Weird skin issue -Quad- w/pics

So I have a problem with my female quad.
At first i thought it was a cricket attack and could possibly be the result of one but I really dont think so.
It seems to be progressing and I know there are no loose crickets.
It seems to be more of an infection or flesh eating type problem.

I think the pics will explain better than I can







Please help!!

Well the picture after shower looks better with dried blood than all the stuff I saw. All I can come up with is a fungus. i an sorry but you are out of my knowledge area.

Aww, poor girl.

It does look infected.

When Stella was falling, she had bruising/damaged "spikes" similar to that.
It did not get an infected look like that, but the damage area was the same.
I decided she had landed on that area so much, it caused the injury, or it was getting scraped on screen material as she fell.

Dont know if thats any help, but it looks similar, so thought Id mention it.

How long has she been like this Hoj?

Has it been pretty sudden?

Im no vet, but I would clean that off with some peroxide. Then rinse it really well, and maybe apply some iodine?

Hope you can get it healed up soon.

I dont feel it is infected it looks more raw, I fear it will become infected tho if not treated proporly.

What was your treatment regime.

Hmm...that is strange looking. Are those lumps hard or soft? Do they seem painful if touched? How fast are they growing, or spreading? Do you think it's just dried blood, or something else? How is her activity and attitude otherwise? Are any other areas affected? Odd that it's just the dorsal crest.

Hoj said:

I dont feel it is infected it looks more raw, I fear it will become infected tho if not treated proporly.

What was your treatment regime.

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Sorry, I edited my above post while you were typing.

I would clean it as stated above.

So do you think its just dried blood?

I hope so!

Ill try and find some pics of Stellas injury.

ferretinmyshoes said:

Hmm...that is strange looking. Are those lumps hard or soft? Do they seem painful if touched? How fast are they growing, or spreading? Do you think it's just dried blood, or something else? How is her activity and attitude otherwise? Are any other areas affected? Odd that it's just the dorsal crest.

Click to expand...

Ok sorry I should have stated that, Yes it is just died blood forming from the sores underneath. I showered her and the scabs came off revealing fleshy type wounds.
She does seem to be in pain when i touch the area ( with a qtip to apply polysporin )
It seems to be a slow spead. She is still active and eating and drinking well

if you look close at the pics it seems to be where the black spots are and I am concerned that the other black spots along her dorsal ridge are going to do the same thing.

And no idea what could have caused this? Does she have a perch close to the screen siding where maybe she could have rubbed that area raw? If it's spreading like that without an obvious external factor causing it then she needs to be evaluated by a vet asap. I can't say if it looks fungal or bacterial, but something is already in place that is causing it to spread. I would do a fungal and bacterial culture of the sores and get her started on at least a broad spectrum antibiotic if it were me.

Agreed, I have sent pics off to my vet and think I will be going there tomorrow.
I will also try the peroxide and iodine if it is a good idea.

The peroxide will probably hurt if those are fleshy wounds...I would maybe just go with dilute iodine after the scabs are off as it doesn't sting so bad (speaking from personal experience).

I have a 5% iodine solution do you think that is diluted enough. I always thought peroxide was the one that did not hurt and iodine and alcohol were the ones that did????

You want it to be about 1% when using it directly on a wound. As someone who has had many cuts and scrapes I always felt peroxide stung more than iodine (if diluted correctly). Plus, iodine has mild antimicrobial and antifungal effects, which peroxide does not.

I hope your vet will be able to diagnose this for you. It totally looks extremely painful. I even cringed myself when I saw the closeups.

Thanks iodine it is, and Panther Thank you as well.

Yes, peroxide burns!

It will eat away all the dead tissue/scab though. I feel better about cleaning wounds with it first, but Im not a vet!

If you were to use it, I would not leave it on long at all, and rinse very thoroughly.

JMO

I've been asked to chime in here. I'm out to dinner and will reply more extensively later but I would like to say that from the looks of the photographs it would be advisable to at the very least wash your hands very thoroughly after handling him. If you have any open cuts or abrasions on your hands, I really would use gloves. It is unlikely, but possible in these situations that we can run into some really funky bacteria or fungal elements that occasionally can be contagious to humans.

dr. o—

She is looking alot better, I have been washing the area with iodine dilluted to 1% and applying polysporin every 2-3 hours, I had to leave worka few time to do it but it seems to be helping.

kevinopp said:

I've been asked to chime in here. I'm out to dinner and will reply more extensively later but I would like to say that from the looks of the photographs it would be advisable to at the very least wash your hands very thoroughly after handling him. If you have any open cuts or abrasions on your hands, I really would use gloves. It is unlikely, but possible in these situations that we can run into some really funky bacteria or fungal elements that occasionally can be contagious to humans.

dr. o—

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thank you. I have been trying not to touch her or the area. I have been using eye droppers and qtips. I will keep doing my best and look forward to your next reply.

Thx so much for all the help everyone.

A few thoughts---

The last time I saw a dorsal crest doing that, it was from an accidental, low level but long term thermal burn. And it was my lizard!! He had a favorite high sleeping perch and when I bought him he was 5 months old. His night light was 2-3" above the top screen. But as the months went by, he grew enough that his spines were touching the screen while he slept. And apparently the screen became hot enough from the bulb that his crest began slowly changing colors (actually nice colors at first), but after a few more weeks it began to dry and slough and I figured out what was going on. Lesson learned! So is any type of heat possible?

Otherwise, the funky varieties of bacteria and fungi can do this, thus the warning that I gave earlier. And that would definitely require a vet to culture the area, and if you're going to do that, you actually would want to stop treatment for a few days beforehand so the medication doesn't interfere with the sample, and that an area gets "bad enough" to give a good sample to the test. But your vet will go over that with you.

Nothing wrong with cleaning it with dilute iodine or (my favorite) chlorhexidine. I am not a fan of peroxide used continuously b/c it kills new growing skin cells just as easily as it kills bacteria. I would only reserve that for an initial cleaning where you need to get a lot of crud off and peroxide is good at that stage.

It is unusual unless it falls into a thermal burn category. If your techniques look like they are stopping it and it begins to dwindle, I would continue. But if you start playing "whack-a-mole" with lesions popping up for every one that heals, see a vet ASAP and don't get any on yourself. Of course, seeing a vet anyway is a good idea. There may be better prescription medications that can be used.

How long has this been going on? Please continue to take photos and let us try to see any of the raw areas. These are unfortunately often painful, and I wouldn't be surprised if his appetite falls off for a bit.

dr. o—

Thanks again, thermal burns are not really a possibility, the basking site is in the upper 70's- low 80's and well below the top of the cage.
This is the second day that the issue has been present. I will contiune to clean the area with iodine and apply polysporin every few hours. I have been in contact with my vet and may go see him, or at least ask for some of the chlorhexidine you mention.
I will take new photos and upload to this thread tomorrow morning.
Thanks again for your time.

Hoj

Hoj, I've been following but not replying because you obviously are getting the best advice from the most experienced people and all I could offer was moral support, but finally I can offer something: Chlorhexidine is not a prescription product. You might need to go to a medical supply store, but maybe a really good drug store would have it.

Here's an AMAZON listing for it: http://www.amazon.com/Bimeda-Inc-Chlorhexidine-Solution-gallon/dp/B00061MU9W