guniea pig has deep wound on side.

Question
hello there i have 20 female guinea pigs and they are all housed together in a really big cage. i noticed today that one of my female girls have the very deep wound and i mean deep and she has some hair loss around the wound and very worried that she could have a flesh eating bug as her wound in very deep but it looks as if it has a scab on it, please help is to what to do as very very very worried

Answer
It's unlikely she has a flesh eating bacteria. She may have an abscess that has ruptured, leaving the large hole you see now.

Abscesses are not uncommon in guinea pigs and are often hidden until you either see a huge lump or it ruptures and begins to drain. Is it possible you could take a picture and send to me so I can get a better idea of whether this truly is an abscess?

They are most frequently started by a bite from a room mate. We (including animals) all carry staph on our skin. It's not a problem unless there is a break in the skin and the bacteria starts growing inside. It will form a pocket that will fill with pus. When the pocket gets large enough the pressure will cause it to burst.

Once the wound is open it will start to heal, but with an abscess it's important that it heals from the inside out. If it closes over the pus will continue to form and the problem starts all over again. With our human patients we put a drain into the wound so that the pus will 'wick' out (i.e. be absorbed by the gauze strip and will follow that strip outside the wound) thus allowing the wound to heal from the inside out.  

Having said that I have to make it clear that I'm just guessing at what this wound is based solely on your description. That's why a picture is so valuable and important. If this is not an abscess we have to consider the possibility of a malignancy of some kind. If that's the case treating it like an abscess would not be appropriate.

When you have a large herd housed together bite or scratch wounds just happen now and then. Those will usually take care of themselves with minimal treatment or intervention. If you are able to get a picture of the wound it would be an invaluable tool in trying to figure out what this thing is.