it off, he does sometimes get pieces back into his mouth. I don't want Ollie not to eat bc he keeps getting a gross taste in his mouth.

I would apply it with a Q-Tip. Keep it away from the indentation and his lips. Allow it to dry before feeding him.