What should I do about this?

[flyfarmblues]

So, my amigo seems to have some awful looking scraping on his head. This was a brown "X" for about two weeks, now it appears to have broken skin. No strange behavior, nothing different in diet, etc. He does burrow under his water bowl frequently, and I assumed the x was a stain from the brown/orange substrate. Not sure if this is something I can treat myself or if I need to seek a vets assistance. Thanks. Also, curious if hydrogen peroxide is ok to try? I know that I use it sucessfully on many things myself. Anyone ever tried?

[Lea]

Hi, and welcome to the site.

I'll jump right in and say no to hydrogen peroxide. It is good as a skin disinfectant, but it is highly irritant and can damage or even break down skin, mucous membranes and other soft tissue. It's big use is for ulcers and fungating wounds, where it can be used in a diluted preparation to remove slough, bacterial buildup and dead tissue from a wound bed that is otherwise healthy. I would definitely avoid it around the head area because of possible contact with the eyes and mouth and the fumes may irritate the nasal passages. Betadine or povidine preparations are also best avoided, mainly because of the possible vapour effect that can cause respiratory problems. Peroxide application can also hurt like billyo, another good reason not to use it!

I would suggest, in the interim, until you work out whether there has been a parasite/ infective cause for the scrape, just bathe it with some warm, slighty salty water or saline, but only if it looks physically dirty. If it looks clean and dry, leave it! A dry and clean wound will heal best without any intervention- just keep an eye on it to see it is scabbing up, remove any dirty items or loose substrate and check for whatever he scraped on and remove that, too. Hopefully it will heal just fine.

If it looks mucky, starts weeping excessively or exudes a smell, go straight to the vet, as you may need antibiotics, but with the above precautions, hopefully that won't be necessary.

[Lea]

Just one more thing, he can't reach his heat bulb, can he? If the bulb is exposed, it may be a contact burn, but that isn't obvious from these pictures, more of a thought.

[flyfarmblues]

Thank you!